The Yellow Jacket Pick last night has LA CryingCan I blame my newborn son for that horrific pick of Miami over Georgia Tech last night?  While I would like to say that he is crying like the little tyke in the picture and that his crying distracted me and caused that pick last night…the truth is, Daniel is an absolutely wonderful kid and, if my pick was indeed unfocused, I have no one to blame but myself.  Heck, I was likely more distracted by an episode of Ellen than anything Daniel might have done.

It's 4th and 1.2 (percentage points) to go for LA Picks12 weeks down, 3 (plus the magical bowl season) left.  With 80% of the season "in the books," it's fourth down and 1.2 yards to go.  Why 1.2?  Because LA Pick Performance is 58.8% (50-35-1) ATS for the year...1.2% below my goal of 60%.  So, I need a 5 win (or better) performance this week to reach my goal and then drive to the final goal line.  Given my outstanding midweek performance (11-6, 65%), I'm going for both Top 25 Matchups in the midweek with Ball State (-6.5) @ Central Michigan and Miami, FL (+4.0) @ Georgia Tech.

What special delivery does the stork have in mind for Week #12?Well, that worked.  On Friday, November 11th…one day after posting the picture of me touching the “Pick like a Champion Today,” I was picked as a Dad for the third time.  Born at 2:10pm, Daniel came into the world and changed my life forever.  Welcome to the world Danny…your Mommy wishes I had touched that sign one week earlier  In addition to bringing Danny into the world, my “pick mojo” catapulted me to a 3-0 Thursday night …lifting the LA pick performance to 58.4% (45-32-1) ATS on the year.

Going 3-5 in his last 8 picks, LA calls on some special mojoIf the house wasn’t cleeeeeean before, it is following that reaming I received from Ball State last night. WR Louis Johnson (yes, you read between the lines correctly...L{ewis takes a} Johnson), who had just nine catches all season, caught six passes for 165 yards and a TD in route to a 45-14 blasting of the ninth best scoring defense in the nation.  So, today is the day I need to pull out the “Pick Like a Champion Today” sign and press on.  And with a couple of field goal spreads tonight, I need to step it up and bring my “A game.”

Real Election Night 2008: "Pick" the Huskies in an upsetTrick?  Wow – that was more like an Exorcism.  After suffering my first losing week of the season, LA Picks fall to 42-31-1 ATS…or 57.5% correct for the year.  While under my goal of 60%, there are 5 weeks left in the regular season and I am still outpacing my rivals over at collegefootballnews.com – whose top analyst is picking at a 52.2% clip ATS.  So, consider the demons gone..."this house is cleeeeeean."

More Halloween Masks from LA (will some doctor's masks be involved also?)Well, that was certainly a pitchfork right up the ol’ pumpkin.  And certainly my worst pick of 2008.  There must be something to that ‘666’ thing.  Coming into last night, I was 39-27-1 overall ATS this year (59.1% correct) so I need to rebound from last night’s embarrassing pick to close solid and get above the magical 60% barrier.  So, let’s get right to it with my second PICK OF THE WEEK (7-4 in 2008 with last night’s loss): Pittsburgh @ Notre Dame (-5.5)