November 11th, 2015 - Why I am doing this blog mid-week

I've made conscious effort to avoid doing this on Overreaction Monday, particularly during football season. Yes, you know the day that fan reaction goes extreme to when a team loses, they can't possibly win another game the rest of the season and when a team wins, they want to print tickets to the championship game. Most of this is generated by the need to fill the news and opinion cycle to fill airtime on TV and radio and of course to build traffic and comments on websites and blogs like this one :). While one game at a time is cliche, football and the NFL in particular is a week to week business. You just can't bury most teams or anoint a champion at mid-season. Too much happens too quickly from one game to the next. No matter what, it comes down to health and who is playing at their best when the money is on the line. So don't stress the 400 some odd power rankings that get disclosed each week. It don't mean diddly.

The New York Attorney General says that FanDuel and DraftKings, the fantasy sports sites are indeed gambling and has ordered betting to cease in that state. The sites claim that winning is based on skill and therefore is not gambling. I disagree. Weekly fantasy games are a game of chance. Now, do I believe gambling should be banned? No, I don't. I myself am not a gambler but if people choose to toss their money down a black hole, that is their business. If anything, all 50 states should tax it and generate revenue that way instead of speed traps on the highway (my wife would agree with that!). One end result I would like to see is far fewer commercials from those outlets. There should be a cap on how many spots they can buy in any one broadcast.

I now have a twitter account. Please follow Jeff Allen Sportstalk @jeffallen_88. I'll be sending out updates when I post a new blog and share other random sports thoughts there from time to time.

And one last thought on this Veterans Day...my personal thanks for sacrifices for our great nation to all our veterans.