by Mario Mergola | Aug 30, 2026
And so begins another year! I try to keep these ‘Welcome Back’ columns short because they really serve one purpose: to confirm that, yes, football picks will be back this year! As always, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading all the words I...
by Mario Mergola | Aug 29, 2025
It is time. I love it. No matter how many things change, this is the constant I appreciate every single year. And, as always, it starts with you. As I wrote in last year’s article, I want to thank you first-and-foremost. It’s one thing for me to be excited...
by Mario Mergola | Mar 19, 2025
The more I read about strategies to win March Madness pools, the prouder I am that this column has focused on game theory more than game action. The problem, however, is that more people are focused on game theory, and that lowers the edge it has. Of course, that...
by Mario Mergola | Aug 31, 2024
Thank you. Those should always be the first words with which I lead these “Welcome Back” articles. Because, if you didn’t come back, then I couldn’t come back. We are now ten seasons into my picks being shared publicly, and eight years into...
by Mario Mergola | Mar 21, 2024
So much of writing about sports picks comes down to the matchups and the head-to-head strengths and weaknesses. The tournament, however, does not directly follow that same setup. Of course, we cannot advance a team past a certain round without first asking if it can...
by Mario Mergola | Aug 31, 2023
I’ll make this one short and sweet. Football is back! For no particular reason other than my preferred writing schedule, I am posting this annual “Welcome Back, football” article after I already wrote and published the season-long prediction articles...
