Blanco pulls away, Mahi passes Brooks

The dynamic duo are no more as John Blanco gained some separation from last year’s champion “Good” Will Hunter after three weeks of crossing the finish line together in the local prognosticator race for first place in the National Football League.

The dueling Shell Lightning linemen parted ways as Blanco climbed to 71-31 while Hunter slipped to a still respectable second at 69-33.

Blanco came out smelling like a rose by taking Jeff Garcia and the Detroit Lions over the Trent Dilfer and the Cleveland Browns, but that wasn’t the only right call he made against Hunter.

Blanco opted for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Giants, while Hunter went for the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Diego “Super” Chargers, and the Denver Broncos in their respective match-ups.

Hunter wasn’t all bad, as he correctly predicted that the Chicago Bears would maul the Baltimore Raven and that the Oakland Raiders would belittle the Buffalo Bills to finish 9-5, but it wasn’t good enough to top Blanco’s mark of 11-3.

Good as he was, Hunter wasn’t even the week’s second best prognosticator, as that title went to Jon Cramer and the Lil’ Mahi with twin 10-4 records.

Everyone lost out by picking Brett Favre to lead the Green Bay Packers over the hapless Minnesota Vikings, but the crew from the “Love Boat” found a way to pull off a second half comeback to temporarily divert attention from their affair afloat.

Cramer’s only other mis-picks occurred when he went out on a limb with the New Orleans Saints over the St. Louis Rams, the Tennessee Titans over the Arizona Cardinals, and the Browns.

I’ll cut him some slack on the Saints pick because there’s no telling what Rams team will show up from week to week, and I picked the Titans myself because I love to bash the Cards because they stink. Unfortunately, they pulled one out over the T-Men and made me eat my words and my hat.

That was music to the Lil’ Mahi’s ears as that was the final pick that sent him ahead of Rich Brooks in the overall chase and over .500 for the first time all season at 52-50. Too bad for the trash talking Psycho Gnome, as he pulled out a stinker with a lousy 5-9 effort that sent the once first place pundit to the cellar at 51-51.