LAS VEGAS -- And then there were eight ...The Friday Football Showdown at the Golden Nugget is down to the eight quarterfinalists that qualified for its head-to-head playoffs. The contest, which is in its second year of being open to the public, drew a field of 96 entrants at $2,000 apiece. Participants made seven plays per week (NFL and NCAA sides and totals were used) for the first eight weeks and then nine plays each of the last two weeks.RoughRider39, a longtime advantage player and consistent top player in Las Vegas contests, finished with the best record at 50-22-2 (69.4 percent) for 51 contest points, as 1 point is awarded for each win and half a point for each push. FrankyP finished at 49.5 points, followed by @LasVegasCris & The D Las Vegas at 48 and then Hells Kitchen, Anthony Curtis and Mucked Nuts tied for fifth place at 47.5.The eighth spot in the playoffs goes to the winner of what the Golden Nugget called the Wild-Card Chase with the best record in Weeks 9-10. @LasVegasCris went 15-3 and FrankyP was 13-3-2 over the last two weeks, but since they already qualified, the last spot went to BBQ Guy, who went 13-4-1 to just edge out Big Lib (9-0 in Week 9 but only went 4-5 in Week 10 to finish 13-5).Each of the playoff qualifiers earns $3,000 to guarantee they all make a profit for the $192,000 contest, but now their records are wiped clean for the head-to-head matchups that will be held over the next four Fridays (thus the Friday Football Showdown name) on The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show with co-hosts Matt Youmans and Dave Cokin from 2-3 p.m. PT on ESPN AM 1100 here in Vegas and online at lvsportsnetwork.com. All entrants had to agree to appear on the radio show if they made the playoffs or designate a substitute to give out their plays. The only advantage for the top regular-season finishers is they get to choose (in seeding order) which weekend they want to compete. The Golden Nuggets Tony Miller and Aaron Kessler worked Tuesday to contact the qualifiers and here are the quarterfinal matchups:Nov. 18: No. 4 Derek Stevens vs. No. 5 Nancy Clark Nov. 25: No. 1 Randy McKay vs. No. 8 Michael Wright Dec. 2: No. 2 Frank Perez vs. No. 7 Christopher Kozak Dec. 9: No. 3 Cris Zeniuk vs. No. 6 Anthony CurtisThe quarterfinal winners will each win another $2,000 and advance to the semifinals on Dec. 16 and 23. The championship match is slated for Friday, Dec. 30. The remaining $160,000 is split up with $96,000 to the eventual champion (for a total haul of $101,000), $40,000 to the runner-up, $8,000 each to the semifinal losers and $8,000 to the winner of a bonus mini-contest held in NFL Weeks 15-17 for all contestants (even those eliminated earlier).SuperContest getting crowded at the topBy this time of the NFL season, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest usually has one or two players that have pulled away from the field. However, after 10 weeks there are five SuperContestants tied for first place with another nine within one game of the lead.Early-season leader Ripsaw has been able to stick around and is 32-15-3 (68.1 percent) for 33.5 points and tied with Johnny Vegas, Janknation, Mark Davis and Underdobs. Ripsaw was 0-3 this past weekend before winning with Seattle +7.5 on Sunday night and Cincinnati +2 on Monday night to maintain a portion of the lead.A record 1,854 entrants are in the SuperContest this year. They paid $1,500 to enter and make five NFL plays a week against the contest spread while playing for more than $2.5 million in prizes (after an administrative fee of 8 percent was taken out) and a first-place prize of $895,482 with payouts to the top 50.The top five consensus picks went 0-5 last week and are a woeful 15-33-2 (31.3 percent) through 10 weeks. Those plays are often the games that are off by the most points between the time the weekly lines are locked in on Wednesday afternoons and the deadline for picks at 11 a.m. PT Saturday, but those popular plays have been struggling all season. The overall consensus of all Week 10 games was 3-11 ATS (21.4 percent) and is just 63-79-3 (44.4 percent) for the season to date to hold down most records.In fact, the five co-leaders are the only players left that are over the 67-percent threshold that the Westgate splits among those that exceed that mark at the end of the season. Since the explosion of the SuperContest field started in 2011, the bonus has been paid out every year, but that streak is in jeopardy this season. The SuperContest also has a $20,000 mini-contest over the last three weeks on the NFL schedule. Ryan Tannehill Titans Jersey . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. Kevin Byard Womens Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. http://www.authentictitanspro.com/Ryan-tannehill-titans-jersey/ ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Ryan Tannehill Youth Jersey . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. Corey Davis Jersey .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. BOSTON -- The Detroit Pistons relaxed attitude is finally paying off with some road wins.Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 25 points and Tobias Harris had 21 to lead balanced scoring that carried the Pistons to a 121-114 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.Andre Drummond added 20 points and 17 rebounds, one night after he was ejected in the second quarter of a victory at Charlotte for a flagrant-2 foul.Marcus Morris had 20 points and Ish Smith 19 for the Pistons, who had lost eight of their first nine road games before winning away from home on consecutive nights.Were having fun, Drummond said. The more we play like that the better the season is going to be.The Pistons beat the Hornets by 23 points a night earlier.Coming in with the problems weve had on the road, to play the way weve played the last two nights against two teams that are over .500 and have good personnel, to be on a back-to-back is a heck of a win, Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said.Isaiah Thomas paced the Celtics with 27 points, and Kelly Olynyk scored a season-high 19. Boston had won five of seven.Its disappointing, but like I said, they were making shots, man, Celtics guard Avery Bradley said. Hats off to those guys. They played well. Their starters played very well. (Weve) just got to move on to the next game.The Pistons shot 55.2 percent. Boston finished at 44 percent, going 15 of 42 on 3-point attempts.They made shots, Olynyk said. They made shots when they needed to make shots. They made them four quarters in a row.Detroit used a 9-0 spree midway through the fourth quarter to open a 103-95 edge with 5:08 to play after Boston went on an 11-0 run to take its first lead since early in the opening period. Morris and Harris each hit a 3-pointer during the Pistons spurt.Detroit pushed its lead to 112-101 on Smiths basket before BBoston closed within four points in the final 30 seconds.dddddddddddd.The Pistons were shooting better than 55 percent midway through the third quarter and opened their biggest lead of the game, 90-80, on Jon Leuers dunk.Boston center Al Horford returned after missing Mondays win at Miami due to the birth of his second child. He scored nine points.TIP-INSPistons: Van Gundy said G Reggie Bullock hasnt gotten an appointment yet for a second opinion on the torn meniscus in his left knee.Celtics: Coach Brad Stevens said there was no longer a limit on F Jae Crowders minutes in his sixth game back from a sprained left ankle. ... G Marcus Smart went down to the floor hard early in the fourth, but walked slowly to the bench during a stoppage.SIMPLE FORMULAThe Pistons outrebounded Boston 52-33 and had a 13-9 edge on the offensive glass.Thats been a key for us, Van Gundy said. When weve rebounded the ball well, weve won. When we havent, we havent won.GET BETTERThe Pistons reached the .500 mark (10-10), but Smith said they can play a lot better.Its not bad. Weve got so much room for improvement, he said. Weve been a really good home team, defensively at home. We can get so much better.LOOKING GOODOlynyk shot the ball well despite having a cut on his right elbow that he sustained Monday in Miami. He had it wrapped and went 7 for 9 from the floor.Its good, Olynyk said. Obviously tender.UP NEXTPistons: At Atlanta on Friday in the finale of a three-game road trip before they return home for two straight.Celtics: Host Sacramento on Friday before they head on the road for three in a row. The Kings scheduled game at Philadelphia on Wednesday night was postponed due to condensation on the court. ' ' '
