The Non-Losing Streak is Alive and Well

After all that moping and whining and self-flagellation (no - that's not what it sounds like), Marco and I managed to scratch and claw our way back to 8-8 ATS for Week 12. Way to go Monday Night Football that I didn't watch a single second of. I was joking with one of our followers that it was probably during games like that when gambling was first invented. It was either that or soccer. "I'll take Manchester United," said the polite, Oliver Twist-sounding bookie, "and give you five-eighths of a goal. Or you can parlay that with the Over, which is 1...again." I was going to make fun of cricket, but we have a new fan in Australia, so I'm going to kill him with kindness just a little bit longer. That brings us to the all-important:

New Friends of TSZ: We'd like to give warm welcomes to a new followers Todd S. (is that you Texas Todd?), and DrFlo. Todd (I believe) has been a prolific resource to The Spread Zone, while DrFlo is relatively new but comes with a terrific moniker. You might even win a prize a the next Zony Awards with that one, DrFlo. We would also like to welcome the aforementioned John, who is now spreading the word about TSZ in Australia. And we thought Canada felt international. Thanks for representing us down under, John.

Today's post is a reminder to our readers to please participate in TSZ's Thursday Three: Fan Picks. Much like our Friday Five last week (2-3 ATS), our fan's Thursday Three took a hit, too (1-2 ATS), but we believe that result was in part due to a small sample size. Overall, however, the Thursday Three is still 4-2 ATS, and relies on the knowledge and confidence of TSZ friends and readers to build on that success.

Before you sit down to crunch the numbers, roll the dice, sacrifice animals, or whatever else you do to assure your gambling success, please know that my mother-in-law - the one who is convinced that it is the year of the "pointy" bird (Falcons and Seahawks) - has received a psychic hit with regards to Week 13. Hold on to your hats - but not your water wings - because this will be "the week of the ground animal." Are you starting to get a sense of what my Sundays have been like lately? Maybe I should get her on board as an analyst - or at the very least we should have a Psychic Hit section.

                                  
                                  Ground Animals Rule

When I told her how many "Ground Animal" mascots there were - sorry un-evolved Dolphins, I'm sure you'll have your week someday - she said she was seeing mostly "cat teams," so if you're keeping score at home watch out for the Panthers, Bengals, Lions, and Jaguars.

Now, let's get to that Thursday Three. We'll also be sending out a reminder e-mail this afternoon to everyone on our mailing list. If you'd prefer to wait until we post our picks we'll have them up by mid-day tomorrow, but Marco and I enjoy and encourage free-thinking gamblers with strong opinions and hopefully solid reasons for having them. We also enjoy and encourage everyone else, so join the fun.

Please read the guidelines, shoot us an e-mail, and come back to see how your picks compare with rest of our community. Top three fan picks will be posted on Thursday.

The Thursday Three: Where Fans Become Experts

Step 1: We have a new e-mail address: vinnyandmarco@gmail.com

Step 2: Include in your e-mail to us the three picks this week - against the spread - you are most confident in. Rank them in order 1 (most confident) to 3 (least confident).

Step 3: Include a sentence or two as to why you think your teams will win and/or cover. Please include stats, history, match-up issues, or your psychic relatives latest "vibe" on the game. 

Step 4: Let us know a little bit about yourself: Tell us where you're from and which team you root for.

Step 5: Send us your picks and your thoughts and check back on Thursday to see if you were a part of the consensus Top Three Picks. Marco and I will tally up the picks and post The Thursday Three along with commentary from you the reader/fan/gambler. 

It's fun and, as usual, it's free.

Vinny and Marco

Reminders: This is a new section we will include at the end of every post. Our goal at The Spread Zone is to help you make money, and if we can scrape together a few pennies with Google Adsense and other Ad revenues, we're going to try to do that. But we need you're help.

#1. Coffee Donations: Feel free to buy us a cup of coffee anytime - top right of the page. It takes a lot of caffeine to keep The Spread Zone running. If you'd rather wait and see how you do with our picks, that's fine. If you appreciate what we're doing regardless of the outcome, you can donate anytime. Thanks again to everyone who has done so already. It has felt like a warm, delicious compliment.

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#3. Now that we have the support and appreciation of fellow handicappers, we feel like The Spread Zone has as much potential as any free gambling website out there. We always appreciate feedback and suggestions. Like my favorite baseball team likes to say, "Together We're Giant." 

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