Back after a week break

Happy Friday,
I am back from Asia and ready to give you another week of free money picks.

College

1. Penn St. -24.5 vs. Michigan. Michigan was always going to be in for a tough season, but this is getting ugly. Penn St. will not let off the pedal. I expect them to take this by at least 4 touchdowns at home.
2. Texas -4.5 vs. Missouri. Colt "45" McCoy and compay are riding high after putting away OU last weekend. They return to Austin, TX and will want to show the home crowd what they are made of.
3. Over 44 in the LSU-South Carolina game. I think LSU will take this one, but it will be close and high scoring.
4. Texas Tech -21 at Texas A&M. Also, leaning toward the over here.

NFL

1. Dallas -7 at St. Louis.
2. New York Jets -3 at Oakland
3. Over 35 in the Pittsburgh-Cincinatti game.

That is all i got this week. 7 Free money picks for you. All favorites and overs. Like I've said before, I dont like it when I pick all favorites. We'll see.

As they say in France (and in parts of Belgium),

Bonne Chance,

$NDIRISHJER€

In China this week

Hello Everyone,
I am touring around China this week and my access to the Internet has been spotty at best. Therefore, I am only going to give you picks.
College

1. Oklahoma -24.5 at Baylor.
2. Kansas -11.5 at Iowa St.
3. Alabama -15 vs. Kentucky
4. Texas -12 at Colorado (FREE MONEY PICK OF THE WEEK!)
5. Over 46.5 in the North Carolina/Connecticut game.
6. Ohio St. -1 at Wisconsin
7. Missouri -10 at Nebraska

NFL

1. Buffalo +1 at Arizona
2. Over 33 in the Tennessee/Baltimore game.

There you go. Not happy about picking all favorites in the college section, but I got to go with what I feel.

good luck out there. Have a good weekend. As they say in Belgium,

Bonne Weekend,

$NDIRISHJER€

Go Beavers!

Well that is how I like things. I get on a plane, go to sleep, wake up and realize my dream has come true! Southern Cal loses to Oregon St. I did not get to see the game, but I am sure it was a delight for much of the country, especially in SEC country.

This week I a just giving you picks. No commentary, just picks. Take'em or leave'em.

College

1. North Carolina +7.5 at Miami.
2. Wisconsin -6 at Michigan.
3. Over 58.5 in the Texas/Arkansas game.
4. Over 54.5 in the Oklahoma/TCU game. (I am also tempted to take OU -18.5)
5. South Florida -9.5 at NC State. (big let down by the Wolfpack after they knocked off ECU last week)
6. Over 39.5 in the Miss. St./LSU game.

NFL

1. Philadelphia -3 at Chicago.
2. Over 42.5 in the Green Bay/Tampa Bay game. (also like Green Bay +1).

OK, that is all I have for right now. I hope everyone has a good Friday.

Happy Birthday to Sandman!

Find the Free Money, it's out there!

$NDIRISHJER€

That is why that call it gambling!

This is not about Lehman, Morgan, Goldman, or any of the other big professional gambling houses that are collapsing after losing major bets. I kind of feel like is it LTCM all over again and no one really knows what they are betting on and how much it is worth. Everybody has a side of a bet, but they don't really know much about it. Did nobody really learn when LTCM went belly up (or is it belly-up?).

Anyway enough about Wall St. "One thing is for sure" (borrowing a line from my Belgian friend), you will not be successful if you don't do your homework! I have been in India for the better part of this week and not really been able to give this the attention it needs, but I am not letting that stop me. Come on 6s and 8s! Let's go to the craps table:

College

1. East Carolina -7 at NC State. Yes I am going back to the Pirates. The ECU offense is averaging over 100 more than the Wolfpack and their defense is holding opponents to more than 100 yards less than them too! I feel you can't get anything less than a push here. Good risk to take.
2. Central Florida +10.5 at Boston College. If Central Florida can make it a close game against SoFla last week then they can at least keep it close against BC. FYI (Central Florida was out gained by South Florida by 278 yards).
3. Florida -7.5 at Tennessee. I am not quite sure what to say. I just don't see Tenn. keeping it close.
4. Vanderbilt +7 at Ole Miss. Can Vandy make it to a bowl game for the first time since 1984?
5. Wake Forest +4.5 at Florida St. FSU will find out this weekend it is not a top 25 team.

NFL

1. Over 51 in the Dallas/Green Bay game. I like offense.
2. Atlanta -5.5 vs. Kansas City.

OK, well I gotta run to dinner here in India. I might get on later, but i wanted to get this out there for parlay Friday!!

Enjoy and good luck,

$NDIRISHJER€

Um...I'm sorry. Week 2 kicked my A$$.

What a week alright; a week to forget! I followed up my opening weekend with a pathetic 2-6 (2 wins, 6 losses). This puts me at 7-8 for the season in week 2. Could someone please tell me how ND only put up 21 against SDSU? How did South Florida blow that kind of lead late in the game? I think someone should investigate why Urban Suckmeyer kicked the late (very late) field goal against Miami!

OK I will stop complaining now. There is no use to it. You can (and should) learn from it and move on. So without further delay here are my picks for this week. These were made after I learned from week 2; I am not sure what the hell that means, but take it for what it's worth.

College

1. California -14 at Maryland. This line opened up at 11.5 and has now been moved to 14. I suggest you back the team who beat Washington St. last wee 66-3 and not the team who lost to Middle Tenn. St. 14-24 and only put up 14 against Delaware. Cal beat Michigan St. to start the season and I expect them to roll to 3-0 here against the Terps.
2. UCLA +8 at BYU. The refs at the BYU-Washington game obviously did something very wrong according to the Mormons and were trying to right themselves by giving out a stupid penalty to let them win. I hope for their part it worked, because that was the most bassackwards asinine call I have seen this year (it is only week 2 and I expect there to be a lot more of these during the season). UCLA beat Tennessee week 1 then had a week off to prepare for BYU. This will be BYU's first big test of the season. No way they cover this by more than a TD. Tempted to take them on the money line.
3. Auburn -10 at Mississippi St. Last year the Bulldogs came into Auburn and beat the Tigers/Eagles straight up. Auburn remembers this. They will seek revenge and putting up at least 4 touchdowns and holding Miss St. to 14 points or less.
4. East Carolina -13 at Tulane. I know it seems like I am jumping on the bandwagon here with this pick, but I hey when i see free money i have to point it out. East Carolina has come into 2008 with something to prove. I think coach Holtz the younger is doing a great job and will keep the team balanced and emotions in check. The Pirates (which is a cool mascot) will stay disciplined and beat Tulane for the third year in a row. They cover, but not so easily.
5. Vanderbilt -8 vs. Rice. Rice pulled out a victory over Memphis and I give them props for that. Good come from behind win and they are 2-0! I have been riding the Vandy gravy train this season so far (2-0 ATS) and I think they will make it 3 wins against the spread tomorrow against Rice.

NFL

1. Green Bay -3 at Detroit. It is amazing. How do the Lions always disappoint. Season after season. All I can hope for is making some money off of them.
2. Pittsburgh-6.5 at Cleveland. Pitt has won that last 9 meetings between these two teams, while covering the spread in all but two (one loss, one push). The Steelers move to 2-0. Unfortunately, it will be the exact opposite for the Browns here; 0-2.

Well there you have it folks. This weekend I am definitely going to watch the Michigan-Notre Dame game and of course the USC-Ohio St. game. A game I am also interested in is the Oregon-Purdue game. No I am not a fan of big drums or crazy uniforms, but I want to see what each team is made of. Tempted to take Oregon (-8) and the over (60.5), but i will hold off until I see what PU is made of.

Good Luck out there. Hope Mr. Suckmeyer does not kick a late field goal t ruin it for you.

$NDIRISHJER€

Building on a 5-2 week!

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to everyone out there,
I hope everyone enjoyed their first weekend of college ball and was lucky enough to make some dough if that is your style. I had a pretty decent weekend when I was picking the games; however, I got killed in my friendly pools where the games are given to you.

This weekend the Irish open up the 2008 season against San Diego State. Last week the Aztecs got beat by Cal Poly 27-29. Cal Poly rushed for 263 yards on 5.2 yards per carry. Unbeleivable. Coach Weis says the Irish are going to pound the ball this year and with three talented backs, I don't see any reason why ND can't put up at least 350-400 yards rushing against SDSU and several TDs. Furthermore, five defensive linemen for SDSU went down with injuries in the game. If ND fails to win by more than 10, we'll be in for a long season.

This weekend I am looking forward to the West Virginia-East Carolina game. I think this will be a good game and if the weather turns bad on Pat White this might be closer than the experts think (sorry). I am also looking forward to the Stanford-Arizona St. game. I am kind of thinking upset here. The Sun Devils need to be on guard!

OK here are your Free Money Picks for this weekend.
College

1. BYU -9 at Washington. Willingham is desperate for a win, but it will not come here. He won't even come close here.
2. Over 42.5 SDSU at Notre Dame. IF Cal Poly can put up 29 on SDSU, I think ND alone should cover the over. Given that ND's defense has been a little suspect we can bank on SDSU scoring at least a couple times. Easy money here.
3. South Florida -13.5 at Central Florida. Don't get me wrong I like George O'Leary, but he does not have the horses here to keep up with the Bulls. South Florida takes it by at least two touchdowns.
4. Miami +23 at Florida. If I told you Miami has beaten Florida the last 6 times they played would you believe me? Well they have and they covered the spread in 5 of those contests. Given they have not played since 2004, but I think Miami will be up for this game and at least keep it within 3 Tds.
5. Texas -26.5 at Texas-El Paso. There is a lot of hype in El Paso for this game, but they were beaten by Buffalo (not the Bills) by 25 last week. I am not saying Buffalo is a bad team (they will probably beat Pitt this week), but Texas is better than Buffalo and should easily roll in week 2 again.

NFL

1. New York Jets -3 at Miami. Not picking this because Favre. Picking because the Dolphins are still bad.
2. Detroit -3 at Atlanta. A rookie QB in week 1. I dont like it.
3. San Diego -9 against Carolina. San Diego starts there march towards the playoffs. Let's hope LT stays healthy and they keep covering lines.

That is all i have for now. Please share any thoughts, wins, or losses you have.
Good luck and have a good Friday,

$NDIRISHJER€

Opening weekend is finally here!

I miss college, but at least I can watch college football almost anywhere in the world these days. Well opening weekend is here and I am already on the plus side for the season (Thank you Wake Forest and Vanderbilt!). I am still working on some more picks, but i have some sure winners you might want to include in your picks this weekend.

The first week of college football is excitingly unpredictable. A lot of teams are playing I-AA teams, or teams that probably should be I-AA, and this results in spreads that can be 4,5 or even 6 touchdowns! I tend to shy away from anything over 4 touchdowns. There is just not enough history with these teams to know what will happen. Will New England University come out, play their first string the entire time and put up 100 against The Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too University (aka Boston College.....just joking)??? Anyway, there are just too many unknowns. Don't play games with more than a 4 touchdown spread and try and stay away from the super hyped up teams who have not down anything for the past two years.

Ok, enough; here are my picks for the 1st weekend of college football.

1. Texas -23.5 against Florida Atlantic. Texas always comes to ready to play and I am especially excited about their new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Get ready for a high scoring affair here in Austin. I admit, I am also a little intrigued by the over/under of 65.5, but that seems a little high for me.
2. Illinois +8.5 against Missouri in St. Louis. I think this early season match up of two teams coming off good seasons last year will provide for a good, close match. Zook has been recruiting like mad and I am long on Illinois for the season.
3. Auburn -26 against Louisiana-Monroe. Since the year 2000, Auburn has played them 3 times (02,03, and 04). Each time they beat them by at least 31 points. The spread was 35,37, and 36 respectively. Auburn will come out again this season and beat them by at least 4 touchdowns. This one did get close to my 4 touchdown rule!!
4. Over 43 in the Southern Cal/Virginia match up. I really wanted to go with Virginia +19 (maybe even on the money line), but I don't feel good about that one so I am going to take the over here and think these two teams will put up more than just 7 TDs between them.
5. Over 51.5 in the Wisconsin/Akron game. The weather is still good this time of the year and opening games always have lots of points. Badgers win, both teams score at least 3 touchdowns.
6. Louisville -3.5 against Kentucky. They may not be the same Louisville we have known the past few years, but they will do enough to beat Kentucky by more than 4.
7. TCU -6.5 against New Mexico. The favorite has covered the past 5 meetings between these two teams. TCU wins this by a TD or more.

Those are my seven picks for this week sans NFL. You can play them any way you want. I recommend you dont play anything larger than 3 team parlays and don't put more than 5% your bankroll one any one outcome.

That is all i have for now. Please share any thoughts, wins, or losses you have.

Good luck and have a good Friday,

$NDIRISHJER€

P.S. Sarah Palin just walked out to the music from "Rudy".

Welcome to the 2008 Season

Hello Everyone,
Happy Thursday and happy start to the college football season! As some of you know there has been very little activity on here for the past several months, but that is because I am devoted to giving you the best free money picks I can give you and don't want to waste your time with too much rambling on about nothing. This weekend I will give you 10 'free money' picks. These will be up later today or at least by tomorrow. Don't worry you will have plenty of time to get on your 'online account' and make use of reduced juice Friday (AKA parlay Friday). This weekend will be all college picks because NFL has not kicked off yet; regular season anyway. Starting next weekend I will give you 10 picks and try to split them evenly between college and NFL; however, I am a true believe that the NFL market is much more efficient than the college market. Meaning that I believe lines are more likely to be mispriced at the college level.

Anyway, check back later on for picks and other sporting topics throughout the season. Picks will be up every Thursday/Friday giving you plenty of time to strategize and get settled before gameday on Saturday mornings. I might throw in Thursday night game every now and then. It really depends on what is happening this season.

Between now and when my picks are up I am sure you can find a lot of material to start reading out there, but I thought this was particular good article (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/notebook?page=notebook/onthemark0827).

What is wrong with the world when a Harvard guy is starting for LSU at quarterback?

More to come,
$NDIRISHJER€

MJ and other stuff

Hello everyone,
Well it is about time for football season to get started again and I cannot wait. Once the season starts I will be putting up my weekly picks. Stay tuned, but in the meantime check out this video of Michael Jordan. Yes he does kind of pick on kids in it, but the man can still play and I really do believe that he could kill Kobe if they played one-on-one in their prime.


I hope everyone has had some time off. I cant wait to pick it back up and give you some free money picks!

$NDIRISHJER€

Clausen. Is he really a Heisman candidate?

Today, over at Hot Clicks, at si.com I saw a link to a guy who listed some candidates for this years Heisman. He had Jimmy Clausen (QB at Notre Dame for those of you who don't like college football) on the list. This got me thinking about if this guy really has a shot at the Heisman. ND is coming off its worst season in history and is definitely going to make some improvement here, but the way it is these days you have to not only be the best athelete, but you have to be on one of the best teams. Just think about it out there. I would love hearing from some of you out there on ths subject if you got the time. If you want to see the link here it is, http://heismanpundit.com/archives/1591. He also poses a rather simple question. Who will win more games this season; Notre Dame or Michigan. Is this guy serious????? There is no way in hell that the school up north will win more than ND no matter what kind of stuff Rico Rod pulls up there.

That is all. Till next time good luck picking winners.
J$

Senor White, I wish you well.

I found this post very interesting. As you all know, Kevin White recently departed Our Lady's university for people who like to call themselves dookies. Good job.

Anyway, I found this article about the BCS and why ND is so coveted when it comes to bowl games. Basically we have good fans who are willing to travel no matter what the circumstances. I think White sold us short during the last round of discussions regarding BCS payouts. Read link below.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/27815-Notre-Dame-Football-Joined-a-Conference-For-the-BCS-060608

In other news, I am happy that Big Brown did not win the Belmont (and the Triple Crown). Dutrow and company do not understand the signifcance or the treasure that is the Triple Crown. Sounds like a bunch of low lifes got lucky, bought some horses and think they should be handed the trophy. False! I hope this humbles them a little. This is something reserved for great men and even greater horses. I hope everyone who attended Belmont park had a good time regardless. I was not there, but I enjoyed by taking Da'Tara acroos the board! I kind of had to when the horse was named Tara, the jockey was named Alan Garcia, and Big Brown was setup for this kind of failure. I look forward to seeing Brown again in the future, perhaps against Curlin, or maybe even a rematch against Casino Drive and/or Da'Tara.

Remember, 1-4 odds even come in dead last some time.

J$

You want to save it? Buy some shares.

People are concerned with losing Anheuser-Busch to InBev. Not sure if the big boys are leaning one way or another, but I tell you what might help. If the good people of America who want to save it went out and bought some shares. Word is that SABMiller might be runner up choice so there might be no need for a proxy fight, but if you are worried about this grab some shares of BUD. The US dollar decline, along with other conditions, have made American companies cheap to foreign firms. I am not saying that this is bad or good, but just reality. Today, 1 Euro gets you ~$1.57. If i was InBev i might go shopping too! They already distribute Budweiser and Bud light in Canada, now they figure why not the US.



More Later

J$

Ronaldo

This past week we got to see Manchester United and Chelsea square off in Moscow for the Champions Leage final. I was pretty excited for the match because these are two great teams and they just wrapped up a damn close Premier League season. Good game. I just can't seem to like Ronaldo. For those of you out there who dont follow soccer too much he plays for Man. U. and has a kind of euro style mullet thing going on and he can never come through in the clutch. the final game came down to penalty shots. Ronaldo was up 3rd and when he got up there he did this stupid little stutter step thing. 1st of all, this looks stupid and i thin gives away your spot everytime, because it just gives the goalie that much more time to read your body. This totally plays to the keepers advantage. Secondly, if he made it there is a chance the ref would not allow it anyway. Needless to say, he missed, but he got very lucky and his team bailed him out. This is a guy who might get a contract that pays 280k USD every week! Ridicuous. Dont get me wrong he has talent, and i like seeing him in some one on one situations, but there is no need to give this guy that kind of dough. I will be excited to see what happens in the Euro 2008 tournament starting in a couple weeks. Always nice to have a little international competition mostly because i know the already low productivity in the european offices will fall even further. Alright folks. It has been a lazy, but good weekend in Brussels. there were some riots here, but nothing too exciting, which is a good thing.

In case you want to see the PK i was talking about. It takes place around the 3:10 mark. http://youtube.com/watch?v=kvnr-HgfzLA

hasta luego,
J$

EGYPT

Hello Everyone,
It has been a while since I posted, but hopefully some of you are checking back once in a while. I am rested and refreshed and looking to get going on some writing. Took a two week trip to Egypt, and went all around; Cairo, Abu Simbel, Aswan, (cruised up the Nile to) Luxor, and saw the Red Sea at El Gouna. Been out of touch with the world for a while, but saw that BIG BROWN (stupid name) took care of business a the Kentucky Derby. I also saw, sadly, that Eight Belles, did not make it. Always a sad affair, but part of the sacrifice that comes with the sport, just like any other.

Good luck out there if you are trying to handicap this NBA playoff season. I am not much into putting any money down on basketball, save the NCAA tournament. I will be back trying to give some more insight on the Egypt trip, the second and thirds legs of the Triple Crown, and the Champions League final coming up 1 week from today in Moscow (this should be good considering it was a fight to the finish between Man. U and Chelsea for the English crown too!).

Take it easy.

J€

Back at it

Well Everyone I have taken a little hiatus from the sports betting world, but I am happy to announce I am back at it. Since my last post in November, I did a little travelling and sought some guidance from different experts and soothsayers around Europe. I am back with a fresh new perspective on things and plan to put my newfound wisdom to use; that means picking winners. Lucky for you I am back at it before the NFC and AFC title games.

Let me just say before I get to the picks that I think it is a foregone conclusion that New England will win the Superbowl. You may not like them, the coach, or the way they are doing it, but that is not going to stop them.

This weekend we got the Giants against the Packers and the Chargers against the Patriots. Taking a look aroud the books, the Pack are giving up anywhere from 7 to 8 points. The Patriots are giving 14 to the Chargers. Taking a quick look at these games I would like to take the favorite in both. We saw a preview of these games on September 16, 2007 and both GB and NE won ATS and the game, but there has been a lot of change since then. For one thing, the cold weather and wind is supposed to affect both games. I believe in this to a degree, but don't think it changes things drastically. I really believe that playoff games in the NFL comes down to experience, talent, and injuries. San Diego is just too banged up to compete with Brady and co. If the other Manning was at the helm for the Gmen, maybe, but not today.

NFL Picks
1. Take the Green Bay -7.5 over New York
2. Take New England -14 over San Diego

Bonus picks for the day.
3. Marquette +2.5 at UCONN-NCAAB
4. West Virginia -7.5 at South Florida-NCAAB
5. Michigan St. -1 at Minnesota-NCAAB

Getting back on track
$NDIRISHJER€