It's Week 1 if the NFL season ans the first week of Glen Macnow's ( radio host at WIP) Last Fan Standing football poll.
I've never won the diamond ring awarded to the winner, but I did make it up to Week 11 a few times. It's free, so why not try again?
I have several cardinal rules to the pool, where you simply pick a winner each week- no point spreads, no lines. The catch is, you can only pick a team once the entire season. So, if you take the Eagles in week 1 and win, you can't take them again.
People have different strategies to play: some save teams and look ahead; some always take the highest favorite each week on the board; some play against the bad teams each week, namely Cleveland and the Jets this year, regardless of whom they are playing.
I do map out the schedule a bit. I like to save cold weather teams like New England and Green Bay for home games later in the season. it has proven to work, as the Patriots are practically unbeatable in late December.
I don't like to take visiting teams. it's so hard to win on the road in the NFL. I also don't like to play prime-time games, such as Sunday or Monday Night Football. Underdogs tend to get up and play better for those spotlight games. It's not a good idea to play division rivalry games. Even if the eagles are bad they generally rise to the occasion against the giants or Cowboys, for example.
So, with those basic principles in mind, my pick in week 1 breaks two of those rules.
I'm taking the Pittsburgh Steelers to bear the Cleveland Browns.
Pittsburgh is favored by 9 points, a pretty high number for the first week. The game is in Cleveland, and it is a division game. So why go against my own rules?
because the Browns are awful. They were 1-15 last season and I don't see them much better.
The Steelers are my Super Bowl pick,a nd are set to have a big year. Nothing like getting off on the right foot by destroying the lowly Browns.
If a major upset happens, I'll go down with hundreds, maybe thousands of other players. I have a feeling many fans will be playing Pittsburgh- or playing against Cleveland.
So, unless an injury occurs and the line changes, I'm taking Pittsburgh to win in week 1.
It's not too late tos ign up for the pool.Go to cbsphilly/lastfanstanding.com
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