RECORD: 4-1

A little less than a year ago, I took up the game Off And Pacing, which can be played on Apple and Android devices. I got into it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that I’m insanely competitive and enjoy bludgeoning several friends who also play the game into submission.

Essentially, you manage a harness racing operation, which includes racing, breeding, and claiming standardbreds. It’s quite fun once you know what you’re doing, and I’ve been blessed with easily the best 2-year-old I’ve ever had. Named King Elliot (after my feline partner-in-crime), he qualified for my stable’s first-ever final Sunday night…where he promptly received the worst drive of his career.

I am sure driver Mike Wilson is a very nice man in real-life. However, after taking a speed horse back to seventh or eighth and leaving him with way too much to do, I hate his Off And Pacing likeness more than my Twitter trolls hate me when I pick a 5-1 shot that goes wire-to-wire. If you heard someone rampaging around in Northern California around 6 pm Sunday night, it was me, and I kind of, sort of, apologize.

SUNDAY’S RESULT: Vegas likely got killed. Philadelphia was favored by three over Seattle when betting for the NFL wild card playoff game opened last week. When the game kicked off, the Seahawks were favored in some books because they took so much money. I was among the bettors who backed Seattle, and as a result, another one goes in the left column.

MONDAY’S PLAY: I’ll turn to college basketball and focus on some Big 12 action. West Virginia heads to Oklahoma State, and the Cowboys are reeling. They’ve lost four of their last six games after a 7-0 start to the season, and they now get a two-loss West Virginia team that gave Kansas all it could handle at Allen Fieldhouse. The Mountaineers are favored by a point, and I’ll take them to cover.