Let's Go Streaking: Foz attempts to win $1million

[SirFozzie]

ESPN has a new web game, called "ESPN Streak for the Cash".

They provide somewhere around 10 games a day for you to select a winner from (some are prop bets, for example, there was one today, asking what will be higher.. Tennessee's margin of victory over UCLA, or UCLA's longest rushing TD). They are intended to be as close to equal as possible.

you try to build a streak of as many correct picks in a row as you can. If you can somehow make 25 correct picks in a row, you'll win $1 million (the first person to do so wins the million). The longest streak monthly wins $2,500.

So, here we go.

[SirFozzie]

Here were September 1st's Choices:

PGA (Deutsche Bank Championship): Which golfer will have a LOWER SCORE after 9 holes?
Scott Verplank v Robert Allenby

PGA (Deutsche Bank Championship): Which golfer will have a LOWER SCORE after 9 holes?
Vijay Singh vs Sergio Garcia

U.S. Open (Men's - 4th rnd): Who will WIN the match?
Mardy Fish vs #32 Gael Monfis

MLB

Straight Up Winner
Yankees-Tigers
Mets-Brewers
White Sox-Indians

Prop Bets
What will be higher: Roy Oswalt Strikeouts, vs Cubs Hits off Oswalt

Soccer:
FC Metz (Win or Draw) vs Montpelier (Win)

College Football
Straight Bet
Rutgers vs Fresno State

Prop Bet
Tennessee's Margin of Victory vs UCLA's Longest TD run.

I stayed away from the prop bet. I wanted to pick the Tigers against the Yankees, but got cold feet at the last moment. I decided to go with Rutgers over Fresno State.

Rutgers was a five point underdog per Vegas, but I figured that even without Ray Rice, they could put pressure on Fresno State (who has been anointed as this year's "BCS Buster" from the media), and win at home.

Unfortunately, the Rutgers offense choked away chance after chance int he first half, and when the half ended 0-0, I pretty much knew I was not going to get my first pick right.

Indeed, Fresno State kicked butt in the 2nd half, 23-7 final.

So.. the streak counter stays at 0. But tommorrow's a new day.

Tommorrow's picks to be posted soon.

[SirFozzie]

September 2nd selections:


WNBA Games
Indiana Fever (13-15) @ Washington Mystics (10-18) (95.8% of picks favoring Indiana)
New York Liberty (15-12) @ Houston Comets (14-14) (85.6% picking New York)

MLB Games

Straight Up Picks:
New York Yankees (73-64, Mussina on mound) @ Tampa Bay Rays (84-51, Garza on Mound) (74.8% picking the Rays)

New York Mets (77-61, Niese), @ Milwaukee Brewers (80-57, Parra) (91.2% picking Brewers)

Oakland Athletics (63-74, Gonzalez) @ Kansas City Royals (57-79, Greinke), (54.1% picking Royals)

St. Louis Cardinals (74-64, Wainwright) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (70-67, Petit) (81.8% picking the Cardinals)

Prop Bet:
MLB PHI @ WAS: Which side will record a HIGHER total in the game?

Cole Hamels Strikeouts vs Washington Nationals Walks+Runs Scored (75% choosing Hamels)


My pick? The prop Bet:

Cole Hamels is averaging 7.7K per 9 innings. He's got a 3.13 ERA and gives up 2 walks per 9 innings. Plus he's facing the Nationals, who are an offensive team in only that their hitting is offensive. So I feel pretty safe at taking this bet.

Why the prop bet after deciding not to the day before? Well, the WNBA games were right out, I don't know enough about them to make an informed pick. the MLB games were somewhat interesting, but I had a gut feel that went against the vast majority of the picks there, so I decided to stay away from it. But looking at the prop bet, I was pretty confident I had a good shot at that one.

[SirFozzie]

BTW, just answering questions

Q: Do you pick against the spread?
A: No. Most all picks are straight up and down (if a game isn't listed as a prop bet, it will be "Who Wins".

Q: Are you limited to 1 pick a day?
A: Yes and no. You're limited to 1 pick active at a time. (for example, when I picked the Rutgers-Fresno State game, I couldn't pick any other games until that game completed.) So depending on the time frames, you could get 2 or 3 picks in, especially on the weekend when there's college football games all day


Oh.. also, feel free to make fun of my picks, tell me which game/pick you would have made instead, or generally make fun of my selections here

[SirFozzie]

They've added two propbets from the US Open:

U.S. Open (Women - Qtr. Finals): Who will recorded the FASTEST SERVE in the match?

#15 Patty Schnyder (SUI) vs #5 Elena Dementieva (RUS) (91.3% Dementieva)


U.S. Open (Men - 4th Rnd): Which side will yield a HIGHER TOTAL in their match?

Gilles Muller (LUX) - Aces vs #5 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) - Games Won (93.3% to Davydenko)

Here's the thing. the two matches above are at 11:00 and 1:30 tommorrow. So it's like a free pick, I can pick the women's match prop bet, and then when it is over, repick my Cole Hannels bet.

Dementieva goes about 100 MPH on average with her serves. Schnyder, I can't find any thing about, but she's not a hard server either. I'll go with what everyone else is picking

[SirFozzie]

Apparently, we're all idiots Dementieva's top speed on serves was 107 MPH, Schnyder's was 109. 0-2, but since it was a free pick I'm not too bummed out.

Selected Hamels again

[SirFozzie]

Looks like I'm in good shape for my evening pick:

Cole Hamels currently has pitched 7.1 innings, no runs, 3 BB's, 6 K's

[SirFozzie]

Here's tommorrow's picks

MLB CWS @ CLE: Who will have MORE total bases?
12:05 PM
Carlos Quentin (CWS) -- (23.3%)
Grady Sizemore (CLE) -- (76.7%)

MLB NYM @ MIL: Which team will record the FIRST extra base hit?
New York Mets -- 59.6%
Milwaukee Brewers -- 40.4%

Seattle Mariners (54-83) Hernandez -- 32.0%
@ Texas Rangers (67-72) Nippert -- 68.0%

Scottish Division One: What will be the match result?
Soccer
Ross County F.C. Win or Draw -- 2.2%
@ Queen of the South F.C. Win -- 97.8%

3:40 PM
St. Louis Cardinals (74-64) Lohse -- 78.2%
@ Arizona Diamondbacks (70-67) Davis -- 21.8%

U.S. Open (Women - Qtr. Finals): Who will WIN the match?
7:00 PM
Tennis
#4 Serena Williams (USA) - 88.6%
#7 Venus Williams (USA) -- 11.4%

7:07 PM
MLB
Minnesota Twins (77-60) Blackburn -- 52.7%
@ Toronto Blue Jays (70-66) Burnett -- 47.3%

MLB Wednesday Night Baseball: Which result will yield a HIGHER total?
7:10 PM
Carl Pavano (NYY) Strikeouts -- 51.4%
Carlos Pena (TB) Total Bases -- 48.6%

8:10 PM
Oakland Athletics (63-74) Eveland -- 93.6%
@ Kansas City Royals (57-79) Bannister -- 6.4%

10:00 PM
WNBA
Minnesota Lynx (14-14) -- 73.9%
@ Phoenix Mercury (12-16) -- 26.1%

[SirFozzie]

Well, I'm officially on a win streak (yes, 1 counts as a streak) the top streak is 7 right now, so I don't think anyone will be winning a million, but hey, gotta take step 2 and see how far you can get.

I have two plays for today

The 2:45 Scottish League 1 game.. I'm going with the crowd and choosing Queen of the South to defeat Ross County.

For the evening play... I'm either going to go with Pavano (K's) over Pena (Total Bases) or the straight Oakland A's win.

[SirFozzie]

Well, good news is Queen of the South won 1-nil, so my streak is at 2..

the bad news is I forgot to make my evening pick, so my streak is stuck at 2 over night