Lurker > Esuriat

Thanks everyone!

And yeah, the Chargers are who I debated with myself on possibly picking over the Jags. But I have a definite preference for home teams.

There are like three matchups I feel like I never ever want to touch because it always seems random and they don't have any regard to the actual strength of the teams: Ravens/Steelers, Titans/Colts and Giants/Commanders

That said, I never expected this would have happened. Feels awesome!

Jaguars over the Titans felt like a trap because AFC South is a volatile division, but Texans over the Cardinals felt like an even bigger one to me. Never even considered that one, although it turned out okay there also.

RikkuAlmighty posted...

Wow!

ie zowie!

My representative, Abigail Spanberger, won't run for reelection to focus on running for Virginia governor. I don't know if that necessarily makes VA-7 flip red because she really isn't as strong of a candidate as a lot of Democrat strategists think she is. But she probably beats whatever insanity comes up from the Republicans because I'm pretty sure these midterms convinced them that Youngkin isn't far-right enough. If she gets the nomination, that is. I'd be pretty amused if she doesn't.

I had strongly considered going with the Bengals this week and saving the Cowboys for their game against the Panthers next week to get the best chance of setting a new personal record getting to Week 12. But right as I was going to lock in with the Bengals I didn't feel right about it and defaulted to safest pick possible.

That said if the Cowboys blow a 14 point lead to Tommy DeVito it will be the funniest thing ever.

my gatekeeper!

shit

Yes

Thorn posted...

Recent polling actually was/is showing RFK Jr. is pulling more votes from Trump than Biden - which isn't surprising given he's basically gone full alt-right. One imagine Stein jumped in at the behest of those who saw that and realized "oh shit, should have just stuck with a proven commodity."

Oh for sure, I definitely expected RFK Jr. to hurt Trump way more than Biden. I still kind of see it as pulling more from RFK Jr. (and Cornel West) than from Biden. Like in 2016, she mostly just gets votes that might not have ever been cast in the first place. She's been quite a strong isolationist for a while and the rhetoric has only strengthened since Ukraine got invaded. I also remember Stein was adjacent to the pre-covid antivax crowd, though she never actually acknowledged this one way or the other.

Jill Stein really crushing RFK Jr.'s chances here!

I didn't participate during most of the years documented on the spreadsheet, but for years I appear on it this is definitely my best performance for duration into a season. By position I did get tied for 2nd on that weird season that saw all but six of us gone by Week 3. I actually remember the exact game that knocked me out on my best run from earlier, though:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/291122012

I picked the Steelers here. Lost to Matt Cassel lol

So yeah, if I survive this week I at least tie my best.

Towers

Yeah, it looks like Dems will have a two seat lead at least in both. All campaign messaging from Democrats included credible comments from most of their Republican opponents about their willingness to pass total abortion bans. Meanwhile Republicans touted claims that their Democrat opponents "want more criminals on the streets." There was almost nothing else across all campaigns I saw advertisements for. Youngkin meanwhile kept going around declaring that a 15 week abortion ban was a "common sense consensus that Virginians could come together on." Apparently not!

Also a little victory from my county: In a school board race in a pretty conservative district, a woman who campaigned on a policy of "increasing transparency on mental health issues with parents" which very clearly included a belief in outing trans kids to their parents lost by 12 votes.

I doubt my votes for Virginia Senate and House of Delegates will make a big impact in these deep red districts, but you never know. Turnout appeared to be pretty strong across the board here, and the weather really encouraged this.

I'm pretty anxious about what will happen if the Democrats don't at least keep the Senate here. Youngkin is basically DeSantis but in the phase of pretending he isn't.

Break the targets

Army

Trek

I've only watched it streamed (about 4-5 hours worth) but it's a fair bit better than I would have expected. I don't particularly care about Robocop but it seemed pretty fun despite its extremely clear shortcomings. Graphics are somehow both nice and terrible. The environments look good but character animation and design are clearly subpar and awkward. Voice acting is definitely in "so bad it's great" territory. Exploration actually seems fun. Combat pacing is actually pretty decent. The upgrading and leveling system is a little superfluous but I still like it.

ass

Tendies

Holiday

Late

They just need the Jets to fumble a little closer to the endzone this time.

Arachno

Dolphins

oil

Ice

Mosh

on arrival

God

I'd been really tempted to take the Giants because of an incredibly strong gut feeling inspired by the Commanders losing to the Bears earlier. But honestly, after their past couple of showing the Seahawks aren't really that much more valuable to hold onto versus the Giants anyway.

Apples

one

Sprite

Jean-Luc Picard

a man?!

already dead

Soul

I haven't played the latest three, but from the rest it's certainly Yoshi's Story. I used to not like it but it's grown on me a fair bit with time. I love the art direction now and the little extra challenges are fun. A single playthrough doesn't overstay its welcome.

Yoshi's Island DS is a weird case because at times I feel like I'm almost playing Yoshi's Island again, and Yoshi's Island is just about my favorite platformer of all time (and favorite SNES game) but then it gets bogged down with not really doing anything new, slowing you down with the extra baby gimmick and the music being horrid, especially compared to Yoshi's Island. It's also far less fun to 100% the game. I still like the game, but it also still disappoints me so much.

Yoshi's Cookie is fun and better than lots of other puzzle games of the era, but isn't really great.

Yoshi is fine, but I tire of it quickly. Nice music, at least!

I have nothing to say about the tech demos except that I don't like them.

10 minutes before the games started I almost came in here to flip to picking the Eagles. Glad I held!

Fuck

bones

(drank the bone hurting juice)

They did not, in fact, ultimately hold on.

It was 29-0 at the half lol

Stanford's Elic Ayomanor was pretty incredible. Nearly received for 300 yards and is pretty much why this happened

Even if Colorado ultimately holds on, giving up a touchdown to Stanford on every possession in the second half is a funny look