For the New Year, I brought back the "Bet of the Day" over to the right although I have to work on my timing of it. I made today's bet of the day last night, before all of the NBA lines were up and there are now better bets out there. Still, I'll stick with my guns and see how I do with one bet a day for the whole year. Also, I should keep a closer eye on my betting budget to see how much money I'm losing or making (if any.)

As for Week 17 in the NFL, it's a better's nightmare. You never know who is playing, what happens in the early games could change the philosophy or attitude of the later games, and it's hard for the average fan to know if teams are going to play to help their coach (the Vikings and Leslie Frazier) or not get too fired up for another year of the status quo (I'm looking at the Giants and the Chargers.)

A perfect example of the problem of Week 17 is the Jets. They have nothing to play for but they also need to snap out of a funk so who knows how they are going to approach the game. Mark Sanchez is banged up but he's also struggled when given a lot of rest between games so they could go either way. With so much left up to indecision and the Bills playing hard all season, I'm going to go with them.

In most cases where teams that have things locked up are going against struggling squads, I go with the struggling team. In most cases, I think the worse teams are going to approach the game as a chance to put a cherry on top of the shit sundae that was their 2010-11 campaign. For that reason, I like the Bills, Raiders, and Dolphins. In terms of struggling vs. struggling teams, I look at the smaller things.
- I think the Vikings want to help Leslie Frazier and could step up their game once again to assist Joe Webb so I'm taking them.
- The Chargers have too much pride to go out like complete chumps. Even if they come out sluggish, I could see Tim Tebow waking the sleeping giant and the defense will do their best to shut him up.
- The 49ers are free of Mike Singletary so I could see them going out and winning one for themselves. - I don't think either the Redskins or Giants will be playing to save their coaches job so I'll take the Giants who have a glimmer of hope and are simply the better team. Although with Eli Manning and Rex Grossman at QB, I think the over on interceptions might be a good bet.

As for the teams that have something to play for, I REALLY want to take the Titans. I think Indy has been reading the press clippings about their improved run defense while Chris Johnson is upset that he wasn't named to the Pro Bowl and he and his linemen might want to make a statement. The problem, however, is that the Titans have just sucked this year. I don't know why I still have confidence in them so while I might throw five bucks on them in a separate bet, I don't think I can pick them in my perfect parlay.
The one team that I could see losing is Jacksonville because they are banged up and by the time they play, their fate could already be sealed. The Ravens -10 is a tough one but I have a feeling that they are coming together at the right time and could make a run in the playoffs. Also, the defense is probably going to try to show that Peyton Hillis's big game against them earlier in the season was a fluke. I hate the -14 for the Falcons, especially since the Panthers might be pumped to let John Fox leave with a win, but the Falcons want the opening bye and homefield throughout and, let's face it, what the players want hasn't determined a Panthers game all season. John Fox isn't getting let go as much as he's getting a reprieve.

Finally, the Bears/Packers is a tough one because we don't know yet if the Bears will have anything to play for by the time the opening kickoff rolls around. Although I'm STILL not buying the Bears and think the Packers, even with all of their injuries, are a better team.

Oh yeah, I took the Saints. But that just means they'll probably blow it since I haven't been able to peg them all season.

On a side note, can you imagine if there were two more weeks to go in the NFL regular season? I know the owners want their money but the players probably can't take another two weeks of punishment to their body's and I'm not sure most fans could really go for another two weeks of regular season (and their livers might not be able to take it.) If the owners want to add two games, I'd almost prefer adding four teams and a round to the playoffs and having a kind of play-in game while allowing the division winners and top wild card squads a week's rest. Of course, the best teams would have two weeks off in that case, and I'm not sure how many guys would want that long of a layoff and that isn't as good revenue-wise as having EVERYONE have two more games but I think it's better than an 18 game season.
In terms of the NFL season, more is not more. I don't think that I'd love the league more with two extra games. Not only because there will be more dinged up players by playoff time but because it lessens the important of each game (which is one of the best parts of the NFL as opposed to MLB, NBA, and NHL. To paraphrase from the Bad News Bars, "Let them NOT play."