More Tricks Than Treats for Week 8 Free NFL Picks (64% YTD)

We can no longer say that we haven't had a losing week since Week 1.

Our Free NFL Picks were haunted by a couple bad decisions, leaving us with a 1-2 Sunday on a small three-play card.

For the season, this knocks us down to 64%, still an enviable percentage for most. Not that we're entirely happy with it ourselves, having once again felt that we could have pulled the trigger on a couple more winners (the downside to smaller, more conservative tickets).

We'll chalk this one up to the spookiness that is Halloween and move on to Week 9 with a clear conscience. Weekly results are below:

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 3-2
Week 7: 3-1
Week 8: 1-2
Total: 21-12-1... 64%

Happy Halloween, lemon fans!

Free NCAA Football Picks Remain Consistently Inconsistent (56% YTD)

Our Jekyll and Hyde Free NCAA Football Picks continue their devilish ways, winning solidly one week before falling on their face in the next. This week's Halloween costume was a 67% college football Saturday.

Translation: you might want to fade us next week.

The good thing about this on-again, off-again success is that we are, about half the time, on. This week, our picks went 4-2, losing a couple of close covers. That puts us at 56% for the season, which is respectable enough.

If, for whatever reason, you decided to only tail our picks every other week, beginning with Week 1, you're an astonishing 18-9-1 (67%).

For those with the same strategy but the unfortunate idea to begin with Week 2, you're a dismal 10-13-1 (43%).

The details are below:

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Week 7: 4-2
Week 8: 1-3
Week 9: 4-2
Total: 28-22-2... 56%

We promise we aren't doing this on purpose. Stick with us to see if we can't just buck the trend next weekend. Otherwise, at least come for the fades.

Our Free NFL Picks Have Been Scary Good (67% YTD)

Our Free NFL Picks have yet to have a losing week since Week 1 and are really starting to frighten the folks in Vegas. Just in time for Halloween!

We have three spooky picks this Sunday:

Bills -5 1/2 over the Redskins

Patriots -3 over the Steelers

Panthers -3 1/2 over the Vikings

We expect all treats and no tricks out of these favorites this week, keeping the dogs at bay on Hallow's Eve weekend. That goes for the Bills, too, though they've struggled some in their second home in Toronto.

Best of luck! Bookies proceed with caution.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 3-2
Week 7: 3-1
Total: 20-10-1... 67%

Free NCAA Football Picks Look to Bounce Back

Our Free NCAA Football Picks have been hot and cold on a weekly basis. The good news? It's their week to be on!

The bounce-back plays are below:

Boston College +7 over Maryland

North Carolina -6 1/2 over Wake Forest

Stanford -7 1/2 over USC

Southern Miss -10 over UTEP

Wisconsin -7 over Ohio State

Arkansas -9 over Vanderbilt

Best of luck with a favorite-heavy six-play card!

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Week 7: 4-2
Week 8: 1-3
Total: 24-20-2... 55%

Free NFL Picks Praise Tim Tebow, Our Lord and Savior (67% YTD)

We pray to you, Tim Tebow, for gracing our Free NFL Picks with a strange comeback blessing of a win (and cover) for the horrible football team known as the Denver Broncos, helping our Free NFL Picks to a 3-1 winning Week 7.

We may need to start attending church more often.

Meanwhile, four seems to be the magic number. In the weeks that we've had four total selections, our Free NFL Picks are 10-2 (83%). Furthermore, since our bad Week 1, we've yet to have a losing week in the NFL and are hitting 75% (18-6) of our picks.

Of course, overall our 67% record (20-10-1) is nothing to sneeze at either.

Weekly records are below:

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 3-2
Week 7: 3-1
Total: 20-10-1... 67%

Stay with us as we keep rolling through the NFL season on Halloween weekend.

Crappy Week For Free NCAA Football Picks...

... and we forgot to flush.

The on-again, off-again drivel we call our Free NCAA Football Picks struggled in Week 8, maintaining our frustrating inability to string together consecutive quality weeks.

As we slip slowly into mediocrity with our once promising college football wagers, we feel the need to remind you that we experienced a rough patch last year as well in the middle of the season, only to hit 90% of our bowl games. Don't quit us just because we're a little harder to find at the moment on the google search results!

As much as we don't want to see them (or the photo above), our weekly records are below:

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Week 7: 4-2
Week 8: 1-3
Total: 24-20-2... 55%

Have a Comment? Too Bad, We're Silencing the Readers!

Our comments section occasionally provides for some useful follow ups and witty retort, but for the most part doesn't get a whole lot of action.

So we're willing to bet you won't miss it.

Since our move to the new URL (stocklemonblog.com), our Google PageRank has been temporarily assassinated. This has happened once before, when our comments section had been spammed to all hell by various Nigerian royal families.

And since putting an end to our comments back then aided in the restoration of our PageRank, we're going to go ahead and do it again. Deal with it.

In the meantime, if you do have a comment that you just have to get out, feel free to drop us a line at stocklemonblog@gmail.com

Now, let's go enjoy another football-filled weekend

Free NFL Picks Keep On Keeping On (65% YTD)

Our Free NFL Picks have been heaven-sent thus far this year, which is why we're relying on Tim Tebow in his first start of the season to help lead us to the promised land once more.

The Week 7 Picks are in:

Broncos +1 over Dolphins

Panthers -1 1/2 over Redskins

Packers -9 over Vikings

Steelers -3 1/2 over Cardinals

While we suffered our first multiple-loss week since Week 1, we still have not had a losing week of Free NFL Picks since that disastrous week.

Best of luck!

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 3-2
Total: 17-9-1... 65%

Free NCAA Football Picks Look to Build Off Winning Week (58% YTD)

After a 4-2 Saturday last weekend, our Free NCAA Football Picks are seeking the first consecutive winning weeks since the first two of the college football season. So yeah, our possible fade-worthy plays follow:

Wisconsin -7 1/2 over Michigan State

Stanford -20 1/2 over Washington

South Florida -3 over Cincinnati

Georgia Tech +2 1/2 over Miami

Hopefully we won't do too much damage with this four-play card, tied for our smallest of the year (Week 5).

And a quick records update as we ponder a career in construction...

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Week 7: 4-2
Total: 23-17-2... 58%

Free NFL Picks Pull Out Another Winning Week (65% YTD)

Our non-losing week streak continues in the NFL! After that hellacious Week 1, we've had winning week after winning week after .500 week after winning week after winning week.

The Jets grinded out an ugly win against a team that is somehow even worse than they are, ensuring a -7 Monday night cover to give us a 3-2 week in the NFL.

Additionally, the Eagles got back on track and the Buccaneers continued their Jekyll and Hyde act to cover against the Saints, meaning we get to post another celebratory Jaime Edmondson picture!

While we did record another winning week, we missed on a couple of plays that we don't feel great about. We are hitting 65% after six weeks in the NFL, but we still can't shake the feeling that we should be doing better at this point in the season. We'll try to do just that next week.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 3-2
Total: 17-9-1... 65%

Free NCAA Football Picks Get Back on Track (58% YTD)

We're no longer worried about shoving our Free NCAA Football Picks in the caboose. After experiencing a bit of a rough patch, we seem to be back on track as we chug along in the 2011 season of college football.

Just when we thought winning weeks were nearly unattainable, we pulled together a solid 4-2 week, led fearlessly by cover monsters Wisconsin and Stanford.

Now, after second guessing ourselves for days, we once again feel good about the prospects of our 2011 Free NCAA Football Picks. If you feel good about them too, stick with us, and we'll reward your faith. If you don't, well, stick with us anyway, because we could use the pageviews.

As always, our weekly results follow:

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Week 7: 4-2
Total: 23-17-2... 58%

Stock Lemon's Free 2011 World Series Pick

Our Free MLB Picks have been sporadic at best, but it's not as if we don't know what we're talking about when it comes to baseball.

In fact, if you followed our NLCS and ALCS betting strategy, you would have netted yourself a nice little profit (if you put $100 on both the Tigers and Cardinals, you would make a profit of $25. Not the Powerball or anything, but hey, money's money).

Now that the Rangers and Cardinals have advanced to the World Series, it's time for our World Series pick:

Texas Rangers over the St. Louis Cardinals

This one will cost you a little bit of juice, but the Rangers are not to be denied after losing the series last season. Nelson Cruz and the gang have been the best team in baseball during this postseason, and while the Cardinals have been hot, it's time for their magical run to end like a squirrel running sprints in the middle of a highway.

Getting Our Feet Wet on Monday Night Football

Our Free NFL Picks churned out a five-play Week 6, four of which were played on Sunday.

After a disappointing 2-2 day, we are down to our first Monday Night Football pick of the season, the Jets -7 over the Dolphins.

In order to ensure that we don't endure our first losing week since the first of the season, we're posting a foot fetish picture for Rex Ryan as we put our foot in the door on Monday night.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Week 6: 2-2 (Monday Night pending...)
Total: 16-9-1... 64%

Plenty of Week 6 Action for Free NFL Picks (67% YTD)

Since a rough Week 1, we've yet to lose two games on any Sunday and are 12-3-1 (80%) in the last four weeks. We'll put our Free NFL Picks to the test with a five-play card in Week 6.

Lions -4 over 49ers

Eagles -1 over Redskins

Texans +9 over Ravens

Buccaneers +4 1/2 over Saints

Jets -7 over Dolphins

We've been talking each week about how we feel we've missed opportunities because we are being perhaps too selective. Well, this week, we're going all in with our card. Rather than chop one or two of these picks, we're going with all five. Which, when you factor in bye weeks, is the largest percentage of games we've played in a given NFL week this season.

Good luck! As always, our weekly breakdown:

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Total: 14-7-1... 67%

Free NCAA Football Picks Look For Big Week 7 (56% YTD)

Our Free NCAA Football Picks have not been impressive since a terrific 9-3-1 start to the season, but we are looking to change that in Week 7 in a big way.

Virginia Tech -7 over Wake Forest

Wisconsin -39 1/2 over Indiana

Marshall -4 1/2 over Rice

Stanford -21 over Washington State

Louisville +16 1/2 at Cincinnati

Baylor +9 over Texas A&M

We have some big favorites (Wisconsin and Stanford) that have been cover monsters this season, and hopefully we aren't late to the party. Other than that, we're fairly confident with this six-play card.

Good luck! Our week-by-week breakdown follows:

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Total: 19-15-2... 56%

Hey Google Searchers, We're Over Here!

Fair warning: this post doesn't apply to most of you. In fact, since you're here at stocklemonblog.com reading this entry, it most definitely doesn't apply to you.

We just wanted to follow up on the news that we dropped the credibility-killing blogspot tag from our URL, moving from stocklemon.blogspot.com to stocklemonblog.com.

The biggest problem with the move is temporary, but as they say during football season, a week without Stock Lemon is a wasted week. For real, they do say that. Somewhere. Maybe.

The problem is that while we transition to the new URL, our site appears to have a Google Page Rank of 0 (out of 10... so, not good). We're usually a PR 4, which is nothing to write home about but is certainly a legitimate ranking. Sites with a PR 0 are generally spam websites and other internet traps that are somehow a more worthless venture than our own.

So stay with us, Google searchers and advertisers alike. We're told our ranking will be restored in time.

But for those searches who are having trouble finding us, here are a few popular keywords that often direct to our site to help you reach your intended destination from your search on Google or Bing or Yahoo or whatever:

Free NFL Picks, Free NCAA Football Picks, College Football, Best Sports Betting Website, Super Bowl Prop Bets, Random Pictures of Half Naked Women to Boost Traffic Numbers, Most Trusted Sports Wagering Picks on the Internet, Boobs

And of course, advertisers and readers alike, we're all ears to any ideas you might have. Drop us a line at stocklemonblog@gmail.com and we'll be sure to respond!

End of public service announcement.

Another Winning Week For Free NFL Picks (67% YTD)

Our Free NFL Picks came through with a 3-1 day on Sunday, bumping them to 14-7-1 (67%) on the 2011 season. More impressive, since a rough first week, the picks are 12-3-1, an impressive 80%.

Still, we can't help but feel once again that we are leaving some plays on the board. Selectivity is the key to our success, but more often than not we are cutting winners from our final card in favor of being selective.

This week's non-plays included the Raiders (last second scratch) and those damn Vikings, who we've been sticking with all year and finally jumped off the wagon this week under the premise that we don't like betting on bad teams. That simple. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to second guess, but we really need to learn to stick with our gut on certain plays.

Either way, we'll take a 67% start through 22 plays in five weeks, but if/when we hit a rough patch later in the year, we'll be kicking ourselves for passing on what appear to be gimmies after the fact.

By comparison, last year at this time we had played 34 games, winning as many (22) as we've played in all of 2011, for a 67% clip. That, however, included a hot 11-2 start, meaning a Week 3-5 stretch of just 11-10 (compared to 8-2 in that stretch this year).

Covers on the Chargers, Steelers and Bengals gave us our fourth straight non-losing week (hooray?), but the Eagles didn't figure it out in Buffalo as we thought they would. As always, our weekly breakdown follows.

Be sure to come back next week to see first hand which obvious plays we pass on.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Week 5: 3-1
Total: 14-7-1... 67%

Free NCAA Football Picks Becoming Very Average (56% YTD)

We usually hit a rough patch with our Free NCAA Football Picks, as well as our Free NFL Picks, at least once each season, causing us to second guess everything that we're doing.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to that rough patch.

For those scoring at home, our Free NCAA Football Picks have had exactly one winning week in the last four after a hot 9-3-1 start. That equates to a pitiful 10-12-1 run since Week 2, dragging us back down to Earth at 56% on the season.

Miami covered, and many others did not, giving us a disappointing 3-4 week of college football action.

What's more discouraging is that we were wrong in some big ways this weekend, not even close to the right plays on multiple games. We knew we might be in for a strange week when we rolled out five dogs in seven picks, but didn't expect yet another losing week.

While we have only had two losing weeks on the season, both have occurred within the last three weeks, and an unimpressive Week 5 and .500 Week 3 haven't done much to stem the tide.

We'll take a hard look at these plays, as we seemingly do at this time every year, as we try and get back on track in college football.

Stay with us. Or don't. But please do.

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Week 6: 3-4
Total: 19-15-2... 56%

Betting on the ALCS and NLCS for a Familiar World Series Pairing

Hey! Look everyone! It's baseball!

We've been ignoring the MLB for most of the year, but since the games are gaining national relevancy again--even during football season--we'll go ahead and throw out a couple of MLB Playoff predictions.

Here are our future bets for the entire series'.

ALCS
Tigers +115 over Rangers

NLCS
Cardinals +125 over Brewers

That's right, we like both road teams to come out on top after huge victories over the Yankees and Phillies, respectively. Which means, of course, that the American viewing public will get another dose of the 2006 World Series we all loved so much, which saw the Cards beat the Tigers in five.

The beauty of these bets is that we're fairly confident at least one of the hot road teams will come out victorious, and as such if we split the games, we still make a small profit. That said, we expect both the Tigers and Cardinals to win for a big baseball payday.

And after whipping out at least a handful of Free MLB Picks at some point during the season, why wouldn't you trust us on all things baseball?

A Slightly More Eventful Week of Free NFL Picks Ahead (65% YTD)

We had just two Free NFL Picks last week, and we've been itching for another week of NFL football. We'll scratch that itch with double the plays this week on our four-play card in our first bye-week reduced NFL slate of the year.

Steelers -3 over Titans

Eagles -2 over Bills

Chargers -4 over Broncos

Bengals +1 1/2 over Jaguars

We're riding Pennsylvania and their two disappointing teams, injury-riddled and all. We also think the Chargers will start hitting their stride and that the Bengals should be favored in Jacksonville.

Best of luck! Weekly results follow, per usual.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Total: 11-6-1... 65%

Dog Day Afternoon Ahead For Week 6 Free NCAA Football Picks (59% YTD)

Our 2011 Free NCAA Football Picks are hopefully back on track after our first winning week since Week 2, and we'll put them to the test this week.

Texas +10 1/2 over Oklahoma

North Carolina -13 1/2 over Louisville

Miami +7 over Virginia Tech

Auburn +10 over Arkansas

Wyoming +11 1/2 over Utah State

Wake Forest +10 over Florida State

Baylor -14 1/2 over Iowa State

We have seven plays and five of them are dogs, a ratio opposite what we usually tend to have on our card. Additionally, after our fewest amount of picks last week (four), we'll tie a season-high with seven plays Saturday, so we're in for an eventful weekend.

Best of luck, and our week-by-week breakdown is below.

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Total: 16-11-2... 59%

A Boring Week For Free NFL Picks (65% YTD)

As you might have guessed when we rolled out a whopping two Free NFL Picks picks in Week 4 this weekend, it was a pretty quiet weekend of pro football action here at Stock Lemon.

The Patriots covered, the miserable Vikings didn't, and we went 1-1 with the abbreviated card.

Looking back, there were some plays on the board that we spent considerable time on (Saints, Titans) but there were also others ready to burn us (Eagles).

All told, it would have been wiser to loosen the belt at least a little bit more. We're most comfortable with anywhere from 4 to 6 plays a week, and should be in that range throughout the remainder of the NFL season.

As for that season, we're now 1/4th of the way through the 2011 regular season, hitting at a 65% clip. And we can't much complain about that.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Week 4: 1-1
Total: 11-6-1... 65%

Free NCAA Football Picks Turn in Winning Week (59% YTD)

The downward trend of our Free NCAA Football Picks is over, though we're not exactly skyrocketing upwards after a relatively uneventful Week 5.

With our smallest card of the year, we managed a 2-1-1 record to improve to 59% on the season, with Alabama and Duke providing the covers.

We've thus far failed miserably in our attempts to maintain our Week 1 pace, but hopefully this week is a step in the right direction.

And it should be noted, since we've adopted the URL address stocklemonblog.com, our Free NCAA Football Picks are hitting 67%! Stocklemonblog.com is no slouch, unlike that loser URL stocklemon.blogspot.com, which hit just 58% this season.

2011 Free NCAA Football Picks
Week 1: 5-1
Week 2: 4-2-1
Week 3: 3-3
Week 4: 2-4
Week 5: 2-1-1
Total: 16-11-2... 59%

Free NFL Picks (67% YTD) Look to Stay Hot

After a 4-0 week, our Free NFL Picks are now 8-1-1 in the last two weeks and we will to continue this hot streak in Week 4, despite a small card again. A very small card.

Patriots -4 over Raiders

Vikings -1 1/2 over Chiefs

As you can see, we have just two picks Sunday, both of them on the road. We just don't see a lot of value this week and need to pick our spots carefully rather than force something that isn't there.

Obviously, it's more fun to bet more games. But it's way more fun to win the games you bet, which is what we hope to do with this two-play card.

2011 Free NFL Picks
Week 1: 2-4
Week 2: 4-1-1
Week 3: 4-0
Total: 10-5-1... 67%