A short primer to understand the picks: A minus sign (-) next to a team means that team is the betting favorite and must win by more than the point spread. A plus sign (+) next to a team means that team is the betting underdog and can either win or lose by less than the point spread. A total is the overall number of points scored by both teams in the entire game. Betting the "over" means they will score more than the total and betting the "under" means they will score less than the total.

SW Dave (19-19-2)

Dear members of the Man V. Food production team,

Halfway through this NFL season and the top half of the Degenerate Dozen is bunched up while the bottom half is living on a prayer. Never say never in the world of sports handicapping though.

Just hours after we posted about some of the poker hands and scenes near and dear to my heart and just weeks after Black Man After Dark forgave Phil Ivey for getting bluffed out of a hand with pocket kings (go here for the gory details), Mr. Ivey gives us a true gem.

Not only am I an avid poker player but a lot of the loyal FMAD readers are also into the true sport of kings. After an overload of watching a lot of poker lately and with the World Series of Poker "November Nine" final table coming up in mere weeks (which will be the base for an entire separate article), let's look at three of my personal favorite moments in poker history. These are graded on my personal scale of entertainment, not on prowess or importance to the game.

1. Kenny vs. Corporation Mike

For those not familiar Man Vs. Food is a television program where the host, Adam Richman, goes around the country competing in contests of amounts of food or spice of food while sampling the most exciting culinary opportunities every city has to offer. He isn't going to Bobby Flay's latest catastrophe, he will be at the local diner drinking ten milkshakes instead. Since I am a humanitarian first and a pop culture icon second, I want to take this opportunity to reach out to the host and see if we can get him to quit while he's ahead.

Dear Mr. Richman,

We are pushing forward in the Degenerate Dozen. All it takes is one good week for current basement owners CB Town, SW Dave, and um...some other guy to get back into the game.

Week Six is already here as time flies when you're having fun gambling on athletic men. We remain a tightly packed field but pay no attention to the fact that your humble narrator is tied for the bottom spot in the league. That must be some kind of issue with the time vortex.

In the movie Fletch, Chevy Chase in the role of the title character says in one scene, "It takes a big man to admit he's wrong. I am not a big man." Well the time has come for me to admit that I was wrong.

Just like the sighting of Haley's Comet or a rare white elk, on occasion the Fat Man has made a boo-boo. I was wrong about Brett Favre.

Another week, another impressive performance shuffles up our standings. Buchananite went 5-0 to vault into the lead but last year his early spurt did not mean victory. Defending champion Gator Jason remains poised to strike and it is still anyone's Degenerate Dozen.