NIHILIST HITS 6-PT PARLAY, EASILY WINS WEEK #3 OF 14TH COMPETITION!

Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): Week #3 of the 14th Annual Bookie Challenge competition came and went innocently enough, especially for the "self-proclaimed" Greatest Handicapper of All Time, meaning the Biased Nihilist. Not for nothing, but the Bookie Challenge's handicapping rock star has done it all, everything except win a number-one top seed at a divisional seeding. And because there is a cash prize of $50 this season for the eventual overall top seed at this year's divisional seeding for the first time in Challenge history, now seems like the perfect time for the Nihilist to win his first-ever number-one top seed at a divisional seeding. Week #3 belonged to the Nihilist, who landed the weekend's only 6-point parlay winner to end week #3 tied at seven points apiece for the lead in the Bookie Challenge's point standing. The Nihilist worked himself into the three-way deadlock after winning week #3 outright for a "week won", and in the process he caught both of the recent front-runners in the standings--Vikings17 and Blitzkrieg--both of whom have been mired in handicapping slumps since the second week of this season.

The Nihilist had put together a brilliant parlay combination that eventually came through with flying colors. Overall, his parlay combo consisted of Detroit (-3) over Arizona (Det won 20-13), Kansas City (-3) over Atlanta (KC won 22-17), and then he easily won last week's early Monday night affair between Buffalo (-3) and Jacksonville, of which the Bills won the contest in a 47-10 laugher over the Jaguars. However, the Corozal Kid failed to connect on both of his best bets and had to settle on getting his "week-won" with just a 6-point outing. Regardless, all was well with the Nihilist after ending week #3 in a technical tie for the Bookie Challenge with Vikings17 and Blitzkrieg. In fact, he was finally ahead for the week and figured he could get his weekly review written by either Thursday night or Friday morning of last week. Instead, the Nihilist lost on whole day because of an appointment with his LVAD team in Charleston, S.C., and making matters worst was that the appointment was at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. In other words, with Charleston being three-and-a-half to four full hours from his home town of Greenwood, the late appointment guaranteed that the Nihilist and wife would not be makubg back to greenwood until around nine that evening.

Losing a day wasn't a big deal, but when Hurricane Helene made ground early Friday morning at Florida's panhandle, it was first thought that Helene was going to veer left, but not this time. This time around, Greenwood, S.C., caught the right side of the hurricane, where its strongest winds are located. Immediately, by around 4 a.m., the electrical power got shut down by Helene, as did the phone service, and as did the internet. More importantly, the Nihilist had to somehow get to Greenwood's hospital so that he could plug his battery charger into the hospital's auxiliary power. There Greenwood area was in shambles, with trees having been uprooted practically everywhere. The electricity would stay off from early Friday morning through Saturday afternoon. In an odd twist of fate, a truck load of large generators were shipped to the Lowe's in Greenwood around noon on this past Saturday, and the Nihilist's wife was fortunate to be able to get one of them ($1,000) on credit. The kicker, though? As soon as the generator was delivered and neighbors helped unload it and put the large generator on the back decking, the ELECTRICAL POWER CAME BACK ON! One can easily call it a miracle, because there was no way the power should have been hooked back on that quickly. Also, the Nihilist was spared having to go to the hospital and stay four hours in order to fully charge four large batteries. At the time the power came back on the Nihilist was down to two sets of battery power, around 30 hours worth of life, because without batteries or a live wall socket to keep his LVAD pump going, it would have been curtains for the Nihilist.

For some reason, the Biased Nihilist has received one miracle after another ever since he had his major heart attack this past March the 6th. This time around, the largest tree in his yard fell on the far left corner of the house and right where the master bedroom is located. But thanks to the grace of God, the tree did not penetrate into the master bedroom. Additionally, the Nihilist might have had his electricity turned on only because the LVAD team had called the area's electric department once the Nihilist had been released fro the hospital in Charleston and let them know that the Nihilist was an LVAD patient and thus would get priority to have his power turned back earlier then most areas in Greenwood. Interestingly, the Nihilist had slept through the hurricane when it plowed through Greenwood. It was only after getting his power and internet service back on did the Nihilist realize that the hurricane never veered left once it made land fall in Florida, but instead veered slightly to the right and toward the greenwood area. He read the news on a local Greenwood website on Saturday night (9/28/24), and the excerpt on the website went as follows:

"The winds swept through South Carolina at 70 miles per hour. Rain lashed down, dumping as much as 15 inches of water in some places. As the weather cleared into clear blue skies Friday afternoon and Saturday, many residents — especially those in many western South Carolina counties were confronted with devastation. Leaves littered the ground as tall, old trees were uprooted, crushing power lines as they toppled across roads and into houses. Among the hardest hit counties was Greenwood, where nearly everyone was without power Saturday...."

• NOTE: Due to time constraints caused by hurricane Helene, these two segments of the weekly review have been omitted for week #3's weekly review


• WEEKLY TICKER ...............