Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Commence the Comments (Again)!


Hey there, internet! Stock Lemon is finally getting (back) with the times! We are proud to announce that you can once again, for the first time in months, post comments on this here site.

Hate that our college football picks have sucked the last two weeks? Leave a comment! Want to encourage others to donate to us using the paypal button on the left? Leave a comment! Need to complain about how often we ask for donations even though we have yet to receive any? Leave a comment!

The reason we took the things off was quite simple. We were getting a TON of spammy comments, be they written in Mandarin or directing our readers to some sketchy porn site (because there are non-sketchy porn sites?). We left these posted because 1) These small blogs and crazy websites have to get traffic somehow, though we would never resort to such tactics... 2) We were generally too lazy to remove them all and 3) We kind of liked having an article that six people would comment on, even if two of them were trying to sell you something, three of them were trying to steal your identity and one of them was installing malware onto your computer.

The downside to this, aside from the three we just mentioned, as that our Google pagerank (something important to blogging nerds), plummeting from a not-great-but-ok-rank of 4 to, well, a 0. After turning the comments off completely, the loss of all the spammy outbound links gave us 2 points back, but we have our eyes on that PR4, baby! Hopefully, deleting all the previous posts will help us with that.

We can delete all these comments because, finally, blogger has come up with a tool that allows us to delete comments 25 at a time rather than one at a time, so it was not as tedius to delete 742 comments from our database (maybe half of these are legitimate, but we aren't interested in picking through old posts one by one for some witty comment you made a year ago on a shitty pick we posted). So now, with a clean slate, the comment section is open for business again--so long as you type in one of those annoying anti-spam word verification things.

The embarrassing thing about this particular blog entry is that we look like fools when we dedicate an entire post to our comments section and nobody comments, but we don't care. As long as you don't post spam. If you do, we WILL hunt you down and slaughter you. Okay, maybe not. But we will be really, really upset.

So, let us end the longest post ever about something nobody cares about by waving the checkered flag on this sucker. Commence the comments!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Weekend Football Picks Recap

Another week of NFL, another week of great profits... er... uh... something like that.

We're on record as saying the first couple of weeks are always the easiest for us to cap, given that the books haven't quite figured things out with such a small sample size to draw from. Likewise, through two weeks we were 11-2 and feeling pretty good about ourselves.

However, like in Week 3 for our Free NCAA Football Picks, we came back down to Earth a bit. It wasn't as bad as our 3-6 week in the college ranks, but given how hot our Free NFL Picks have been, a 4-4 week sure felt like that.

As was the case with both of our first two weeks. One of our losses was so far off that it was laughable. And for the second time in three weeks, it was the 49ers that did it to us. Lesson learned.

Still, a 4-4 week is survivable, and in theory the more data we have the better going forward, even as the big bad books figure things out throughout the year.

So the NFL Picks, as they stand:

Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 6-1
Week 3: 4-4
Overall: 15-6... 71%

A little humbling to be back out of the 80 percent range, but we'll take it after Week 3 and hope for a bounceback next week.

We were hoping for a similar bounceback in college, and, well, we didn't quite get it. It was another week where things were just... off.

We had seven early picks on Saturday, managing to go 4-3, which would have helped right the ship. Aaaaand then we added three plays, which of course, all lost. And so, a 4-6 day, and another week in which we were three games under the .500 mark at 4-7 after a close Friday loss. Yuck. So, the trouble continues with our Free NCAA Football Picks, usually only slightly worse than our NFL Picks but so far this year, clearly far more unreliable. Here's the damage:

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Week 3: 3-6
Week 4: 4-7
Overall: 21-21-1... 50%

We're obviously working hard to figure this out, but for you conservative types you might want to wait for us to get these back on track. We'll toy with things a bit, maybe decrease the number of plays (tough as it is to limit plays, we could do without those three added games from Saturday right about now), maybe throw in some totals like we've been promising we would. We'll see. But we definitely plan on getting these back to where they should be after two miserable weeks.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Week 3 Free NFL Picks Are In (85% YTD)


Our much anticipated Free NFL Picks are in for Week 3. After an 5-1 Week 1 with a 6-1 Week 2 encore, we're hoping for more magic in our Week 3 encore encore. Here are the picks:

Falcons +3 1/2 over the Saints

Steelers -3 over the Buccaneers

Bengals -3 1/2 over the Panthers

49ers -3 over the Chiefs

Lions +11 over the Vikings

Colts -6 over the Broncos

Chargers -5 1/2 over the Seahawks

Redskins -4 1/2 over the Rams

It's a big card this week, and maybe we're pushing our one-loss per week luck by upping the ante to eight games, but we have a lot of value with, as it turns out, all road teams. Last week, road teams went 9-7 overall against home teams in the NFL, so don't get too freaked out by the large amount of white jerseys we're hoping lead us to more green.

Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 6-1
Overall: 11-2... 85%

Adding to Our Week 4 Free NCAA Football Picks

As we look to get back on track this week, we have a few more picks to help us do that. They are as follows:

UTEP -12 over Memphis

Tennessee -14 over UAB

Oregon -12 1/2 over Arizona State

And to refresh your memory on our earlier plays:

Stanford -5 over Notre Dame

Oklahoma -14 over Cincinnati

West Virginia +10 over LSU

N.C. State +8 over Georgia Tech

Penn State -14 over Temple

Air Force -14 over Wyoming

Central Michigan +7 over Northwestern

That should do it for today's action. Stay tuned for those 11-2 Free NFL Picks later today and best of luck as we right the ship.

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Week 3: 3-6
Week 4: 0-1
Overall: 17-15-1... 53%

Friday, September 24, 2010

Week 4 Free NCAA Football Picks

Week 3 is behind us and it's time to get back 15-8-1 start we had going. Unfortunately, our bad week extended into Friday, with TCU missing the cover by a point. Those are the kinds of things that happen when you are in a downturn.

Fortunately, we can trust our system and know that better days are on the horizon. Like Saturday. Sweet, sweet Saturday. The good news is that there is some pretty decent value on the board, so let's get right to it. More picks could follow before kickoff so keep an eye out, and of course we'll have our 11-2 (85%) NFL Picks before Week 3. But first things first, here are our initial Saturday plays:

Stanford -5 over Notre Dame

Oklahoma -14 over Cincinnati

West Virginia +10 over LSU

N.C. State +8 over Georgia Tech

Penn State -14 over Temple

Air Force -14 over Wyoming

Central Michigan +7 over Northwestern

Best of luck and let's get back on track!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Friday Free NCAA Football Pick

We're back and ready to hit the books after a less than memorable Week 3 for our Free NCAA Football Picks, our first losing week of the football season. Our first play to kickoff Week 4 is a battle of the acronyms

TCU -18 over SMU

Obviously, we'll have more picks coming, but we're hoping to get this week started ASAP (although technically we could have had a play tonight, we'll settle for Friday).

Good luck and we'll be back with more soon!

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Week 3: 3-6
Overall: 17-14-1... 55%

Monday, September 20, 2010

Week 1 Busts Turned to Week 2 Locks

Fans of the NFL might have had to do a double take after seeing so many “favorites” take their lumps in losses in the first week of the 16-game schedule. With favorites like Indianapolis, San Diego and San Francisco falling over like dominoes, the term “any given Sunday” was said more in one hour of postgame coverage than in the past three seasons combined.

However, faithful NFL gamblers didn't expect lightning to strike in consecutive weeks – at least not for a few of these teams.

Peyton Manning and the Colts losing to a perennially bad Houston Texans team, 34-24, only stands out as odd if you don’t realize the hit the Colts’ secondary took when Sanders was yet again knocked out, and the fact that, although still undersold, the Texans boast an Indy-like offense with their wideouts and deep game.

When Manning faced Manning this Sunday night, you could bet that Indy and their -5.5 spread was in no danger versus a Giants team that cannot and would not slow down Peyton and the Colts’ big O.

San Diego took a mighty beating at the hands of a restarting Kansas City Chiefs squad. With the Jaguars coming into their house on Sunday evening, however, San Diego looked good. A -7 spread is a tall task for a team that lost to in-division rivals and then faced a tough defensive squad in Jacksonville that just beat the Broncos. Win? Yes. Cover? Um... yes.

The 49ers are playing a Monday night game against defending Super Bowl champs the New Orleans Saints. After getting blown out by the Seahawks, this isn’t the best time for the 49ers to bounce back. Although the Saints didn’t kill the scoreboard against Minnesota, San Francisco also put up a weak showing with 6 points. We have no Free NFL Pick for tonight, but look for New Orleans and the points here. This one’s like an online casino bonus.

Other teams to watch that looked good included: the Houston Texans -3 over the Redskins (push) and New England’s slim -1.5 over the Jets (cover).

NFL picking isn’t like video black jack. Nothing’s set in stone. But these teams looked solid and didn't disappoint.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A 6-1 Free NFL Picks Encore (85% YTD)


Now that's how things are supposed to go around here. Following an impressive 5-1 (83%) start to the NFL season, our Free NFL Picks had an even better encore in Week 2, going 6-1 (86%), bringing them to 11-2 and 85% in 2010.

Now would be a good time to continue our running joke of asking you greedy degenerates for a finder's fee on our picks, via the Paypal donation button on the lefthand side of the page.

It was a winning day, so we don't mind going through a little recap. First, the lone loss. The Panthers failed to beat the lowly Buccaneers, meaning they didn't cover the -3 1/2 point spread and that they might even be more lowly than the Bucs. Our system still takes last year's numbers into account this early in the season, and we were confident that the Panthers defense could overcome the, well, lowly offense. Not the case. We wouldn't be surprised to see the Bucs finish 2-14 after a 2-0 start, and for that matter, an 0-16 Panthers squad is possible, too.

As for the winners, there was much to like today. After slow first halves, the Packers and Falcons did what good teams do to bad teams, kicking the crap out of their lesser opponents. The Packers took care of the college-like -14 spread against the Bills while the Falcons easily handled a -7 spread against the Cardinals.

The Bears and Dolphins, at +7 1/2 against Dallas and +6 against Minnesota, respectively, did much more than cover, both winning their games. Great value picks in both cases, as the much hyped Cowboys and Vikings were the sexier public plays.

We don't think the Broncos are a very good team, but better than the team that lost to the Jags last week. Likewise, we don't think the Seahawks are a very good team, period. A Week 1 win over the 49ers will prove to be a fluke, as it did today, with the Broncos flipping the tables on Seattle and easily covering a -7 spread.

And then there were the Chargers. Like the Packers and Falcons, this was just a good team easily covering a paltry spread (-7) against a not-so-good team. As Kendra Wilkinson, wife of NFLer Hank Baskett, demonstrates in our Lemmy-censored image above, the Chargers were a thing of beauty today.

And that's how we arrive at a 6-1 day and 11-2 start to the 2010 NFL season. Our accurate NFL picks have lived up to the hype so far, and we certainly hope that continues for 19 more weeks (counting playoffs, duh).

And the records update:

2010 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 6-1
Overall: 11-2... 85%

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Rough Day at the Office


Momma said they'll be days like this folks. Nothing like a 2-6 day and 3-6 week to take us off of our football high.

The good news is a) that photo above exists and b) we get a mulligan of sorts tomorrow with the NFL, which we will tout as being 83% this season for as long as we can.

In gambling, there will be days when Lane Kiffin inexplicably goes for two a couple times in a game and Minnesota scores a feel good, garbage touchdown with 11 seconds left. That's just how things go sometimes. Bad days happen, you just hope they aren't 2-6 bad. But when they are, it's important not to overreact. Stick with what works and in the long run you should come out on top. As long as, you know, it really works.

Alabama and Florida State provided the only two covers of the day, and that's all we care to say about September 18, 2010. As mentioned, our Thursday victory carries us to a slightly less ridiculous 3-6 week, so here's the tally:

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Week 3: 3-6
Overall: 17-14-1... 55%

The bottom line is, we're not going anywhere. We'll be back next week with more Free NCAA Football Picks, and there is virtually nowhere to go but up.

Speaking of bottom lines, if you didn't take the opportunity to send a donation when our picks were winning, maybe it makes more sense to lend us some cash after a 3-6 week. Maybe we would have been better served betting on the UFL's opening week today.

Again, NFL tomorrow.

Week 2 Free NFL Picks (83% YTD)

After an impressive 5-1 start for our Free NFL Picks (would have been 6-1 had we forced the issue on Monday Night), we're back for an encore. Let's get right to 'em:

Packers -14 over the Bills

Bears +7 1/2 over the Cowboys

Falcons -7 over the Cardinals

Panthers -3 1/2 over the Buccaneers

Dolphins +6 over the Vikings

Broncos -3 1/2 over the Seahawks

Chargers -7 over the Jaguars

A healthy seven play card for us tomorrow, so it should be a busy--and hopefully profitable--day.

Adding One Game To Saturday's Card

Just one pick to add today to our previous picks posted last night:

UConn -6 over Temple

Add that to our previous picks and we've got a eight-play Saturday and a nine pick week. It's our smallest card of the season, but hey, quality over quantity.

Oregon State -20 1/2 over Louisville

USC -12 over Minnesota

Wisconsin -12 over Arizona State

Utah State +3 1/2 over Fresno State

Florida State -10 1/2 over BYU

Purdue -17 over Ball State

Alabama -24 1/2 over Duke

And again, that's Oregon STATE over Louisville. Best of luck to everyone and enjoy the Saturday. Here's a look at our Free NCAA Football Pick results so far:

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Week 3: 1-0
Overall: 14-8-1... 64%

Friday, September 17, 2010

Seven Plays For Saturday (64% YTD)


It's not even Saturday and we're already 1-0 heading into the weekend... always a great feeling. An even better weekend is following a Thursday win with plenty more Saturday victories and improving on our 14-8-1 (64%) record. Again, we post these with a disclaimer that a few plays could be added tomorrow morning. That said, let's get to it. Our Free NCAA Football Picks for Week 3:

Oregon State -20 1/2 over Louisville

USC -12 over Minnesota

Wisconsin -12 over Arizona State

Utah State +3 1/2 over Fresno State

Florida State -10 1/2 over BYU

Purdue -17 over Ball State

Alabama -24 1/2 over Duke

It's a smaller card than we've had in Weeks 1 and 2, but again, we could be adding some plays to it. Stay tuned and best of luck!

UPDATE: Somehow we had the wrong team thrown in there by accident. We must have been so excited to throw up that Oregon picture that we had Oregon instead of Oregon State as the 20 1/2 point favorites against Louisville. The correct bet, obviously, is Oregon State, which most of you surely figured out. We'll leave the picture up there though, despite not picking Oregon this week, just to see who is paying attention.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Another Free NCAA Football Pick Win

Another day, another reason for our readers to hit that Paypal button on the lefthand side of the page.

Our Free NCAA Football Picks came through again on Thursday night, improving our Free NCAA Football Picks record to 14-8-1 (64%), including winning nine of the last 13, to give us a head start on the college football weekend.

The remainder of our Free NCAA Football Picks will be posted tomorrow night with a few late additions possible on Saturday Morning.

We will see you then!

A Quick Thursday Free NCAA Football Pick


We're in a bit of a rush to get up our play for today, so excuse the lack of eye candy until we can get this posted and update it for you pervs later.

But we do have one play tonight before another exciting Saturday.

N.C. State -2 1/2 over Cincinnati

Our Free NCAA Football Picks are 13-8-1 (62%) through two weeks after an 8-4 week last week. For what it's worth we are looking to improve upon our unimpressive 1-1-1 Thursday record.

Good luck!

UPDATE: All better.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Why Yes, We Do Accept Donations


It's time for our most important post of the year.

A number of you have asked us (in our dreams) if we accept donations, and we are here to tell you that yes, we do indeed.

We're riding high after a 13-5 weekend of football action (72% if you're scoring at home), including a 5-1 mark in the pros, so might as well take this opportunity to get greedy. As we've done for nearly three years now, we will continue to provide free picks in all sorts of sports, particular football with our Free NCAA Football Picks and our Free NFL Picks.

Thing is, these picks take time. We spend a significant portion of our day pouring over our time-tested systems and distributing that information to you, and we never ask for anything in return except for when we write posts begging you for your spare change.

If you've tailed us and would like to give us a cut of your newfound riches, we would appreciate it. To donate, click the PayPal button at the top of the lefthand column and enter any amount with as many zeros as you want to the PayPal address of stocklemonblog@gmail.com.

So go ahead, buy us a beer for the inevitable lows that every bettor experiences, or give an extra dollar to stick in a piece of lingerie at a respected establishment for the inevitable highs that we hope continue.

Thank you for your support and we will be back with more winners this week!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

5-1 Week 1 For Our Free NFL Picks (83%)


Now that's how you start a season.

After Thursday's Vikings cover, our Free NFL Picks followed with a 4-1 Sunday encore to give us a 5-1 kickoff to the 2010 NFL season.

The Redskins, Packers, Giants, and Dolphins all won straight up and covered, while the 49ers continued our trend from Saturday--when we lose, we LOSE. A huge blowout loss to the Seahawks was our only blemish, leaving us with an 83% weekend.

We don't want to brag, but we do want the pageviews, so we will brag. 5-1 is a pretty good start to the NFL season, and our Free NCAA Football picks are up over 60 percent as well. The best part about all of this? We're only getting started. The even better part? All of our picks are free! Speaking of free, feel free to donate by using the PayPal button on the left. What? We can't ask for a cut?

As for tomorrow, it doesn't look like we'll have a play. The system is leaning Ravens plus the points, but not strong enough to warrant a play. It's always easier not to chase a Monday night play when you go 5-1 beforehand.

So, let's enjoy the fact that Week 1 of the NFL season was a success, and even though your fantasy football team probably got rocked (unless you followed our rankings), you won some beer money by tailing our picks this weekend.

Remember, bookmark us, tweet about us, tell your friends about us, anything you can. The more traffic we get, the more incentive we have to keep these picks free, just like they always have been.

Week 1 Free NFL Picks

We locked in some Free NFL Picks earlier this week, and now we've got just two more to add:

New York Giants -7 over the Carolina Panthers

Washington Redskins +3 1/2 over the Dallas Cowboys

Add those to our previous picks:

Miami Dolphins -3 over the Buffalo Bills

Green Bay Packers -3 over the Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers -3 over the Seattle Seahawks

As with our Free NCAA Football Picks, totals will be mixed in in the coming weeks, but as of now only the sides have value.

Lastly, we've been waiting a long time to say this: Enjoy the opening weekend of the NFL!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

67% Day For Free NCAA Football Picks (62% YTD)


Not a bad day at the office today. After a 56% performance in Week 1, our Free NCAA Football Picks stepped it up a notch with an 8-4 showing today (67%) bringing our grand total to 13-8-1 (62%).

As much as we'd like to dwell on our losing picks--and when we lost, we LOST--we're going to enjoy the eight winners. Hopefully you caught our morning additions, which proved to be worth the wait at 3-0. Otherwise, another so-so week for you 5-4 suckers! But really, if you did tail, hopefully you tailed the whole body of work (and if you left off four particular picks, you had a really good day).

One of our picks earns a spot as our pic, to remind us that even though we had a good week, we shouldn't get cocky (if you thought we were going to go all season without a horrible pun about the Game Cocks, you must be new... in which case, thanks for following and did we mention we have twitter!?).

Just a quick recap, here are the picks that hit:

Alabama -14 over Penn State
Eastern Michigan +14 over Miami (OH)
Nevada -23 1/2 over Colorado State
East Carolina -13 1/2 over Memphis
SMU -11 1/2 over UAB
Washington -13 over Syracuse
South Carolina -3 over Georgia
N.C. State +3 over Central Florida

And the losers:

Georiga Tech -14 over Kansas
Florida State +7 over Oklahoma
Tennesse +12 over Oregon
USC -20 over Virginia

Like we said, when we lost, we really lost. Of our losing picks, the closest we had to a cover was USC, a mere 17 points away from pushing. Fortunately, we won the other eight in pretty convincing fashion, so it was a pretty anticlimactic 67% in college Football.

Free NFL Picks are coming shortly. For now, we'll conclude this post with our weekly Free NCAA Football Pick YTD tally (BTW, that means Year To Date [and BTW, that means By The Way]):

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1
Week 2: 8-4
Overall: 13-8-1... 67%

Adding a Few Free NCAA Football Picks


Adding a few plays to Saturday's card. This should be it for the day, but stay tuned for Free NFL Picks tonight:

Alabama -14 over Penn State

Eastern Michigan +14 over Miami (OH)

Nevada -23 1/2 over Colorado State

Add those with our previous picks, and we have ourselves a 12-play Saturday:

East Carolina -13 1/2 over Memphis

Florida State +7 over Oklahoma

Tennesse +12 over Oregon

SMU -11 1/2 over UAB

USC -20 over Virginia

Washington -13 over Syracuse

South Carolina -3 over Georgia

N.C. State +3 over Central Florida

Georiga Tech -14 over Kansas


Good luck and enjoy the busy college football Saturday! Let's build on our 56% mark to open the year.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Week 2 Free NCAA Football Picks (56% YTD)


It's Week 2 in college football, perhaps overshadowed by Week 1 of pro football, but glorious nonetheless. The only disappointing thing is the fact that now that football is underway, every week we are closer to it all being over with again. But there's lots of time before that and hopefully lots of money to be made as well. We've already given you the following Free NCAA Football Picks:

East Carolina -13 1/2 over Memphis

Florida State +7 over Oklahoma

Tennesse +12 over Oregon

SMU -11 1/2 over UAB

USC -20 over Virginia


And now, for a few more:

Washington -13 over Syracuse

South Carolina -3 over Georgia

N.C. State +3 over Central Florida

Georiga Tech -14 over Kansas

After a 5-4-1 (56%) Week 1, we're looking to build on that win total with these nine picks AND POSSIBLY more to come. You'll just have to keep checking back and giving us page views to find out muahahaha! But really, we might be adding some very late tonight or early tomorrow, so don't say we didn't warn you.

As far as totals go, we might whip out some over/unders for Saturday but are more likely to hold off one more week, allowing our numbers to strengthen up a bit. Like we said, it is technically a different system than our patented Free NCAA Football Picks and we'd prefer to be a little more confident about what we are providing. If we get on a roll with our sides, we might keep delaying the debut of the totals.

And of course, on another note, Jenn Sterger makes her return as our featured picture gal (with a friend!), as Florida State is both one of our picks and the school she picked to launch her breasts into fame. And we thank her for that.

Good luck!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Locking in Some Football Picks


We'll have more to come later today, but we're going to go ahead and lock in some plays right now. Whip out your chastity belts for the following Free NCAA Football Picks:

East Carolina -13 1/2 over Memphis

Florida State +7 over Oklahoma

Tennesse +12 over Oregon

SMU -11 1/2 over UAB

USC -20 over Virginia

And, we know we're supposed to beware the home dogs in the NFL, but in Week 1 the bookies are very vulnerable. We've got three three-point road favorites to lock in:

Miami Dolphins -3 over the Buffalo Bills

Green Bay Packers -3 over the Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers -3 over the Seattle Seahawks

Like we said, more to come, and we'll likely post the final picks separately as last second reminders as well, because, after all, we're here to help.

A Hot Start For Our Free NFL Picks


So far, so good for our Free NFL Picks. Granted its only one game, but a 1-0 start is much better than the alternative.

The Vikings gave us our hot start by squeaking out a cover against the Saints, losing by five to keep a +6 spread in tact.

We'll have a ton more picks on Sunday and really kick of this NFL season in style. But for now, we'll enjoy our 100% Free NFL Picks.

Free NFL Picks
Thursday: 1-0... 100%

Video From Tennessee's Hygiene Clinic



You may have seen this item on Deadspin earlier today, in which the University of Tennessee football team had to conduct a team-wide clinic on proper hygiene and showering techniques following an outbreak of staph infections on the team.

Thanks to the cameras we set up years ago in the men's locker rooms on the UT campus (don't worry, it was just a faze), we've been able to obtain video of the clinic that they held.

Take notes, Volunteers!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Our Free NFL Picks Are Back!


Pardon us while we openly slobber all over our screen--and not for the image above.

The day we've all been waiting for is almost here. The beginning of the NFL season. And with that, comes the beginning of our 2010 Free NFL Picks. What more can you ask for?

The pick is in for Thursday night, with Sunday's picks to follow in the coming days.

Minnesota Vikings +6 over the New Orleans Saints

We don't mind that Brett Favre is playing on a bum ankle, or that the Saints pummeled him in the NFC Championship Game last season, or that he is without his favorite target from last year. In fact, we love it. A line that should be closer to a push than a touchdown has been seriously inflated up to +6 for Minnesota, and that could grow still. Folks, this is going to be a close game, and we're not ruling out a Vikings win.

People forget that this is mostly the same Vikings team that woulda shoulda coulda beat the Saints the last time around. It's a very talented squad that isn't even getting the respect they deserve within their own division--that they won in 2009! The bottom line is, we like this spread a lot to open up the season.

As much as we're sure you enjoyed our annual quasi-hiatus over the summer, we are back in full force. After Thursday, a full weekend of NCAA Football and the NFL will follow. For weeks. So sit back and enjoy it, and we'll try to make you a little money while you do.

Monday, September 6, 2010

A Very Average College Kickoff Weekend


After all of that--all the excitement that the beginning of a new football season brings--we find ourselves just about right where we started with a 5-4-1 Free NCAA Football Picks record. But hey, football's back.

Week 1 of the NCAA Football schedule brought us a perfectly average 1-1-1 record on Thursday, followed by a 4-3 mark on Saturday, giving us a 56 percent success rate through 10 picks.

Now, if we do that every week, we'll end up making a little bit of cash. After all, 56 percent is not terrible. But still, anything below the unofficial Mendoza Line in sports betting of 60 percent is a disappointment, even if it's just one week and ten games. We always like to start with a bang (who wouldn't?), and we didn't quite get that in Week 1. Then again, Week 1 can be goofy considering the lack of tangible statistics available, so coming out with a winning record is not the worst thing to happen.

(By the way, as part of our "post pictures of good looking women in order to make this place a little more visually appealing" campaign, we searched for a picture of Lindsay Lohan, a celebrity we've long concerned very average. Average picks, average pic--get it? A quick image search, however, proved to us that she has had some decidedly above average moments, as evidenced above.)

Let's take a look at the week that was--or rather, the Saturday that was, as Thursday's recap can be found here.

In our big blowout games, Nebraska took care of a -39 spread against Western Kentucky, though not by much, while Oklahoma couldn't handle the pressures of -34 spread against mighty Utah State. K-State covered (-2) over UCLA, as did Michigan (-3) over UConn and Colorado (-11) over Colorado State, but Troy failed to cover a -11 spread against Bowling Green. Finally, our lone underdog, Louisville at +3, couldn't handle Kentucky after all.

Like we said earlier this week, we plan on increasing the volume of picks this year, so 10 a week should be a common occurrence (it was as few as three last year). Additionally, we will mix in some over/unders as opposed to straight point spread in the future.

Also in the future? The NFL! Come back for our Thursday pick to open the season, as well as a full slate of Sunday Free NFL Picks to follow Week 2 of college football action.

Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-4-1

Friday, September 3, 2010

Giving NASCAR Some Sunday Love


With the NFL season right around the corner, we are going to do something we don't normally do--hand out a Free NASCAR Pick!

Sure we've had a few in the past, but it isn't exactly a common occurrence around here. So, since NASCAR won't get any love on Sundays starting next weekend, we're going to send it off the right way. Please allow us to showcase racing babe Danica Patrick as our model for this post.

This weekend, the big race is in Atlanta, the Emory Healthcare 500. We've always wanted to go to one of these things, but with football starting up and things finally getting a little busier around here, that just won't be happening. Maybe next summer. Anyway, here's the pick:

Jimmie Johnson - 11/2

Jimmie has a good history at this track, and is poised to continue winning this event every three years (2004, 2007, 2010?). And, let it be known, this pick is more for fun than anything. We are not betting this heavily and we really don't have a NASCAR system. So keep that in mind, it is not like our more accurate Free NCAA Football Picks (which better not make us look silly tomorrow for saying that).

Take this pick as a peace offering, because despite our initial hopes, we will not be adding any plays to our seven-game slot for Saturday (in addition to our three from Thursday). Depending on how the picks against the spread go this week, we may or may not begin to mix in more over/unders. Our over/under system is not as advanced, hence our initial skepticism to do so. Nevertheless, enjoy both the Free NCAA Football Picks as well as the Free NASCAR Pick this weekend.

College Football Kicks Off the Breast Time of Year!

The first Saturday is upon us! After a 1-1-1 start on Thursday, we're pretty much just starting with a clean slate like none of that ever happened. As for tomorrow, plenty will be happening, including plenty of blowouts as we get the cake Week 1 games rolling. Just like we wish would happen in the picture above, it is time for baseball to go away and make way for football. We may be adding a few plays, but for now here's our Saturday card of Free NCAA Football Picks.

Nebraska -38 over Western Kentucky

Oklahoma -34 over Utah State

Kansas State -2 over UCLA

Louisville +3 over Kentucky

Michigan -3 over Connecticut

Colorado -11 over Colorado State

Troy -14 over Bowling Green

Like we said, more possibly (probably) to come, including some over/unders. As you may have noticed, we are upping the volume on picks this year, so there will be no shortage of action!

One of Each on Thursday


One of each. That's how we begin our 2010 Free NCAA Football Picks.

A win, a loss, and a push to start the year, ensuring that we are on the board in each category. Here's a breakdown of our Thursday plays:

The brunette: Minnesota covers against Middle Tennessee
Not always the sexiest pick that ends up being the most appealing. We liked Minnesota, but wee were in no way underestimating Middle Tennessee. The danger in betting on a bigger school against a lesser known school, even one that won double digit games a year prior, is that the public will swing the line against you. What opened -3 in favor of Middle Tennessee swung six points to a -3 Minnesota spread. Still, the Gophers covered by a touchdown and took care of business.

The blonde: Utah pushes against Pittsburgh
We really liked this play. A lot. But at the end of the day, the -3 spread wasn't enough to get anything more than a push out of it in an overtime thriller. It's always nice to have a stake in the bigger games of the day/week, so it was fun at least--but fun isn't always profitable. Had Utah forced the issue and gone for a touchdown in OT, we would have been bailed out. Unfortunately, they did the smart thing and got close and kicked it. Oh well.

The redhead: USC fails to cover against Hawaii
The flashy pick. In theory, USC should have stomped on Hawaii. Even on the road, USC is much, much more talented and should have been able to overcome, and even positively channel, all of the offseason attention. But every time the Trojans started to pull away, Hawaii marched down the field time and time again. In hindsight, the over obviously should have been the play, but we prefer picking spreads rather than over/unders, something we need to change. They are all worth the same after all.

Stay tuned for our Saturday Picks in the opening week of college football. Boy it feels good to say that.

YTD: 1-1-1... 50%

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Football's Eve: Our First 2010 Free NCAA Football Picks


First off, with a new football season comes some minor changes here at Stock Lemon. Well, maybe not minors, but we will be featuring a few pictures to improve the aesthetics of this place. Considering that you must be 18 to gamble... in the two states in which it is legal to do so... we figure we can get away with upping some photos to PG-13. So, with that said, enjoy the pics and the picks.

Here are the college football picks we've all been waiting for for tomorrow night's opening action, with more to come for the Saturday slate:

Utah -3 over Pittsburgh

Minnesota -3 over Middle Tennessee

USC -21 1/2 over Hawaii

There they are. Our first Free NCAA Football Picks of the 2010 season. Now, let's whip out our 2010 football picks motto: Come for the women, stay for the winners.

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