YES! WE HAVE NO BANANAS!

MAJORITY OF BOOKIE CHALLENGE FIELD HAS NOTHING TO OFFER IN A WEEK #13 THAT WAS FROUGHT WITH NINE BREAK-EVEN BEST-BET OUTINGS, NO PARLAY WINNERS

Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): After the Bookie Challenge field had registered its best stretch of handicapping this season over the course of its last-six outings, of which it had produced winning best-bet records in four of those last six outings, this past weekend the field had one of those once-in-a-blue-moon showings that was void of any noteworthy high drama and suspense, or of any razzle-dazzle handicapping from any of its handicappers that would have dramatically affected any of the league's divisional races. The handicapping cessation manifested itself after only two handicappers, jcvike28 and catman23, both of whom are battling it out for the Hail Mary divisional title, each won their respective two best bets to end their respective weekends with two points apiece and finish up this past weekend as two of three handicappers who tallied respective 2-point outings. The third handicapper, Vikings17, joined the two aforementioned handicappers after he also produced a two-point outing over the past weekend, even though he culminated his weekend as one of nine overall handicappers who split their respective best bets. Vikings17 was able to notch his second point of the weekend after he connected on the 11th hour of this past Monday night's game with a 1-point exact-score hit, which came courtesy of the Jacksonville Jaguars' 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in which Vikings17 had correctly predicted the Jaguars to score exactly 31 points for the game. Two handicappers--moemonie and 7mick7--went against the grain and each had rough outings after they were the only handicappers to go scoreless over this past weekend, with moemonie registering a golden goose egg for his outing and 7mick7 recording a goose egg for his weekend. Consequently, because no handicapper connected on any parlay combos over this past weekend, the overall handicapping stalemate, of sorts, resulted in very little changes in the respective point standings of each divisional race. But that's not to say that this past weekend was totally devoid of any suspenseful handicapping theatrics that could have significantly affected the competition despite the overall lack of any major scoring outbursts, for a handful of handicappers had respective near-misses of parlay combinations that could have led to some meaningful outings. Nor did it mean that the little amount of points that were scored didn't have any impact whatsoever in any of the divisional races. On the contrary, several handicapping outcomes this past weekend had its stealthy subtleties that could have only been appreciated by a few in-the-know handicappers from the Challenge field who are fined-tuned with the league's tiebreakers and the importance of those tiebreakers.

The major near-miss of a 6-point parlay hit this past weekend involved the game between Kansas City and Green Bay that was played this past Sunday night, of which jcvike28, the Biased Nihilist, and Blitzkrieg were all in line to wreak havoc within their respective divisional races if Kansas City (-6) would have covered over Green Bay. In the case of jcvike, a Chiefs' pointspread cover would have resulted in a PERFECTA outing that for all intents and purposes would have not only clinched the Hail Mary division over catman but also would have enabled him to tie Vikings17 for the league lead in total points (38 pts), of which jcvike would have technically taken the official overall lead of the competition over Vikings17 by virtue of the league's first tiebreaker (most best-bet wins--jcvike 14 wins vs Vikings17 13 wins). In the cases of Blitzkrieg and the Biased Nihilist, two handicappers involved in the Corozal divisional race, they needed to hit their respective 6-point parlay combos a lot more than jcvike needed to hit his because they had both entered this past weekend trailing Theopholis for the overall divisional lead of the Corozal division as can clearly be seen by the previous divisional point standings before the start of this past weekend: Theopholis 31 pts, Blitzkrieg 26 pts, and the Nihilist 23pts. Doing the math, a KC cover this past Sunday night would have resulted in Blitzkrieg overtaking Theopholis for the Corozal divisional lead by one point (33 pts vs 32 pts) and the Nihilist ending the weekend just two points behind Theo for the division's wild-card qualification (or for second place of the division). But much to the chagrins of jcvike, Blitzkrieg, and the Nihilist, the Packers came out of the gates of Sunday night's game firing on all cyclinders with its offense, thanks in large part to the nearly flawless play of their QB Jordan Love, who led the Packers to two impressive opening possessions of which each resulted in touchdowns. Without question, the Packers outright upset over the Chiefs turned Theo, a die-hard fan of both the Steelers and the NY Yankees, into an automatic member of GB's "Love Shack". To say the least, this past weekend Theo turned out to be the league's "luckiest man on the face of the earth."

As has already been well documented before the start of this year's divisional races, Theopholis was predicted to be the second most likeliest divisional leader to lose his divisional race, and only catman's predicted odds to lose his Hail Mary divisional race were lower than Theo's. The Bookie Challenge pundits boldy predicted that there was no way Theo was going to stave off his two divisional counterparts, Blitzkrieg and the Biased Nihilist, for the entire duration of the 11 full outings of this year's Corozal divisional race, not when taking into account that Blitzkrieg and the Biased Nihilist are two of the league's most toughest and battle-tested handicappers. And yet, despite Blitzkrieg and the Nihilist putting all sorts of pressure on Theo, with both practically throwing everything but their kitchen sinks at Theo, somehow and someway--Theopholis has refused to budge, has refused to relinguish his divisional lead. What's truly surprising is that Theo, after halfway through this year's divisional races, is the ONLY divisional leader to emerge from this year's divisional seeding who has yet to be dislodged from the perch of his respective divisional lead. Some participants might have the urge to label Theo's rise to handicapping respectability in this year's competition as just a simple matter of being lucky, but that broad view is not going to cut the mustard, and mainly because luck can only carry a handicapper so far and it's not going to assist a handicapper on a consistent week-in-and-week-out basis. So with that in mind, one has to wonder what was the main catalyst that has transformed Theopholis' previously ho-hum handicapping into a newfound handicapping prowess, into a handicapping repertoire that is oozing with an unmistakable effectiveness and an undeniable resourcefulness. Whatever was the catalyst that has turned Theo into a new and improved handicapper, one thing is for certain this season--he has so far exhibited a mentally-tough and a bend-but-don't-break resiliency that has seen him rise to the occasion time and time again throughout the first three-quarters of this year's regular season. So much so that he has to be considered, especially when presently sporting a 5-point divisional lead, as a bona fide contender who has a serious shot at winning his respective divisional title and possibly the overall Bookie Challenge championship. Of course, this is the Bookie Challenge competition and nothing is ever guaranteed, so Theo had better keep fighting the good fight and not take anything for granted.

Earlier in this main article of this weekly review it was hinted that just because a handicapper didn't hit a 6-point parlay that it didn't mean a lone point or two scored on a weekend couldn't have a bearing within a divisional race. On the contrary, every point counts! A participant never knows when one point could make a difference at the end of the regular season, whether a handicapper gets a better playoff qualification, or whether one point could turn out to be the crucial tiebreaker point that decides a divisional championship or even a regular season-season championship. One veteran handicapper this past weekend, one who already knows the importance of what a single point can potentially lead to, and a handicapper who turned out to be the only handicapper in the league who this past weekend changed to the better his divisional status within his respective divisional standings was dbucc. The Red Zone divisional race started this past weekend with rookie Hall-of-Fame City Kid shockingly leading the division by two points (32 pts vs 30 pts) over a suddenly slumping 7mick7 and by three points over third-place dbucc (33 pts vs 29 pts). Both the City Kid and dbucc each tallied one point apiece after both handicapper's broke even with their respective best bets. However, 7mick7 goose egged his outing, and as a consequence of his scoreless weekend, he ended the weekend in a 30-30 tie in total points with dbucc for second place in the Red Zone divisional point standings. But dbucc won the number-one tiebreaker edge over 7mick7, 13 best-bet wins vs 12 best-bet wins, and as a result he technically ended the weekend as the division's official wild card, at least for the time being. Regardless of the tiebreaker, both handicappers still finished their respective outings trailing HOF City Kid by three points for the divisional lead.

And yet, after this past weekend's handicapping action ran its course, it was the league's "other" rookie--Vikings17--who stunningly still held the overall reins of the Bookie Challenge competition, and not only for the divisional lead of the Run-&-Shoot division but also for the lead to capture this year's regular-season championship. After this past weekend's handicapping action, the Purple People Eater increased his divisional lead over DawgPound by another point, to 38 points vs 30 points. Vikings17 and DawgPound broke even with their respective best bets to each gain a point for the weekend, but Vikings17 also won an extra point for the weekend after he connected on a 1-point exact-score hit on Monday night to ultimately outscore DawgPound over the weekend by a final tally of two points versus one point. Additionally, as it pertained to Vikings17's lead for this year's regular-season championship, the "extra point" he garnered because of his 1-point exact-score hit helped him maintain his 5-point edge over Hail Mary divisional leader jcvike, but at the same time the "extra point" enabled the Purple People Eater to increase his leads for the regular-season title over Red Zone divisional leader HOF City Kid to five points and over the Corozal divisional leader Theopholis to six points. Of course, when comparing Vikings17's present 8-point divisional lead in the Run-&-Shoot division to the three smaller leads he holds over the three other divisional leaders for the regular-season championship, it's quite evident that Vikings17's odds of winning a divisional crown are much greater than his odds are to win this year's regular-season championship. Nevertheless, Vikings17 has at least established a realistic blueprint to become the first rookie in the history of the competition to win an overall Bookie Challenge competition, but to increase his chances to do as much will be first and foremost contingent on him winning the regular-season championship, and that's mainly because he can enter the postseason with the best scoring adavantages over the rest of the Challenge field in the first-two rounds of the postseason if he indeed wins the regular-season championship. However, as a rookie handicapper, even he has to surely know that negotiating the remaining five weeks of the regular season to ultimately seize this year's regular-season crown is not going to be a cakewalk in the park, especially when considering that he presently owns just a five-point lead over jcvike28, who is a one-time Bookie Challenge champion and who has more experience handicapping the Challenge's postseasons.

• EL DUQUE (AKA JCVIKE28) DUMBFOUNDED BY HIS HARD-LUCK INABILITY TO REGISTER REGULAR-SEASON WEEK-WON TIEBREAKERS: This past weekend jcvike28 missed a golden opportunity to end the weekend as the league's top scorer, and not to forget that he could have pratically locked up the Hail Mary divisonal title over catman23. All that jcvike needed to see the aforementioned come to fruition was a Kansas City (-6) pointspread cover over Green Bay on this past Sunday night, of which a KC cover would have resulted in a PERFECTA weekend for El Duque. What's interestimg to note is that jcvike's set of weekly picks this past weekend consisted of all favorites (Best bets: Det-4, Ind-1...Parlay: Sf-3, LAR-3, KC-6), which weren't bad choices because selecting favorites has been the handicapping flavor of late. Case in point, just a week earlier, or week #12 (Thanksgiving weekend), 12 out of 16 overall favorites covered their respective pointspreads, of which was an overall performance by NFL favorites that tied the NFL record for the most favorites to ever cover the spread in a single week. But the PERFECTA outing just wasn't in the cards for jcvke, as GB pulled off the outright upset of KC by a 27-19 final. But, if anything, in a Challenge weekend in which scoring points was at a premium, and when considering that only jcvike and catman were able to nail down both their respective best bets, it would seem that jcvike could have at least pulled out a week-won tiebreaker over the course of this past weekend. However, as fate would have it, catman was able to match jcvike's two best-bet winners after his best-bet of the Chargers (-5½) to cover versus the Patroits barely came through once the Chargers beat the Patroits by a final of 6-0, of which the 6-0 victory turned out to be a loser on the parlay line. It wouldn't have mattered anyway if catman had chosen another best bet and lost it, because Vikings17 gained a second point for the weekend after he hit a 1-point exact-score selection on this past Monday night to end his outing with two points tallied. And so once again, jcvike28 was denied a week-won, of which the ill-fated statistical anamoly has haunted him not only this season but also for most of his previous regular seasons that he has handicapped in his Bookie Challenge career. To best illustrate, in week #4 of this season, jcvike hit a 7-point outing but failed to produce a week-won after Theopholis also landed a 7-point outing. Then, in week #9 jcvike knocked down a PERFECTA outing that gave him a shoo-in chance to win that weekend outright. But as the luck of the draw would have it, Blitzkrieg also unleashed a PERFECTA outing, and in fact, went on to seize the weekend's week-won after he complemented his 8-point PERFECTA outing with a 1-point exact-score hit, thus he concluded his outing with a unique 9-point tally. And to think, the Bookie Challenge field had not registered a PERFECTA over the span of the first-eight weekends, then suddenly--SHAZAM!--both jcvike and Blitzkrieg produce PERFECTA gems on the same weekend! As crazy as it might sound, there's more to be said about jcvike's head-scratching inability to accrue regular-season weeks-won. In what has to be the most incomprehensible streak of bad luck, it's hard to phantom how jcvike, a handicapper who has won four divisional titles, has qualified for the postseason threes times as a divisional wild card, and has nailed 21 6-point parlay hits in his 10 years of handicapping the Challenge's regular seasons, has only been able to be credited with a week-won only ONE TIME in all his years of handicapping the Bookie Challenge's regular seasons. It should be needless to say that jcvike ranks dead-last among the league's handicappers who qualify for all-time records when it comes to registering week-wons. But what's just as perplexing is that jcvike has tallied four week-wons in his previous nine postseasons, of which his four weeks-won for the Challenge's postseasons ranks second only to his father's league-leading all-time tally of five weeks-won for postseason handicapping. Go figure!

• WEEKLY TICKER..........DIRTYBIRDS HAS FLOWN THE COUP: Oh, the ignominity of it all! The guess work as to whether or not the Birdman has disgracefully bailed from this year's competition can be thrown out of the window. Mark down his departure as a fait accompli, yep, because after failing to post his set of weekly picks this past weekend for the fourth-straight outing, and the 5th time overall this season, it's a 100 percent certainty that we have seen the last of the Birdman for this year's competition..........THEO ONLY ONE AT THIS POINT OF SEASON TO NOT HAVE EGG ON HIS FACE: Now that DIRTYBIRDS is no longer an active participant in this year's competition, it leaves "Scarface" (aka Theopholis) as the only handicapper in this year's Bookie Challenge to have not laid either a goose egg or a golden goose egg this season, which is probably one of the reasons he's still the only divisional leader who has yet to be overtaken in this year's divisional races..........THE SWAMI WATCH: Another week handicapped and another week closer to being honored with this year's Swami award. After this past weekend, Blitzkrieg mainted his stranglehold on the Swami award after he finished this past weekend, once again, with the league's top best-bet record of 19-8-1. The highly laudable best-bet record factors out to an awe-inspiring .704 winning percentage. Forget the Bookie Challenge, his present .704 win percentage easily rivals those from the best professional handicappers Las Vegas has to offer.........THE OVER/UNDER ROYAL RUMBLE: The results after this past weekend..#1) 7mick7 13-10-0 (.565 W%)..#2) Vikings17 17-15-0 (.531 W%)..#3) TCU 12-13-0 (.480 W%)..........Granted, with a league-leading 38 points amassed this season, Vikings17's rookie run this season is a notch above the Hall-of-Fame City Kid's, whose point tally of 33 points is tied for the league's second-hight point total, but don't dismiss the City Kid's chances to rain on Vikings17's rookie parade just yet--DON'T DO IT! And that's because this year's greenhorn showdown is far from being finished............

No handicapper this past weekend did anything spectacular to be tabbed as this week's WHO'S-HOT HANDICAPPER.