yearof
that is a very nice compliment. thank you. you do bring up a point that i will use to kind of side-track the issue:
i have had a couple of exchanges with nolan on this subject, specifically the part about record keeping, with me insisting that it should not matter. in particular nolan, who has more than demonstrated his writing abilities, football skills, and i now have more respect for him for his frankness and openness. he has shared much of his personal life and convictions, with the full knowledge that it may cost him commercially. a straight shooter; love him or leave him. i truly respect that. ok, so he has a little problem with the s and c and maybe the ie, ei, but gee, the man is not perfect!!
putting myself quite distant from nolan, who puts boggooo hours on this and pays a lot of attention and knows much about the technical aspects of the game, my argument to him has been that he should steer himself away from showing a record. let the reader judge him by his contribution and insights, not by his w/l record. he could go 65%, or like this year, last time i looked, i think he was under 50%. time will tell if he can get up to the 60% or not this year. man, that is a lot of pressure, and we all have to wonder if that will not affect his future picks this year. does it make him any less valuable? not in my book.
nolan, yourself, and many others on this board, provide excellent insights into games. some of us have a better grasp of certain teams/confrontations, and by far none of us has a complete handle on all the games.
to equate this valuable information and justified opinions, or rather, to potentially degrade this professional work, based on an "official" record, is in my view a simplistic way of destroying the great efforts presented here by nolan and others.
i will give you one good example:
we have (or had) a sports writer in the miami herald who picked 3 or 4 games a week, with a short resume of his reasons for the pick. i don't remember if he actually used spreads or not, but his insight was very helpful and pertinent, so i made it a point when i was there to look up his comments on the games. was he performing a good job, despite not showing a record? was his work commercially justified? absolutely, on both counts.
as far as myself, you are absolutely right about your critique, and i am quite aware of it. quite frankly, when i go to the match-up forum or make a comment on a game is precisely because i see a strong angle on it. i won't jump on a thread for the hell of it. then, as has happened in the past, i will post my picks at aces at the spur of the moment, just like i did last week. the picks themselves not necessarily matching my strong opinions on the games. go figure.
as far as a job, well, i feel just right were i am: i like these guys, what they do, their aggressiveness, and will share their success and help out whenever i can, without any type of financial interest; i don't need it, i don't have the time and rather enjoy things as they are. i have indicated this to jack and nolan, and am now developing a lot of respect for bubba, and how he keeps that forum alive with a lot of pertinent info and comments. another wise choice by jack. how can you help not liking this guy?
btw, i will take the boy as a compliment as well, as my yob is in my user name.
keep trucking, guy, you are doing ok.
pep
