Manning Up

Regarding the FTL, Anonymous asks:

When's the last time we can join, I don't usually start betting til we've at least a couple of months of results. Are there rules as to how many months need to be bet in or when the first bets should be in?

You can join at any time, but to qualify for a cash prize you need a total of at least 64 bets, and each month (August and September count as one, as do April and May) after joining must have at least 5 selections.

The pot increased by another £25 yesterday with the entry of The Football Analyst, and with the top leagues not in action, and many entries inactive, it will be interesting to see how his lower league selections fare. Leader Skeeve should be in action too with some Conference Premier selections qualifying. The current table now looks like this:

Also playing this weekend is Scatter Gun with ten matches all destined to end 1-1, 2-1 or 1-2. He's on a roll with five winners last week, and here are his upcoming selections:

Bradford v Brentford

MK Dons v Swindon

Burton v Oxford

Carlisle v Port Vale

Halifax v Barnet

Northampton v Scunthorpe

Den Bosch v Volendam

Mallorca v Alcoran

Eibar v Cordoba

Padova v Palermo

A big start to the NFL season from Peyton Manning last night, throwing a record equalling seven touchdown passes (last time was 44 years ago) in one game as favourites Denver Broncos easily covered the 7.5 point spread winning 49-27 against the Superbowl Champion Baltimore Ravens - admittedly the latter are a quite different team from last February's.

It was the largest ever opening day defeat by a defending Superbowl Champion. The Broncos also left a TD on the field as Danny Trevathan celebrated a yard early and dropped the ball. The half-time chat was once again key here as the first half was pretty even with the Ravens actually leading by three at the break, but adjustments get made and half-time (or just before) is often a good time to lay the leader.