By: SPM Scott
Well, after months of waiting - 207 days since the last game was played - the National Football League is back. Our appetites have been whetted the past two weeks with the opening of the college football season, but there is nothing quite like the NFL.
And all the fun, chaos and excitement begins Thursday night at 8:20 Eastern time when the defending-champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the hopeful Detroit Lions in the opening game of the 2023 NFL season.
If you're like us, you've been passing the time by participating in fantasy mock draft after mock draft, watching NFL Network training-camp reports, listening to handicappers talk about anything and everything related to the NFL and doing your fantasy football homework. When the game kicks off Thursday night, we will have participated in up do a dozen real drafts (eight for full-season leagues), entered preliminary picks for our Pick 5 and Pick 6 contests, started to hone in on our Survivor picks, chosen our DFS opening-night lineups and submitted the first iterations of our Week 1 full-season fantasy lineups.
We might have placed a bet or two already, too:
Cowboys - Gants UNDER 46
Buccaneers +6 vs. Vikings
Once the game starts, however, it will be time to take a deep breath, sit back, relax and enjoy some football. Unless, of course, you're considering placing some live in-game bets or maybe adding a second-half DFS lineup or participating in some other in-game gambling-related activities. We are pretty brain-fried and probably will take a break and hopefully enjoy a great game.
But I digress.
Tonight's the night, and we still have a few hours to prepare. So, as game time approaches, check back in with our website SportsPickMagic.com to see if we can help you with any of your fantasy or betting needs.
In this blog space we are going to let you follow us on our journey this year as we navigate our full-season fantasy schedules, debate and decide upon our weekly DFS lineups, determine out our weekly Pick 5, Pick 6 and Survivor selections and place our weekly side, total and prop bets.
The hope is that by following our journey and learning the thought process behind what we do, seeing the amount and types of research and homework that go into our decision-making, discovering the people and analytics we trust most in the industry and possibly even stealing some of the knowledge and info that we provide, you will learn a few things, be motivated to excel and be armed with enough information to provide you with the edge you need to win a championship, some bets or a contest.
This also will allow us to document everything we do, which will keep us accountable and hopefully prove to the world that we actually know what we are doing. We have won championships or finished in the money in multiple full-season fantasy football leagues every year for as long as we can remember. We win consistently in NFL and NBA DFS and have been consistently profitable betting primarily the NFL, NBA, college football, college basketball and MLB - with a hint of NHL thrown into the mix.
Since last September, we have been particularly successful betting on sports and have crushed March Madness and carried that success through baseball season the last two years. We will provide detailed documentation on all of this as soon as things calm down a bit, but for now you can follow our every move here and see firsthand how we do.
In all instances, we defer to the Gambling Gods and never take anything for granted. Today's hot streak can turn into tomorrow's bad beat and next week's cold spell. We are always tweaking our processes, looking for new and better sources of information, tracking analytical modes, tinkering with our own models and examining how we can be better. Hopefully, you will enjoy being part of our adventure and learning along with us. The minute you think you have any of this mastered - as soon as you stop trying to improve and get better - is when the results take a consistent turn for the worse.
Here's what you can expect from our blog space throughout the 2024 NFL season (and don't fret, we also will provide betting information on college football):
Full-Season Fantasy Football
We will be posting about all eight of our money-league fantasy football teams here on a weekly basis, posting our weekly lineups, writing about how we determine who will sit and who will start, discussing our waiver-wire targets and charting our results.
Pick 5 and Pick 6 Contests
We are entered in two national Pick 'Em contests - a Pick 5 and a Pick 6. We will be posting our weekly picks here - along with the reasoning behind those selections - and charting the results all season.
Survivor Picks
We have four entries in various Survivor contests - and might add a fifth - and will be posting our picks and strategies for managing multiple entries here each week.
DFS
We will handicap the Sunday NFL slates for DraftKings and FanDuel each week of the NFL season, posting our optimal lineups as well as value plays, core players and more. Occasionally we will get into single-game DFS opportunities for the NFL prime-time games, too.
Additional Football Handicapping
Each week we will post our top NFL and college football bets and track them here for you.
Thanks for checking us out. We will be posting more Week 1 information throughout the day and the weekend ahead. Hopefully you will join us on our journey and find what we provide halpful.
Good luck!