Pool Participant Profile: Jarrett McLeod

Jarrett as flag bearer for the Canadian Special Olympics team

Birthplace: Fredericton, NB

Current residence: Fredericton, NB

Profession: Youth Care Worker

Nickname: D. L. Moody

Favorite NFL team: Patriots

Most hated NFL team: Jets (especially because of Rex Ryan)

Favorite NFL studio personality: Steve Young

Most annoying NFL studio personality: Terry Bradshaw

Favorite sport: Tennis

Favorite athlete: Tom Brady, Roger Federer, Jeff Gordon

Christmas wishlist: TV, black jogging pants, grey jogging pants

Favorite movie: Home Alone

What three things would you want if you were stranded on a deserted island? Bear Grylls, giant sea turtle, Bible

Why did you forgot to make all those picks? "I don't know."

Week 11 - A Creature Is Stirring in the Basement

Week 11 Results

This week's winners:

Jarrett - 12-2 (+2.5)
Bob - 12-2 (+2)
Joel - 12-2 (+2)
John - 11-3
Jonathan - 10-4
Roger - 10-4
Patrick - 9-5
Jeremy - 8-6

If Jarrett were writing this post, he might say, "Allow me to crack the bubbly!" (inside joke).

Back when Jarrett was living at home (which wasn't too long ago), he often remained asleep in his basement bedroom until sometime in the afternoon. Perhaps he was still asleep at 2:00 on those two Sunday afternoons that he didn't submit any picks.

Either way, the following question must be asked: Has Jarrett now awoken from his Football Pool slumber? The answer: It appears so. And that answer leads to another question: Is it too late for Jarrett? The answer: Yes. But an additional question comes to mind: Can Jarrett escape the basement? The answer: Perhaps. But who can he catch? The obvious answer: The free-falling Jeremy. And what is the probability of that happening? The answer: According to our calculations: He has a 16.7% chance of catching Jeremy. And one final question: How ashamed would anyone be if Jarrett caught them? The answer: Very.

Seriously, one can only wonder what position Jarrett would be in now if he had simply remembered to submit picks for all of the games. (Keep in mind that his forgetfulness also led to several desperation picks.)

"Let me tell you right now, there are two Canadian brothers--I think their last name is McLeod--that probably could be linebackers on this team. Why haven't we signed them? Well, I'll tell you why. They're Patriots fans, and I can't convince them to play for the Jets."--Jets coach Rex Ryan

--Jonathan

Look out! Here comes Jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrretttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!! Jarett went with the dream team, and he gets rewarded with a successful loner pick, and a tie for first! If he'd submitted his Thursday pick, maybe he'd have taken the week by himself.

It was a fine start this week for Bob and Roger. The rest of us now all wish we'd had the guts to do what they did. We wanted Denver to win. We knew Denver could win. But we were scared that other people would pick the Jets and get it right. Well, they had the guts, and they got off to a head start.

Bob used that head start to grab part of the 3-way tie for first. Too bad he didn't have enough confidence in his own Eagles; if he had, he'd have had sole possession of first place.

Best pick of the week: Eagles over Giants.

Worst pick of the week: Bills over Dolphins.

Critical game of the week: Seahawks at Rams.

--Joel

Current Standings

Week 10 - Another Insanely Good Week for Patrick

Week 10 Results

This week's winners:

  

Patrick - 10-6 (+3)
Jonathan - 9-5 (+1.5)
Roger - 9-5 (+1.5)
Bob - 8-8
Joel - 8-8
John - 7-9
Jeremy - 6-10
Jarrett - 1-15 (didn't submit picks)

If you've ever watched sports with Patrick, you know he likes to yell at the TV. We assume he knows that the players can't hear him, but that never seems to stop him. If the Jaguars are driving to take the lead at the end of the game, Patrick will often yell, "DON'T SCORE TOO SOON!" And now as Patrick is so close to regaining the lead from John, all of his fans (Tara & Gillian?) are yelling, "DON'T SCORE TOO SOON?" Will Patrick ignore his own advice? Or will he peak too soon?

While we're thinking of questions concerning Patrick, other questions come to mind. Questions like, if Patrick takes the lead, will he start to become complacent (like John?) and not push the keyboard as hard when submitting his picks? Will the seemingly illogical reasoning behind Joel's weekly awards cause Patrick to suffer a nervous breakdown? (Right now, Joel's assessment of the Colts over the Jaguars as the worst pick of the week is probably driving Patrick crazy. I do think, though, that if you don't trust your favorite team to beat the Colts, you have absolutely no faith in them. Where is the loyalty?) Does Patrick have enough money to pay Bert's former advisers (whom Patrick claimed to have hired at the end of last season)? Yelling at the TV, hiring imaginary advisers--maybe he's already gone crazy!

The most satisfying pick of the week was Jonathan's pick of New England. (Roger also picked the Patriots, but he's not a New England fan.) By now it should be clear that you should be very careful about picking against the Patriots when everyone doubts them. The Patriots win allowed Jonathan and Roger to share second place this week.

With the excitement of Patrick's pursuit of John, perhaps no one has noticed that Jeremy has been tumbling down the standings. In week 7, he was less that one point out of second place. He now sits in fifth. The reclusive Jeremy was unavailable for comment.

"Lastly, I would like to say that my decisions as a coach affect not only our football team and our fans, but also the Football Pool. My decision to go for it on fourth down in overtime allowed Patrick to steal first place this week from Jonathan and for that I am deeply sorry."--Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith

--Jonathan

I'm really getting sick of NFL football. It's so tiring making the best picks week in and week out, and not getting the points for it!

There are lots of candidates for all of these, but here's what I'm dishing out this week. I'm sure these could be debated ad nauseum.

Best pick of the week: Giants over Niners. Just kidding. Titans over Panthers.

Worst pick of the week: Colts over Jaguars. And Patrick still won the week.

Critical game of the week: Patriots at Jets.

It's good to see the Bills back. And the Lions. Nice to see the Eagles living up to expectations. Nice for Atlanta to show no faith in their defence, even though they'd just 3-and-outed the Saints the previous possession. How about those Rams? Convincing win #2. Tim Tebow. 2 for 8, 60-some yards, and a 17-10 win.

--Joel

Current Standings

Week 9 - Impossible Is Nothing

Week 9 Results

This week's winners:

  

  

Patrick - 8-6 (+1.5)
Jonathan - 8-6 (+1.5)
Jarrett - 8-6 (+1)
Bob - 8-6 (+1)
Joel - 8-6 (+1)
Roger - 8-6 (+1)
Jeremy - 7-7
John - 7-7

Joel says John can't be caught, but Patrick has been gaining ground the last two weeks. He's now only 6.67 points behind. Has John grown complacent (according to Joel, another impossibility--see last week's comments)? Probably not. But, suddenly, the race for first has became a whole lot more interesting.

Speaking of Joel, our mighty commissioner finally tasted the sweet nectar of victory (albeit it was a six-way tie, and technically Patrick and Jonathan led the weak due to their loner picks--but we won't mention that). To Joel's great satisfaction, his correct pick of Arizona was critical to his first place finish. Had St. Louis won, it would have been only Patrick and Jonathan in first (most critical game of the week?).

Both Patrick and Jonathan made last-minute changes to their picks, each deciding to go with a New York team. Patrick picked the Giants, and Jonathan picked the Jets. Both picks turned out to be successful loner picks, enabling them to gain the most points in week 9.

The only change of position this week was Bob surpassing Jeremy for third. In the past two weeks, Bob has gained 6.5 more points than Jeremy. Now only 0.42 points separate Bob, Jeremy, and Jonathan. Would any of them be content with the bronze medal? Does Joel send out punctual recap emails? In other words, NO! (Sorry, Joel.)

Roger, Joel, and Jarrett are all battling to avoid the basement. Jarrett's strategy seems to have shifted. He's now flinging less hail Marys and throwing more solid short-range passes. Perhaps his goal is no longer to capture the glory of first, but to escape the shame of last.

One reason for hope for those who are trying to catch John: take a look at his points for/against differential. It's fourth best in the pool. This means that a lot of the close games have been going John's way. Perhaps the second half of the season won't be so kind to him.

"In our opinion, Joel Kuehner resembles an old Barry Sanders. Our scouts have their eyes on him. And there's a very real possibility that if Jackson can't go this Sunday, you could see Joel in a Bills uniform. However, the league has advised us that a conflict of interest might exist due to Joel's position as an NFL football pool commissioner."--Buffalo Bills coach Chan Gailey

Joel is so fast, he makes other guys seem like they're standing still!

--Jonathan

Current Standings

Week 8 - Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Week 8 Results

This weeks winners:

 

Bob - 10-3 (+2.5)
Patrick - 10-3 (+2.5)
Jonathan - 10-3 (+2)
Jeremy - 8-5
Joel - 8-5
John 8-5
Jarrett 7-6
Roger 7-6

I think week 8 was the first time this season when the MNF game was meaningful for our pool. AND WHAT A GAME IT WAS! (However, I'm sure I would have a different perspective if I had been on the losing end of that game.)

In case you missed it, the game was tied 20-20 with less than a minute left and the Chargers on the Chief's 15-yard line. Everyone knew that San Diego would soon kick a game-winning field goal. BUT EVERYONE WAS WRONG!

What happened? Philip Rivers fumbled the snap and the Chiefs recovered. The game went into overtime and the rest is history. (Are the Chargers the least-clutch team in NFL history?)

For Philip Rivers, it was "the worst day ever." For me, checking the score this morning gave me a nice start to my day. (I now wish I had stayed up to see the end of the Chargers/Chiefs game--or at least PVRed it. Unfortunately, I turned the TV off right before this play.)

Was week 8 the start of John's fall back down to earth? Or was it simply a bump in the road? Time will tell.

--Jonathan

It seems some folks are a bit put off that some of the weekly recaps are too much Joel-focused, and not enough them-focused. So I'll attempt to stroke a few egos this week. But first, the objective stuff.

Best pick of the week: Steelers over Patriots. (I would've given this to Pat for his Vikings pick, but his Cowboys pick nullified it.)

Worst pick of the week: Cowboys over Eagles.

Critical game of the week: Chargers at Chiefs. (If this had gone the other way, Bob would have won outright and there would have been a 5-way tie for second).

Kudos to Bob for a stellar week. He didn't even pick the Chargers/Chiefs game, and he still tied for first place. Kudos to Pat for a stellar week. He picked the Cowboys over the Eagles, and he still tied for first place. Kudos to Jonathan for a stellar week. He kind of tied for first, but didn't have a loner pick. He actually gained ground on John. Kudos to Jeremy for doing as well as John. Kudos to John for doing as well as Jeremy. Kudos to Roger for correctly going against his Browns. I know it's hard, but you're getting better at it this year. Kudos to Jarrett for ... um ... picking KC.

We're about half-way done the pool now, and John has broken 100 points. I'm not sure he's catchable, even for you guys who think you're close. He's just statistically too consistent. It's like election night, when the liberals/democrats are winning, and you're thinking, "But wait, only 20% of the polls are reporting! There's still a chance we'll come back! What if every remaining voter votes conservative/republican?", but you know it's just not going to happen. Sorry to burst everyone's bubbles (except for John's). Note: this does not mean we're officially projecting John as the 2011 pool winner.

--Joel