Pepper McSausage Picks

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  • Pepper’s Pick 11/03/25

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

    My brother is putting his dog down today… a sad, but mostly expected development. He’s had health problems for years. I find myself staggered by the fact that he outlived my mom, who would’ve put him down years ago if it was up to her. Money, and a lack there of, has that effect on one’s emotional psyche. Her and I have been desensitized to Cooper’s plight for years now, but now that I’ve managed to convince my brother that now is finally time, he seems more emotionally read than I am. I don’t understand what’s going on with me.

    It’s another loss in our already very small side of the family. He was a small dog, but he made his presence felt. Between his random barks at nothing, his breathing episodes, his pacing, his constant lack of appetite, his vomit, there’s been a lot of anxiety tied to his existence in recent years—waiting for the other shoe to drop. But now that we have a step-stool and can bring down the shoe, it feels something was supposed to fall. And will fall instead. There’s an irony to anxiety, there’s not always relief in removing triggers. In the peace, you just search for a new weapon.

    Today’s pick: CAM THOMAS OVER 6.5 REBOUNDS + ASSISTS

    This is a hold your nose banger to really test my hot streak. In 6 games this season, he’s never gone over 2 rebounds and only ONCE gone over 3 assists. Not only is he due, but somehow the Nets are the nationally televised game of the day. We benefit with them at home, and we benefit from the Timberwolves being a great matchup for guards. Here’s hoping Cam Thomas goes full FTW and has a more complete performance than he’s show all season.

    Bonus pick: GEORGE PICKENS 1+ TOUCHDOWN

    He’s gone two games without and dude is gonna start getting restless. And Dak knows how to keep his boys fed and happy. 🤞🤞

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

    Pick record: 5-1 (thank you Kon!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/02/25

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

    I survived the Steven Adams prop yesterday; the game script went almost exactly like I expected. Perhaps I should’ve just bet the Rockets instead of taking some years off my life praying that the Celts could keep that beast off the boards.

    It’s a beautiful NFL Sunday, so naturally, it’s a great day to bet the NBA again. I’m too enthralled with the NFL to reminisce about my mom today. Sundays make the best distraction days.

    Today’s pick: KON KNUEPPEL OVER 14.5 POINTS

    He has looked like absolute shit the last two games. Especially yesterday. But there’s a beauty in back-to-backs for youngins to not stew on past regrets. Now I’ll admit, I LOVED this line more at 12.5 when LaMelo was potentially playing cuz I just needed Kon to stay aggressive from three and hit some more shots. Now today, with LaMelo likely out, he’s probably going to be asked to play make more and won’t be tee’d up for easier shots off LaMelo. Perhaps this is for the best though….perhaps Kon will experiment with his shot selection and get to the line more. The Jazz play at a high pace and have been a bit of a defensive abyss to guards this season, so the opportunity is nice. Not sure if abyss is a good metaphor for describing ineptitude, but life is all about experimenting, isn’t it?

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

    Pick record: 4-1 (thank you Steven!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 11/01/25

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

    A new month. Still no mom. But I figure if I gamble well enough she’ll come back to tell me she’s proud of me…not a tall task considering I might be starting a bit of a heater. Jalen Johnson cashed fairly easy yesterday. I love that man. My mother once thought I loved men. I think she would’ve been okay with it, but luckily for her, I have fighting chance at creating a legacy for her. I think she had fully given up on my brother managing that before she passed; she had once alluded such to me in the Panda Express parking lot.

    Not much mom talk today. I’ve had my fun opening up the last few days and I’m a bit fried. Plus, I’m downright terrified of today’s dia de los muertos pick, too much so to think of anything else but the anxiety of watching the Rockets play basketball.

    Today’s pick: STEVEN ADAMS UNDER 6.5 REBOUNDS

    What the fuck is this line? I feel like they’re baiting people into taking his over here. And rightfully so, he’s covered this line in every game this season and nearly covers this line in offensive rebounds alone. With that said, people are heavily on the over and the line still hasn’t changed. Fishy. If there’s ever a game for this man to play only a few minutes, it should be the Celtics. They’re already generally undersized, and the Rockets are huge even without Adams. But… and a big but here. He’s absolutely capable of covering this line in even like 5 minutes against the Celtics size, so perhaps I’m the fool. The Rockets should dominate today and if they do, I feel comfortable that Adams will be out of the game plan entirely. Should they struggle, Ime will probably throw Adams in there to bully the Celts and that’s where we’re probably screwed. So here’s hoping the Rockets start fast and sustain 😀

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

    Pick’s record: 3-1 (thank you Jalen!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 10/31/25

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

    Happy Halloween! Who needs to carve pumpkins when you can bank on sand castles! Stephon Castle hit’s his over shortly into the third quarter, so not much of a sweat. Thank god!

    My mom believed in god. She never read the bible or anything, but she had faith. I’m not sure how much she truly believed in it though…her mom (my grandma) believed, though again I’m not sure if she ever did much in the way of bible study. Her belief felt strong though; my mom’s however felt like nothing more than a belief in something, a hope perhaps. Very similar to the belief someone would have in a bet, but in gambling you know there’s no sure things… I’m glad she had something, but I’m not convinced she ever actually felt solace in that hope of an afterlife. My grandma did, that was evident, and when she died, I believed she believed she was going to a better place. My mom’s situation is much more complicated. Granted, my mom died in a flash, so she didn’t have the time or need to truly contemplate the value of god and her spirituality. A shame.

    My mom’s man was highly religious (in a way where he actually read the bible and stands by its principles) and he pushed that onto my mom, and so she adopted it. How much was to appease and how much was to believe I’ll never know. My mom tended to adopt the personality of her man, she was never one to build a strong foundation of self. And that makes me really sad. Each man (and there were many) felt like a new painting that my mom could add little details to, but was, all the while, something already whole to stare at and bring her peace. I always wanted my mom to have a semblance of identity outside of her man, or me and my brother, or her escapist reality shows. But then she died. And I sit here hoping that her man’s gospel resonated with her deeply enough to create some sort of real belief. Not just some talking point that she could relay to suggest a sense of autonomy.

    Today’s pick: JALEN JOHNSON OVER 8.5 REBOUNDS

    He hasn’t hit once this year. And yet Vegas is still putting his line here. And initially people were betting his under. Casuals scrolling across his page seeing he hasn’t been hitting… Well, today is the first slate of NBA cup games, teams have “something” to play for. And the pacers should create a lot of opportunities off missed shots; they’re currently allow one of the highest rates of highest rebounds against in the league. And I’m not sure how, when looking at the team’s injury report right now, that’s expected to change.

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

    Pick record: 2-1 (thank you Stephon!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 10/30/25

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

    So… yesterday didn’t go as planned. But that is the beauty to this, there is no plan, and nobody to hold me accountable except me. Which is hard. Discipline and consistency are very important, and I’m not very good at the former…which disrupts my pursuit of the latter. My mom wasn’t very good at the former either, and that’s why she’s not here anymore. Jabari Smith is a painful reminder of me and my mom’s shortcomings, and that means I must now project all of my feelings onto him for NOT BEING ABLE TO GET 3 MEASLY REBOUNDS IN THE SECOND HALF.

    I see a lot of myself in Jabari, from a potential perspective he hasn’t really put it all together. The difference, however, is I have an inflated sense of my own potential without anyone having ever told me I was gonna be great, unlike him. It’s gotta be kinda nice being projected upon. I mean it must suck when you have to then deal with expectations like that, but to at least be seen for a moment through a lense in which you WANT to see yourself must feel great. Feels like a win in and of itself. I want to be a good gambler, and like anybody in this space I’ve had my fair share of wins, but it feels like that’s the only space, at this point of my life, where I can still find some sort of potential for myself.

    I struggle thinking of my mom in pursuit of potential. It pains me to say, but it feels like she didn’t have any. She was an alcoholic hypochondriac with an anxiety disorder and a son with anger and mental impairments. She got a tough draw. But she also just became her draw. Forever she was reliant on the men in her life, and as her looks faded, those men became less and less of winners. Her last man is a fine one, but he’s a man of faith and had his own personal limitations, but that’s for a different time. This is all to say, at a certain point, my mom became a bit of a potential abyss. We talk, in sports, a lot about floor and ceiling and the irony is not lost on me that my mom’s ceiling is now six feet under. I cannot yet put into words my deep sadness and bitterness bubbling from her death, but it also feels like such a projection, but my hope and potential isn’t much higher. I can find much content in existence and forever my mom could too. Until she couldn’t. And life spiraled in a way where she was devoured by the nothingness in her existence and she reached a point of no return. Like she was in the nothing place in Get Out. And then she just goes on and dies. And I’m here refreshing the rockets/raptors gamecast to see if Jabari got another rebound, while simultaneously watching Jaylen Brown’s teammates hit every shot for Payton Pritchard, but brick all shots off his passes (lol I forgot to mention that bet lost too, but thank god that was a bonus bet :P).

    Anyway, today’s pick is: STEPHON CASTLE OVER 5.5 ASSISTS

    Castle’s assists number have been trending down since game 1, but he’s due. Miami is good at allowing assists to guards and they play with great haste! They’re number 1 in the league right now in pace, and Castle should athletically benefit from all the running and the extra possessions. This is a don’t overthink it pick for a guy that I’ll probably be overthinking all year as my bias (he’s a good player) creeps into every value opportunity that creeps up when Fox returns and all the cooks in San Antonio’s kitchen starts gassing up their fryers.

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

    Pick record: 1-1 (no thank you Jabari)

  • Pepper’s Pick 10/29/25

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

    Yesterday was a success! Gambling-wise. Unfortunately, my mom is still dead. I’m here hoping she’s doing Angels in the Outfield shit while regenerative technology does its end down here. My mom knows nothing of the gambling world, but she was proud of me for anything I ever did (low bar), so I imagine she’d be very impressed and proud of my 1-0 start. Today’s a great day to make that 1-1.

    Today’s (official pick) is: JABARI SMITH OVER 6.5 REBOUNDS

    This pick is already being bet down and rightfully so, the Rockets play mega big and his rebound numbers have plummeted. His rebound chances have still been strong in two of the three games, but he’s been soft and/or sporting stones for hands cuz he’s not coming down with shit right now. What excites me is his minutes have been there and he’s getting a crack at a team with far and away the fastest pace that they’ve faced all season so far which should give him plenty of cracks at the ball off the rim. On top of that, today might make for a great opportunity for the Rockets to play smaller than they’ve played all season since the Raptors (who already generally play small-ish) are playing without Poeltl.

    Bonus pick: JAYLEN BROWN OVER 4.5 ASSISTS

    Important to note here, which both of these picks are destined to lose, for stat taking purposes, if this one loses, I will not be counting it. Cuz it’s my world and literally nobody will be holding me accountable since nobody reads this. If this hits, it will be counted! Fingers crossed! Brown’s been edging 5 assists all season and he’s generally been a good bet to hit this number when he’s been without Tatum. This feels like the perfect day to capitalize on fans being burned by this number all season…in a game where Brown will want to be dishing out of the paint instead of attacking the rim against the formidable front of Mobley and Allen. And with it in Boston, we should be getting the statistician bump in regards to pass leeway, as well as a few extra kind home bounces. Laughing at my own shitty sentence structure, but as I learn to let go, I will not be proof reading so I hope it makes sense!

    Good luck to everyone betting today and I will see you on the other side!

    Pick record: 1-0 (thank you Sexton!)

  • Pepper’s Pick 10/28/25

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

    Trying to figure out what to put as my introduction for this premise, but I’m thankful that since this is more of a diary for me right now, nobody is actually gonna read this. The perfect way to counter the vulnerability of leaving thoughts out in the world to be observed and perceived is to leave them somewhere that nobody will find them. But put it in public, so it still feels like judgment is lurking around the corner!

    My mom died two months ago and gambling has been a great escape, though I wish I was better at it. There’s no rhyme or reason for anything gambling these days…there are so many experts, everybody is on the same data and identifying the same picks, edges are growing slimmer and slimmer. What sweet, sweet bliss. So I don’t gamble off any data, I’ve learned that picks that make the most sense will fuck you over the hardest, so why not bet on the picks not supported by data but rather propped up by vibes? That must surely work, right? RIGHT?? It surely will not, but surely technology will advance to the point of regenerating people soon, so this gimmick will not last long.

    Today’s pick is: COLLIN SEXTON OVER 4.5 ASSISTS

    There’s no discernible data to support this pick, and it’s already being bet under (so that’s cool). The Brandon Miller injury should at least guarantee 30+ minutes. At that rate, with his usage (and his demeanor), he should be near 8 or 9 potential assists. Honestly not a good amount of potential assists to bank on, but this pick shouldn’t make sense. The more sense it makes, the more likely it is to be heavily bet on (argo the more likely it is to lose, right big bad Vegas?). LaMelo just had a ton of assists too, so everyone is looking his way for hope. Sexton just missed this mark without Brandon Miller, suggesting he’s just worried about scoring first (which he always is anyways). This is just stream of consciousness, but in the pick n roll of life, everyone is anticipating one or two paths, but Sexton’s over here is the right way to leverage momentum and perception, and cash out!

    I’ll see you on the other side!