Chris Mortensen is legendary for "breaking" stories that are rife with inaccuracies. His reporting skills and methods are clearly questionable, evidenced by the fact that he has reported the Michael Vick wouldn't be indicted, Eli Manning would be out for a month, Jeff Garcia had a hairline fracture, Parcells was going to the Falcons, Matt Leinart would start for the Cardinals, and Brett Favre was coming back. It has almost gotten to the point that if Chris Mortensen reports something, people should immediately believe the opposite.However, Mort is doing pretty well in picking game winners. In ESPN's expert picks section, he is an impressive 87-44, which is 7 games better than his nearest human competitor (Accuscore is tied with Mort, but that's a computer, so it hardly counts). On ESPN's Sunday Countdown, Mort has gone 84-46 so far, also the best record, barely ahead of Tom Jackson.
Wait, he's 87-44 in one section, and 84-46 in the other? How is he doing better in one than the other? Wouldn't you think that his record would be the same in each one? Turns out Mortensen is hedging his bets, and if he's iffy on a game, he just makes different picks in each one.
This week, it was the Eagles-Giants game. In the Expert Picks section, Mort went with the Eagles. In the Countdown, he picked the Giants. ESPN has since corrected the discrepancy, but here's a glance at Mort's original picks (click on the pictures to view them full size):
Sunday Countdown:
Expert Picks:
Seems like it's easier to make correct picks if you hedge your bets from time to time. Looks like Mort can't get anything right, huh?
A Hidden Danger Of Picking Games [Pro Football Talk]
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