What am I going to write about from now until the Super Bowl?
I ask because I stumbled upon this video making the rounds.
Back in November, Oz the Mentalist performed for Rams players and coaches — and predicted they would beat the Broncos 23-14 in the Super Bowl.
So I guess our work is done here at VSiN. There’s always prop bets, right?
The video reminded me of the time three years ago that Oz joined Gill Alexander and Kelley Bydlon on A Numbers Game.
Gill does his usual tremendous job interviewing Oz about what he does and how he does it — and then Oz turns the tables on Gill with an incredible read of his mind.
(I’m not sure what it says about Kelley, but Oz failed to read his mind.)
Whatever we write this week about the conference championships, we will post it here.
No Average Joe with 62% win rate
The EdgeBoost Average Joe Contest is over after 4,746 contestants made 300,116 picks over 20 weeks.
Clyde Walker posted an 81-49-2 to win a trip to Las Vegas for the full Circa experience and, more importantly, a spot in next season’s Circa Friday Football Invitational against the pros.
He and Jeff Kucera finished with 88.5 points, but Walker won on the tiebreaker (Best Bets).
Clyde was a quarterback at Florida State in the mid-’70s — including Bobby Bowden’s first season (1976). I asked him how he got into betting:
I’ve been playing sports since I was a kid in North Carolina. Loved the competition. After my time at Florida State, I needed to fuel my competitive drive. I got into sales and relocated to West Virginia. Got involved in gambling and after some hard early lessons I developed a contrarian approach. I am fascinated by the whole process of putting out a number, adjusting it accordingly, and then finalizing it by game time. I rely on VSIN and your talented crew to help sharpen my positions.
The other season-long winner is Mike Mahony, who gets the “Mr. Irrelevant” Award along with a trip to Circa for finishing last. It was a little awkward, but I had to ask Mike, a loyal VSiN fan from West Point, N.Y.. if he was trying to finish last.
I was having just a rough year with picks, but figured it wouldn’t last the whole year. In Week 15, I pivoted to trying to win Mr Irrelevant Award and went opposite of my picks to try to lose and it worked out.
Congrats as well to Q4 winner Tom Albright and Week 20 winner Hugh Dorsey.
Thanks to everyone who participated and to EdgeBoost for sponsoring the weekly prizes.
Stay tuned for the VSiN March Bracket Challenge.
Circa Friday Football Invitational wrapup: San Diego pro bettor Chris Macero already had clinched the title, but Fox Sports analyst Chris Fallica made a late charge with the Miami cover to finish second.
Macero won $15,000 of the prize money put up by Circa owner Derek Stevens, with Fallica getting $8,000. Scott Pritchard finished third ($4,000), Jason Jarvis fourth ($2,000), and Kenny White and Matt Ste. Marie tied for fifth (splitting $1,000).
Big thanks to Derek for putting up the money and to Matt Youmans for organizing the contest.
Quick Hits
NBA: Zach Cohen‘s Best Bets and Steve Makinen‘s Analytics Report will hit around mid-morning on our NBA page. Our Opta AI NBA player props projections are here.
College Basketball: Greg “Hoops” Peterson has picks for today’s college basketball menu. Adam Burke offers his college basketball Best Bets Monday-Saturday. You can find them on our college basketball page mid-morning. Also look for Tyler Shoemaker‘s picks based on his ratings Monday-Thursday.
Bonus material: Steve Makinen‘s head-to-head trends.
Get real-time steam alerts from the DonBest Screen. Sign up now for a 7-day free trial at go.donbest.com. Use the promo code VSIN10 for 10% off your initial subscription.
NHL: VSiN hockey analyst Jonathan Davis will post his Best Bets around mid-day.
Australian Open: You will be able to get Zach Cohen‘s daily Best Bets here on our special Aussie Open page. Zach and Gill Alexander add their picks to our tennis picks page.
College Football: Adam Burke has perused the 2027 championship futures and has two longshots for your consideration.
PGA: We’re going to give Wes Reynolds, proud Indiana alum, a little time to recover, but I figure he will have his Best Bets for The American Express later today.
