I think it's only fair that if I blamed Fooch for picking all the easy games a few weeks ago, that I should also blame him for picking all the hard games this week. I don't think that a single person even predicted the correct outcome in more than half of games. Think about that: even with the New York lock over Seattle, NOBODY (I think) so much as got the winner right in more than 3 games.

So, you know, thanks a lot, Fooch!

Disembodied Voice: Yeah, Fooch is a jerk!

My, that was uncalled for. I'd apologize, but I make it a point not to apologize for voices which my body is clearly not the source of. We'll just have to hope that whoever it was who said that comes clean, and makes up for being so unjustly rude.

Disembodied Whistling: [onomonopoetic whistling noise]

-

All that crap aside, I think we finally have proof that the football gods, as well as the baseball gods, have a sense of humor. And more than that - that all of them are laughing at me:

"I took Pittsburgh just because I thought that of two bad teams, Pittsburgh has shown a little more this year and their defense is a lot better. That was the one I waffled on the most, though, by far. The homefield team scares me (homefield RULED the day last week)."

 - howtheyscored said this. Word for word. No embarassing grammar mistakes or anything. Just believe the blockquote, already.

You can see the joke they're playing on me here. Arizona aside, I picked every single other game this week to the home team - largely because I was playing into the homefield advantage that had killed me the week before. And those jerk football gods screwed me for it!

To think, if I just would have kept my fat mouth shut, San Francisco, New Orleans and Philadelphia would have won and I would have had 3 perfect scores! Next week... next week I'll beat the system....

At least my Fantasy Football team finally won a game! My next goal for the fantasy football season: win another game.

New England @ 49ers

1. groug (2)
2. good as gold (4)
3. albertoleecho, wjackalope (14)

Pittsburgh @ Jacksonville

1. howtheyscored, Netsky (4)
2. Ninjames (10)
3. 408, sfgfan (12)

Minnesota @ New Orleans

1. albertoleecho (6)
2. jtoj (8)
3. StrictlyFootball, Mike Hawk (12)

Washington @ Philadelphia

1. marcello (4)
2. good as gold, Vote4Gore (8)
3. JerseyNinerFan, Ninerfromacrossthepond (12)

Seattle @ New York Giants

1. Niner Fan Lost in WI (20)
2. 49erLou, Ninerfromacrossthepond (22)
3. marcello, Illini49er, Vote4Gore (26)

Buffalo @ Arizona

1. StrictlyFootball, mojorisin' (26)
2. wjackalope (30)
3. proudcanadian99, albertoleecho (34)

And that makes our week 5 leaderboard look like this:

1. wjackalope – 28
2. proudcanadian99 – 18
3. albertoleecho – 17
4. marcello – 16
5. 49erLou – 13
5. howtheyscored – 13
7. 408 – 12
7. jtoj – 12
7. Netsky – 12
7. Niner Fan Lost in WI – 12
7. StrictlyFootball – 12
12. CB30 – 11
12. good as gold – 11
14. bayboy – 10
14. Fooch – 10
14. Ninerfromacrossthepond – 10
14. Number22Drew – 10
14. youngbuckeroo – 10
14. sfgfan – 10
14. Vote4Gore – 10
21. Josh from Hollywood – 9
21. montasmob69 – 9
21. Mike Hawk – 9
21. mojorisin’ – 9
21. Ninjames – 9
26. illini49er – 8
27. groug – 7
27. sam23 – 7
29. PHUT! – 6
30. etb2 – 5
30. gatling – 5
30. J2daZ – 5
33. Ali4President – 4
33. camwoody – 4
35. JerseyNinerFan – 3
35. Rishi – 3
35. shlecko – 3
35. SuperFly – 3
35. The Golden One – 3
40. Ceradecke – 2
40. KingofDucks1987 – 2
40. UnleashTheGore – 2
43. DiegoAsFan – 1
43. jfainsf49 – 1

Thanks to, as I believe I already mentioned, Fooch's genius "hardest week evar" lineup of games, we had a relatively quiet week. Some people continued to really help their causes, though.

First and foremost, we should all take note of how albertoleecho is climbing the ladder. He picked up another 5 points in a very difficult week and closed in on second (which proudcanadian99 only BARELY held onto by having the balls to pick Arizona over Buffalo). More than that, though, he gained even more ground on wjackalope and is making a great pace at the moment.

Which isn't to say that wjackalope had a silent week. He picked up a few points to inch closer to breaking the 30 point barrier.

I want to mention that Mike Hawk only got one prediction in this week, on Monday night, and damned if he didn't make it count! He picked up a solid point in a week that he could have booted altogether. To this point, I remember seeing 3 people put in predictions after the 10:00 a.m. games started, and every one of them, to my memory, has benefited from the few picks they did get in.

Even if you miss a game or two, you can still help yourself out.

I did continue to be more lucky than good this week. I only scored in one game, but, once again, I made it a win. I can't possibly keep that up, and my only hope of closing any gaps going forward is to make better overall picks. Luck runs out. Good just, er, runs.

Fooch told all of us that he was going to make his move this week, but that was just a juke. He's definitely making it in week 12. This is insider stuff I'm telling you. Go to Vegas on it.