Pepper McSausage Picks

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  • Pepper’s Pick 11/23/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    With the joy of football rolling all day, I forgot to say anything here…and that’s not the sort of behavior that’s gonna bring my mom back. Big win yesterday has us officially at .500. Which means today is a great day to step on a rake and send ourselves reeling back below.

    Today’s Pick: PUKA NAKUA 1+ TOUCHDOWN (-125)

    Davante is the touchdown machine and he’s the default pick for just about everyone today, but the value (if you can even call -125 a value) is on Puka. Tampa Bay can be thrown on and he’s been a much more reliable scorer at home this season.

    Good luck everyone and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 12-12 (thank you dairy!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/22/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    Tales from the bathroom, and my brain is fried. My brother doesn’t dust the house now that my grandma and mom are gone, and despite my best efforts, my allergies are kicking my ass. Sadly, a nice Cooper Flagg win last night doesn’t nothing to counteract a contagion. Pretty fucked up if I do say so myself. Gambling wins are supposed to be the new best medicine. And if they are not, then what am I doing here?? While I battle this hypothesis, I’m edging .500. A pitiful sentence to type, let alone feel in my soul. This must be how Matthew Stafford felt all these years. I think I’m going to right the ship today, but history suggests today is gonna be an L.

    Today’s pick: DERIK QUEEN OVER 28.5 POINTS+REBOUNDS+ASSISTS

    Dairy Queen is about as trendy/flashy a pick can be right now. Which, of course, has me spooked. He has crushed this line in back to back games now that Willie Green has been jettisoned to the moon. Zion is out, taking usage with him to the bench. The Hawks play at a magnificent pace here. And my bias loves the kid (I realize now that I’m 31, I can start calling people kid). He’s a rookie after all. And betting on rookies is scary in and of itself, but I’m hopeful that with his rotation spot not all over the place, he can start stacking some consistent performances together. Gotta love hope amirite??

    Good luck everyone and, as always, I’ll see you on the other side!

    Pick record: 11-12 (thank you Cooper 🙏🙏)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/21/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    Womp, womp. We’re back in the L column again. Hopefully in the way that this is an easy W today, and not at the beginning of an avalanche of Ls kinda way. It’s been a tough night into morning emotionally for me. My brother, me and my mom’s man caught a movie yesterday and it hit me that we’re just a goofy looking trio of aimless dudes roaming around life without our glue. Glue guys are such an integral part of sports and I’m stunned that of all people to die, it had to be mine. As unhinged as Draymond Green can be, the idea of Curry without him feels so foreign. Like he couldn’t reach his peak without him. Not that I have Curry’s peak in my hands, but it feels like any hope or potential ceiling I have in life is lowered without my mom around keeping things together. Perhaps I’m overthinking here (as I tend to do); my brother and my mom’s man seem to be coping well and handling their business, but it also feels like how things would be if the Warriors made the business decision to let go of Dray. Like we can convince ourselves things can still be great, but who are we kidding. We’d be exposed if we’re just rolling with Curry, Post and Podz lineups long-term. It makes me feel subtly insane mentally sometimes at how well my brother is handling things. Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. They say that men have a delayed emotionally response to grief, and I feel like I’m always bracing myself for that to hit my brother. Maybe he’s the real Draymond. Or maybe better yet, maybe he’s the Curry. Only time will tell I suppose.

    Today’s pick: COOPER FLAGG OVER 17.5 POINTS

    Here I am again. Back on Cooper after a random illness awarded him a nice “no contest” for us two days ago. Same rules apply now as they did then, but in an even better statistical matchup. He rarely hits 18+ points and I love betting rarities coin flip odds 😛

    Good luck and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 10-12 (no thank you ATL)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/20/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    As if I didn’t already feel like I’m in purgatory by being back home, Cooper Flagg decided to sit out yesterday and halt all of our momentum. I’m gonna chalk that one up as a mental W though cuz he definitely would’ve scored 17 points last night, but mental wins are unfortunately stricken from the record books.

    I’ve been blessed with outdoor time today. Immediately walk outside and see a black cat. Now I don’t believe in omens like that generally, but I do believe in them when it comes to gambling. So now I’m freaked out! Today is now a comfort food-type gambling day (bet the guys you love). It’s the only way to counter act the gambling gods and still enjoy yourself. I’m seeing my mom’s religious man today too, so maybe he’ll have a prayer he can do as some sort of defense against the dark arts. Prayer feels a lot like gambling. You’re just throwing against the wall all the same and hoping for something life changing. At least Etsy witches use more tangible things with ingredients and fire and smoke. For gambling and praying, you’re mostly just talking to yourself and hoping that some overseeing force is listening.

    Today’s pick: ATLANTA HAWKS ML (-105), HAWKS 1ST HALF +.5 (-115) or JALEN JOHNSON OVER 9.5 REBOUNDS

    Same thing as last time. If two hit, it counts a win!I don’t know if Kristaps is playing or not, but I know with certainty that Wemby isn’t. And that’s good enough for me! I’ve been having a lot of fun recently betting on the Hawks and Jalen Johnson specifically, so I’m going back to the well in a game that Vegas is chalking up to a coin flip. The Jalen Johnson prop scares me cuz a lot of people seem to be on it (it originally started at 8.5). But he’s been on a tear recently on the glass and he had his pothole-on-a-long-street game in the last one, so it should be smooth pavement for a couple games going forward!

    Good luck everyone and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: still 10-11 (rip Cooper)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/19/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    Omg, don’t let us get hot! We officially flirt with .500 again after far too long being on the other side of it. Trends be damned, we are ready for the big time!

    We’re here for another installment of tales from the bathroom! My brother and I have been spending a lot of time with my mom’s man. Even though he and my mom were never married and he has no tangible ties to us, he’s been very willing to stay on as a father figure and friend to my brother. No small task considering my brother’s mental makeup; I’ve been pleasantly surprised at his willingness to stay engaged with us. Him and my brother don’t have a lot of friends, so it’s reassuring for me when I head home that they have each other. The man loves talking about my mom, and it’s nice to get added context of her, especially with her being gone now. But… I’m not gonna lie, sometimes the added context feels like he’s talking about someone I didn’t know and that parts a bit jarring. In a relationship, you see a side of your partner that most others get to see, but it’s weird hearing about that side when it’s your mom. She was a lot of different things to a lot of different men, but the person she’s been the last few years, the empty shell of herself, is not how I want to remember her. It’s good that she seemed to have some sort of individuality with this man, but it’s hard reminiscing about this version of herself. I wish I could do that with some of her exes, when she had more life to her, but many of those men are dead too. I fried my brain in college and don’t have the memory I wish I had and, while I try everyday to improve it, it pains me knowing that these recent memories of her are the ones that are most accessible to me.

    Today’s pick: COOPER FLAGG OVER 16.5 POINTS

    I have a lot of fun picks today, but I wanted to make sure that, while I’m riding this wave of momentum, today’s pick was the one most likely to lose :P. I don’t really understand this line placement, maybe this is where it normally is, or maybe people are betting it up (hopefully not). But he’s only hit this over in 4 of 15 games (27%). It feels like it’s screaming at you to take the under! I’ll will not be falling for that… the Knicks and Mavs both play at a high pace and the Knicks defense is very flammable right now (since OG has been out). And especially on the road. :DDD

    Good luck everyone and, as always, I’ll see you on the other side!

    Pick record: 10-11 (thank you Orlando!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/18/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    Back again with another installment of tales from the bathroom. I’m really proud of my brother today. We found ourselves at the grocery store two days in a row. And both days there was a sensory nightmare. Yesterday a crying child followed us around Trader Joe’s, and today, an old man randomly singing opera the whole time (a maniacal NPC to populate during our shopping trip). I think today’s man was also autistic. Him and my brother were gearing up for a real unstoppable force vs immovable object situation, but in both instances, my brother managed to keep quiet and get our task done. A big win for his normally unfiltered vibe.

    Between that and Brandon Ingram’s easy win yesterday (which we were expecting), I’m really stacking wins right now. But we know what today brings. A big fat L. The trends taketh and the trends taketh away. But as a Warriors fan, I found a way to use this to my advantage!

    Today’s pick (choose your own adventure): MAGIC 1ST HALF ML (+115), MAGIC +3.5 or FRANZ WAGNER OVER 4.5 ASSISTS

    I bet them all. I love them all. For stat keeping purposes, if at least 2 hit, we’re counting those as a win because we’ll come away with profit. As a Warriors fan, this matchup scares the crap out of me. We’ve won three straight on the road (two against a Wemby Spurs) and the team’s spirits are peaking rn. Plus, the crowd is heavily on them as a road favorite 🤢. The Magic, even without Paolo, are highly capable competitors (perhaps even more capable iykyk). It feels like the Magic get off to a faster start and sustain that run all game.

    Good luck everyone and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 9-11 (never forget)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/17/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    A bit of a good news/bad news situation here. The bad news? Ja’Marr Chase didn’t score a TD (boooo). The good news? Based on recent trends, today’s pick is guaranteed to hit (yayyyy)!

    I write this from my bathroom (the only place of solitude when I go back home to visit my mom and brother, especially now without my mom). I love my brother to death, but the man is very needy. His mental impairments have a lot to do with it, but the man is an emotionally volatile motormouth. It’s day one, and I’m in good spirits, but this trip is going to be all over the place from a writing perspective. He’s always keeping tabs on what I’m up to when I’m not in the room with him (and since I’m not here frequently, he demands my presence always unless I’m taking a sh** or sleeping), and when I’m in the room with him, he doesn’t allow me to think, he’s just perpetually yapping. Eventually I disassociate for my own self preservation. But god forbid I asked a question about something that he has already mentioned during an avalanche of spoken thought, while I was disassociating, he’ll berate me for not remembering or making him reiterate lmao. In a sense, I’ve enjoyed these trips home cuz it harkens me back to simpler times. Like I know my role here and there’s not much expected of me outside of my presence, being a sounding board for him to bounce his thoughts off of, and to drive him places. But at some point, I lose my sense of self here. And while my own thoughts are exhausting, this place reminds me that I’m glad I have them because they make me who I am.

    Anyways… I’ve already been here too long. My legs are going numb. And all of this build up is unnecessary considering we already know this bet is going to hit. It’s written in the stars!

    Today’s pick: BRANDON INGRAM OVER 20.5 POINTS

    “Trust me bro”. If I’m in this bathroom any longer, I’m gonna become Shelley Duvall in The Shining.

    Good luck and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 8-11 (no thank you Ja’Marr)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/16/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    I’m not gonna lie, when I checked into the Lakers game at halftime and saw that the Bucks were down 65-34, I figured the Giannis bet was cooked. The bet ended up hitting (no need for applause or a thank you, this is just what I do) as the Bucks ended up making it a closer game than it had any right to be.

    My bets are rolling like roulette right now. I went on a long winning run, then a longer losing run. Now I’m just trading wins and losses, so current trends suggest today’s bet will be an L. Do with that info as you will lol. I have a long drive to my mom’s home today and while I get the nice long drive to reflect, compartmentalize and be locked in with my feelings, I gotta get today’s pick out now (bright and early!) so that I’m not a terrorist to society by writing on the road.

    Today’s pick: JA’MARR CHASE 1+ TOUCHDOWN

    This is in the same vein as yesterday’s Giannis pick in the sense that he doesn’t go long stretches without touchdowns and he hasn’t hit in his last two games. I’m also facing the man in fantasy football this week, so if I’m gonna lose to the man, I might as well get a little something something in return. With that said, this pick feels very obvious (the Steelers defense sucks and has already been torched by the Bengals) and continuing to ride on old a** Joe Flacco feels scary lol.

    Good luck everyone and I’ll see you on the other side!

    Pick record: 8-10 (thank you Giannis!)

  • Pepper’s pick 11/15/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    At this rate, my mom is never coming back. Amen Thompson and I didn’t get our Jerry Maguire happy ending and I’m starting to feel like this is gonna become a Before Sunrise situation—him and I. I like to believe my mom is trying to do Angels in the Outfield shit and help me, but coordination was never her strong suit. It cracks me up imagining her accidentally boxing out Amen or inadvertently contested shots off his assists. I miss her so much…

    My mom went through a phase of being a beer league softball catcher for a local brewery when I was like 12 or 13. It’s surreal thinking about it now. She couldn’t adequately play any other position, or bat or anything. And when a pass ball got behind her, she just told the umpire to get it. Which is one of the few real responsibilities a catcher has in a league like that. The team must’ve liked her spirit though cuz god knows she was really dragging the team down from an ability perspective. Anyway, speaking of ability!

    Today’s pick: GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO 32+ POINTS

    The injury report for Giannis reads probable, so yeah, he’s probably gonna hit. That’s how these things work, right? Off the cuff, I just feel like when Giannis goes under in points one game, he goes over the next. Even though this game SCREAMS to take his under. Take out two berserker games from the 2023-24 season, and Giannis has only gone over this line once in his career against Luka Doncic. He’s also coming off an OT thriller against Charlotte last night. And despite what their roster limitations might suggest, the Lakers have been incredibly solid at thwarting big men this season. Randle is the only big man to score 32+ against them and he took advantage of the Lakers spotty perimeter defense to the tune of 4 threes to nab 33 points. Something it’s safe to say is not in Giannis’ bag. With all that said, we’re celebrating my friend Adam’s birthday today. Who bet Giannis’ point total over yesterday and loss, so we’ll either get to commiserate together at the lost money or I’ll be able to brag to him about the gold I dug up. Win-win!

    Good luck and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 7-10 (no thank you Amen)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/14/25

    A pick a day until my mom comes back to life.

    The Battle Royale was fun… albeit dissatisfying. The wrong winner won. The pick of the day was not even close. Which has more to say about my judgment than anything. I’m forever hopeful and too generally optimistic to be a good gambler (for now), and my best quality (not best as in what’s my most valuable to others or the most positive thing about me, but rather what I’m the greatest at doing) is overthink. A family recipe that hopefully shimmers and euro steps past future DNA strands. It’s one thing to overthink but my inability to be cynical gambling perpetually leaves me heartbroken. I was always a hopeless romantic, and that paid off for me in love, so now I have to direct that hopeless romanticism towards something much less constructive, like gambling.

    It’s at its worst when I fall in love with athletes. I tend to bet on them as if I’m betting on myself and my valuation of them (my ego perhaps). And while I find these to my best bets, I don’t think the money backs that up. But I do not know how to quit them! My current favorite player is Amen Thompson. If I could build a player in 2K, he’s who I’d build. Even though he is diametrically opposed to me in every way. In pickup, I’m a white, unathletic shooter. He’s everything else. He completes me. He’s the Jerry Maguire to my Renee Zellweger. I have not been very profitable so far in my Amen Thompson betting propaganda campaign so far, but I understand that financially and professionally there is going to be growing pains for him and I both. Well, today’s the day for him to SHOW ME THE MONEY!!

    Today’s pick: AMEN THOMPSON OVER 12.5 REBS & ASTS

    Strictly guy speaking here. I’ve done no research. Even though I spent my entire day so far helping do market research elsewhere. When my backs against the wall and I need help, I look no further than the sweet prince of Houston. Amen 🙏

    Good luck and I’ll see y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 7-9 (no thank you collectively to the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz)