Before starting, we'd like to start by saying that we sincerely hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season.

This is always a very busy time of year with all the famiy commitments added to the excitement of the college bowl season and the NFL regular season coming to a close and ramping up for the playoffs. But this is what we live for, right.

Adding to my workload is the pressure of being in the running in a couple of season-long handicapping contests. Entering Week 17, yours truly (under the ViewFromVegas.com name) is in second place of the Leroy's Pro Challenge and tied for eighth place in the Hilton SuperContest. My lawyers have advised me not to be so forthcoming with my contest plays/strategies so as not to give my competitors the upper-hand, so I'm not going to list my NFL plays here, though my Hilton SuperContest plays will be available in the ViewFromVegas.com Forums (http://forums.viewfromvegas.com/user/Discussions.aspx) on Friday afternoon along with the other contenders when those are released after the 1 p.m. deadline. The Leroy's deadline isn't until 9 p.m. Saturday. Those will also be posted in the Forums shortly after that time. In addition, yours truly will be on the Leroy's Sports Hour at 10 p.m. that night along with Dr. Odds, who is leading the contest under the name overlaya, to discuss our plays and why we took them. That can be heard locally on KLAV AM-1230 as well as worldwide on the web at http://www.americanwagering.com/radio/daily.html

In the meantime, I'll post my bowl selections through next Tuesday. Keep in mind I've been right around .500 this college football season and 2-5 so far in the bowls.

Friday, December 26 -- Motor City Bowl
Central Michigan-Florida Atlantic UNDER 67.5

Saturday, December 27 -- Meineke Car Care Bowl
West Virginia -1.5 vs. North Carolina

Saturday, December 27 -- Champs Sports Bowl
Florida St. -5 vs. Wisconsin

Saturday, December 27 -- Emerald Bowl
California-Miami (FL) OVER 49.5

Sunday, December 28 -- Independence Bowl
Louisiana Tech PK vs. Northern Illinois

Monday, December 29, 2008 -- PapaJohns.com Bowl
Rutgers-NC State UNDER 56

Monday, December 29 -- Valero Alamo Bowl
Missouri-Northwestern UNDER 66

Tuesday, December 30 -- Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
Nevada -1.5 vs. Maryland

Tuesday, December 30 -- Texas Bowl
Rice -2.5 vs. Western Michigan

Tuesday, December 30 -- Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Oregon +3 vs. Oklahoma State

Dr. Odds and I went over those games on last Tuesday's podcast. To listen to that, go to ViewFromVegas.com home page and click on the archive link in the upper-left-hand corner, and then be sure to listen in this upcoming Tuesday at 8 p.m. VFV Time (aka Pacific Time) as we go over the rest of the bowl games and preview the NFL playoffs.

Good luck this weekend.