December 1, 2015, Queens, NY Un-believable. That’s how Amsterdam News sports writer Vincent Davis described it. I’m talking about the Monday Night Football game where the Baltimore Ravens stunned the Cleveland Browns on a last-second field goal block that was run in for a touchdown giving the Ravens a win from the jaws of defeat.
I’m talking about the play that gave PureSportsNY Editor-in-Chief Jerald Hoover his first victory, on this, Week 12 of the NFL season. Hoover led all experts with an 11-5 record, beating out the aforementioned Vincent Davis (who’s still shaking his head in disbelief) and PureSportsNY writer M. Anthony Dennis (a.k.a., BronxBorn). The Ravens win also catapulted Fox Sports’ Mike Hill into a three-way tie for second place. Hill was 0-3 after the first three games played on Thanksgiving before picking 10 games correctly out of the next 13.
Hip-hop icon Kool Moe Dee and nemesis John Payant (J-Pay) were tied at 9-7 along with Bad Barry Holmes (PureSportsNY senior writer) who tied for first place the previous two weeks and newcomer D-Day. All in all, it was an impressive week for our experts who picked better than 60% of the games correctly as a collective.
The stakes are even higher this week, and the smack talk between our experts have intensified. The hottest rivalry has been between Moe Dee and John Payant with the rivalry between Moe Dee and Mike Hill being a close second. Those two rivalries have been eclipsed by the Jerald Hoover-Vincent Davis rivalry. The (playful) venom has been spewing with each guaranteeing victory.
When Hill was informed that Moe Dee wasn’t pleased about being bested by him (Hill), he replied, “Tell Kool Moe Dee to go see the doctor.”
D-Day, as mentioned, was impressive and debuted superbly. Look for D-Day to get a victory this week. Boston’s Own John Payant hasn’t had an outright victory recently. Look for him to try and recapture the glory. BronxBorn is always in the mix. Expect him to be primed for victory headed into next the last game. Moe Dee guaranteed victory this week, and Bad Barry Holmes is expecting to get back to his dominating form. Being tied for third with three others didn’t sit right with him. Mike Hill heated up last week and expects his winning ways to continue. And the Hoover-Davis rivalry is must-see TV.
We’ll see who will have to “Go see the doctor” after this week (Week 13) when it’s all said and done late Monday evening.
Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at @cliffordbenton.