KC's Thanksgiving Weekend Preview
Thanksgiving is such a joyous time of year isn’t it? I don’t think it gets much better than massive amounts of food, quality football and obscure freeloading relatives that your not really sure really belong at your holiday party. I swear some years I think they let hobos in off the street at my aunt and uncles house. Everyone continues to swear up and down I’ve met these people but I maintain my suspicion that it may be some type of Obama-Initiative conspiracy. Anyways before I go off on a political rant, let me change the subject.
I know I disappeared from the RotoGrinders landscape for quite some time and although I’m sure you don’t want one, I’m going to offer an explanation. Hurricane Sandy. No I wasn’t swept away to some obscure island without electricity or left in the last house in the Northeast without power. In fact, I’m a Midwesterner. No fellas this storm affected me in a way unlike most others. You see I work in the Insurance Industry. So when a natural disaster like Sandy strikes I’m stuck in the office 60 hours a week filling out paperwork, getting people new houses and putting lives back together. I don’t want to say I’m a hero…I’ll let you be the judge of that. What I will say though is that I missed RG Nation and I’m glad to be back.
So here is an entire paragraph of the things I want to say that I couldn’t while I was locked up in insurance world. Here we go:
Cameron – congrats on the big $10k win on Draftkings. Maybe now you can step out of Cal’s GPP success shadow. GeneralV, good to see you back on top. Just another huge name to add to the who’s who of big players going to Vegas for this year’s FFFC. Gonna be an outstanding event, can’t wait for the RG Coverage. Dan – congrats on the first seat for the DFBBC. You are probably the coolest bald guy I’ve ever met. Peter (CSURAMS) – congrats on the new job at StarStreet. I have no doubt that you and Jeremy together will continue to mold that site into one of the industry leaders. HeadChopper & Cal – Lovin’ the battle you guys are staging for Super Bowl Tix on DK. Epic stuff. Gary Bettman – I miss hockey.
That’s all for that. Hope that covers most of the important stuff.
Now lets get to the actual point of this article (which some of you probably have abandoned already). I’m gonna give you a little preview of the Thanksgiving Weekend Happenings in the sports world. In honor of what is for most a four-day weekend, let us start with the top four things I’ll be looking forward to simply as a fan of sports this weekend.
1. First for me has to be Notre Dame going up against USC on Saturday for the opportunity to play in the BCS National Championship. For those who don’t know I’m an avid Irish fan and this has been a joyous, and lets call it ‘unexpected’ season. I always make fun of Cameron for his undying love for Tim Tebow, but I think my man-crush on Manti Te’o may be nearing that same unhealthy stage. With Matt Barkley out I’m not quite as nervous, but if the game is close in the 4th quarter, all of Thursday’s turkey is sure to be rumbling around in my stomach.
2. I would be remiss if I didn’t use the #2 slot to mention the other marquee matchups on the docket for this CFB Saturday. I’m not sure if ESPN has branded this ‘Rivalry Weekend’ or not but essentially that’s what it is. The slate of games is pure ‘In-state Sexiness.’ Oregon and Florida are still clinging to National Title hope as they both face TOUGH road tests at Oregon St. and Florida St. Let’s see if these tough road tests prove to be too tough, or if we will get a few upsets to ‘shake things up’ for a 2nd consecutive Saturday.
3. If I were doing these in chronological order the Turkey Day NFL Games would have come first, but I never have been keen on following conventions. We got three decent matchups on Thursday that should at the very least give an outlet to avoid awkward life conversations with your nosy, prying relatives. Patriots/Jets probably holds the most appeal just because they hate each other, but I think RGIII could become America’s darling if he puts on a show against America’s team on Thursday. Make sure to fill your plate early as this should make all three NFL games Thursday should make for some quality ‘food-coma’ television.
4. Hopefully by the time Sunday Night rolls around all of our stomachs are at least halfway recovered from the abuse we’ve poured on and in them. I’m sure we’ll all be in a bad mood as we come to the harsh realization that the over-eating is over and that the Monday Morning workday is right around the corner. But don’t forget about the great matchup we got going on Sunday Night between the Green Bay Packers and NY Giants. I believe these are our last 2 Super Bowl Champions, and while both teams have faced a bit of adversity this season, they are undoubtedly two of the better NFC teams. This should be a dandy to watch as Rodgers (State Farm voice) and Eli should have an all-out aerial duel to end our weekend right.
Now four things a good Grinder should be locked into this holiday weekend (assuming you can stay awake after all that turkey):
1. Thanksgiving Tournies. Most if not every DFS site featured on RG has Thursday-only tournaments for the big day. And while most of us are not fans of the lack of variance that occurs on three-game days, I think Turkey Day could be a rare exception. I mean it doesn’t get a whole lot better than a big win that you can shove in Uncle Jerry’s face. (you know that annoying uncle that thinks he knows EVERYTHING about sports, yet still proclaims that Brett Favre is the best QB in football).
2. The ‘Big Score’ NCAAFB Rivalry Games. Almost every game of note this week in the college football landscape pits in-state foes against one another. Three in particular should be the focus for Grinders as they feature MONSTER over/under lines that should provide a point feast on top of your Thanksgiving one. At the top of the list is Texas Tech / Baylor. Tech is coming off a huge loss last week and should be hungry to bounce back. Baylor ruined Optimus-Klein’s chance at the title game and their prolific offense will look to stay on track at home (o/u is 78). Game 2 of note is Okalahoma St. vs Oklahoma with a big time o/u at 75. Clint Chelf has emerged as a dynamic QB at Oklahoma St. and he should see another start this week. On the other side you could Landry Jones who FINALLY had the monster DFS game we’ve been looking for. Can he do it back-to-back weeks or does Belldozer snipe his scores? And lastly, and a little more low-key of a matchup pits Arizona St. vs Arizona. Over/under in this one is 68.5 and it should be competitive. Examine the skill player options on all sites for this game and see where you can find some value. Scoring should be plentiful.
3. Scour the injury reports for NFL this weekend. Thanksgiving Day lock games are dicey at best because those injury reports are filling up QUICK as the week moves forward. WRs along who’s status for Sunday is still up in the air include, but are not limited to, Julio Jones, Danny Amendola, Dwayne Bowe, Percy Harvin and Denarius Moore. There’s going to be value out there to be found so follow the lead of type Grinders and find it. Obviously the advice/projections/rankings given here are top-quality as you keep seeing those recognizable RG names on the leaderboard. Get you a piece of the GPP pie this weekend.
4. AVOID THE DUDS. Every week in seems like I spend a great deal of time researching and talking to those smarter than I to come up with what I think is a hell of a lineup. But I keep running into that single bullet straight to the heart that is the complete flop. Whether it be NFL, NBA, or CFB, this seems to be a constant for me. Darren McFadden, Dwayne Bowe, Seth Doege are just a few names that immediately come to mind. I remind you like a remind myself that some of these bullets are tough to avoid, but if you keep making the smart DFS decision you will eventually be rewarded. Just ask Dan, HeadChopper, or CSURams and you’ll see that consistency is possible in this industry.
That’s all I’ve got for the Thanksgiving Preview.
I’ll leave you on a serious note by wishing you and yours a happy, safe holiday weekend. May it be filled with the joy (or as little anguish as possible) of your relatives and hopefully a big DFS win or two. Until next time…
- KC