November 30, 2003. That was the day my hatred for the New England Patriots was sealed for eternity - well at least for the rest of my days on this planet. It was another epic battle between the Colts and the Pats. Once again the Patriots were leading late in the 4th quarter and Peyton Manning and his team was marching down the field. Once again, New England had no timeouts and they needed to somehow stop the momentum of the Colts relentless offense.

Enter Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest. With 1 minute 9 seconds remaining and the Colts driving for the winning score, McGinest was lying on the turf flat on his back because of a 'knee injury'. But with 11 seconds left, he was in the Colts' backfield tackling Edgerrin James on a fourth-and-1 run that McGinest stopped at the New England 2. When McGinest had been injured, the officials called timeout, even though New England had none left. When McGinest returned a handful of snaps later for his big play, he looked fast and strong. And after he had the big play that sealed the victory for the Patriots, he sprinted down the field.

I hate cheats and fakers.

When the NFL Network replayed that game last week, I went and changed my pick from New England to Indianapolis. Win or lose, I was not going to find any satisfaction in a Patriot victory.

Thank you NFL Network. You may have the technical expertise of a second rate college television station, but you reminded me of my core values. And helped me to climb to a sixth place tie in the standings with an 11-4 mark this week.

Now, this week's awards. A full description of them can be found here. No awards this week for the Homer, Hank Hill, Doogie, Buckeye, A-Team or Guiding Light.

FRASIER

Last week I piled on Fish's Somewhat Accurate Picks (fishzone) pretty heavily for his propensity to pick the Lions with such frequency. If this is a chink in his armor, it seems to be the only one, because he goes 13-2 this last week to storm into the overall lead, racing past a stunned Momo of the Winter (elpaquilloloco) with an overall mark of 102-42 and his first Frasier. Momo hath not the Big Mo any longer.

BOBBY EWING

Last week our favorite michigan DJ 'Fish' as he is known by his adoring fans, went 8-5. this week 13-2. No one made strides like this from one week to the next.

MEATHEAD

With a mark of 7-8, bouges13 drops out of the top 10 in the league. Yes there were lower scores but they were incomplete submissions and they get their own award for such miscues.

WOJO

And this is it. I am really truly concerned for Bobby now (Finalsequel) as he has now missed two full weeks of picks. Strangely they were not back to back. Back in Week 7 he missed out as well.

As for the other Wojo recipients, I tried my best last week to alert the league as to the inception of the Thursday night contest and many of my faithful readers dutifully complied but two lovely ladies missed the memo, namely T_Brennan and Sherasbear.

GILLIGAN

Languishing on the island this week are all those electing to opt for those east coast teams, the Patriots and the Jets. With no time left on the clock the Jaguars chipped in a 21 yard field goal to sink Sanchez and his mates. And the entire universe knows full well what happened Sunday night so I shant gloat any further, only award the Gilligan to Kegtown Compulsive Gamblers, Priest=Aura, Fireballil's Team and Better Late Than Never.

VAN DYKE

Closing out the awards for Week Ten, I'd like to consider the Cincinnati Bengals, one of the good stories to come from this season. What they have managed to accomplish thus far is truly remarkable. They have managed to beat the Ravens and the Steelers twic this season, and in so doing they have an iron grasp on their division. And yet, there are quite a few in our league who are 0-4 in those contests, failing to choose Chad, Carson and Co. even once against their closet rivals. Thus I am forced to award the Van Dyke to IndianaMom, HeyStu's Sports Machine, Hellfish & Son, 123home123, Better Late Than Never, T_Brennan, Priest=Aura and Kegtown Compulsive Gamblers.

I guess that wraps up another wild week in the NFL. Join us next time as....

Excuse me, I guess there is just one more thing....

COLUMBO

I said I wanted to finish with the Bengals so I guess I'll look on the flip side of their divisional dominance. While eight of us went 0-4, there is one who actually had the cogliones to go 4-0, picking the Bengals all four times. And surprise surprise, it is NOT Ochosucko but rather the aptly named Lords of the Goalposts and he sits currently in 4th place with seven weeks to go.

This is Les Nessman saying It has long been stated that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush but Bud Adams, billionaire owner of the Titans learned all too well that two birds are worth a quarter of a million dollars.

May the Good News be yours today.

A full description of the awards can be found here.

Midway through the 2009 NFL Season, there are multiple storylines which are fascinating to follow. And so it is with our Pick 'em League. What I like about this particular format is that every game is important - the Rams-Lions game of a few weeks ago counts just as much as the upcoming Colts- Patriots game Sunday night. Most of our league did fairly well with half of us scoing 9 or 10 points. So not a lot of jostling in the rankings, save for the top spot.

No awards this week for the A Team (no one chose the Bucs over the Pack), the Homer, Buckeye, Doogie or Wojo.

Speaking of the Wojo, here is your fair warning. The Bears travel to San Fran THIS THURSDAY NIGHT. Make sure to get in your picks before then, at least for that game. Unless you want a Wojo cluttering up your mantle.

FRASIER

A second half clinic by the Steelers denies Sherasbear of her second Frasier and instead we have a four way tie led by bowling255, Ochosucko, Brandi1leigh, Momo of the Winter who each post a 10-3 mark. For Brandi, it's her second consecutive victory, the first one to go back to back this year. We'll get to Momo in a moment.

MEATHEAD

HeyStu's Sports Machine needs a little maintenance as 6-7 places him on the radar but in a different way than he would like.

GUIDING LIGHT

Momo of the Winter (elpaquilloloco) has been the most consistent this year, scoring in double figures seven of the nine weeks, including his current string of three 10 win contests. Good enough to help him leapfrog into sole possession of first place.

HANK HILL

Some weeks the Frasier winner also picks up this hardware. This wasn't one of those weeks. IndianaMom and T_Brennan barely broke even at 7-6. Consider that of the six games where the spread was under five points, only one favorite (Pittsburgh) prevailed. Bones, it took long enough but you have won your first Lester this year. Sorry it's taken so long, sweetheart and sorry it wasn't for a better reason.

BOBBY EWING

NYGBRIAN246 deserves credit for going from 5-8 a week ago to reversing those numbers and going 8-5 this week.

GILLIGAN

In the last few weeks there have been fewer games flip at the end of the contest and this week there was but one and 10 people felt the ill effects, namely the 10 choosing Eli and the Giants who should have defeated Philip Rivers and the Chargers. After all the Giants had 1st and goal at the 4! Oh well, what can you do? Sounds like I was one of the ten, right? I'm not! But those who are include Brandi1leigh, Lords of the Goalposts, bouges13, FinalSequel, Priest=Aura, T_Brennan (have mercy, you've won 2 this week!) IndianaMom, Hellfish & Son, Fireballil's Team and HeyStu's Sports Machine.

VAN DYKE

Being a fan is never easy. Fish's Somewhat Accurate Picks (fishzone) our favorite dj from Michigan has suffered through some lean days following his beloved Lions. So when do you go by your head and when do you go with your heart? Admittedly he has done better this year but four times he has chosen his team over the team that actually won. Three of the four qualify him for the Van Dyke Week 2 Vikings, Week 6 Packers, Week 8 Rams (OK we'll give you that one) and again this week Seahawks. Now Fish, if you were languishing in the middle or near the bottom, I'm like Joy Behar "So what? Who cares?"

Well, Fish, you should if you want the big enchilada. You are only three points behind Mumu of the North.

Hey I gotta go and make my pick for THURSDAY Night so I better end this. Les Nessman at your service saying "Good..

OOOps, almost forgot, (wink wink) Just one more thing.

COLUMBO

Just can't get the New York football Giants out of my head. After Week Five folks were talking an all-Manning Super Bowl. Eli hasn't won since, going 0-4. I went back and tried to find even one person who was 4-0 during that stretch in those games but I couldn't. everyone had NY for at least one game. OK, enough with the positive. I wondered if I could find just one person to go 0-4 during that span, meaning despite the freefall, has anyone punched their tab in all four games? I was right, I couldn't find one. I found 12! How different would the standings look if OchoSucko, Brandi1leigh, Lords of the Goalpost, bouges13, Sherasbear, T_Brennan (Yes Bones, the trifecta!), Hellfish & Son, Finalsequel, IndianaMom, Buskieboy, Fireballil's Team or Better Late than Never didn't drink Eli's kool aid? I know I'd be sucking wind in the standings like it was 2008 all over again, that's for sure.

This is Les Nessman saying "Good day and may the Good News be yours."

STANDINGS AFTER WEEK NINE

1. 92 MOMO of the WINTER

2, 91 PRIEST=AURA

3. 89 FISH'S SOMEWHAT ACCURATE PICKS

4. 88 OCHOSUCKO

4. 88 BRANDI1LEIGH

6. 87 LORDS of the GOALPOSTS

7. 85 NEWS BEACON of the OHIO VALLEY

7. 85 HEYSTU'S SPORTS MACHINE

9. 84 BOUGES13

9. 84 KEGTOWN COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS

11 83 SHERASBEAR

11 83 T_BRENNAN

13 82 HELLFISH & SON

14 81 FINALSEQUEL

14 81 INDIANAMOM

16 79 BUSKIEBOY

16 79 FIREBALLIL'S TEAM

18 78 123HOME123

19 77 BOWLING255

20 76 THE GRAPHERS

21 73 BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

22 68 NYGBRIAN246

A full description of the awards can be found here.

Congratulations to the Rams and Titans who won their first game this week, leaving the lowly Buccaneers to get off the schneid. With a Bronco loss, that just leaves Drew Brees and Peyton Manning to yet experience their first loss. More on the Saints a bit later.

As teams in the NFL begin to separate themselves from the pack so do we in the Pick 'em League but for the second week in a row there are shocking developments. For example, I find myself in the Top Ten midway thru the season. OK everyone you can lift yours jaws and restore them to their upright and locked position. I seem to be surviving the war of attrition while others are thriving and some are dropping like Obama's poll numbers.

Several categories did not meet the criteria for an award this week, including the Buckeye and Homer (neither of which gets awarded very often.) others have been touch and go so far such as the Gilligan, The Guiding Light, Hank Hill and Doogie. But this is the first week I haven't awarded the Van Dyke

Frasier

Momo of the Winter (poised to pass jokipper for the lead any day now), Sherasbear and Brandi1leigh (Excellent job, ladies!) and HeyStu's Sports Machine (no longer flying under the radar!) each turned in a splendid 10-3 mark, picking up their first Frasier for the year.

Meathead

NYGBRIAN246 had a rough week, picking up some early wins but few after that and ending up at 5-8. Yet I cannot fault his picks, most of those games could have easily gone the other way.

Wojo

Last week we witnessed in shock as the first and third place leaders plunged in the standings. Now this week, two more go down for missing the deadline. If I read once, I read a dozen times the wise counsel of our league commissioner, 123home123. Just go thru and choose the favorites in each game and then go back and make adjustments. It was thus somewhat astounding as well as humerous to see Mr. Home pick up a Wojo for failing to follow his own advice. And then last year's Grand Champion IndianaMom, who had been making tremendous strides to ascend the ranks in the last few weeks, missed the first round of games so she started in the hole 0-8. I believe tvfanatic91 has basically given up the ghost and so will probably not be around for any more awards. The big wiunner of course is Priest=Aura who finds himself in first despite four mediocre 9 win weeks in a row.

A Team

Brandi1leigh wins her second award for being the only one to realize that Arizona is a much better team on the road than at home and so chose the Carolina Panthers to prevail. Which they did.

Bobby Ewing

Hey, how about one more for Brandi1leigh for quietly and steadily ascending the ranks from median obscurity to prominence in the top 5!

That's it for the Brandi show. Seriously I am happy for our speech and debate teacher from the great state of Texas. Until next time this is Les....

Oh except there is one more thing, if you don't mind.

Columbo

As I said earlier, the New Orleans Saints have started out very well at 7-0, the best start in franchise history and many are already visioning them in the Super Bowl (Minnesota will have something to say about that). But even with all of their success, only four players in our league have marched with the Saints in all seven victories. They happen to be News Beacon of the Ohio Valley (yours truly), the current leader Priest=Aura (jokipper), Fish's Somewhat Accurate Picks and The Graphers (tuckgraph).

No time to do the standings this week.

This is Les Nessman saying "Good day and may the Good News be yours!"