Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): After this past weekend's handicapping action went into the books, meaning week #10 of this year's competition, the Biased Nihilist was able to finally restore a semblance of normalcy back to the Bookie Challenge contest. For those who have been living under a rock in Boulder, Colorado, over the last three weeks, this week's weekly review is the first one being released since the weekly review for week #6. More to the point, the weekly review for week #7 was canceled, which marked the first time in the history of the Bookie Challenge competition that a weekly review had to be canceled. Making matters worse was the fact that a second and concurrent weekly review was also canceled, of which was the weekly review for week #8. Unfortunately, the Biased Nihilist had to repair a major snafu on the Bookie Challenge's website, one that he inadvertently brought about after he deleted the Picks-&-Results page for week #7. As a consequence, the screw up had to be repaired during one of the most busiest weekends of a Bookie Challenge competition, right before and right after this season's all-important divisional seeding. But just to be more accurate, weekly reviews were actually posted for weeks' #7 and #8, however those two reviews were extremely abbreviated and they lacked any articles. Moreover, the two reviews only contained statistics, such as the official point standings, the Challenge field's weekly stats, and the Picks-&-Result pages for both weekends. Interestingly, the missing articles of the weekly reviews for weeks' #7 and #8 failed to recap some major suspense and drama that surrounded this year's divisional seeding. With that in mind, this weekly review will cover the main handicapping highlights that have transpired over the course of the last three weekends.

All things considered, the biggest winner at this season's divisional seeding was the Biased Nihilist after he finally won his first-ever overall number-one top seed at a divisional seeding. But first, entering the weekend of the this year's divisional seeding, the four handicappers who held the four top seeds in the point standings were the Nihilist (24pts-#1 seed), Kr@tos (19pts-#2 seed), Vikings17 (18pts-#3 seed) and Blitzkrieg (17pts-#4 seed). But when it was all said and done, it was the Biased Nihilist (aka the Corozal Kid) who came out smelling like a rose. After winning his first-ever number-one top seed with a league-leading point total of 25 overall points, the Nihilist was awarded the 4th-place prize of $50 for garnering the number-one top seed, and along with his victory came some big-time perks, as in he got seeded with the lowest seed in the point standings, of whom was jcvike28 (5pts), and also with another struggling handicapper in the Hall-of-Fame City Kid (10pts). Equally important, as this year's top seed the Nihilist started this year's Corozal divisional race with the largest divisional lead (16pts) of all the divisional leaders in this year's competition. Additionally, because the Corozal division is the top-seeded division, the Nihilist has only two divisional counterparts to worry about, whereas the remaining three divisional leaders will each have to deal with three divisional counterparts. As an added bonus, the Nihilist might be the beneficiary of some random luck if it is found out that the Hall-of-City Kid has officially bailed from this year's handicapping contest (see the WHO'S-NOT-HOT segment of this weekly review for more details about the City Kid shamefully calling it quits).

The remaining three handicappers who held top seeds before this year's divisional seeding--Kr@tos, Vikings17, and Blitzkrieg--all held serve and went on to claim the remaining top seeds and did as much by winning the seeds they held before this year's divisional seeding took place. At the present time, the breakdown of the three remaining seeds are as follows: Kr@tos (#2 overall top seed) and is at the helm of the Hail Mary division, Vikings17 (#3 top seed) and will man the Run-&-Shoot division, and Blitzkrieg (#4 top seed) and will spearhead the Red Zone division. But as can readily be seen, it's the Biased Nihilist who has the best odds to win his division, albeit that he only holds a 2-point edge over Kr@tos to possibly capture this year's regular-season championship (the Nihilist 26pts vs Kr@tos' 24 pts). Speaking of Kr@tos, his 11-point lead in the Hail Mary division over the second-place handicapper in the division will be a divisional race worth watching, seeing as the second-place combatant is no other than Jets69. If anyone has forgotten, both Kr@tos and Jets69 were immersed in a killer Rookie-of-the-Year battle in last year's competition, of which Kr@tos won but just barely. By all accounts, it should be needless to say that Jets69 (aka Broadway Al) will be looking for some payback, so Kr@tos had better remember the old saying that goes as follows: "revenge is a dish better served cold."

Over in the Run-&-Shoot division, its divisional leader Vikings17 has only one real competitor that he needs to keep his eye on, and that would be second-place Driveline--or the two-time Bookie Challenge champion Driveline. To say the least, their divisional battle will be a divisional race to keep tabs on because basically two former Bookie Challenge champions will be pitted against one another. In the case of Vikings17, he won the Rookie-of-the Year award two seasons ago, and then he won last year's overall Bookie Challenge championship. No handicapper within their first-two respective seasons of handicapping the Challenge competition has gotten off to a better career start than Vikings17 has in his first-two seasons. What's fascinating about Vikings17 is his handicapping resolve, of which is a prognosticating trait that has led him to win successive regular-season championships in each of his first-two seasons of handicapping the Bookie Challenge. And finally, another divisional race to keep up with will be the one taking place in this year's Red Zone division, where Blitzkrieg presently holds a 2-point divisional lead over 7mick7, or the very participant who won his first-ever Bookie Challenge championship as recent as two years ago. As everybody should already know, the Snowman and the Falcon--aka Blitzkrieg--is always in the "thick of things" whenever he is competing in Bookie Challenge competitions. More importantly, if there's one thing that can be said about Blitzkrieg, it is that he's hungry to win his first-ever Bookie Challenge championship. Therefore, 7mick7 already knows that Blitzkrieg is no push over, so he's going to have to be on his handicapping A-game if he wants to win the Red Zone divisional championship over the Snowman.

Of interest, the second-place handicappers mentioned in both of the aforementioned divisional races from above, meaning Driveline in the Run-&-Shoot division and 7mick7 in the Red Zone division, should each be thanking their lucky starts that neither of them are not further behind in their respective divisional point standings. For example, and as already mentioned, Driveline trails divisional leader Vikings17 by eight points in the Run-&-Shoot divisional race, while 7mick7 trails divisional leader Blitzkrieg by just two points in the Red Zone divisional race--but those deficits could have been a lot larger after week #9 ran its course. More specifically, this past Monday night, both Vikings17 and Blitzkrieg had live 6-point parlay combinations in the works before entering the weekend's Monday night finale, with Vikings17 only needing for the game between Arizona and Dallas to go "over" a combined total of 54 points and Blitzkrieg only needing Dallas (-3) to cover against Arizona for both handicappers to connect on season-changing 6-point parlay winners. However, both of their respective golden opportunities fell through after the Cardinals upset the Cowboys by a final of 27-17 (game's total ended up staying under 54 points).

• DBUCC HAS FALLEN ON SOME HARD TIMES, PRAYERS NEEDED: One of the Bookie Challenge's most liked and most amicable participants, dbucc, phoned the Biased Nihilist this past weekend to inform him that he had another "accident" at his home that required some temporary arrangements in his life. To make a long story short, several weeks ago dbucc fell down while walking into his kitchen, and in the process, he hit his head on the edge of his kitchen counter. He was taken to the hospital and required stitches for the back of his head, but worst of all, he had suffered a major concussion and had to reside at his son's house for the time being. By his own admission, dbucc told the Nihilist that his immediate family members could not make out what he was saying, as he was babbling and stammering in a nonsensical manner. To be frank, as the Nihilist and dbucc discussed dbucc's recent plight, the Nihilist felt that dbucc was not yet 100 percent, for he dbucc did not remember placing his weekly picks for the last three weekends, including this past weekend. The Bookie Challenge participants are a tightly-knit group of handicappers, and so the Biased Nihilist is asking each member to pray for "the Donald" so that he makes a speedy recovery from his concussion. At the present time, dbucc is still residing with his son and it is not yet known when he will be able to go back living in his own house.



• WEEKLY TICKER.................When Blitzkrieg connected on a PERFECTA outing in week #7 of this year's competition, he kept alive his extraordinary handicapping streak for being the league's longest-tenured handicapper to have recorded at least one 6-point parlay hit in each of his previous nine years of handicapping the Bookie Challenge competition. Check that, the streak is now at 10-straight seasons with at least one 6-point parlay winner.