https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/page/2/?d=4WordPress Posts: WordPress Postsenhttps://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-bettors-bracket-fillers-should-regret-picking-duke-in-the-ncaa-tournament/By now, you are either aware of how fortunate Duke is to still be in contention for the NCAA hoops title, or you are sipping Soylent in an underground bunker while waiting for a conjugal visit from Pamela Anderson. In other words, you are beyond pity.   You do, however, meet all pity requirements...6395Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-set-your-eyes-to-zion/March Madness is finally upon us, and, like spring, it somehow seems to be late this year. Perhaps this is because of February Madness, otherwise known as the White Plague. Maybe I'm overreaching. The actual Black Plague killed as many as 200 million people -- or about the same as the number of Du...6353Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-super-bowl-participants-may-not-be-deserving-but-the-league-is-ok-with-that/THURSDAY, JAN. 31 -- It's 29 below outside, and the icy stab of what appears to be the apocalypse finds its way through every pore in my obsolete house.   I am supposed to be pondering trivial issues such as the impending Super Bowl, but promoting the corrupt enterprise known as the National Foot...6193Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-the-negative-indicator-returns-for-championship-weekend-picks/Offense, as we all know, wins games in the NFL. Whereas defense...well, perhaps not this year.   Given that for the first time ever, the top four offenses are playing in the league championship games, it might be time to reconsider a venerable but, perhaps, obsolete axiom.   It stands to reason....6147Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-debating-the-kiss-cam-and-a-divisional-round-pick/The final seven games of the NFL season often produce memorable results, but that doesn't make them wagering opportunities. Indeed, as the games get bigger, the lines get sharper.   If, like me, you are stuck, it's probably best to move on. No, no, not with your life; that would be an inappropria...6110Fri, 11 Jan 2019 22:08:35 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-mama-gelfand-champale-and-a-wild-card-pick/My mother viewed herself as something of a social renegade. Although she stopped short of embracing the lifestyle of her somewhat felonious cousins, she spent her maternal years inhaling unfiltered cigarettes -- Lucky Strikes come to mind -- and, when the occasion demanded, chugging down bottles o...6065Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-the-negative-indicator-and-week-17-picks/With my bankroll imploding and my mind on more important things (namely the loss of a close friend), I've decided to let my picks speak for themselves this week. Which, in itself, is scary enough. We'll be back with another podcast to kick off the playoffs next week.   Lately, I've been getting c...6030Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-that-aint-my-truck-and-a-week-16-pick/That ain't my truck in her drive Man this ain't my day tonight Looks like she's in love and I'm out of luck That ain't my shadow on her wall Lord this don't look good at all That's my girl, my whole world But that ain't my truck And so we consider the phenomenon known as the Bad Beat....6002Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-miracle-revenge-games-and-week-15-picks/New England at Pittsburgh: It was a cold December day when the New England Patriots took the field in the Steel City last year. Brady vs. Roethlisberger. The genius coach against the not-a-genius coach. Perhaps the biggest game of the year in the AFC. For precious minutes as the game was ending, i...5959Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-the-serial-offender-and-week-14-picks/Of late, I've found myself to be surprisingly disputatious when discussing our mildly serious fantasy football league. Maybe it's low blood sugar, or arthritis. The irritation gets a bit worse each year, even though I've never seen eye-to-eye with some of my rivals.   None of this involves me any...5930Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-of-mice-and-men-and-week-13-picks/It has occurred to me of late that I might be one of the worst football handicappers between Nevada and wherever I happen to be on a Sunday afternoon. This, if true, would be no minor accomplishment. The bleached bones of failed gamblers litter the homicidal sands of the Mojave, a reminder that to...5892Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-fear-loathing-giving-thanks-and-week-12-picks/I rushed into a designer grocery store on Monday, determined to fight my way through panicked consumers in an attempt to acquire the staples needed to assemble my legendary wild rice dish.The dish, I should note, is a marvelously healthy, vegan-certified side. A little high on the carbs, but glute...5852Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-the-wisdom-of-mike-gundy-and-week-11-picks/Now that the statute of limitations has run out, I can admit that I used to write speeches for the president of a thriving life insurance company.   I learned two important lessons from this soon-to-be obscenely wealthy executive. First, I learned that the backbone of the industry, the venerable...5820Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-reckless-abandon-and-week-10-picks/Hours before Pittsburgh demolished Carolina in the Thursday night game this week, I watched a puckish ESPN reporter delivering the big news: Antonio Brown had just been ticketed for driving more than 100 miles per hour in a 45 zone. The Pittsburgh-based reporter grinned as she disclosed that the i...5791Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-jimmy-one-shoe-and-week-9-picks/It's Breeder's Cup weekend, which means it's time to tell a sad story about an old racetrack pal. So this is the mostly true story about my friend Jimmy One Shoe, whose rags-to-riches-to-rags story probably resonates for anyone whose desiccated soul belongs to those cruel ovals.   Jimmy was the a...5763Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-mnf-insights-and-week-8-picks/These are sullen, polarized, vicious, violent and pretty much despicable times. And that's just on the football field. Look past America's pastime (sorry, baseball) and things may even be worse.   Which is why today we might want to enjoy a few refreshing moments of jocularity as we consider the...5722Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-bad-baseball-beats-and-week-7-nfl-picks/For reasons I can no longer recall -- hell, it's been two weeks already -- I placed a wager on Houston to get to the World Series. I'm guessing it was because of the Astros' great pitching. One thing I know for sure: it wasn't because of A. J. "Always Jittery" Hinch's sagacity as a manager.   Yes...5689Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-week-6-picks-and-the-gamblers-annoyance/Losing irritates any sane gambler. Going an absurdly unlikely 0-3 can cause momentary episodes of irrationality. No, I would never kick my cat. But I would throw a remote across the room as I watch Matt Ryan avoid a sack by simply handing the ball to a defender and then duck for cover as the defen...5650Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-week-5-picks-and-spawning-nematodes/So, after all the fuss, the whole thing was a sham. And boy, did those wise guys on Park Avenue have us fooled. We actually believed that the NFL was going to crack down on roughing-the-passer perpetrators. Maybe even catch up with the NCAA, which actually ejects players who try to inflict brain d...5607Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-week-4-picks-with-a-dash-of-apostasy/Perhaps I shouldn't admit it, but I enjoyed watching the Vikings lose to the Rams on Thursday. Before I am banished to the hacky-sack beat, I should add that it wasn't actually the losing I enjoyed. Just that it was an entertaining game for the few of us who had no emotional investment in the outc...5577Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-carlson-kicked-to-the-curb-and-week-3-picks/I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in my dismay and shock after the news that Minnesota's own Daniel Carlson had been booted from the Vikings' roster after playing just two games. The proud Norwegian had kicked footballs and some serious butt in the exhibition season, but then he...   What's that? He'...5535Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-find-a-friend-who-can-guess-games-wrong-for-you-and-week-2-picks/As NFL shills used to say, even the worst teams can win on any given Sunday. And that's also true for the worst gamblers. The point spread is so good that luck can trump sagacity at a frightening rate. A player might decide to return an interception for a meaningless (hah!) touchdown as the clock...5504Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-fantasy-football-with-pinsky-the-85-year-old-former-professor/Wasn't it Robert Frost who asked:   “Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?”   I think of Frost's poem every August, because that's when Minnesota's...5365Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-twins-may-require-a-longer-rebuild-to-fix-current-situation/For long-suffering Twins fans, the front office decision to pretty much start all over was a bitter pill to swallow. I can relate. Oh, I'm not really a Twins fan, but I have swallowed a lot of bitter pills in my time.   Most of them palliated my pain or my depression, which is exactly the opposit...5305Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000https://wolvesdaily.com/news-rumors/mike-gelfand/gelfand-can-anyone-beat-justify-in-saturdays-belmont-stakes/Before I throw out some picks for Saturday's Belmont Stakes, it's only fair to acknowledge that the 1 1/2 mile race is a vestigial ritual that became archaic decades ago. Which might be one reason you haven't detected much Triple Crown Mania lately.   Now that I've got that out of the way...   S...5011Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000