...a ghost or shill for poster AIverson? Many things occurring this football season make me think so.
Preface -- AIverson is a good NFL handicapper, I've said it before and I wouldn't deny it now. He has a good record, which he's more than happy to share with you at any and all occasions. I can honestly say he's on a very, very short list of handicappers who's stuff I always read. But I think he's starting to get out of line touting his business while sabotaging some of the more successful NFL posters at the same time.
Fact #1
At the beginning of the preseason someone started one of the inevitable "Which NFL posters should I follow?" threads. 6 or 7 replies in AIverson hops in and touts himself. I, upon seeing this, thought "Hey, if we're going to be using the public forum for self-promotion, let me jump in and do my bit!" That, and set a couple of things straight, #1 being that achieving the highest % winning of bets isn't the goal that professional gamblers are trying to achieve. I didn't name names or say that my record was better than his or refer to him even once in my post (though if we both bet the same amount of our bankroll per play I would've made a lot more money than him for the season, in spite of his impressive win %). He immediately, and I mean in the space of 5-10 minutes, came back with a long post that started off quoting a small part of my post where I said something about having posted more units of winners on this forum in the last 5 years than anyone else, but then he said, "I'm not singling anyone out here" and proceeded to rant about how using units was a horrible and misleading way to track your record. Not singling anyone out after quoting someone? lol He, if he's followed me at all over the years (highly likely) knows that I'm not a unit chasing whore. My God, my average bet was slightly under 1 unit last year, and I probably only have about 10-20 plays a year that go higher than a unit. It's the classic 1 unit = 1 play system. Even BuffettGambler paid me a long complement once for adhering to the old school values of one unit equaling one bet. I agree, AI, scam touts do misuse units to try and chase their records back to even -- you just completely barked up the wrong tree when you singled/not singled me out.
I must admit I was a bit surprised with the alacrity and aggressive nature of AI's response. I chipped in with a short bit defending my use of units, but the thread was deleted from the forum a very short time later, due to the touting in the NFL forum, I reckon, which I didn't start and had no intention of responding to until I saw AI pull out his own brass section.
Anyway, it was a brief flurry quickly deleted by a mod -- and I did indeed say in the thread that I respected AI as a handicapper.
Fact #2
I've never handicapped the preseason before, but decided I'd give it a go this year. I worked very hard developing something combining last year's stats, key roster moves, QB rotations, actual preseason play, etc. I scoured the internet for all of the main variables handicappers use for the preseason. The breaks didn't go my way and I ended up down 11.5 units for the preseason, half of which was lost on the final 3 games of the preseason, where I took a donut with bad luck once again -- the Cowboy's 3 non-offensive touchdowns in the 2nd half to beat the Vikings being the most painful of the beats, lol.
During week #1 of the preseason I had a thread where I posted some write ups and some, not all, of my plays (all plays were listed at my site). Strangely, a brand spankin' new poster called "riseabove" was courteous enough to go through my entire thread of write ups and plays and post my losing record in a sarcastic and disparaging fashion.
I was naturally a bit miffed. Why would a brand new poster use their first or second post to come in with an apparent agenda against me? I've killed the NFL forum for years and never once over 5 years had someone come in on a sneak attack like that before. At any rate, I'm pretty sure I prefaced the whole preseason by saying that this was my first attempt at preseason, so why would someone go out of their way to point out a losing record? It just seemed rather fishy to me.
Fact #3
Riseabove used their next forum post in Kingdom Come's preseason thread.
Once again, this same new forum member is defending someone criticizing another of this forum's more popular posters. He once again is gracious enough to track KC's plays for the thread and note the losing record. Who comes into a forum and starts out by methodically tracking a one week losing record by two of the most successful posters the forum has ever had? Apparently Riseabove is not as new of a forum member as he seems, because he does at least admit that KC is a good handicapper while also admitting familiarity with KC's betting style that involves a lot of quarters, halves, and teases. He says "I bet with a local, so..." which is basically a subtle critique saying that many of KC's picks are useless unless you have the right online books. One thing that AIverson has stressed before is that he doesn't post quarter, half or teaser plays -- everything he recommends can be played with a local. Just another coincidence, I guess.
You can see in Riseabove's comment in my thread that he goes out of his way to use slang abbreviations, while in his comment in KC's thread those are completely absent, replaced with a well-written style. :think2: Let's be honest, there aren't a lot of posters here who are even remotely eloquent in their writing. AI is one of them.
Fact #3
Now faced with the double fishiness of riseabove's posts, my brain started to churn over these listed details. A theory started to form in my mind, and all of the above occurrences pointed to one conclusion -- that riseabove was either a ghost for AIverson, or a friend/relative shill posting on his behalf, attacking (or half attacking in KC's case, lol) those posters who had successful results like he, but a lot more thread hits in the past (Ace usually led, I was 2nd mostly until KC hit the scene fast and hard dropping me to third). I'm almost 100% sure I read in one of AI's posts (it might even be in the last link I'm going to post) that he feels a bit underread/underappreciated here, when you easily read between the lines.
Kingdom Come is a good IM buddy of mine, so I told him a month ago that I suspected riseabove of being a ghost/shill for AI. Anyway, riseabove laid low for a while and it appeared to be all over until...
Fact #4
...a thread that had been dormant for 2 and half months was suddenly resurrected by riseabove. It just so happened to be a thread where AI had gone on one of his majoring self-promoting writing sprees wayyyy before the preseason had even got underway. And what did riseabove say in his resurrection post? That another computer handicapping group (AI and I both use NFL data in Excel for our handicapping) had had a bad week, but that someone else had had a good week. And who was it? None other than suspect #1, AIverson. Geez, what a coincidence! Riseabove claims to have done well following AI last year. AI and I both stopped posting most of our plays after around week #8 last year, as we both opened up reasonably priced services. It follows, then, that riseabove had been following AI for the first half publicly here on theRX, so once again he's not unfamiliar with this forum. If he's really an independent poster and not a ghost/shill, I guess it's possible that he just happened to miss or chose not to look at my weekly threads that garnered thousands of views each week, because really, who doesn't go out of there way to see ignore what the most popular posters are doing? Yet riseabove put my name in quotation marks in his comment in my thread. Really? What "random" new poster goes out of their way to mock someone's name. What's more, he almost certainly is in fact familiar with my handicapping if he's familiar with both this forum and AI's public handicapping, so his post in my thread is almost 100% certain to have a hidden agenda behind it -- the desire to boost AI's business while simultaneously sabotaging handicappers who might be in competition with him.
I called riseabove as a ghost/shill for AI a full month before riseabove came out as exactly that.
Fact #5
Even in a just for fun post, AI looks for a reason to be critical of me. This past week after the BUF/NE game I said that McKelvin ran the ball out to try and get the clock to the two minute warning, essentially taking a time out away from the Patriots. It was a fun theory so I thought I'd put it out there for others to discuss. Some agreed, some weren't sure, but good ol' AI has to chime in with a "cruncher, you're better than this" slur. I mean come on, get a life. I can see an "interesting idea, but I doubt it" post, but a personal attack, albeit in the usual backhanded complementary style? Other posters on other forums posited the same theory as me, for crying out loud, it's not this theory is entering crackpot territory.
________
And that's all I have to say about that. The behavior and posts of riseabove in my mind point to only one conclusion. It doesn't take anything away from AI as a handicapper (though he's never had a kind word for me, as far as I recall), but your professional jealousy got the better of you. You thought you could outsmart us. Fail. If you find this you may come in here boo-hooing about what a paranoid nutjob I am and how I'm completely wrong -- but the evidence in my mind is overwhelming, and I'm not sure what you could do or say that could be verified to change the facts.
Preface -- AIverson is a good NFL handicapper, I've said it before and I wouldn't deny it now. He has a good record, which he's more than happy to share with you at any and all occasions. I can honestly say he's on a very, very short list of handicappers who's stuff I always read. But I think he's starting to get out of line touting his business while sabotaging some of the more successful NFL posters at the same time.
Fact #1
At the beginning of the preseason someone started one of the inevitable "Which NFL posters should I follow?" threads. 6 or 7 replies in AIverson hops in and touts himself. I, upon seeing this, thought "Hey, if we're going to be using the public forum for self-promotion, let me jump in and do my bit!" That, and set a couple of things straight, #1 being that achieving the highest % winning of bets isn't the goal that professional gamblers are trying to achieve. I didn't name names or say that my record was better than his or refer to him even once in my post (though if we both bet the same amount of our bankroll per play I would've made a lot more money than him for the season, in spite of his impressive win %). He immediately, and I mean in the space of 5-10 minutes, came back with a long post that started off quoting a small part of my post where I said something about having posted more units of winners on this forum in the last 5 years than anyone else, but then he said, "I'm not singling anyone out here" and proceeded to rant about how using units was a horrible and misleading way to track your record. Not singling anyone out after quoting someone? lol He, if he's followed me at all over the years (highly likely) knows that I'm not a unit chasing whore. My God, my average bet was slightly under 1 unit last year, and I probably only have about 10-20 plays a year that go higher than a unit. It's the classic 1 unit = 1 play system. Even BuffettGambler paid me a long complement once for adhering to the old school values of one unit equaling one bet. I agree, AI, scam touts do misuse units to try and chase their records back to even -- you just completely barked up the wrong tree when you singled/not singled me out.
I must admit I was a bit surprised with the alacrity and aggressive nature of AI's response. I chipped in with a short bit defending my use of units, but the thread was deleted from the forum a very short time later, due to the touting in the NFL forum, I reckon, which I didn't start and had no intention of responding to until I saw AI pull out his own brass section.
Anyway, it was a brief flurry quickly deleted by a mod -- and I did indeed say in the thread that I respected AI as a handicapper.
Fact #2
I've never handicapped the preseason before, but decided I'd give it a go this year. I worked very hard developing something combining last year's stats, key roster moves, QB rotations, actual preseason play, etc. I scoured the internet for all of the main variables handicappers use for the preseason. The breaks didn't go my way and I ended up down 11.5 units for the preseason, half of which was lost on the final 3 games of the preseason, where I took a donut with bad luck once again -- the Cowboy's 3 non-offensive touchdowns in the 2nd half to beat the Vikings being the most painful of the beats, lol.
During week #1 of the preseason I had a thread where I posted some write ups and some, not all, of my plays (all plays were listed at my site). Strangely, a brand spankin' new poster called "riseabove" was courteous enough to go through my entire thread of write ups and plays and post my losing record in a sarcastic and disparaging fashion.
I was naturally a bit miffed. Why would a brand new poster use their first or second post to come in with an apparent agenda against me? I've killed the NFL forum for years and never once over 5 years had someone come in on a sneak attack like that before. At any rate, I'm pretty sure I prefaced the whole preseason by saying that this was my first attempt at preseason, so why would someone go out of their way to point out a losing record? It just seemed rather fishy to me.
Fact #3
Riseabove used their next forum post in Kingdom Come's preseason thread.
Once again, this same new forum member is defending someone criticizing another of this forum's more popular posters. He once again is gracious enough to track KC's plays for the thread and note the losing record. Who comes into a forum and starts out by methodically tracking a one week losing record by two of the most successful posters the forum has ever had? Apparently Riseabove is not as new of a forum member as he seems, because he does at least admit that KC is a good handicapper while also admitting familiarity with KC's betting style that involves a lot of quarters, halves, and teases. He says "I bet with a local, so..." which is basically a subtle critique saying that many of KC's picks are useless unless you have the right online books. One thing that AIverson has stressed before is that he doesn't post quarter, half or teaser plays -- everything he recommends can be played with a local. Just another coincidence, I guess.
You can see in Riseabove's comment in my thread that he goes out of his way to use slang abbreviations, while in his comment in KC's thread those are completely absent, replaced with a well-written style. :think2: Let's be honest, there aren't a lot of posters here who are even remotely eloquent in their writing. AI is one of them.
Fact #3
Now faced with the double fishiness of riseabove's posts, my brain started to churn over these listed details. A theory started to form in my mind, and all of the above occurrences pointed to one conclusion -- that riseabove was either a ghost for AIverson, or a friend/relative shill posting on his behalf, attacking (or half attacking in KC's case, lol) those posters who had successful results like he, but a lot more thread hits in the past (Ace usually led, I was 2nd mostly until KC hit the scene fast and hard dropping me to third). I'm almost 100% sure I read in one of AI's posts (it might even be in the last link I'm going to post) that he feels a bit underread/underappreciated here, when you easily read between the lines.
Kingdom Come is a good IM buddy of mine, so I told him a month ago that I suspected riseabove of being a ghost/shill for AI. Anyway, riseabove laid low for a while and it appeared to be all over until...
Fact #4
...a thread that had been dormant for 2 and half months was suddenly resurrected by riseabove. It just so happened to be a thread where AI had gone on one of his majoring self-promoting writing sprees wayyyy before the preseason had even got underway. And what did riseabove say in his resurrection post? That another computer handicapping group (AI and I both use NFL data in Excel for our handicapping) had had a bad week, but that someone else had had a good week. And who was it? None other than suspect #1, AIverson. Geez, what a coincidence! Riseabove claims to have done well following AI last year. AI and I both stopped posting most of our plays after around week #8 last year, as we both opened up reasonably priced services. It follows, then, that riseabove had been following AI for the first half publicly here on theRX, so once again he's not unfamiliar with this forum. If he's really an independent poster and not a ghost/shill, I guess it's possible that he just happened to miss or chose not to look at my weekly threads that garnered thousands of views each week, because really, who doesn't go out of there way to see ignore what the most popular posters are doing? Yet riseabove put my name in quotation marks in his comment in my thread. Really? What "random" new poster goes out of their way to mock someone's name. What's more, he almost certainly is in fact familiar with my handicapping if he's familiar with both this forum and AI's public handicapping, so his post in my thread is almost 100% certain to have a hidden agenda behind it -- the desire to boost AI's business while simultaneously sabotaging handicappers who might be in competition with him.
I called riseabove as a ghost/shill for AI a full month before riseabove came out as exactly that.
Fact #5
Even in a just for fun post, AI looks for a reason to be critical of me. This past week after the BUF/NE game I said that McKelvin ran the ball out to try and get the clock to the two minute warning, essentially taking a time out away from the Patriots. It was a fun theory so I thought I'd put it out there for others to discuss. Some agreed, some weren't sure, but good ol' AI has to chime in with a "cruncher, you're better than this" slur. I mean come on, get a life. I can see an "interesting idea, but I doubt it" post, but a personal attack, albeit in the usual backhanded complementary style? Other posters on other forums posited the same theory as me, for crying out loud, it's not this theory is entering crackpot territory.
________
And that's all I have to say about that. The behavior and posts of riseabove in my mind point to only one conclusion. It doesn't take anything away from AI as a handicapper (though he's never had a kind word for me, as far as I recall), but your professional jealousy got the better of you. You thought you could outsmart us. Fail. If you find this you may come in here boo-hooing about what a paranoid nutjob I am and how I'm completely wrong -- but the evidence in my mind is overwhelming, and I'm not sure what you could do or say that could be verified to change the facts.
