Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): It is a no-brainer that the next three upcoming weekends of handicapping the Bookie Challenge competition are going to be brutally suspenseful. There remains just three final weekends for this year's divisional races to play out, just three final outings are left in this year's regular season, and it's going to be a handicapping free-for-all that begs a big-time question--which handicappers fighting for this year's best playoff qualifications are going to go into this year's postseason as one of four divisional champions, and THUS will qualify for the postseason with the better scoring advantages in this year's playoffs? Oh, and let's not forget the battle for this season's regular-season championship, or the showdown to see which handicapper will end up with the most total points accrued in this year's regular season, of which the lucky handicapper will go into the postseason with not only the top and absolutely best scoring advantages but will also pocket this year's third-place prize of $100 from this year's Latinum jackpot--PERIOD! Then there's this: if the remaining three weekends go down like this past weekend's handicapping action did, meaning week #15's handicapping action, then every handicapper needs to batten down the hatches, get his respective handicapping A-game polished, because it's time to go down the home stretch, time to either step up or step back because the fun and games are all over with--it's showtime!--it's crunch time!--it's gonna be do-or-die! And if anybody doesn't get it, doesn't feel the urgency, then just look at what DawgPound has done over the course of the last-two weekends. Simply put, the way the Dawg-Day-Afternoon Handicapper has been on a hot streak as of late can only be attributed by an old saying..."When the going gets tough, the tough get going!"

Imagine the following scenario for a moment, just a mere three weeks ago DawgPound found himself struggling in the Red Zone division, was in dead-last place and trailed the then divisional leader Kr@tos--a rookie no less!--by 11 dejecting points (33 pts vs 2 2pts). But the Dawg-Day-Afternoon Handicapper is one challenge participant who truly never gives up, and it's because he's a veteran handicapper of the competition who has been through the good times and bad times of previous Bookie Challenge "dawg" fights, and he knows to never throw in the towel until the final gun sounds st the end of a Super Bowl. He knows what can happen in the few weeks of a regular season, and more importantly, he knows what can happen in the last two rounds of a postseason when each handicapper is on a level playing field and under the same scoring system. But let's get back to DawgPound's never-say-die attitude after he had plummetted to the dungeon of his division at the end of week #13. In the ensuing weekend, week #14, the Dawg was the only handicapper to connect on a 6-point parlay combination, his second of the season, and as a result he got into better positioning within the Red Zone division: Kr@tos (34pts), TCU (31pts), HOF City Kid (31pts) and then DawgPound (28pts). All of the sudden, back then, meaning after week #14, DawgPound now clearly saw everybody in the division through his crosshairs. In other words, everybody in front of him were all now within reach. They were all now on his chopping blocks and he had the butcher knife--a big-ass butcher knife--ready to splice and dice his divisional counterparts to little pieces. And it wasn't pretty--WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! PERFECTA! In the span of the last-two outings, DawgPound has passed up his step-brother HOF City Kid, zoomed by TCU, and ended the past weekend in a tie of 36 total points with Kr@tos for the divisional lead, of which the "comic-book-hero-recently-turned-Bookie Challenge hero" (aka Kr@tos), won the tiebreaker for first place over DawgPound because of most best-bet wins (17 vs 14). Nevertheless, right now, one can easily say that it's the "Top Dawg"--and not rookie Kr@tos--who has all of the momentum and who is also peaking at the right time!

What's really intriguing is if the Red Zone divisional race were the only close race going on in the final three weeks of the regular season, the Challenge field would only have one thriller worth keeping up with--but it is not the only close divisional race presently in the works, not by a long shot! Three out of four divisional races in this year's competition are super close and all three are up grabs, and we've only covered the Red Zone divisional race, but before we check out the other two closely knit races, meaning the Hail Mary divisional race and the Run-&-Shoot divisional race, let's get to the only divisional race that's not teeming with drama and suspense--a la the Corozal divisional race. It's the only race where a divisional leader, in this case Driveline, can practically cruise to the finish line. The reason why is because he is a practical shoo-in to win the divisional crown. Not for nothing, but he's got an 11 point lead over the second-place Biased Nihilist and a 12-point lead over third-place dbucc. Essentially, the Corozal divisional has turned into a divisional battle between the Biased Nihilist and dbucc to see who will win the division's wild card, with the loser going into the playoffs with a sickly at-large qualification, of which is a qualification that has never led a participant with the lowly status to win an overall Bookie Challenge championship. All in all, as it concerns the Corozal divisional race, even Driveline knows what the Biased Nihilist is capable of, and in the remaining few weeks left in this year's divisional races, the Fisher of Winners (aka Driveline) also knows he's going to have to keep one eye open whenever he goes to sleep.

Shoot, speaking of sleeping, the whole Challenge field already knows that in the Hail Mary divisional race there won't be much sleeping done at all, or at least not by its divisional leader Blitzkrieg. Earlier this season Blitzkrieg was the talk of the town, and rightly so because he had the super-hot hand after he hit FOUR 6-point parlay winners in the first nine weeks of this year's competition, of which the tremendous handicapping gave way to whispers about how Blitzkrieg was an early and easy runaway candidate to win this year's regular-season championship, but those earlier ramblings had mainly taken place after Challenge week #12, when the Snowman (aka Blitzkrieg) back then owned what had appeared to be an insuperable divisonal lead of 13 points over Vikings17, not to forget that his divisional lead at the time was, by far, the largest in the league. But it's amazing what can transpire in a Bookie Challenge competition in a matter of two weeks or so, or how a handicapper can come out of the gates galloping with success, but then out of nowhere, his handicapping inexplicably goes into a slow trot. That's what has recently happened to Blitzkrieg, especially after the dual outings of this year's Turkey Shoot and in the ensuing weekend thereafter. He had entered this weekend, week #16, with a skimpy two-point lead over second-place Vikings17 and with his once-dominating 13-point lead having been shaved down to just two points. However, when week #16 opened up this past Thursday night (12/19), Vikings17 rolled the dice and played his two best bets for this weekend, and unforunately for Blitzkrieg--they were both winners! And so now the pressure is really on for Blitzkrieg to answer the two best-bet winners from Thursday night that Vikings17 gambled on. If the tremendous pressure on Blitzkrieg to keep his divisional lead after this weekend isn't already screwing with his mind, he knows good and well that he can't end the weekend in a tie in total points with Vikings 17 for the divsional lead, and it's because he also knows that "Big Game James" (Vikings17) owns the first tiebreaker, of which is more best-bet wins. Regardless of how it's all going to end between Blitzkrieg and Vikings17, just know that a pesky Vikings17 deserves his due, for he has amazingly survived to battle for the Hail Mary divisional title thanks in large part to three record-setting 5-point exact-score hits that he has nailed down so far this season. Additionally, if one can believe it, Vikings17 is presently in a tie for the divisional lead after failing to connect on ONE 6-point parlay hit. Yes, in all likelihood the Hail Mary divisional race will come down to the intense battle between Blitzkrieg and Vikings17, that is, if moemonie, who presntly trails both front-runners by 15 points each, doesn't rise up to the occassion by going on a parlay-hitting streak.

The last divisional race, the Run-&-Shoot divisional race, is also presently a nail-biter that is sure to go down to the last day or possibly the last two days of the regular season, of which the final dates and times of each game at the end of the season have all yet to be determined. Either way, most of the games will be played on the last Sunday of the regular season, of which that final Sunday of the regular season is popularly known by the league's handicappers as "DOOMSDAY SUNDAY". So jcvike is the top handicapper heading into week #16, maybe not the "hottest handicapper right now because DawgPound is the hottest handicapper going at the present time. But for the time being, jcvike seems to have all the edges heading into these last-three weekends of the regular season and divisional races. He presently owns a slim 2-point lead over second-place Jets69 and a more workable 8-point lead over this year's defending championship third-place 7mick7. Unfortunately for the last divisional participant, rookie Realtalkrob, he's too far behind in the division to be a factor over the last three weeks of this year, that is, barring some serious and miraculous handicapping...ah...hold on...please forget what was just typed. Seriously, though, jcvike28, El Duque, seems to hold all of the cards in his hand right now, as he not only holds a 2-point divisional lead over Jets69 in the Run-&-Shoot divisional race but he also owns similar leads over a couple of other handicappers who are in the hunt to snag this year's regular-season champion, and by extension, also win this season's third-place prize of the Latinum jackpot of 100 smackeroos for winning this year's regular-season championship.

Lastly, before closing out this main article of this week's weekly review, the Bookie Challenge has to applaud this year's top-two rookies--JETS69 and Kr@tos--of whom are both neck-and-neck to win this year's Rookie-of-the-Year honor. It's almost a dead heat right now as to who between the two rookie upstarts is going to end up as the top greenhorn for this year's competition. To say the least, both have had phenomenal seasons up to this point of the season. What's more, it's almost assured that each newbie has taken to the suspense and drama of a Bookie Challenge competition. And to think, the rest of the way, meaning the last three weeks of the regular season and the entire playoffs that have yet to come, will be more suspenseful and nerve-racking to the two rookies as the top-two prizes of this year's Latinum jackpot ($450 for the eventual Bookie Challenge champion and $120 for the runner up to the eventual champion) still hang in the balance after this year's regular season. It's hoped, if anything, that not only will Jets69 and Kr@tos become regular members of the Bookie Challenge, but a third rookie, Realtalkrob, will also follow suit. Unfortunately, Realtalkrob has not come anywhere near to having the success that the two aforementioned rookies have had, but at least Robert has taken it on the chin so far and stuck it out despite things not having gone his way. So, if he hangs out with the Bookie Challenge handicappers for the rest of this season, meaning through the end of the Super Bowl, everybody else will know he has "character", the kind that can win a Bookie Challenge championship if he puts a serious mind to doing it.

• LEST WE FORGET, T'IS THE TIME OF A BOOKIE CHALLENGE SEASON WHEN SOME ALL-TIME RECORDS CAN BE BROKEN! As the participants of this year's BC competition prepare to handicap the final weeks of this year's regular season and divisional races, somewhere in a dark and supernatural recess of the competition there lurks all-time records that magically appear at this time of a regular season. And so yes, this time of this year's contest is no different, as some of the toughest all-time regular-season records manifest themselves to remind each Bookie Challenge contestant that there are special heights to be reached in an annual competition. For starters, there is the all-time, single-season record for amassing the most total points in a regular season, of which the present all-time record of 54 points is being shared by the Biased Nihilist and the now defunct Tony Soprano (record established by both handicappers in Challenge year #11). This all-time record is always a tough one to break, but it's doable this season because a handful of handicappers, with a little bit of luck, can set a new all-time scoring record, of whom the contestants who are within the range of the current record are jcvike28 (needs just 10 pts to set a new all-time scoring record), rookie Jets69 (needs 12 pts), Blitzkrieg (needs 13 pts), and Vikings17 (needs 15 pts). As it concerns Jets69, who now has an edge over Kr@tos for this year's Rookie-of-the-Year nod, and who this past weekend recorded his third 6-point parlay winner in his rookie debut, has already totaled 43 points this season. To his credit, with the 43 points already in tow, "Broadway Al" just needs eight more points to break Vikings17's all-time rookie scoring record of 50 points that he established in last year's competition. Additionally, Jets69 has an outside shot at either tying or breaking two different all-time records for knocking down the most 6-point parlay hits in a rookie season, of which the two records are presently being held by jcvike28 and H.E. PennyPacker. With three 6-point parlay hits this season, Jets69 needs just one more parlay winner to tie jcvike28's rookie record of four 6-point parlay hits by a greenhorn. But that record ranks second all time behind H.E. PennyPacker's all-time mark of five 6-point parlay winners in a regular season. Lastly, there are a couple of more all-time records that can be tied this season, but the league's hottest handicapper at the moment, meaning DawgPound, is the only one in contention right now to match those all-time records (for more details please read this week's "WHO'S-HOT-HANDICAPPER" segment of this weekly review).