NFL Picks & College Pick's by Football Forecasters

9/20/02 Update: We are no longer sending College Football or NFL Picks to the sports eye monitor. We have "inside" concerns about the credibility of the service. We're OUTTA there! We requested that our site link be totally removed from John's monitoring service, however he has chosen to say we were "86'ed" (This is odd considering our success the past few weeks). Yet it is in keeping with the shady practice's of his service. The truth, in my opinion, John is simply a shill for the pay for play sites that seem to repeatedly pop up in the winners circle with unrealistic winning percentages week after week, yet you can't see what their picks actually were unless you pay. How many of these "service's" is The Eye's registered website administrator, Wayne Pressel, running or associated with? Is that the reason why our number 1 performance amongst all categories went unrecognized in the awards circle in week two? (this is not the 1st time that has happened) I've made the charge John, right here for everybody to see: In my opinion you're a shill. If I'm lying - sue me. I find it curious that you always have a big winner in the pay for plays categories, and the same winners seem to keep cropping up. Why don't you at least post their plays after the games have started? Here's JR Miller's (of ProfessionalGambler) opinion on monitoring services: "Don't waste your time with monitoring services. Almost all of them have incestuous relationships with their own pick service(s)."

Everybody that visits and tracks us here at Footballforecasters knows what we're about. We guard our reputation judiciously. We're a 100% free and transparent service. Integrity is priority #1. Our visitors monitor us themselves. Our picks go up Thursday morning - before most other services have posted theirs. Here is the inside story of what a well known professional gambler experienced with another sports monitoring service Rob Crown and the Sports Monitor . We experienced similiar problems at John's Sports Eye. Well known industry expert JR Miller experienced problems with monitoring services as well. Here's his story JR Miller "watch your wallet" . Why did one of the most respected handicapping services in the industry, The Gold Sheet, choose not to be monitored by the Sports Eye this year?

John, everybody has a hobby, you don't want to be mine. Remove us from your site. Kurt

9/20/02 Update: Many of you may already be regular visitors of ProFootballTalk.com. For those that haven't visited this site yet we think you'll enjoy his poignant viewpoints on current events in the NFL. Mike Florio has a tell like it is style and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to telling the news. PFT has been linked from our page since it's inception last year. If you haven't visited his page yet you can jump there now: Profootballtalk Mike's page stays active even in the offseason, with behind the scenes news on a near daily basis that you just don't see in the main stream media. Please do us a favor and fill out his very short questionnaire. Thank you guys.

I'm sure that most of you have heard of Don Best's sports service. They have a new contributor to the site, Jimmy Vaccaro. Thee legendary Vegas oddsmaker Mr. Vaccaro publishes an internet newsletter that rates internet casino's and monitoring service's. Take a moment to read his article's, he's informative and honest. If you have a gambling related question go ahead and e-mail him. He's answered every one of my questions submitted to him over the past several years timely and respectfully.

We've upgraded New Orleans to a B rated ML play in the Pro's. We've also added Duke and Arkansas St to our NCAA "also likes"

9/19/02 Update: Last weekend we enjoyed a winning week from Thursday through Monday. We dominated the competition at the Sports Eye; Winning both the NCAA and NFL sides. However the Eye only gives out one award per week, hence we were only given recognition for our NCAA picking prowess - even though it was half what we won on the NFL sides. We'll toot our own horn and point out that our Pro picks submitted went 7-1, (the loan loss was Seattle) including our "also likes" and 2 ML plays that came in. Total NFL bank winnings was over 1600 points - exceeding the pay for picks services "Mensa" , and "platinum" award winners banks. In fact out of over 200 football prognosticators monitored - we kicked ass and took names - we were the numero uno service for the weekend. Keep in mind that as a free site we are limited to 3 units per pick, while the pay for picks services are permitted to wager 5 units per pick. I suppose it might be kind of embarrassing to the pay for plays sites if a free site's superior winning bank was actually listed next to there's (same thing happened last year in week 7). My concerns presented to the eye were unsatisfactorily answered. Why was the number 1 performance of the football weekend omitted from the awards page? IMO this is not the way to establish credibility with handicapping services, or page visitors.

Many of you have sent e-mails asking about particular plays you like. We try to answer all intelligent e-mail questions (and bite back at some not so intelligent insults). If you really like a play, and we don't have it listed, or are even on the opposite side, by all means go with what you think is right. We're not perfect, in fact we're wrong about 40% of the time. We don't have inside contacts or a crystal ball. All we offer is a researched and calculated opinion. And you know what they say about opinions - they're like assholes, everybody's got one. Not that we're assholes....well not me anyway.

I'll answer a continuously common question on how we make our picks. We both print out the opening line on Sunday night from our respective homes, grab the darts...no not really. We look over the opening line and identify teams that look like a play. We have 4 categories: big dogs, little dogs, big favorites and little favorites. Allen has a real difficult time bringing himself to actually select a dog. His favorite list is usually 4 times longer than his dog list. On the other hand my selections usually lean heavy to the dogs. So we complement each other well. After individually researching our picks over 1 to 2 days we get together and duke it out, I critique his key picks and he critiques mine. Some good plays get left off the A / B list because one of us won't like it for whatever reason - veto power - we both wield it. What is left over is generally a superior selection of researched picks. Sometimes the selection process is easy, sometimes it's difficult. We don't have a hard and fast number of A or B plays we want to make. We're flexible depending on what we feel the quality of the selections are. We use a personal grading scale, we use scorecasting models, we use trend analysis, emotion, motivation, and unit to unit match-up analysis. Our strongest opinions result from 2 or more of these handicapping techniques pointing to the same winner on both our short lists.

Most people are told the dogs come in the majority of the time, in fact there's an old saying "when in doubt take the points". Our research indicates the favorite wins and covers almost 53 percent of the time, Dogs outright win almost 33 percent of the time, and the spread only comes into play about 14 percent of the time. The conclusion - just pick winners baby.

Another thing. I read at a pay for plays site that if you pay him $750 a year for his picks, that he'll protect you from "line traps". Folks - there's no such thing as a line trap. There's only uninformed wager's. If there were bad lines out there the sharpies would be all over it. It's paramount to wagering success to understand how the line works, and what the key numbers are (3,7,10...35, etc). Think of the house, or "The Man" as a broker, you are actually wagering against everybody else out there placing a wager - as opposed to wagering against the house. You would be surprised how many players out there don't realize this.

I've disabled our old e-mail address for the time being. The new address is linked at the bottom of the page. Too much crap from advertisers and repeated mailings of the Klez worm virus were being received at our old address. Sorry for any inconvenience to our regular correspondents.

MISSION STATEMENT: We give our NFL football picks against the Vegas line, and College football picks against Vegas odds every week. Be aware that this is a dynamic site, we actively upgrade/downgrade the selections through out the week. Check in by the middle of the week for a listing of games we have selected, AND be sure to check in before game time, as very often one or both of us will zone in on a play the day before kick-off. We'll make 1-15 combined College and Pro football picks a week. We do not promise to pick 100% winners. However, historically we will pick a majority of winners over the course of the year. Expectations are too pick a simple majority, a 54-66% winning ratio is a realistic goal. You will serve as our sports monitor, all of our picks will be stored on a weekly basis in the "Past Picks" link at the bottom of this page. A free Message Board is provided specifically to insure our credibility - if you have a question about a pick, post it on the board (or e-mail us). This page is a no-nonsense banner free site. We don't recommend a service or affiliate with casinos--it's just us baby.

Two seasons ago I received an e-mail saying he "needed a winner", asking on a scale of 1-10 "how strong" our A+ play was this week. I replied that it's wrong about 30% of the time--so it must be a "7". Unfortunately that weeks play was in the 30% category. Folks there's no such thing as a lock--if you need one then you're in the wrong place and playing the wrong game. I strongly recommend a short read on Money Management linked via "Vegas Tips" at the bottom of this page.

We are monitored by YOU. You can contact us by e-mail, or post to the message board linked at the bottom of this page. We will continue to give our best effort to maintain the high standard of success we have come to enjoy.

NFL & NCAA Opinions Free, courtesy of Footballforecasters. Strictly for entertainment and discussion purposes only :)

Team	W/L	comments
@Wisconsin	W	We weren't that impressed watching Arizona bring in a winner for us over Utah. Too many mistakes from the Wildcats, if they repeat that kind of performance on the road the well coached Badgers will make short work of them. Wisconsin has the tools on offense to exploit the Arizona Dee; And the Badger defense can be very stingy when they want to be. Look for the Badgers to have their game face on for this nationally televised contest. Wisconsin by 17

Team	W/L	comments
@Miami-OH	L	Man the Redhawks are looking good. Now they're playing their conference opener at home against a Kent squad that will take a step backwards this season. We expect the Redhawks to roll big time here and considered Miami OH for our A play.
@Michigan St	L	What a misstep against the Golden Bears, that debacle plus the Irish win over Michigan last week, gives us pretty damn good line value here. Look for the Spartans to come out fired up. We thought about making this an A play - but there is that Irish luck to factor for.
Air Force (+)	W	We don't like to go against Cinderella teams that have everything breaking right for them. But this Falcons squad is pretty good, now their getting 9 points against a team they should be able to play with. Before the season started the Falcons would have been the anticipated favorite here. We'll take the points and think the Flyboys have a shot at the upset.
Troy St (+)	L	Tough spot for ISU. This is a very disciplined Trojan team, and they're catching ISU off an emotional upset of their arch intrastate rival. The Cyclones may be looking ahead to Nebraska next week, even if they're not, 17 is a lot of points to give this sound Troy State team.
@Idaho (+)	W	This is the Vandals home opener. They're finally playing a game they can outright win, they've had trips to Boise St, Oregon, and a shared home field game with WSU. The Vandals have been able to throw the ball despite being dominated on the scoreboard, and their running game is starting to click. They've played a tough schedule and are catching the Aztecs on their 3rd roadie in 4 games. SDSU is playing on turf for the first time this season and have UCLA waiting for them back home. Another pick where there is a match-up advantage that can be exploited combined with a tough spot for the opponent
Central Michigan (+)	L	We've been watching Central Michigan closely this year as we felt they would be a play on team this season. The Hoosiers are undisciplined and have taken a step backwards while the Chippewas are much improved. They could pull the outright upset here and we're getting a TD.

ALSO LIKES: Auburn, Georgia Tech, La Lafayette, Mid Tennessee St, Toledo, Iowa, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Oklahoma St, UConn, So Miss, Duke, Arkansas St

Team	W/L	Comments
@Atlanta vs Cincy	W	Atlanta could just as easily be 2-0 as 0-2, while Cincinnati, well they're nowhere near being a winning program. We expect Vick and Company to roll big here against what is looking to be a dispirited Bungals group. When are they going to just give Akili Smith the ball and let him get the reps he needs to develop into an NFL starting QB? Falcons by 20 Upgraded 9/22/02 "BAP" Big Al's Pounder, play upgraded to A+. We have a live 4 team ticket going into this evenings game. We briefly discussed going the other way with a small hedge play...but Cincinnati....nawww. No new money on this upgrade - our original hit was 4% plus the light action on the 4 teamer (which has now turned into heavy action). It hurts us to see our A+ play at 0-2 in the records column, and this is a good place to put one in the win column. This was Big Al's only NFL play in his "Pounder" favorites category. In this evenings prime time game Big Al says the Falcons roll. A+ Play

Team	W/L	Comments
Buffalo (+) @Denver	W	The Bronco's are off two emotional victories against top caliber opponents. The Bills are playing with spirit and have breathed life into their running game. Look for them to put up enough points to keep it close, and maybe even catch the Bronco's napping.
Carolina (+) @Minny	W	Anybody can throw on the Vikings. Minnesota is hurting in their already thin secondary. Rodney Peete won't turn the ball over and may even look like he's 29 again, against this porous Viking defense. Poor Greg Biekert - he's a class act, and the only player the Vikings have on defense that knows what he's doing out there. Carolina should challenge for the straight up victory.
New Orleans (+)	W	Upgraded 9/20/02 We hit this one on the ML. Like the way the Saints are playing. We thought they might not be cohesive after their off season losses and the way they finished out last year. But these guys look like the real deal. The games on turf as Chicago is playing at Memorial stadium while Soldier field is being renovated. NO has a good defensive front line and the Bears O-line has had trouble against Minnesota's undersized front 7 and at Atlanta.
@SanFrancisco	W	Updated 9/21/02 Spurrier still working diligently on his golf game, and his coiffure. Think the Niners have forgotten Tokyo? San Fran's strength on defense is the middle of the D-line - ooops that's right where Stephen Davis likes to run. Look for the Niners to make the two headed fun-n-gun beat them through the air (neither of which is a starting caliber NFL QB). Davis' streak of 100+ yard games ends here. A trend, motivation and SOW unit2unit match-up advantage to San Francisco.

ALSO LIKES: NYG, Houston, New England, San Diego, Tampa Bay, DALLAS +9!!! - oh yes, I'll take a slice of that action

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2002 Year To Date Statistical record (ATS)

2002	WON	LOST	PCT%
A+ Play	1	2	33%
A Plays	5	2	71%
B Plays	23	15	61%
Total	29	19	60%