The "experts" continue to climb up the banana tree of pigskin "punditry" in an effort to chase down Bonzo the Idiot Monkey and save themselves the embarrassment of losing out in their season-long NFL picks to a mammal with a cranial cavity half the size of the average human's.
Still, it will come down to the wire as Bonzo the Idiot Monkey, our resident coconut-chucking, pigskin prognosticating primate, clings to a narrow, one-game lead over his top competitor from CBS Sportsline's panel of "experts." CBS publishes these picks under the guise of an "Exclusive Feature" on the Web site. Apparently,the heading "Even a Coin-Flipping Monkey Can Do Better than Our Experts" didn't go over too well in a meeting of the editorial board.
Here's our suggestion: Find some new "experts."
Each week, Bonzo puts his picks up against those of four "pundits" from CBS Sportsline: Minister of Hackery
Pete Prisco, Clark Judge, Greg Bromberg and Michael Fabiano.
How does each participant in our contest pick their games? Well, the "pundits" at CBS Sportsline have years of experience writing about football, access to the most sophisticated and expensive data out there from every major stat service, a full command of rudimentary stone-chipping tools and, as writers for the official news source of NFL.com, inside access to every NFL locker room.
Bonzo blindly flips a coin. And he's a monkey.
You would think humans with every imaginable advantage over a lesser species would cruise to victory. But you'd be wrong. Bonzo the Idiot Monkey took over first place in Week 10, pulled away in Weeks 11 and 12, came down from his treetop throne a bit over the last two weeks, but is still more than holding his own against the so-called "experts."
The bottom line: If you're turning to CBS Sportsline for guidance in the world of gridiron analsis, you're climbing up the wrong tree. Even a stupid monkey can outdo these donkeys merely by flipping a coin.
Here are the results of our competition so far this season, along with this week's picks at the bottom.
|
|
Bonzo |
Prisco |
Judge |
Bromberg |
Fabiano |
|
Week 15 |
8-8 |
8-8 |
11-5 |
10-6 |
7-9 |
|
Overall |
118-99-3 |
115-102-3 |
114-103-3 |
110-107-3 |
117-100-3 |
Week 16 picks:
|
Favorite |
Spread |
Underdog |
Bonzo |
Prisco |
Judge |
Bromberg |
Fabiano |
|
at Cincy |
-13.5 |
Buffalo |
Cincy |
Cincy |
Cincy |
Buffalo |
Cincy |
|
Pitt |
-7 |
at Cleve |
Cleve |
Cleve |
Pitt |
Pitt |
Pitt |
|
at KC |
-1 |
SD |
SD |
KC |
KC |
SD |
SD |
|
at Miami |
-5.5 |
Tenn |
Miami |
Tenn |
Miami |
Miami |
Miami |
|
Jax |
-6 |
at Hou |
Hou |
Jax |
Hou |
Jax |
Jax |
|
at NO |
-3 |
Detroit |
Det |
NO |
NO |
Detroit |
NO |
|
at Carol |
-5.5 |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Carol |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Dallas |
|
at Wash |
-3 |
NYG |
NYG |
NYG |
Wash |
Wash |
Wash |
|
at TB |
-3 |
Atlanta |
Atl |
TB |
TB |
Atlanta |
TB |
|
at St.L |
-9 |
San Fran |
St.L |
St.L |
St.L |
St.L |
SF |
|
at Ari |
-1 |
Philly |
Philly |
Ari |
Philly |
Arizona |
Philly |
|
at Sea |
-7.5 |
Indy |
Indy |
Sea |
Indy |
Indy |
Seattle |
|
at Den |
-13 |
Oakland |
Den |
Den |
Den |
Oakland |
Denver |
|
Chicago |
-6.5 |
at GB |
Chi |
GB |
Chi |
Green Bay |
Chicago |
|
|
-2 |
Minn |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-4.5 |
at NYJ |
|
|
|
|
|