Before I jump into the survivor pool recap and picks for this week, I wanted to let you know that friends of mine are running a Halloween event this weekend to raise money for SickKids Hospital in Toronto.

There could not be a better cause to raise money for than this incredible hospital, which my wife Sarah and I actually needed the services of one time for son Alex who gave us a big time scare when he was rushed via ambulance from daycare when he apparently stopped breathing. It was through a snowstorm, neither Sarah or I were with him until we, panic stricken, managed to fight through the snow and get to the hospital. Fortunately, everything turned out okay for Alex and our family, with many thanks to SickKids on that day.

What I always say to people is SickKids is a great place. Not one you ever want to have to go to, but you sure are glad it is there if and when you need it. And they can only keep doing what they are doing with financial support from the community.

Now back to the story about my friends, whose son Will has spent a great deal of time at SickKids since birth. Like I said, they organized a Halloween event – a kids party (to end all kids parties) – for Saturday with all of the proceeds going to SickKids. As part of that, they have a silent auction with many items you sports fans may be interested in.

If you are from Toronto, or Buffalo, or will to drive or fly to either, then see if you are interested in any of these items I picked off the auction list:

• Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs on Mon. Nov. 30th – 2 Gold tickets
• New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs on Tue. Feb. 2nd – 4 Gold tickets
• New York Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs on Wed. Dec. 9th – 2 tickets, section 323
• Phoenix Suns at Toronto Raptors on Sun. Nov. 29th – 2 Gold tickets
• Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills on Sun. Nov. 29th – 4 tickets
• Vancouver Canucks at Toronto Maple Leafs on Sat. Jan. 30th – 2 Gold tickets
• Atlanta Thrashers at Toronto Maple Leafs on Mon. Dec. 7th – 2 Red tickets

See anything that strikes your fancy? Pony up a bid and see what happens. And you can feel great about doing so because it is for a super cause.

If interested, then send me your starting bid and maximum bid, and I’ll pass the information on to my friend to bid on your behalf. If we don’t know who – as in, know you well enough to know you’re good for it – then I would respectively request the bid deposit up front, of course fully refunded if you don’t win your bid.

Some great items there though, so put in your bid. Someone get the Bills tickets! Okay, on to the survivor recap…

If ever we were going to have a clean sheet then last week was the week. But no, packerswhat (emphasis on the “what” … were you thinking) took the Giants who stumbled through and ultimately lost to the Cardinals last Sunday night.

Those aren’t your same old Cardinals, and apparently, maybe not your same old Giants. I don’t hear the comment, “the Giants don’t even miss Plaxico Burress” as much as earlier in the season, and it even turns around the other way as another pass drops through Mario Manningham’s brick hands.

As for the winning picks last week, most all of them came through with ease. In order of preference it was Colts (17 picks), Pats (10), Packers (4) and Chargers (1). In order of lopsided point differential it was Colts (36 points), Chargers (30), Pats (28) and Packers (28).

Like I said, it wasn’t close. No suspense at all. Is that what the NFL is coming to? So many bad teams we can’t even keep a good old fashioned survivor pool interesting?

Maybe, maybe not. This week looks somewhat more difficult than last week. First off, the Bucs, Chiefs and Redskins are all on a bye. Their respective fans rejoice – no embarrassing loss to deal with. The Lions and Rams play each other. More rejoicing – somebody is going to come away with a win (most likely)!

That leaves just the Raiders and Browns of the larger than normal tier of terrible teams to pick on this week. I might normally group the Bills in there too, but they’ve somehow won two in a row. I think it is because I keep picking against them, so in the interest of Bills fans everywhere, I’ll do that again this week.

I won’t pick against them for my top 3 survivor picks, but I will take the Chargers over the Raiders, the Bears over the Browns and finally the Cardinals over the Panthers. (Another very poor team, as are the Titans who I forgot about. Man, there are a ton of bad teams this year.) Anyway, check out my full writeup on why I decided on those three survivor picks.

I’ll be taking the Chargers in the Second Half Survivor Pool starting this week. If you’re in that, and/or still alive in the original survivor then make sure to get your pick(s) in before the 1:00 Eastern deadline on Sunday. Also don’t forget to set your clocks back.

All but 3 of us survived for another week. Philadelphia was by far the most popular pick (probably because of John’s compelling arguments in last week’s instalment of the top survivor picks), and they didn’t disappoint, beating the Panthers by a decisive 5-1 margin. If memory serves, John predicted a 5-2 score, and all 3 of his picks won. This puts the pressure squarely on me for this week, and there are some tough matchups, so let’s see what we can do.

Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins (Saturday at 7:30pm) – This is my favourite pick this week. The Wild have lost every single game they have played on the road in regulation, and are averaging just a shade over 2 goals scored per game. That won’t be nearly enough to beat the Pens in their own barn, as Pittsburgh has spread the offence out nicely so far this season, getting solid contributions from the likes of Tyler Kennedy and Alex Goligoski, as well as the usual suspects, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

Prediction: Pittsburgh wins 5-2

Buffalo Sabres at New York Islanders (Saturday at 7:00pm) – Buffalo has yet to lose a road game all year, and their offense is starting to click. They’ve scored 16 goals in the last four games (as I write this the puck has just dropped in their game against the Devils), after starting the season with 10 in their first four. On a side note, Sabres’ rookie defenseman Tyler Myers has looked unbelievable so far this season, and it’s going to be excruciatingly difficult for the Sabres to justify sending him back to junior at this point.

Prediction: Buffalo wins 3-2.

Atlanta Thrashers at Ottawa Senators (Saturday at 2pm) – The Thrashers are going to be a completely different team in the absence of Ilya Kovalchuk. Guys like Evander Kane and Bryan Little will be expected to raise their level of play to make up for the lost offense, which isn’t fair to them at all at this point in their careers. The Senators have managed to get by so far without any goals from Jason Spezza, and Alex Kovalev has yet to hit his stride. A home game against the Thrashers without Kovalchuk could be just the slump-buster these guys need.

Prediction: Ottawa wins 4-2

John got his hockey survivor picks posted this morning, and I’m a step behind him. I just hit publish on my football survivor picks for Week 7 over at BleacherReport. First, lets look at what happened last week in a moderately miserable week in terms of being able to stay alive in our football survivor pool.

The most popular picks were a tie between the Steelers, my top pick, and the Packers, with 12 each. The Steelers came through fine against the Browns. The Packers destroyed a depleted Lions team 26-0. We had four picks for the Patriots. Now, if the Packers destroyed the Lions, how exactly to describe the Pats 59-0 win over the not so Titanic Titans?

Destroyed. Decimated. Annihilated. Humiliated. Demolished. Obliterated.

Yep, those work.

Okay, so all is fine and dandy so far. Now the picks get a little dicey from here. Five entries picked the Jaguars. I also liked the Jags last week, but man, they sure show you why they are one of the most untrustworthy picks in survivor pooling, ever. It took a few late game lead changes and finally overtime for them to pull out the win.

The picks on the Jaguars were the bad, now it is time for the ugly. Four on the Jets. You’ll read more about this in my picks for this week, but it essentially required a perfect storm of injuries and Jet miscues for the Bills to barely win that game. Unfortunately we say goodbye to bquinless, brokehydrant, DiMuzio (‘07 survivor champ) and shuv.

It doesn’t end there. Four picks on the Eagles, who lost to the Raiders. The Raiders. The biggest joke of a franchise this side of professional sports (other candidates anyone?) somehow pulled off one big play for an 86 yard TD to their TE, and held the Eagles to a grand total of 9 points. Amazing, and goodbye to fadeleyp, Floyd, H(o)(o)ter and Rockton.

As for our final goodbye from last week, redskin11 picked the Bengals over the Texans. The then 4-1 Bengals at home against the 2-3 Texans who couldn’t stop the run to save their lives. I could kind of see it, I guess, maybe. Just when the Bengals rope you in they’ve turned a corner…

Now some good news! The Second Half Football Survivor Pool is up and running, so for all of you guys who already got the boot, and even those of you who haven’t, sign up is now open. The deadline is, of course, kickoff of Week 8 – next week. Same format as usual, $20 per entry, winner takes all.

Back to this week and the original survivor. My picks are the Packers, Patriots and Colts. I didn’t remember when I wrote those picks that so many people picked the Packers last week, so they won’t be available to a bunch of you. Three solid picks there though (no guarantees policy in effect) and plenty of other choices, so go get a win and we’ll reconvene next week, same time, same place.

If you are still alive, then make sure to get your pick in prior to the 1:00 deadline on Sunday.

Well done hockey fans – only two eliminations last week! Now, there are a handful of uneven matchups this week, but I’ve narrowed it down to three top choices. And please, let’s all save ourselves a little stress and avoid those flakey Boston Bruins until they show us they’re worth betting on.

Florida Panthers at Philadelphia Flyers (7:00 PM, Saturday October 24) – Here’s my favourite game this week. Even though the Panthers only victory in their last 6 games came against the Flyers, I’m quite confident that lightning won’t strike the same place twice. The Flyers are far more talented offensively than the Panthers, and have the edge on defense as well. The Panthers rank 29th in the league with an average of 3.81 goals against per game this season, and the Flyers’ snipers Jeff Carter and Mike Richards should take full advantage this time around. This one could be a blowout.

Prediction: Flyers win 5-2

Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks (7:00 PM, Saturday October 24) – The Leafs are going to win one sooner or later, but I’m still thinking later than sooner. Win number one could come against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. Note that I said could. The Canucks on the other hand, are starting to put it together after a rough start. Roberto Luongo has allowed just 5 goals in his past 3 games, after allowing 20 through his first 6 games. The Canucks are deadly on the power play (5th ranked at 27.5%) while the Leafs are dead last killing penalties (30th ranked at 60.7%), so this came could very well be decided by who plays a more disciplined game. Expect Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler to pop a goal with the man advantage, as they extend the Leafs losing streak to eight games. All poor Joey MacDonald can do is wait for his inevitable return to the AHL.

Prediction: Canucks win 4-1

Nashville Predators at Chicago Blackhawks (8:30 PM, Saturday October 24) – The Blackhawks are reeling after two straight 1 goal losses and are looking to get back on track against the last team they beat – the Nashville Predators. On paper, the Hawks are a much stronger team than the Preds, and haven’t had problems generating scoring opportunities this year (2nd in the NHL with 307 shots on goal). Both teams seem to have a bit of a goaltending battle on their hands, the Blackhawks between Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi, and the Predators between Pekka Rinne and Dan Ellis, so look for a strong outing by a goaltender to decide this game. One thing to keep an eye on if you’re picking the Hawks this week, is whether or not their captain, Jonathan Toews, will be suiting up for the game. He suffered a mild concussion after taking a monstrous body-check from the Canucks’ Willie Mitchell Wednesday night, and did not practice with the team on Thursday.

Prediction: Blackhawks win 3-1

Just two casualties last week in the football survivor pool, but with so many big favourites playing and winning handily, I was kind of expecting us to sport a clean sheet. The way this pool is going though, I’m sure many of you are wondering how to win this thing in the long haul. And maybe that is what paulkney and redskin11 were thinking taking slightly riskier picks San Fran and Buffalo in Week 5.

The 49ers had been playing great leading up to the game facing off against the Falcons, but Matt Ryan connected with previously invisible Roddy White for 210 yards and 2 TD. Bulldozer Michael Turner rushed for 3 TD. Basically everything that went right for the 49ers the week before, went against them against the Falcons. Sorry Paul, see you next time.

Buffalo. Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo… I’m happy to report this game was blacked out in Southern Ontario. Thank goodness for small favours on Thanksgiving. I did get a new Buffalo Bills sweatshirt from my brother for my birthday, and it looks great, but man, the team sure makes it tough to walk around supporting them without holding your head in shame. What is there to say? This team could write a book on how to lose a game in dramatically ridiculous fashion. Goodbye redskin11.

The majority of picks last week were on the Eagles (16) and Giants (15). Then we had five each on the Steelers and Vikings and one person agreed with my Panthers pick. Thanks cbob9999! Yes, that was a close one! Whew…

Okay, on to this week. I posted my Week 6 picks over at BleacherReport.com. I know I usually say stay away from division games, but I can’t help but pick on the guys impersonating two NFL teams that played in Orchard Park last week. The Steelers over the Browns are my 1A pick, and the Jets over the Bills are 1B. Down in third, the Jaguars over the Rams.

As I was writing out those picks I got a bad feeling about getting dumped thanks to the Jaguars a year ago in the survivor pool. Here it is, Week 8 (first week) of the 2nd Half Pool last year. Well, if you don’t like the Jags then the Eagles are also a solid option this week playing the Raiders. Any Raiders fans in the house? I’m almost getting a little tired of making fun of them. Almost.

If you are still alive in the pool, then get your pick in before the 1:00pm Eastern deadline on Sunday.

We’re into week two of our NHL survivor pool, and already a few teams are off the board. 21 teams remain in the running, thanks mostly to the Boston Bruins and their late game heroics.

I was one of the many who needed that late game rally from the Bruins just to force overtime and avoid an embarrassing first week survivor pool exit. Despite providing me with some anxious moments last Saturday, the Bruins once again find themselves into this week’s top survivor picks (picks in bold).

Nashville Predators at Washington Capitals (7:00 PM, Saturday October 17th) – This is my favourite pick of the week. The Capitals have been simply explosive on offense so far this year, averaging 3.67 goals for per game, for a total of 22 goals for, good for third best in the league. The only problem is they have been awful defensively. Only the winless Toronto Maple Leafs have allowed more goals than the trigger-happy Caps. That being said, the Predators have scored a league worst 7 goals this year! Yes, that’s right, SEVEN. This makes the Predators a perfect opponent for a Capitals team struggling to find its defensive game.

Prediction: Capitals win 5-1

Boston Bruins at Phoenix Coyotes (9:00 PM, Saturday October 17th) – Boston has played below expectations to this point, but at the same time have shown flashes of just how good they can be. Last Saturday’s win over the Isles was a case in point. They dogged it most of the game, but then mounted a spirited comeback, scoring 3 goals in the final 8 minutes of regulation to eventually win the game in a shootout. This is one of the league’s deepest teams, and it’s only a matter of time before they start firing on all cylinders. The Yotes have been stellar on defence, but lacklustre on offence to this point in the season. Look for the Bruins deep attack to overcome the Coyotes stingy D.

Prediction: Bruins win 4-2

San Jose Sharks at New York Islanders, 7:00 PM, Saturday October 17th – The Islanders have yet to win a game, which kind of scares me. Just like the Maple Leafs, the Islanders will not go 0-82, and as the losses mount, so does the sense of urgency. For this reason, I hate to continuously bet against a winless team, but then again they are winless for a reason. The Islanders have been awful offensively scoring just 9 goals through 4 games this year (3 of which made it to overtime). 2.25 goals per game is not going to be enough against the Sharks. Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley are having exactly the sort of chemistry most poolies hoped they would this year, and there’s no reason that should stop against New York. John Tavares, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo will get a firsthand look Saturday at exactly what Islanders fans hope they will become while they watch the Sharks dynamic duo light up the scoresheet.

Prediction: Sharks win 4-1

Howdy… no, I promised I wouldn’t say that.

Okay, we’re back again with Week 5 of the NFL season and all-in-all, its been a couple of easy weeks in the survivor pool. Most of the favourites winning as they should, and not many people getting the boot. Not that we haven’t had any questionable picks and subsequent slow deterioration in the number of alive entries.

Last week, fadeleyp had the Cowboys with his #1 entry. I think he missed the news about the Broncos being 3-0, now 4-0. I think he missed the Monday night game between the ‘Boys and Panthers that looked like two average teams trying to one up each other in mediocrity. I think he hasn’t witnessed Cowboys coach Wade Phillips doing the shaking his head routine that longtime Bills fans remember well, and doesn’t instill a lick of confidence in anything – apparently his players and much less us.

Ah, but fadeleyp did have 3 entries to contend with. No sense picking the same team more than once. We can cut him a little slack. Just a little.

We also lost NickyJ, who missed making his pick and on a bad week unfortunately. No Arizona or Atlanta available as a default pick, since they were on bye. No Baltimore since he already used them. That left… Buffalo!

Ah, the Bills. Tony and Chris gave me a hard time in last week’s podcast for picking against my team, but the Bills proved – wow did they ever – unworthy of my support as they got absolutely humiliated by the previous winless Dolphins. Yeah, I didn’t expect them to win, but come on. Make a game of it, please! Another long season…

NickyJ promises to do better in the new Hockey Survivor Pool (plug, plug, plug) which starts Saturday (plug).

Okay, so this week lets get right to it. My survivor picks for this week are the Giants, even if Eli Manning doesn’t play (please play), the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles. You can read my reasons for each pick over at BleacherReport.

No Vikings versus the Rams? No Steelers versus the Lions? Something is nagging at me to stay away from those games. I’m sure they’ll win, but I’m just being cautious going with… uh… the winless Panthers instead.

Somehow I’ve convinced myself this is a logical decision. Now, whatever you decide to do, get your picks into the pool before the 1:00pm Eastern Sunday deadline. Good luck, and Happy Thanksgiving (Canadians only)!

In complete contrast to Week 2, when we lost nearly half our entries, Week 3 was about as safe as you can get in terms of survivor pool picks. All three of my top picks, the Ravens, Eagles and Packers, all came through with flying colours. The Saints and Giants were also great picks. Six people had the Cowboys who, although not overly impressive in my opinion, were better than the Panthers on Monday night. The Chargers handled the Dolphins for a win to help DrZaius7 to advance. Of course you heard about Brett Favre’s late, late game heroics to Greg Lewis. Not only did that propel the Vikings to victory but helped cbob9999 stay alive in the pool.

Alas, we did lose 2 people in the pool who picked the Texans over the Jaguars. Talk about a team with no run defense to speak of, the Texans. They’ve allowed a 100+ yard rusher each game plus 8 TD on the ground through 3 games. They play the Raiders this week, which has to be tempting, but man, when a team can’t stop the run like that you just might never have a “safe” game picking them for a survivor pool.

As for our departed, hipfan30 taught me how to stock grocery shelves as a young lad, a skill one doesn’t give up easily once they’ve done it enough. I still put canned goods in my own pantry with the English labels facing straight outward as if on display. Cacciatorini, if you told me he would be out of the pool with all 3 entries through 3 weeks I would have said you’re crazy. This longtime MOP member went next-to-last departed (a.k.a. the bridesmaid) in both the 2007 full season and 2007 second half football survivor pools. As a small silver lining, he saved himself some late heartache this time. No worries C., I’m on the sideline with you! Now when exactly should I start up the second half survivor?

A couple quick hits before I get my to my picks for this week.

• Yes, I’m out of the football survivor pool as are about half of you. And no, I haven’t started the second half survivor pool yet. Any hockey fans in the crowd? If so, combine hockey with survivor, and I give you the hockey survivor pool. You still only pick a team a week, and it kicks off (I mean puck drops), Saturday October 10th. It should be fun. Spread the word.
• The NFL is showing its support for breast cancer awareness during the month of October, so expect to see, “players, coaches and referees wearing pink game apparel…, as well as on-field pink ribbon stencils and special K-balls and pink coins.” Well done NFL and its players for a great cause. In our own small way to show our support I added the pink background to the MOP site, which I liberated from colts.com. Hey, its for a good cause, so I hope that is okay. Here is the link for the Canadian Cancer Society. To make a donation, start by clicking your province and then “How You Can Help” across the top.
• I’ve been doing a weekly podcast hosted by Tony Ricciardi (MOP member wmagnum1) from 93.7 The Bus out of State College, PA, and with guest Chris Prospero (Buffalo Mudwings). Yes we’re all out of the survivor pool. However, that doesn’t stop us from chatting for 30 minutes each week on Wednesdays picking all the games with some fantasy football talk mixed in. Tony even picked all 16 games correct last week. Well done Tony. For my part, I finally figured out how to properly link to the show, so you can check out the Week 4 edition, and hopefully we’ll keep it going all season.

Okay, now the picks. Once again I posted them at BleacherReport.com to try to increase exposure for MOP. If only I could decipher whether I’m actually allowed to link directly from the article to here, that would help. For now though, check out my Week 4 survivor picks – the Giants, Bears and Colts – and drop a comment if you like. I may come back and tell you specifically why I didn’t put the upstart Bengals (and I’ve already hinted at the Texans) in my top 3, but I will definitely make time to answer if anyone is curious and asks the question.

Good luck in the pool to those still alive, and get your pick in before the 1:00 Eastern deadline on Sunday.