Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): The highly anticipated round that stood to determine the overall order of this year's divisional seeding came and went without any handicapping heroics from the main participants who entered the critical weekend in serious contention for this year's top-four seeds. More to the point, the four top seeds who entered the past weekend with the ability to drastically change the seeding slots atop of the point standings, meaning Theopholis, catman23, DIRTYBIRDS, and DawgPound, and to include the one outlier, TCU, who had a long-shot chance to pull out the overall number-one top seed, all failed to connect on any dramatic 6-point parlay hits that could have turned the order of the top seeds into a chaotic mess. As a result, and as was foreshadowed to likely happen in last week's weekly review, Theopholis did what he had to do and nailed down one best-bet winner to survive the weekend and capture the overall number-one seed. The only change in the previous order of the top-four seeds before this past weekend got handicapped, manifested itself after DawgPound, the previous fourth seed entering this past weekend, grinded out two best-bet winners and stole the third overall seed from DIRTYBIRDS because of the league's #1 tiebreaker, more best-bet winners (Dawg's 7 BB wins vs the Birdman's 6 BB wins). Subsequently, when the sun went down after this year's divisional seeding ran its course, Theopholis ended up with the number-one top seed (21 pts), catman23 with the number-two top seed (20 pts), DawgPound with the number-three top seed (19 pts), and DIRTYBIRDS with the number-four top seed (also 19 pts but lost tiebreak to DawgPound). However, this past weekend, despite the lack of any heart-pounding performances from the aforementioned top-four seeds, did have its captivating moments after two handicappers--7mick7 and rookie Vikings17--let loose with some opportune and clutch outings. Both handicappers connected on critical 6-point parlay hits and ended this past weekend as the top-two scorers in the league. However, it was the Irish Hustler, as 7mick7 is popularly known by one of his Challenge monikers, who edged out Vikings17 for a week-won after the Mick complemented his parlay hit with a best-bet winner to pound out a 7-point outing and after Vikings17 misfired on both of his best-bets but concluded his weekend with a 6-point outing. More importantly, after the sterling outings, both handicappers each upgraded his final seeding slots at this year's divisional seeding, especially 7mick7. But their respective outings are further covered in different segments of this week's weekly review, so let's get to the real winners of this year's divisional seeding--the handicappers who acquired this year's top-four seeds.

It goes without saying that we have to begin with Theopholis, who came out of this year's divisional seeding with the most significant advantages heading into this year's divisional races. As every participant should already know by now, after snagging this year's number-one top seed this past weekend, Theopholis became only the third handicapper in the history of the Bookie Challenge to capture an overall number-one top seed for a second time (moemonie and CarolinaNYD are the other two to accomplish the feat). But more significant is That Theopholis will start his divisional race, the Corozal divisional race, with the largest lead, 10 points, than any other divisional leader will start off his respective divisional races with. Back in Challenge year #5, when Theo won his first number-one top seed with 29 total points accrued, he forged ahead that season to win his first and so far his only divisional title. In contrast, Scarface won this year's number-one top seed with a point tally of just 21 points, of which is a tally that he painstakingly piled up through some mainly blue-collar handicapping. Moreover, and much to the chagrin of Theo, he didn't get seeded with two push-over handicappers, or handicappers who are inexperienced and have yet to fully grasp the full spectrum of the official rules, such as this year's struggling greenhorn HOF City Kid. Nor did Theo draw a lowly tenured veteran who is prone to screwing up weekly selections, like catman23 as an example (although catman is having a better season this year than he normally has). Instead, Theo got seeded with two dangerous handicappers in Blitzkrieg and the Biased Nihilist, both of whom have proven track records for being a couple of the league's top handicappers. Whereas Theo has only garnered one divisional title in his previous nine years, the Nihilist has notched five overall divisional championships in his previous 12 seasons and Blitzkrieg has taken down three divisional crowns in his previous seven seasons. Now granted, Scarface gets to start this year's Corozal divisional race with a commanding 10 point lead over second-place Blitzkrieg and an insane 16-point lead over third-place Biased Nihilist, but with 11 outings yet to handicap in this year's regular season, Theo cannot rest on his laurels nor can he afford to be complacent, not for a single weekend. And the reason he can't take anything for granted is because Blitzkrieg and the Nihilist can quickly, in the matter of a 3-week stretch, sabotage Theo's plans to win the Corozal divisional championship. Additionally, although the Nihilist and Blitzkrieg have yet to fire up their respective parlay games this season, as evident that neither handicapper has nailed down a parlay hit in this year's competition, they're still very much capable to start hitting parlay combos left and right. Case in point, of all the handicappers who presently qualify for all-time handicapping records, the Nihilist ranks number one for connecting on the most 6-point parlay hits (36) and Blitzkrieg ranks fourth (21). In comparison, Theo has 13 all-time 6-point parlay hits, which includes the two he has registered this season. Right now, however, as it concerns the looming Corozal divisional race, Theo is in the driver's seat, but how long will it be before he drives his handicapping car off the road after he keeps checking his rear-view mirror to see if the Nihilist and Blitzkrieg are gaining on him?

If Theo's chances to win a divisional title are frought with uncertainties, then one has to know that catman's hopes to win this year's Hail Mary divisional race are hanging by a thread, and it's a thread that's already frayed. For the record, the Tomcat from Handicapping Alley has never won a divisional title, not even close. What's more, it's a minor miracle that he didn't fully squander his six-week lead on top of the point standings by falling out, altogether, from the top seeds of the point standings. But he didn't. Instead, somehow, someway, despite his handicapping laziness, he still managed to win this year's number-two top seed. What's even harder to believe is that this past weekend he came within a cat's whisker (pun intended) from shocking the Bookie Challenge world after he nearly connected on his 6-point parlay combination and almost won this year's number-one top seed. And that's no joke! The only game catman needed to nail down his 6-point parlay hit and uncork the biggest stunner in the history of the Challenge's divisional seedings, was for the Jets (-3) to cover over the Giants in their overtime affair from this past Monday night. On the first possession in overtime, the Jets held the Giants to a three-and-out at the Giants' 14 yard line. After the subsequent punt from the G-Men, the Jets consequentially faced a 3rd-and-5 at the Giants' 45 yard line, of which Zack Wilson then threw a 30-yard bomb intended for Malik Taylor that fell incomplete. However, a pass inteference call on the play set up the Jets at the Giants' 15 yard line. Unfortunately for catman, the Green Slime didn't attempt to score a TD but instead opted for what turned out to be the game-winning field goal, and sadly for catman, the 13-10 final ended up as a push (loser) on the parlay line. Regardless, just like Theopholis, catman was also seeded with two dangerous handicappers as in jcvike28 and Driveline, with the former being a one-time Bookie Challenge champion and the latter being a two-time Bookie Challenge champion. However, unlike Theo's huge leads to start off his Corozal divisional race, the Tomcat from Handicapping Alley will begin his Hail Mary divisional race with smaller leads, which are seven points over second-place jcvike28 and 14 points over third-place Driveline. But even though catman is off to his best-ever start to a Bookie Challenge competition this season, he still hasn't convinced the rest of the Challenge field that his newly revamped handicapping game is the real deal, or at least not real enough to be considered as a bona fide contender for this year's overall Bookie Challenge championship. But hey, he's one tough cookie to figure out, especially when taking into account that he's the most unpredictable handicapper in the league. But you still have to give catman his dues, apart from not being fully in tune with all the ins-and-outs of the competition, he's nonetheless this year's number-two top seed--and one who is still very much in the mix to win a first-ever divisional crown. And if he does pull it off, who knows what he's liable to do in this year's postseason.

As it pertains to this year's Run-&-Shoot divisional race, without an iota of a doubt, it promises to be the most intriguing and most hardest fought divisional race out of all of this year's divisional races, and more than likely it will almost certainly qualify as the must-see divisional race of the year. As the overall number-three top seed from this year's divisional seeding, DawgPound will almost surely have his hands full trying to win this year's Run-&-Shoot divisional championship. To begin with, DawgPound, who over the span from the start of last year's competition and throughout this year's handicapping campaign has conspicuously begun to emerge as one of the league's top-notch handicappers. However, he is seeded with two handicappers, TCU and moemonie, who each have reputations for going on handicapping hot streaks, and when they get on those out-of-nowhere handicapping runs, they can unleash some serious damage to their respective divisional counterparts. Additionally, to start off the Run-&-Shoot divisional race, DawgPound is also being seeded with a third handicapper, Vikings17, who is a rookie entrant who has gotten off to a ho-hum start in the first-seven weeks to this season. But this past weekend, the greenhorn made his Bookie Challenge bones after he nailed his first career 6-point parlay winner. As it stands right now, before the combatants of this division start to trade handicapping blows in this upcoming weekend, DawgPound (19 pts) presently holds leads of three points over second-place TCU (16 pts), six points over third-place Vikings17 (13 pts), and 10 points over fourth-place moemonie (9 pts). As already mentioned, this divisional race is going to be an up-in-the-air donnybrook, and trying to project how this divisional race is going to play out is almost a near impossibilty--or anybody's guess. But again, it promises to be the most entertaining divisional race of this season, so everybody needs to get a good supply of popcorn to enjoy this possible instant classic.

• IN A PROLIFIC TWIST OF FATE, REAL-LIFE FRIENDS--7MICK7 AND VIKINGS17--COINCIDENTALLY PRODUCE THIS PAST WEEKEND'S TOP HANDICAPPING PERFORMANCES: It was 7mick7 who recruited his friend, Vikings17, to join this year's Bookie Challenge competition. Both lived in Connecticut and developed a close friendship over the years, but around a year ago, Vikings17 retired after working 30 years or so at Southern Connecticut Gas Co., and shortly thereafter he and his wife moved to Florida, where they are presently enjoying their retirement. It's not exactly known today how much 7mick7 and Vikings17 keep in touch, but after this past weekend, after both handicappers connected on their respective parlay combinations, it's highly likely that the two friends indeed stay in touch. What's more is that on a regular basis they are more than likely collaborating about their weekly selections in the Challenge competition. But although that's just an off-the-wall guess, it does raise eyebrows to see the two Challenge participants each connect on their respective parlay combos and do as much on a highly critical weekend. What's intriguingly interesting is that both handicappers entered Monday night's game both needing the Detroit Lions to cover as 9-point favorites over the Las Vegas Raiders to see their possible 6-point parlay hits come to fruition. However, because 7mick7 had knocked down a 6-point parlay hit two weeks earlier, he was roughly positioned around the middle of the points standing entering this past weekend, so he wasn't in any real danger of winding up at the lowest tier of the point standings and finishing the divisional seeding with a horrible seed. Conversely, Vikings17 did enter this past weekend in the lower tier of the point standings, and with a horrible seed to boot, as in the 12th seed out of 14 overall seeds, not to mention that the two handicappers below him in the standings were each just two points from possibly sending Vikings17 even lower in the standings. So, out of the two handicapping friends, it was Vikings17 who needed the possible 6-point parlay hit in a more worst way than 7mick7 did. To better clarify the rookie's dire situation, he had already lost both of his best bets on this past Thursday night, and as a consequence, a failed Detroit cover on this past Monday night would have resulted in his second goose egg of his rookie season.

  Worst yet for Vikings17, he had to endure through a stressful stretch of Monday night's game, one in which Marcus Peters' 76-yard pick-6 pulled the Raiders within two points of the Lions (16-14) with 11:32 left to play in the 3rd quarter. The Raiders then proceeded to stay within the pointspread cover until the Lions kicked a FG with 9:59 left to play in the 4th quarter, of which the FG extended the Lions' lead to 26-14. But more importantly for Vikings17, the FG enabled the Lions to once again regain the pointspread cover over the Raiders. Still, though, the Purple People Eater (aka Vikings17) wasn't able to exhale a huge sigh of relief until the game was nearly over. And in the wake of his 6-point parlay hit, it should be needless to say that it had to be a good feeling for the rookie handicapper to have finally nailed his first-ever 6-point parlay hit and get himself in a good place to start his first divisional race. Granted, hitting a 6-point parlay always makes for an euphoric moment in a Bookie Challenge competition, but for a rookie to get that first parlay hit out of the way makes for an even more euphoric moment. To be sure, that initial parlay winner erases all doubts that a rookie handicapper may have harbored, and after nailing a first-ever parlay winner he then knows that he belongs, that he in fact can compete with the experienced veterans of the Bookie Challenge competition. Oh, and there's one last thing that a first-ever 6-point parlay hit does for a greenhorn, it bestows a credible credence upon his good Bookie Challenge moniker. So without further ado, it's time to earnestly welcome "The Purple Eater" to the Bookie Challenge competition.



• WEEKLY TICKER.......Too Tall Tommy nailed down one best-bet winner this past weekend to snap his 2-week scoreless streak, and as a result, he avoided matching his career-high streak of three-straight scoreless outings that he had registered in Challenge year #11 (wk #9 thru wk #11).........THE OVER/UNDER BRAWL--TCU VS VIKINGS17: Once again, both TCU and Vikings17 concluded this past weekend with the exact overall number of over/under selections on the year (13 each). By an odd coincidence, both handicappers this past weekend each chose three over/under selections and each went 2-1-0 with their respective over/under plays. But when the dust settled on this past weekend, TCU still held his skimpy year-to-date lead over the stubborn rookie to see which handicapper between the two is better at connecting on over/under selections (TCU 9-7-0/win% .563 vs Vikings17 8-8-0/win% .500).........SWAMI WATCH: Blitzkrieg maintained his slight edge this past weekend over Theopholis and TCU in his attempt to capture this year's Swami award. This past weekend, all three handicappers broke even with their respective best bets, which resulted in the present best-bet tallies: Blitzkrieg 10-5-1 (.667), Theopholis 9-6-0 (.600), and TCU 9-7-0 (.563). Only other handicapper in competition with winning BB record is dbucc 7-6-1 (.538)........ROOKIE RACE RIVALRY: This past weekend, Vikings17 abruptly changed the complexion of this year's battle for the Rookie-of-the-Year honors between him and the Hall of Fame City Kid. The Purple People Eater (aka Vikings17) broke through and registered his first-career 6-pt parlay hit, and as a result, after HOF City Kid laid his league-leading 4th goose egg of the season this past weekend, he was able to surpass the City Kid in total points accrued this season for the first time in this year's competition (13 pts vs 10 pts). Accordingly, the Purple People Eater's best outing of his greenhorn season has given him the leg up to possibly be honored with this year's Rookie-of-the-Year award.........ANOTHER FAILURE TO LAUNCH: Once again, this past weekend, catman23 has displayed an incorrigble handicapping trait when it comes to submitting exact-score selections. As crazy as it sounds, the Tomcat from Handicapping Alley failed to post exact-score picks for both of the exact-score games for this past weekend, of which he has now neglected to do so for a 2nd-straight weekend (no picks for both XS games in previous week). Granted, exact-score predictions are extremely difficult to knock down, especially the ones of the 5-point variety, but if a handicapper doesn't enter exact-score picks, then there is a ZERO chance that he'll luckily win any points. It's simple--no entries, no points!.........