If You Want REAL Winners; Listen to Me, Not Baum

Over the first few weeks of the season I would glance at my good pal Baum's "can't miss picks of the week" and at times I would just find myself laughing. How do you pick against Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the same week? Those picks might even be worse than the Cleveland Browns performances so far this year. Baum, stop holding out hope. Derek Anderson is NOT the savior.

Enter me. I mentioned to Baum earlier in the year that we should make this competitive. He said no. He was scared. And after an 8-12 start on his part, I can understand why. Beginning this week, I will give you MY 5 picks of the week. Now, I'm not going to give you any guarantees or anything but I can promise you I won't do as bad as Baum. If I do, then I'll just blame the swine flu or Eric Mangina.

1. Virginia Tech (-17) at Duke
Coach Beamer and crew have played well all season except for maybe two quarters. They looked like they pulled all the pieces together last week when they absolutely clobbered Miami 31-7. Don't look for them to fall asleep against Duke this week. Virginia Tech covers the 17 points.

2. USC (-5) at California
Who would have thought that both of these teams are playing in a "must-win" game the first weekend in October? Well this game could very well be one of those situations. California got absolutely rocked last week by Oregon on the road. USC has looked great at times and bad at times. Losing to Washington and struggling in the 2nd half against Washington State. Look for the game to be close but my gut tells me that this is the worst USC team we have seen in Pete Carroll's tenure. However, USC still finds a way to win by 7.

3. Cincinnati Bengals (-6) at Cleveland Browns
This game actually scares me a little bit and I'll tell you why. By no mistake am I saying that the Browns are any good, but they have a chance to win this game. And by chance I mean, as much of a chance as Baum has at beating me this week. The thing that scares me is that it is hard to swallow the fact that the Bengals are legitimate. I want to believe it just seems too much like an oxymoron to me. Derek Anderson will try his best to give the Browns a chance to win. I'm going against my gut here, and am going to say..... Take the Bengals, AND the points.

4. New York Giants (-9) at Kansas City Chiefs
I know I'm picking a lot of road favorites to cover, which statistically is not a favorable choice, but the reality here is the Chiefs are almost as bad as the Browns. They got ran over last week by a Philadelphia Eagles team that is not as good as the New York Giants, especially on defense. Look for the Giants to continue their fast start and improve to 4-0. Giants win by at least 10.

5. Green Bay Packers (+3 1/2) at Minnesota Vikings
As if we aren't all intrigued by this matchup. Brett Favre finally gets his chance to play his former beloved Green Bay Packers. I'm emotionally invested in this game as I'm sure a lot of the fans that will be watching are. This is a toss up. Favre was miraculous last week with his 4th quarter comeback. How will he handle the nerves, and the pressure to win this game? Aaron Rodgers also has a lot to prove in this, did-we-forget, huge divisional rivalry. I'm pulling for Brett Favre to have a performance of the ages, but I'm betting on Green Bay to cover the points.


So there you have it folks. My introductory picks of the season. All I really care about is that I get more correct than Baum does, cause he stinks and he's a Browns fan. FHL.com.

Word.