Here are the blogger's picks for the week so you know what you're up against. Don't forget you need to beat my total and post the highest number of correct picks of all the participants to win the authentic signed photo. Make sure you remember to factor in the point spreads when making your selections and make sure you post your picks before the start of the Thursday night game. Good luck.

Blogger Picks

New Orleans +3 over Chicago
Green Bay -2 over Jacksonville
Indianapolis -17 over Detroit
Washington -7 over Cincinnati
Atlanta -3 over Tampa Bay
Miami -6.5 over San Francisco
Seattle -3 over St. Louis
NY Jets -7 over Buffalo
Houston +3 over Tennessee
Baltimore -2 over Pittsburgh
Carolina -7.5 over Denver
San Diego -5 over Kansas City
Arizona -3 over Minnesota
New England -7 over Oakland
Dallas -3 over NY Giants
Cleveland +14 over Philadelphia

With just three weeks left in the regular season, the time is now to enter and win the Beat The Blogger contest. After struggling the last several weeks, the Blogger bounced back with 9 correct picks last week but it wasn't enough to take down "ejh" and his 12 of 16 total. Please remember to factor in the points spreads when making your picks and get them posted by 7 p.m. on Thursday night to be eligible to win. Good luck.

This week's Beat The Blogger matchups are below but for those of you who need your contest fix right now, click here to play our Expose The Experts contest where one lucky participant will walk away with a $500 prize package of sports memorabilia. It's the readers vs. the Experts in a battle of wits, as we all try to forecast the future of sports and the sports memorabilia industry in a scored survey. Enter as often as you wish and make sure you check back to the www.tuffstuff.com Home page often to see how you're doing.

OK Billy, your secret is finally out and I'm guessing you feel as though an enormous weight has been lifted from your back. It's probably been tough to keep up this charade for almost 20 years, but talk about locking it up in the vault. Very impressive. I'd feel safe making a mob hit with you riding shotgun because I know you wouldn't squeal until I was long gone.

For those not familiar with the story of the now infamous Billy Ripken "error" card, it goes something like this. Ripken's 1989 Fleer baseball card made its public debut that year with Ripken posed holding his bat, with the photo taken during pre-game warm-ups at Fenway Park. When the 1989 Fleer set hit the public, collectors quickly noticed that the knob on Ripken's bat displayed the words "F*@k Face" and many angry fans and collectors wanted to know why Ripken would be so disgraceful.

Feeling the heat and public backlash (remember this was 1989) Ripken denied any knowledge of the his new signature phrase, explaining that he must have been the victim of a prank by one of his teammates. Fleer reps put their best spin on the situation as well, saying because of time restraints, the image had slipped past its editors and into production with the phrase going undetected. While most within the hobby had little faith in Fleer's explanation (especially when the media got a hold of the story and it created quite a stir not to mention soaring values for the card) most of us did believe Ripken's original version of the story. Until now that is.

Although times were much different 20 years ago and few would bat an eyelash if the story leaked out today, it's hard for me to understand why it took this long for Ripken to come clean. Sure, what he wrote affended a few people and likely taught some youngsters a new word to add to their vocabulary, but isn't it just a funny story vs. being something to feel ashamed of? I guess Billy must have been out in the back yard when Cal senior was giving the "honesty is the best policy" lesson to his brother. Either that, or Billy is just a really slow learner. Either way, thanks for giving us something to chuckle about for the last 20 years.  

To read the entire story, click here.

While the Blogger got back on track with 9 correct picks, it wasn't enough to take down "ejh" who correctly picked 12 of 16 games to win this week's Beat The Blogger contest. For his efforts, "ejh" will receive an authentic signed 8-by-10 photo.

This week's matchups will be posted on Wednesday but for those of you who need your contest fix right now, click here to play our Expose The Experts contest where one lucky participant will walk away with a $500 prize package of sports memorabilia. It's the readers vs. the Experts in a battle of wits, as we all try to forecast the future of sports and the sports memorabilia industry in a scored survey. Enter as often as you wish and make sure you check back to the www.tuffstuff.com Home page often to see how you're doing.

Here are the matchups for this week's Beat the Blogger contest. Please make sure you factor in the point spreads and get your picks in 1/2 hour before the start of the Thursday night game. I'll post my picks Thursday morning so you can see what you're up against. Good luck.

Oakland +10 at San Diego                                     YOU MAKE THE CALL
Jacksonville +6.5 at Chicago
Cincinnati +13.5 at Indianapolis
Houston +6 at Green Bay
Cleveland +13.5 at Tennessee
Minnesota -10 at Detroit
Washington +5.5 at Baltimore
Philadelphia +7 at NY Giants
Atlanta +3 at New Orleans
NY Jets -4 at San Francisco
Buffalo -1 vs. Miami (at London)
Kansas City +9 at Denver
St. Louis +13.5 at Arizona
Dallas +3 at Pittsburgh
New England -5 at Seattle
Tampa Bay +3 at Carolina

Want another chance to win, play our Expose the Experts and win a prize package valued at $500. Simply fill out our sports survey and see how you fair against our panel of experts and you could be the winner. It's just that easy. To play, click here.

This week's Beat The Blogger contest produced several firsts, including the Blogger failing to reach the .500 mark and a thee-way tie for the top spot. Donald, Art and Sandy each picked 10 of the 16 games correctly to win the week and earn their authentic 8-by-10 signed photos. Meanwhile, The Blogger posted a season-worst 6 correct picks, making it just that much easier to take him down and win the prize.

This week's matchups and points spreads will be posted on Wednesday so make sure you check back to then to see what you're up against and make your selections. Remember to get your picks in a 1/2 before the start of the Thursday night game and good luck.

Also, if you like contests and winning free stuff in general, click here to found out more about our "Expose the Experts" contest we have going on. Simply test your sports knowledge by taking our multiple choice survey and you could win $500 in great prizes. To take the Survey now, click here.

With November in the rear view and December typically flying by, I figured I'd toss out my list of resolutions for the New Year a little early this year. I'm hoping if I establish the resolutions early I'll have a better chance of actually sticking to them and making them a reality.

First off, I vow to stop procrastinating. No more putting off til the last minute what I can get done today. Looks like I'm off to a good start with that one with a resolution list on Dec. 1. Check.

I also vow to never again make a bet based on who my heart tells me to pick. After getting burned time and time again by picking my favorite instead of the "favorite," I'm going to try and take the best team regardless and see if that saves me a few dollars. Took Carolina over my beloved Packers yesterday and an ill-timed jump from Charles Woodson helped make me a winner and a loser at one time. Check.

I also vow to never again bring my gun with me when I go out to the club. While it does make me feel safer than the three bodyguards I typically roll with, it's a bitch getting it by security at the front door, it weighs me down when I'm trying to get my groove on, and I'm tired of trying to explain to the ladies I'm slow dancing with that I'm not that excited to see them and I do actually have a gun in my pocket. Not to mention the city wants me to keep getting it registered every year and sometimes I forget to put the safety on and we all know what can happen when you forget to do that. I also vow to root for a Plaxico-less Giants team and booh that glock-touting idiot every time I see him.

I vow to never again watch a matchup on TNT or ESPN until they start mixing up the teams being featured. I'm well aware that the Lakers, Celtics, Suns, Spurs and Rockets are good teams with stars that help drive ratings but enough already. Last time I checked, there were 30 teams in the league so let's mix it up a little. Don't get me wrong, I'm not holding my breath for a Grizzlies-Clippers, T-Wolves-Wizards doubleheader, but if I turn on TNT and see Ernie Johnson, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and the Chuckwagon previewing yet another Lakers vs. anybody matchup, I'm going to go ballistic.

Speaking of the NBA, I also vow to never again make the argument that Allen Iverson is "more mature" now and thus, ready to finaly get the championship ring he deserves. I've been a huge fan of AI's since his Georgetown days and while I will still argue that he's the best under 6-foot player the league has ever seen, I'm not sure he'll ever truly "get it." I truly believed that upon his arrirval to Detroit, he would welcome a lesser role in the offense, find his niche on the veteran-laiden team and simply blend in with the others. After getting pissed about his coach's decision to have practice on Thanksgiving, Iverson voiced his concerns about the holiday session by skipping it altogether. After his history of practice-related conflicts you'd think AI would do whatever it takes to put those conflicts behind him but his actions prove he still doesn't get it and probably never will.  

And while my actual list of resolutions is as long as the list of teams that qualify for the NHL playoffs, I'll save the rest for another day. Now, get working on your own, we can all find something we need to work on. I would suggest showering more often. I'm not going to get into who should jump on that one, you know who you are.