Thursday Thirty-Two? WTF?

THURSDAY THREE LAST WEEK: 1-2 ATS

SEASON TO DATE: 4-2 ATS

Let me just start by saying - this football season has been a blast. Marco and I both look forward to waking up every morning, checking the TSZ Inbox, and talking shop with our new friends from around the globe. When we do well, our readers rejoice and applaud us. When we struggle, they've been there with a kind words of support and encouragement. As the weeks unfold, we are seeing a clearer vision of what TSZ is: A warm and cozy place for like-minded, sports fanatic, gamblers to come and celebrate their victories or curl up in the fetal position and find comfort in defeat.

What an amazing adventure in Internet Sports Gamblogging  this has become. Who knows where TSZ is heading - but for now it's another reminder that the significance of the journey far exceeds the destination. Speaking of which, we have a couple of new followers who have decided to officially join TSZ's community.

TSZ Warmly Welcomes: Noah G. from NorCal I'd like to introduce you to Frank S. (I'm assuming that's Frank the Tank) from Raleigh, North Carolina. Even though it's disturbing to us how many New York Giants fans there are in the world (still not over the Kyle Williams fumble last January), we're glad you're both here and appreciate your input below.

Now to the business side of things.

As the early submissions trickled in Tuesday afternoon and almost every team in the NFL was represented, Marco and I started to have some concerns about the future of our Thursday Three. We considered turning it into a contest, weeding out the Chiefs, Raiders, and Cardinals fans, and offering the first ever TSZ t-shirt to the reader with the best record come playoff time. Then we remembered we don't have t-shirts, and better yet our regular, classy, top shelf gamblers started sending in their picks. Now we have three, clear-cut winners, and an honorable mention or two.

On the topic of t-shirts, however, if any of our readers have more artistic talent than Marco or me - i.e. stick figures with googly eyes - send us an idea for a TSZ logo. If we like it, we'll use it when we get big enough to merchandise. We can't offer you anything return except the aforementioned first t-shirt ever - hand-crafted by yours truly - but if you have the time and want to share in the creative process that is building this fine community of ours, send us some artwork to vinnyandmarco@gmail.com.

Now let's get to that Thursday Three already. We had more submissions than ever this week, and we predict that will bode well for the results - even though #3 will not only be missing from our Friday Five but is also absent on our Wednesday Sixteen. From least to most confident, here they are.

Week 13 Thursday Three: TSZ Fan Picks

#3. New York Giants (-2.5) over WASHINGTON REDSKINS: We're glad we have independent minded gamblers who are willing to go against TSZ picks and willingly lose their money.

-- The NYG are getting healthy in their secondary, which builds confidence up front on the D-line!  The D-line was acting like it was the Super Bowl against the Patriots last week.  RGIII is playing out of his mind, but the Giants on the road will be too much! 

Frank the Tank

Raleigh, NC

New York Giants Fan

-- The Giants had their bye week and the end of the season is near. That means Eli and company are in  championship form and aim to set pace for defending their title. They looked awesome last

week on defense and that will expose the rookie-ness of QB RG3 (who will be basking in his win over the leaderless Cowboys). Giants by a TD.

Texas Todd

Broncos Fan

-- If you can get a parlay on a BobG3 concussion and three cracked ribs, I would take it.

Arty Z.

Austin, TX 

Cleveland Browns Fan

#2. New England Patriots (-7.5) over MIAMI DOLPHINS: What is up with this line? Did Chad Henne go back to the Dolphins?

-- Yeah the Fins looked good last week against Seattle. But so do most teams when Seattle is on the road. Patriots had a bye week and scrimmaged a local community college team in Jersey on Thursday, so I feel like they will be prepared to wreak havoc down in Miami. Tannenhill has come back down to earth in recent weeks and we have seen that the Pats can make rookie QBs look very unLUCKy. So patriots should be able to at least win by 10 this week as Brady and his Uggs improve their MVP chances. 

Luis G.

Long Island, New York

Steelers Fan

-- Bill Belichick is a terrible human being. He seems to take pleasure in not only beating teams but humiliating them. While this may make him a terrible sportsmen he is a gamblers best friend and the Patriot's are a spread covering machine. Brief side note, at $7.5 million per year you think he would lose the hoodie from the homeless Rocky Balboa collection.

Jimmy the Weasel

Rams Fan

#1. Houston Texans (-5.5) over TENNESSEE TITANS: Two-thirds of the submissions included the Texans, so nice going TSZ readers.

--Who plays for the Titans? I had to look it up. Hasslebeck..... i thought he opened a car dealership in AZ 2 years ago. Chris Johnson can run but not on Houston. Unless it is to the nearest strip club and then he is All-World. Nate Washington is their leading receiver. Have you heard of him? Me neither.

Noah G.
Northern California
New York Giants Fan

--Tenn just lost to Jacksonville. Houston has had 9 days off after winning two OT games in less than 5 days. A rested Texan team that wants the number one seed claims victory early and

cruises to a two TD win.

Texas Todd

Broncos Fan

-- The line in Australia is -6.5 & I'm still taking them.  I'm selecting this game purely on form and games won and lost 10-1 to titans 4-7. I'm surprised the line isn't greater. Texans are my tip for Super Bowl :)

John

Melbourne, Australia

New York Giants Fan

-- The Weasel see's the 5th ranked Texans run offense doing bad things to the 27th ranked run defense of the Titans. It's no coincidence that 98% of the betting populous are taking the Texans and giving the points. Stats and psychology can't be wrong.

Jimmy the Weasel
Rams Fan, but not when gambling


HONORABLE MENTION: New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Chicago

Final Thursday Three TSZ Rankings for Week 13

1. Houston Texans (12)
2. New England Patriots (8)
3. New York Giants (7)
4. New Orleans Saints (5)
    Jacksonville Jaguars (5)
5. Chicago Bears (4)
6. Indianapolis Colts (3)
7. Cincinnati Bengals (2)
    Dallas Cowboys (2)
    Baltimore Ravens (2)

*First place votes get 3 points, second place 2, third place 1.

If you use our fan picks, keep in mind the sample size is still pretty small. Our hope is that as it grows, we'll have a better sense of what a solid bet is according to the TSZ fan base. Thank you all for participating. We try to include everyone if you chose one of the Thursday Three, but if you didn't, try again next week. Picks across the board were solid - I was obviously joking about the Raiders and Chiefs fans - they only exist in Marco's house.

Good luck, fellow gamblers.

May the Spread Be with You,

Vinny and Marco

#1. Coffee Donations are Much Appreiated: Feel free to buy us a cup of Joe anytime - top right of the page. It takes a lot of caffeine to keep The Spread Zone running, and we'd love to build this into more than just a hobby. 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 feels like a warm, delicious compliment every time.

#2. Follow us on Twitter @vinnyandmarco. Shoot the S-word with Marco while you're riding the gambling roller coaster.

#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."