Brooks baffles, Cramer does it again

Believe it or not, Rich Brooks came out of relative obscurity to take a share of the weekly title with his second best outing of the season, at 11-5. The Psycho Gnome got plenty of luck when he shaved off the facial chia-hair as he earned a case of frosty goodness as Miller Lite’s Pigskin Picks top prognosticator.

Though Brooks was good, he was not alone at the top, as the VIP from PIC got a key win from KC in SD. Jon Cramer’s Chiefs flipped the Chargers in San Diego to give him the edge in the week for his fourth win of the season.

There will surely be a wager in his future when he picks up all four cases of party juice, and it may come soon as his USC Trojans are on the verge of winning their third NCAA title when they take on the Texas Longhorns Thursday morning.

While Cramer and Brooks were able to celebrate the wins, John Blanco was just a game behind at 10-6. Even though he was unable to delight with the Lite, Blanco is just a couple of days from wrapping up the regular season title as Top Prog.

After leading the Shell Lightning to their first title in the Commonwealth Football League, Blanco is about to unseat “Good” Will Hunter to take the Miller crown as well. The player coach improved to 173-67, and took an eight-game lead over his closest competitor.

Hunter manned the Lightning line to earn his piece of history, but he dropped the ball last week with a dismal 7-9 record. The typically stable Hunter was unable to break even for the first time since he went 7-9 in Week 2, but this loss set him two games behind Cramer (165-75) for the runner-up spot in the overall standings.

At 163-77, he still has a shot to regain second place, but it will come down to only four games. Hunter opted for the Broncos over the Chargers, went for the Browns over the Ravens, took the Bengals over the Chiefs, and was the only one of our party of five that went for the 49ers over the Texans. Cramer went the other way on all of them.

It’ll be tough, but equally exciting to see how the match-ups.

The Lil’ Mahi finished with a 9-7 record that put him in the fourth spot for Week 16, and at 145-95 he is still in control of fourth place. There is no way that Brooks can catch him from 15 games back, so the pint-sized pigskin guru can add the Psycho Gnome as his first victim.

The kid has a knack for calling the shots, and this week he looked past his love of the Arizona Cardinals and went with the Indianapolis Colts—Good Mahi.

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HUNTER
My Guaranteed Pick of the Week has to go out to the Indianapolis Colts. I think Manning and gang will pull together to deliver a win. Along with Seattle, they have proven to be the other team to beat. I think they will use this game to prepare for the Super Bowl—yes, the Super Bowl. I would be shocked if they didn’t make it to the big one this year.

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BLANCO
My Guaranteed Pick of the Week is Dallas over St. Louis. Parcells will lead the Cowboys into the playoffs on the arms of my fellow WSU Alum, Drew Bledsoe. Sorry Rams, the Kurt Warner days are long gone. As for the Rose Bowl, I look forward to USC fighting a hard battle against Texas and coming out with the win. I want to hear USC’s “War” Fight Song all day long. God knows it’s a catchy tune! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a big win for the PAC-10!

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BROOKS
My Big Daddy Sure Shot of the Week is that I am going to get jobbed at the office one again! As for football, I’m thinkin’ that the Moon over Mi-hammy Dolphins will pull an upset over the Patriots in Foxborro. The chances may be way out there, but hey, so am I baby! Stay classy San Diego.

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CRAMER
My lock of the week is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home against the New Orleans Saints. Bummer of a year for the Aint’s, but hopefully they will rebound. Go USC!

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LIL’ MAHI
My Guaranteed Pick of the Week is the Seattle Seahawks over the Green Bay Packers. The Pack doesn’t stand a chance against Seattle. Shaun Alexander will run all over their defense, and I predict he will rush for two touchdowns. The Seahawks will make Swiss cheese out of the Packers!