Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): It should be needless to say that most of the handicappers within the ranks of the Bookie Challenge field have yet to fine tune their respective handicapping games this season, as the field as a whole presently owns a barely bearable 44-40-2 best-bet record, which checks out to a .522 winning percentage. And to think, the only reason this year's Challenge field sports a winning best-bet record is because this past weekend the field went an astounding 20-10-0 with its best-bet record, which factors out to a much better .667 winning percentage. But what has really ailed the participants of the competition this season has been their inability to connect on their respective 6-point parlay combinations. With the exception of the Biased Nihilist, who this past weekend finally connected on the competition's first 6-point parlay winner, nobody else in the competition has nailed down any 6-point parlay hits this season. Granted, though, last year's rookie of the year, Kr@tos, did manage to eke out a 3-point parlay hit in the opening week of this season, and he did squeeze out an unconventional 4-point outing, but ever since the first week of the season Kr@tos has only accrued three total points over the two ensuing weeks. No, if the truth be told, this past weekend was all about the Nihilist and his clutch 8-point outing, and all about three other handicappers--Blitzkrieg, Driveline, and DawgPound--all of whom almost rose to the occasion and almost knocked down 6-point parlay hits to keep pace with the Corozal Kid (aka the Nihilist). Additionally, this past weekend was the first time this season that the competition shifted gears and produced an exciting outing of handicapping for a good change of pace.

It's not a big secret that the Biased Nihilist enjoys the spotlight, and that he'd rather see his name up on the marquee lights than anybody else's name, and that he loves to control the competition by getting into the heads of his adversarial foes. This past weekend the Nihilist portrayed a strong-mindedness and a tenacious grit of handicapping to piece together what must be labeled as a backdoor PERFECTA. In other words, instead of winning both of his best bets and nailing down a 6-point parlay winner to produce a natural PERFECTA (8 pts), the Nihilist knocked down one best-bet winner, a 6-point parlay hit, and a 1-point exact-score winner to manufacture his backdoor PERFECTA to tally eight total points for the weekend. As a result of his outstanding outing this past weekend, the Corozal Kid was able to open the first true daylight in the point standings after he took a five-point lead over second place Vikings17 (13pts vs 8pts). As a bonus, the Nihilist was able to snatch his second-straight week-won, which is an invaluable tiebreaker should he ever need it. Really and truly, the Nihilist is presently sitting pretty as it concerns tiebreakers. As it stands right now, the Nihilist is tied with a couple of handicappers for most best-bet winners (4 each), which is the league's first tiebreaker. He also owns the league's second tiebreaker (most parlay wins within his combined parlay combinations on the season), and as mentioned earlier, the Nihilist is easily holding down the league's third tiebreaker--most weeks-won (2).

"I've got the schmoes from the Challenge field right where I want them," quipped the Nihilist. "Some of them might not feel what's happening, but I've already got my hooks in them. Oh yes, I know how to win in this league so they're in trouble." Putting his cockiness aside, getting credited with a week-won this past weekend was not a walk in the park for the three-time Bookie Challenge champion. The start to this past Sunday after the early set of games became finals set the bar for the rest of the league for the remainder of the weekend, as the Nihilist knocked down his 6-point parlay combo that consisted of the following: Washington -3 over Las Vegas, Minnesota -3 over Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh -2 over New England. With the exception of the Pittsburgh/New England affair in which the Steelers struggled mightily to win by a TD 21-14, the other two games on the Nihilist's combo were runaway winners. But heading into the second set of games on this past Sunday, both Driveline and DawgPound were working on hitting respective 6-point parlay winners, and all they needed was for the LA Chargers to cover a 3-point spread over the Denver Broncos. Actually, Driveline was in line to hit a PERFECTA outing as he also won both of his best bets in the early slate of games. But it wasn't meant to be, as the LA Chargers kicked a late field goal to force a push on the parlay line after they defeated the Broncos by a 23-20 final. However, the Nihilist was one of three handicappers who took the Chargers as one of their respective best bets, and they had the presence of mind to choose the Chargers on the straight line as -2½-point favorites. The losses of parlay hits by Driveline and DawgPound because one game push on their respective combinations wasn't the only threat to the Biased Nihilist's week won,as Blitzkrieg just needed two more victories, both parlay picks, to hit a PERFECTA outing and at least tie the Nihilist for being the top scorer for the weekend (each would have ended the week with 8 pts apiece, notwithstanding any hits on Monday night's exact-score predictions). Blitzkrieg's last two picks on his parlay combo were Kansas City -6 over NY Giants on Sunday night and Baltimore -5 over Detroit on Monday nigt. Subsequently, after the Chiefs covered over the Giants by a 22-9 score, Blitzkrieg headed into Monday night's game needing just Baltimore to cover against Detroit to hit his PERFECTA weekend.

If anybody has already forgotten, Blitzkrieg won last year's overall number-one top seed at last year's divisional seeding. But he had an intensity-filled divisional race in which he was defeated by Vikings17 for the Hail Mary divisional title. One of the league's participants, specifically the Nihilist, chalked up Blitzkrieg's divisional defeat last season as being caused by the "Curse of the Number-One Top Seed, as no number-one top seed has ever gone on to win a Bookie Challenge championship. But if anything, last year's heartbreak loss by Blitzkrieg to Vikings17 further cemented his Bookie Challenge legacy as being a handicapper who is always in the thick of things. It's a Bookie Challenge reputation that Blitzkrieg has earned ever since he has started handicapping the Bookie Challenge competition. What's more, what's proof-positive when it comes to Blitzkrieg stacking up 6-point parlay winners is that he's the only active handicapper in the Bookie Challenge competition who's been in the league for nine years, excluding this season, and has recorded at least one 6-point parlay hit in each of his previous nine seasons. Sure, he fell short this past Monday night, but nobody should go to sleep when it comes to Blitzkrieg, for he can nail 6-point parlay winners with the best handicappers in the league, including the Biased Nihilist. Speaking of which, the 6-point parlay hit the Nihilist produced this past weekend was his first of this season, but it was his 42nd league-leading all-time 6-point parlay winner of his career (regular season and postseason combined).

• ROOKIE MATTY_ICE SO FAR HAS EDGE OVER KEENYPIE86 FOR THIS YEAR'S ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR HONOR, BUT BOTH GREEHORNS HAVE YET TO "MAKE THEIR BONES" IN THE BOOKIE CHALLENGE COMPETITION: It might sound a little bit gangsterish, but this year's two rookies--Matty_Ice and Kennypie86--have yet to make their bones in the storied Bookie Challenge competition, meaning neither handicapper has hit a 6-point parlay yet. Traditionally speaking, until a rookie handicapper finally knocks down a 6-point parlay hit, he's nothing to the rest of the league. Yep, in the Bookie Challenge competition, you're nothing until you're everything, until your heart and soul is all in. But still, one of the two rookies, regardless if they don't make their bones, is going to win this year's Rookie-of-the-Year award. With that being said, for the time being, it's Matty_Ice who holds the early edge over Kennypie86 for this year's Rookie-of-the-Year nod. But Matty_Ice's present lead over Kennypie is based on him having more points scored (4pts vs 1pt) and a better best-bet record (4-2-0 vs 1-3-0), otherwise it's too early to tell who's going to best handle the early jitters of a rookie debut. So yes, it's early but Kennypie86 can't let things get away from him because his rookie season can easily go south if he doesn't focus on the little things, such as adhering strictly to the competition's rules and procedures. For example, Kennypie has already screwed up by missing his initial set of weekly selections back in week #1. Conversely, Matty_Ice has complied fully with what is required of him, as in he has made all of his weekly selections, to include posting every exact-score selection. Ordinarily, at some point of a rookie battle the high drama and suspense takes over and the competition is treated to another rookie fisticuffs, so to speak. One thing is already certain, Matty_Ice has already landed an overhand right to Kennypie's jaw. Now we have to see if Kennypie can get his footing underneath him and punch back.



• WEEKLY TICKER.................. Both the Biased Nihilist and dbucc, two of league's seasoned veterans, have each connected on one-point exact-score hits for each of the first-three weeks of this year's competition...........Theopholis' return to the Bookie Challenge competition after missing last year's competition due to health concerns has been rocky and shaky at best, but nothing out of the ordinary. In other words, the league is already accustomed to seeing Theo screw things up in what seems like on a yearly basis. After having missed the posting deadline for the opening week of this season, this past weekend Theo tried his hardest to incorporate a 2-team parlay into the Bookie Challenge competition. But the competition's two administrators, the Nihilist and 7mick7, were not buying it. To make a long story short, Theo posted just two parlay picks as his 3-team parlay combination for the weekend, and as a consequence, he had his entire 3-team parlay combo disqualified. They say two out of three ain't bad, but in the Bookie Challenge it is.................This past weekend rookie Matty_Ice lost every parlay selection within his entire parlay combination, and done as much for the second time this season. In the process, he tied TCU for missing two full sets of 3-team parlay combinations so far this season................Ever since the league expanded its scoring format for exact-score selections in Challenge year #13, when it added one-point exact-score hits to the two-point and five-point exact-score selections it already had, the competition's propositional points skyrocketed. In fact, after the first three weeks of this year's competition, this year's Challenge field set a new all-time mark to open up a Bookie Challenge competition with the most prop points scored (20pts vs previous 3-week high of 14 prop pts in Challenge yr#14)...........