Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Sometimes it leaves us at a loss for words

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4076.

Every time I see somebody go 14-0 or 15-0 in one of the contests in town that offer weekly prizes for whoever has picks the most NFL winners, I'm amazed.

Even without point spreads, choosing every game correctly is like watching Lance Burton or Penn & Teller perform a trick onstage: You've just seen it done, but you still have no idea how.

A big part of the allure in participating in these contests is the hope that one week you'll get everything right and beat tens of thousands of your closest friends and capture a weekly prize, or at least a share of one.

Last week was my big chance. One contest offers entrants the option to try to correctly pick all of the losing teams. Anyone who has read this column over the years knows that I have a special talent for picking losers, so that always has been my approach. It's the same reason I always play the "don't pass" line on the craps table. If there was a Loserville, I'd be the mayor.

I marked off every loser in the morning games. Dolphins, check. Cowboys, check. Falcons, check. As the afternoon games kicked off, I was halfway to being a winner by losing.

The Cardinals' monumental choke against San Francisco kept my perfect ticket alive on Sunday afternoon, and all I needed to head into the evening game without picking any winners was for Seattle to have protected a 17-point lead at home, a stadium in which the Seahawks had not lost since 2002.

I had chosen the Rams to lose, but St. Louis rallied in the final nine minutes to force overtime, and won the game in sudden death.

Still, Washington's spirited come-from-ahead loss to Baltimore gave me a ray of hope heading into Monday night. There were several upsets and I thought maybe a ticket win one victory had a chance to tie for the best mark.

It did. All I needed was for Tennessee to fall at Green Bay and I would have collected more than enough to cover the season's expenses for all of my contests.

The sports books believed Tennessee was the inferior team, by listing the Titans as 3 1/2-point underdogs. Each team was only 1-3, but Green Bay's one victory came on Monday night, in the season opener at Carolina.

The Packers also were playing at historic Lambeau Field, where they were nearly unbeatable from 1996-2002, posting a 53-7 record.

It didn't take long, however, for me to realize that even in an attempt to pick losers, I could find a way to lose. It felt like Hank had just finished singing the introduction when I looked up and saw Tennessee ahead 17-0.

The onslaught was on, and the stats were flowing on the screen to rub it in. With more than six minutes to go in the first quarter, the Titans had equaled the highest first-quarter score of any opponent in the storied history of the stadium, which I believe was donated by the French in the 1800s.

OK, so it's only 47 years old, but I doubt a team ever has outgained the Packers 146-5 in the opening minutes on the famed, although not yet, frozen tundra.

Still, with the Leader of the Pack, three-time MVP Brett Favre at the helm, I held out hope that Green Bay would climb back into contention. After all, the Packers had never started 1-4 in Favre's 13-year career. They had not been three games under .500 at any point since 1992.

Favre threw what appeared to be an interception, but was overturned by instant replay, and Green Bay kicked a field goal late in the quarter to close to 17-3.

When Tennessee faced a second-and-32 situation thanks to a couple of penalties, I started to believe again. Three plays later, however, it was 24-3.

I watched till the bitter end, and it was bitter indeed. The Titans put 48 points on the board -- the most ever by an opponent at Lambeau, and Green Bay committed six turnovers.

The idea of Tennessee winning wasn't that far-fetched, but suffice it is to say that I wasn't planning on seeing Favre on the sidelines in the fourth quarter as someone named Craig Nall took snaps. I was reduced to rooting for a guy I'd never seen or heard of, and possibly would never see again. This kid didn't go to Northwestern, where I may have seen him. He went to Northwestern State, wherever that is.

Ironically, I was one loser short. Anyone got a mirror?

This week's picks: A 2-1 record against the spread puts me a game above .500 for the season at 8-7. This week, I'll try the Redskins -1 against the Bears, the Packers-Lions over 44 1/2, and the Rams -7 over the Buccaneers.

archive