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  • Pepper’s Pick 11/13/25

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

    Today we are blessed with a Pepper McSausage Picks Battle Royale™️!! Woot woot!

    After the incredible masterclass that was picking the Orlando Magic winner not at all after the game started, we’re ready to run a gauntlet today for what is generally a light day of basketball, but one with a ton of potential! At our mercy, here are today’s options:

    Option A: Justin Fields 1+ TD (+300)

    Option B: De’Andre Hunter 8+ Rebs & Asts (-120)

    Option C: Brandon Ingram exactly 3 assists (+300)

    Option D: Atlanta Hawks/Utah Jazz U133.5 (-110)

    Option E: Toronto Raptors team total O115.5 (-115)

    Option F: Evan Mobley 11+ rebounds (+112)

    Option G: New York Jets 1stQ +3 (-115)

    Option H: Drake Maye Over .5 Interceptions (+149)

    Option I: Brandon Ingram 30+ points (+575)

    Option JK: Justin Fields 2+ TDs (+2400)

    So many beautiful options, it’s clear where I think game scripts are going today. Full disclosure. I’ve made all these bets in some capacity. The question is: what bet do I think brings my mom back?

    I’m gonna go ahead and throw the Fields’ touchdown props over the top rope right off the bat. Would I love to see them hit? Absolutely, I sprinkled USD on it. But there’s nothing quite like betting on Justin Fields that’s more likely to put me right into the ground beside my mother. I cannot stake my (stellar) reputation on the man.

    Option A: Justin Fields 1+ TD (+300)

    Option JK: Justin Fields 2+ TDs (+2400)

    Next up, we can cross off the Ingram props. I personally love his exactly 3 assist prop cuz his assist prop feels destined to fall on the hook after a wildly consistent 2 weeks. In fact, every game this season has seen him get 3, 4 or 5 assists. The sort of consistency you dream of telling your therapist about. However, he seems more destined to get 2 and break my heart. And 30+ points for him is a bit of a pipe dream with all of the usage spread around that team (or is it? 🤔🤔)

    Option C: Brandon Ingram exactly 3 assists (+300)

    Option I: Brandon Ingram 30+ points (+575)

    Next we have, Drake Maye OVER 0.5 interceptions. This is arguably my favorite prop of the day. Maye only has 5 interceptions on the season and has an interception in 3 straight so he’s due for some positive regression. The Jets on the other hand don’t have a SINGLE interception this season. Not even by accident. They also just lost a ton of defensive help, why would they get a pick here? Exactly! I can see him being a bit rambunctious in a game they should dominate and make a quick mistake lol. I’m not making it my pick of the day though cuz if my mom was still alive, he would be her new favorite QB. She loved hopping on a fun new bandwagon.

    Option H: Drake Maye Over .5 Interceptions (+149)

    Moving on, we have the Jets 1st quarter spread +3. The Pats have been a covering machine this year, going 7-3. And there’s no reason they shouldn’t cover again here with the Jets coming off a surprising win after just essentially accepting the idea of a tank and selling off their studs. I think the Jets could be feisty today and while I can still see the Pats to win and covering anyway, I like the Jets to do their running the ball over and over bullshit, kill the clock and maybe even score first today. Which shouldn’t allow much room for error to the Pats in the first quarter. People are betting the Jets 1st Q line though, which I do not like. Stay off my bets y’all. I wanna be alone on an island before I get these blogs out.

    Option G: New York Jets 1stQ +3 (-115)

    Rounding out the list, rapid fire, I wanna cross off…

    Option B: De’Andre Hunter 8+ Rebs & Asts (-120)

    Option E: Toronto Raptors team total O115.5 (-115)

    Option F: Evan Mobley 11+ rebounds (+112)

    While I love these picks to varying degrees, they all sort of contradict each other, or rather eat into each other’s potential. I’m hoping they all hit and don’t want to double down on any one. Though I do want to point out that Mobley hasn’t hit his line in 6 straight 👀

    This leads us all to the winner of the battle royale!

    Today’s pick: ATLANTA HAWKS/UTAH JAZZ U133.5

    These two teams have smashed the over in their last three games together and are being bet heavily to do it again today. Not so fast my friend! The Jazz overs are 4-1 at home and due for regression. Small sample, but the Hawks have gone under in the second leg of all their back to backs this season and the Jazz are onto their 3rd game in 4 nights. I’m gearing up for a brick fest in Tuah (keeping the typo cuz it made me laugh).

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

    Pick record 7-8 (thank you Magic!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/12/25

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

    Okay, so full disclosure. This is much later than I’ve ever gotten a pick out, and I fully blame my fiancé. We had a wonderful day date walking around a mall, getting massages, getting food and enjoying each other’s company. Pretty fucked up if you ask me. She knows what I’m trying to do her and she is actively sabotaging my plans to try to revive my mother. And of course, I’m all about gender norms, so I gotta be the driver back and forth in traffic. Truly a maddening day. I owe it to my few readers to get my shitty picks out in time, and for that I’m leading the people down.

    But alas, I come from the future!

    Today’s pick: ORLANDO MAGIC +3.5 (@ NYK)

    This was supposed to be Ja Morant over 4.5 rebounds. And I had a whole spiel planned about rebounding being an effort stat and Morant having lacked in effort recently, but turns out, he decided to just not even play, so that’s not very helpful now is it. Instead… we get a pick that I get to report on as we speak! And it’s doing great! Surely nothing can go wrong now that I pointed that out, it’s gonna win forsure 😀 it’s trending very well right now, but I have now tempted the gambling gods because A- it’s bad karma giving a bet out after it has already started. And B- it’s trending well as I share in and I must point that because it’s the elephant in the room. I wish it wasn’t the elephant in the room, but this is what happens when you have good days emotionally, everything else in your life has to go to shit to compensate. So either I get a hollow win or I get a karmic loss. And again, all I have is a wonderful day with my beautiful fiancé. Truly pathetic.

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

    Pick record: 6-8 (no thank you Celts…)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/11/25

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

    Not feeling very reflective or introspective today—feeling sickly and sleepy. That’s what winning does to me I guess. My body doesn’t know how to respond. Can I even get used to any sort of winning momentum? I guess we’ll find out after today!

    Today’s pick: BOSTON CELTICS ML (-120)

    No Embiid and yet the majority of betting public is still betting on the 76ers. I love it! Not that Embiid is much of a mover or shaker these days, but this is the betting public not believing in Boston. And rightfully so, what has Boston shown this season so far? Exactly the right time to pounce on them though! From a sustainability perspective, Philly’s trending down and Boston is due for some positive regression. I can see this game being much closer to a blowout than a one possession game, so alt lines are in play today.

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

    Pick record: 6-7 (thank you to the AD-less Mavs!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/10/25

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

    GGs y’all! I had a good run, but imma have to say my goodbye to alcohol (at least for now). I have a strict two “seeing god” policy when it comes to vices. I had to quit edibles in 2020 after my second wild, I’m definitely-dying-tonight experience. It always takes two. Like the first time I pump fake god outta his shoes and drive baseline just to get rejected at the rim. A real deus ex machina situation. I had to quit weed in general in 2021 after a tough moment during a Hunger Games marathon. These were all real humbling moments for me. I’m just not good at going 1v1 against myself in my mind with weed as the special guest referee anymore apparently. Perhaps a natural progression to getting older.

    Now, I’m disappointed to say I lost against another vice. Though instead of my mind tipping me off, it was my gut. No pun intended. Ever since my mom passed I’ve been on a bit of a bender, for my standards. And it is tearing apart my stomach. My first “seeing god” moment was relatively tame, but I had to go to the ER for stomach problems nevertheless. This time however, I was up all night mentally exhausted, but physically uncomfortable. To the point I couldn’t physically actually lie down. It hurt far too much. Which is not a phenomena I could ever imagine. Like all my experience in life has led me to believe that when in doubt, lie the f*** down lol. So I was up all night, in pain, not ready to drop another several hundreds of dollars on an ER trip and having to reassess everything in my life that has lead me to this moment. After a few convos with god and countless hours of scrolling Twitter, I can confidentially say that Bryce Young needs to flame out faster so he can get the hell out of Charlotte and go be a backup in Los Angeles and succeed Matt Stafford in a year or two.

    Today’s pick: DALLAS MAVERICKS +2.5 (v MIL)

    After losing a coin flip between Ladd McConkey and Keenan Allen’s anytime TD prop, I feel like I gotta take a quick breather from player props today. And what better way to deal with disappointment than to hop on the Dallas Mavericks bandwagon at this juncture. Nearly 90% of the bets are on Milwaukee, and I don’t totally know why. They choked the game away yesterday against the Rockets and have been generally mediocre on the road this season. Granted, the Mavs have contextualized mediocre this season, but they might get Anthony Davis back tonight. As I’m sounding this out, there’s really no case to be made FOR the Mavs. So this is more of a bet AGAINST the Bucks and wanted to steer clear of the crowd converging on them tonight on a random Monday in November.

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

    Pick record: 5-7 (thank you Kelly, but no thank you Keenan…)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/09/25

    I’m feeling a heaviness today. Not sure if it’s because I’m a terrible gambler or what. Kelly Oubre was, and perhaps still is, inevitable. He made it 8 straight games of 17+ points last night, and is just about as consistent as they come right now. Consistency is not something you see much gambling. Consistency isn’t something I see much myself in general. I’ll admit, I’m a bit flummoxed today. Usually I can sit within myself and find things to associate my feelings with (even if they’re wrong or misguided, I’m great at coming up with all the possibilities my feelings can mean).

    However, today, I’m coming up with nothing. I feel a bit of heaviness on my chest and a lot of heaviness atop my shoulders. I feel a bit soulless inside. An emptiness in my heart and mind. Usually my thoughts come rapid fire, like a flood of customers, but today, it’s like I’m an open Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday without any marketing. People are conditioned to not come in today, and the few I do get feel accidental or lucky. For better or worse, I feel present. That’s not something I feel normally. I’m always hyperfixated on recontextualizing the past or planning/worrying about something in the future. It feels kind of nice to not be thinking I suppose, but I wish it came in a more comfortable default state of existence. I guess I need to make a pick today, so I’m gonna throw shit at the wall and see what happens.

    Today’s pick: 🚨PARLAY🚨 KELLY OUBRE UNDER 15.5 POINTS & KEENAN ALLEN 1+ TOUCHDOWN

    Sometimes with my bets I find that I’m not wrong, I’m just early. We’ll see if that’s the case with Oubre today. Admittedly, he’s in a much “better” spot to hit his over today with Embiid likely out on the second leg of a B2B, yet his line barely moved up. Very interesting. Everything that applied to my logic (if there even was some) betting against him yesterday, still applies today. As for Keenan, he feels due. He’s been mediocre the last couple weeks and seems like the perfect player that the old ass Steelers defense should be able to handle, but Keenan’s old ass isn’t washed yet. He’ll find a little space at the goal-line to nestle on into and snag himself a nice little touchdown, even if that’s all he does…

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

    Pick record: 5-6 (no thank you Kelly)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/08/25

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

    As we worried, yesterday was a no contest on account of Kyshawn not playing. Which sucks cuz he was guaranteed to hit 6+ rebounds, but alas… today’s post is more for accountability’s sake than any sort of diary entry because I’m heading out to a wedding. It’s a bit bittersweet tbh, I love weddings, but it’s also a stark reminder that my mom won’t be making it to mine…but alas…

    Today’s pick: KELLY OUBRE UNDER 14.5 POINTS

    A trap line if I’ve ever seen one. He’s hit 17+ points in 7 straight games and by all accounts, he should have no trouble doing the same today. Which is why he’s going under lol.

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

    Pick record: still 5-5

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/07/25

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

    Another day of losing money in honor of my mom. Today’s pick is nice because there’s the hope it just doesn’t take my place. Kyshawn George is questionable with an illness. It’s NBA cup day, so perhaps he’ll play through it, but if it were my mom, this would be a guaranteed DNP. My mom was a hypochondriac, but also conjured up a ton of illnesses by worrying about her health. She passed that wonderful trait down to me. It’s funny how genetics play such an integral part of somebody’s makeup, and you just gotta hope your parents create a good cocktail. Like there’s no Jon Taffer coming in and telling you your cocktail sucks and shouldn’t be making drinks. You might be able to tell by your vibe together, but my parents clearly ignored that blindspot.

    Generally, I think I lucked out. I have my dad’s charisma and my mom’s empathy, and avoided some of their landmines for the most part. My mom’s hypochondria is a tough one though cuz I think that was fortified by my dad’s nurturing. I think if I had a more careless father, I could’ve maybe avoided my mom’s hyperfixation, but my dad instilled in me a subconscious need to prepare for the worst. So I now have the wonderful ability of not just worrying about my health, but also worrying about the WORST CASE SCENARIO of my health. I counterbalance this by being passive about my health and telling myself that none of this matters and it’s all just in my mind, but of course that makes me think that I’m just dying inside and don’t know it…

    Today’s pick: KYSHAWN GEORGE OVER 5.5 REBOUNDS

    Again, Kyshawn might not play today, so this might not even matter, but I’m going to the well today and riding one of my favorite players in the league. He MIGHT not play, but we know Bilal Coulibaly WON’T play and that’s a significant factor and going over for Kyshawn here. Kyshawn was quietly handling the glass while Bilal was out and became much less effective when Bilal returned. Whatever the stylistic changes the Wiz are making when they play together is of no relevance to us today, and with us on a NBA cup day, if Kyshawn plays, he should play a ton. Giving him ample opportunity on the boards.

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

    Pick record: 5-5 (no thank you Tre…)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/06/25

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

    Welp, here we are again after another L. I’m trying to stay positive, but I’ll admit, I’m very easily dejected. Just gotta stay consistent and the trust my process. That’s really what this is about, staying consistent… and being vulnerable while maintaining that consistency. I’m not as consistent as I’d like to be. And I’ve grown less vulnerable over the years. But writing and handicapping, for me, is all about growing comfortable within vulnerability. I’m not sure I’ll ever truly be comfortable, but I’m past the age of prioritizing comfort over production lol. I gotta get my shit together. Today, and everyday, is now an opportunity for me to write nonsense and lose money 😀 and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

    I’m dispirited by my three day skid, but I’ve gone on a run before, and today’s as good of a day as any to start another one!

    Today’s pick: TRE TUCKER 1+ TOUCHDOWN

    Switching to football for today’s pick and this TD option feels wonderfully gross. Tre hasn’t score a touchdown since his 3 TD performance like a month and a half ago. Brock is back and was hyper targeted last week, so now the Broncos get to move about prioritizing all their attention onto a healthy Bowers. Jakoby Meyers just got traded. Geno is growing confidence again (though admittedly that might not be a good thing), and he doesn’t have any reason to trust his rooks yet. Surtain is still out which makes the back end of the defense vulnerable. Not to mention, these Thursday games tend to create random, negative outlier performances for good defenses. All of this amounts to a simple confluence of Tre Tucker and the end zone, and with his TD prop being around +325, today is a fantastic opportunity to make up some of our losses in recent days….

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

    Pick record: 5-4 (no thank you V.J.)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/05/25

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

    When I was like 9 to 13 years old, my dad would take me on trips to go skiing in Tahoe. Even though snowboarding was definitively the cooler sport, I learned how to ski cuz it’s what my dad knew (much like circumcision and your favorite sports team, your dad generally just gives you what they know). Anyway, every year we’d go and every year i’d get incrementally better, but I fucking dreeeaaded it. I just don’t understand the appeal of skiing. Perhaps it was how we’d go, but it was the same thing over and over again. All day. Just hours of going down slope after slope. Some marked with harder difficulty, but I’m just mostly in my head counting down the hours until I got to go to the lodge and enjoy a hot chocolate, or we’d get to go home.

    So one day, when I was 13, I was tired of it and I just crashed out on the slope (both literally and figuratively). I end up in a bush and I’m crying, more out of frustration probably than anything, but it came off like I was hurt and my dad started freaking out a bit. A slope patrol lady came over to check up on me, and asked my if I needed to a medical sled, and holy shit, I found my out! Now, a quick aside about me, when I was younger, I lied all the time for self-preservation (something that as you get older you realize that it really just isn’t that deep and karmically terrible for you, so you’re better off just not), but I was always down to white lie my way around things. So I lied, I hammed it up that I was hurt. Got a VIP ride back to the resort where they checked me out and found no noticeable signs of bruising or injuries. I think they called it a phantom injury or something, or perhaps chalked it up to dehydration, I can’t quite remember. But my dad and I called it a day, and it was our last day there so we just went home. I never went skiing again. We had our fun.

    Watching Joel Embiid unable to get 7 rebounds yesterday felt A LOT like this. It ran the same beats. Watching the Sixers defensive possessions felt like going down the slope. You’re so hopeful and there’s a nice little adrenaline rush the first couple times, but he goes half a quarter without getting a rebound or anything and you start to realize, well shit, this is just how my day is gonna go isn’t it. Then the Sixers offensive possessions felt like awkwardly walking your skis over to the ski lift, where somehow I never had the proper momentum to just glide over to the ski lift like other people, I was always having to trek staggeredly like I’m a drunk or something. Then you ride the ski lift and do it all over again. Pretty quickly, the bet felt like a loser, so you’re just biding your time for it all to be over. Very, very sad. Two straight losses putting hope in the hands of two very enigmatic players and I only have myself to blame.

    Today’s pick: V.J. EDGECOMBE OVER 17.5 POINTS

    After watching Joel Embiid’s blase performance, I want to bank on someone that truly seems to give a shit at least. In an alternate reality, Edgecombe’s rebounds was my pick yesterday and I didn’t have to reminisce about an annoying ski trip like a spoiled brat cuz his bet cashed by halftime lol. But we gotta make due with the reality we are stuck in, and today, we’re rocking with an admittedly very high line for a rookie. Embiid is out, McCain is back out. Vegas is suggesting Edgecombe might find an aggressiveness offensively that he hasn’t found since his first week of the season. And I love it! The minutes will be there (barring foul trouble or something unforeseen) and his previous trends suggest people won’t be hopping on the betting bandwagon with us. The betting bandwagon is currently all over his rebounding prop again, but that feels like a bit of a trap considering what he did yesterday and how he’s more conservative crashing the boards when Embiid’s out.

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

    Pick record: 5-3 (no thank you Joel)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/04/25

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

    Yesterday was a loss, no pun intended. The opportunity was there I think. There’s no place to find a potential assists/potential rebounds game logs post-game, but the eye test suggested the opportunity was there. The problem with the eye test in sports is so often we’re judging it through red, compromised or otherwise misguided lenses. Add the 2025 Brooklyn Nets, and you’re trying to see with blood pouring out of your eyes. Congratulations to Peacock for getting the rights to that game; I’m sure that was a rating bonanza!

    There’s perhaps nobody quite like Cam Thomas when it comes to making you have cope with your own disappointment. I feel quite the kinship with him. I too am a chucker. In pickup basketball and in life, him and I know one thing and that is to attempt. We look capable some days and a disaster the next, and more often than not we feel undervalued in our attempts to throw shit at the wall. I’m not sure how it feels deep inside, but me personally, I feel overrated. People, and especially my fiance, gas me up, but I feel more like an electric vehicle with a small range before my next charge lol. A charge that feels like it’s getting less and less efficient. I worry about becoming a recluse. A hermit. My mom became that and she died as such.

    There’s something reassuring about, in death, having actually lived. I didn’t feel that my mom did and it makes it hard to cope with her death. My best friend’s dad died 6 years ago in a car crash. Very sudden and very tragic, but that man LIVED. He knew how to exist. My mom didn’t. She drew a support role from an early age, but she wasn’t particularly good at that role. She wasn’t particularly good at supporting her (various) men, and though she was a good mom in how you’d want to experience the world growing up (i.e. awarded us total freedom, loose punishments, no bedtime, fed us all the sweets and garbage foods), there was no structure. You see the validation in your kids’ faces beaming over stopping for pizza or lighting up from the glow of a TV screen in the middle of the night like a wholesome Poltergeist. But everyone gets older and your kids needs change, and my mom never really knew how to adapt to us not needing her for basic responsibilities anymore. And without being needed, she didn’t know what do with herself. And she just withered away until she died. I was always hoping I could get her grandkids or something, and create some sort of newfound purpose, but I was too late.

    Today’s pick: JOEL EMBIID OVER 6.5 REBOUNDS

    Perhaps it’s the minutes restrictions. Perhaps its the change in behavior around the rim, or the lack of care towards rim protecting. Perhaps it’s the matchups and the lack of true bigs to square off against so far. Perhaps he just doesn’t fuck with rebound anymore. Call it whatever you’d like, but Embiid has either NOT gone over this rebound total or BARELY gone over in every game so far this season. It feels like Vucevic, the 5-1 Bulls, and a few days of rest is exactly what the doctor ordered for Embiid to get motivated and ready to go over. There’s a lot of upside here to sour over (and perhaps ladder up) if Embiid is willing. Even if he’s not willing, he can still go over. But if he truly doesn’t care anymore, I’m going to regret not taking VJ Edgecombe over 4.5 rebounds like I had originally intended to lol.

    Good luck to everyone in life, love and gambling, and I look forward to seeing y’all on the other side!

    Pick record: 5-2 (no thank you Cam)