July 17 – Another week in the books, another notch in the belt for The Time Machine. Ok, I have little to brag about this week. We had three days of picks, and chances are that 80% of the population made the same or at least similar picks to my Lisa Leslie, Tamika Whitmore, and Diana Taurasi.

So I’ll stop bragging now.

Last week, I stayed humble and bragged about my performance. I was coming off a high from last week’s performance and wanted to duplicate that strong performance this week. But do you know what happens to those people who think highly of themselves?

They are punished the next week with a 157 PRA in the Triple Threat Challenge. That’s what happens. And that’s what happened to the Time Machine this week.

Now let’s be honest. A 157 PRA isn’t too shabby; in fact, it’s quite average. But I expected more, baby!

My selections this week came from all over the court – guard, center, forward. The Time Machine likes to mix it up. On Monday, I rolled with Tamika Catchings who didn’t let me down. The average 28 PRA produced a 26 PRA. While I’d like for my picks to at least reach their season average, I also know the Time Machine can’t achieve that day in and day out. We’d all like our picks to pull a Diana Taurasi and produce a 50 PRA, but we’re all realistic and rational people, right?

The bulk of the week saw my PRA numbers in the low 20s: Cheryl Ford (2005 All-Star), Seimone Augustus (2006 All-Star), and Lisa Leslie (2006 All-Star). I felt confident the Time Machine would receive at least a 30 PRA each night from those selections. WRONG.

Luckily, Diana Taurasi and Lauren Jackson resurrected what could have been a disastrous week. (I have purchased their jerseys in recognition of their achievements).

So as the world turns, The Time Machine expects at least a 200 PRA this week. And here’s how I’m going to do it.