Week 4 Gambling Lines

The gambling lines have officially returned from hiatus.  I will pause to allow each and every one of you to celebrate as you see fit.  I know I’ve let so many of you down in the past, but my solemn promise is to never again disregard your collective kickball addiction (until next week).  If you’re new to the league or need a refresher on the gambling lines rules because they haven’t been posted in months, here is how the game operates.  Readers are encouraged to make their picks against the lines set by the 3 Up, 3 Down crew on the weekly podcast in the comments section below, or in the alternative, make your picks in the comments section of the Facebook post of this article.  If you’ve been doing your deep research on injuries, inner-team dynamics and player work schedules, and you can pick 8 out of 9 games correctly you will win free beer at Luckie’s!  So, to recap: if you take 7 minutes out of your busy schedule to read this post, then all you need to do is invest another 30 seconds to type in your picks and maybe take another 45 seconds to tell me what a moron I am.  In return, you earn the chance for FREE BEER.  Where else is the risk/reward structure so heavily slanted in the favor of the pseudo-gambler?  Nowhere outside of a Nigerian email scam as far as I know.  Enough talk…it’s time to get it on.

Just for Kicks (-7.0) over Rumspringa

The Springa have struggled early in the fall campaign, while JFK is off to one of their hottest starts in recent memory.  Last week saw continued JFK dominance over Pitch Please while the Rumspringa faltered after a hot start against the 5 O’Clockers.  This game has me feeling a little like King Solomon as I am forced to pick betwixt my two biggest kickball crushes on the Peninsula: Troy “The Blind Squirrel” Southall and Ms. Emily Ross Cook.  While I ride out this emotional rollercoaster privately, I have no qualms about publicly predicting a JFK victory.  The Freed could take a holiday in Cambodia this week and the Dead Kennedys would still be able to pull out the win.  Somewhere Matt Wellbrock just shoved his Jay Cutler bobblehead and Ricky Holmes quietly stepped into his “anger dojo”.  I hope it helps.

5 O’Clockers (-3.5) over Pitch Please!

Both of these squads impressively overcame early deficits in their week 3 victories, most notably Pitch Please’s 5 run outburst in the bottom of the fifth to steal a win away from the Chubby Gangsters.  The Clockers have gathered their lunchpails and punched in after a week 1 loss to JFK and are living up to their blue collar name.  We expect a workman like performance again this week as the Clockers look to boost their title defense with a game they should win.  However, looking past this talented Pitch Please team would be a mistake as they are led by talented veterans who have brought in a host of soccer talent. 

Battlestar Ballsacktica (-2.5) over Foul Balls

Both of these teams have seen marked improvement over the past two seasons in what should be a quality matchup.  Both teams feature a long bomber with Dennis Gholson and Geoff Morehart as well as underappreciated chargers with Joe Presault and Michael Machie on Foul Balls and Battlestar, respectively.  This game should be decided by the lesser known role players on each team where Battlestar has a laundry list of quality veterans and the Foul Balls have….Wade Brock.  Yikes.  Andy Doye…show me some photoshop to prove me wrong!  WAKA WAKA!

Free Ballin’ (-2.0) over Chicken Tetrazzini

The Free Balls are off to a considerably better start (3-0-0) than last season’s 0-0-3 beginning while the team of Paul’s favorite entrée had their early season winning streak snapped by the Battlestar.  The Angry Birds like to play long ball, but I’ve yet to meet the woman or man who can consistently send a Mark Flores pitch deep.  The edge goes to Free Ballin’ on the strength of their all-around defense which features quality players in all of the key positions. 

Chubby Gangsters (-2.5) over New Kickheads on the Block

The Kickheads have shown improvement in the fall season where really all they could do was improve over a forgettable spring campaign.  The Chubbies have a let a couple of games slip out of their grasp in the early going and find themselves sitting at 2-2.  If Kim Merritt can push last week’s loss out of his mind, if he can even remember last week’s loss, then the Gangsters should move forward and get the win. 

Peanut Butter Jelly Time (-11.0) over Wasted Talent

Commenters on the PBJT Facebook group page took issue with this line.  Did you hear that Wasted Talent?  Give ‘em a little jelly and they want a damn peanut butter jar. 

Kick Ass vs. The Situation Pick ‘Em

KA1L has shrugged off the pundits’ talk of a “rebuilding year” in starting out to a 2-0-1 start while The Situation has fought to two hard earned ties against elite Peninsula teams in the past two weeks.  Both teams have tied Burning Bridges 2-2, which makes this an especially difficult game to pick.  My inside sources tell me that the outcome could be heavily decided by who shows u p and is available for each squad.  Therefore, in one of the biggest games of the week I present the 3U3D “copout pick of the week!” Go ahead and Pick ‘Em!

Burning Bridges (-2.0) over Foot Snipers

The Bridges have been hot, hot, hot while the Foot Snipers have missed the mark in the opening three weeks of regular season competition.  Could a Snipers squad this talented really fall to 0-4?  Will the Bridges refocus after a distracting week in the media and other kickball fields to assert themselves as contenders?  Will Ryan Schmid’s GoPro camera prove that Justin Schauf catch any footage of Justin Schauf on the kickball field?  So many important questions to be answered in this primetime matchup, however, the house has to give the edge to the team that’s playing the best kickball right now and in this matchup the Bridges are the overwhelming choice.