Would Pa have picked underdog Cubs?  You can bet on it!

The timing was perfect.  The first "Pick Like Pa Week" featured one of the greatest underdog achievements in sports history -- a team accomplishment that hadn't occurred in 95 years.  Only Pa would have been gutsy enough to make this pick.  It was the Cubs winning a playoff series for the first time since 1908!  Hooray!

Stealing center stage from the Sunday Football Picks, the surprising Cubs defeated the powerful Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Sunday night in a deciding Game 5 of their National League Division Series.  The Braves were arguably the best team in baseball after racking up 101 victories and their 12th straight division title.  But the juggernaut was brought to its knees by flame-throwers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, who overpowered Atlanta's all-star hitters.  The Cubbies now face the Florida Marlins in a best-of-seven series for a chance to go to the World Series for the first time since 1945!  Whoo-hoo!

This thrilling development (that Mark is trying his best to ignore) has captured so much attention that even QT can now rattle off by memory the entire Cubs batting lineup, which of course is Kenny Lofton, Mark Grudzielanek, Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou, Aramis Ramirez, Eric Karros, Alex Gonzalez and Damian Miller.  And let's not forget the crucial contributions from Randall Simon, who is QT's second-favorite Cubs player behind the handsome Prior.

All this incredible success for the Cubs can only mean one thing in the Picks -- that Blaine is taking one of the biggest nosedives of his career.  History shows that tremendous Cubs seasons mean tremendous Picks trouble for Blaine.

In Week 5, the 36-year-old Saturn lover was a miserable 4-9 for the second Sunday in a row.  His shocking 34-34 record easily has him on pace for his worst performance ever.  What is Blaine's worst full season?  That would be 114-86 in 1989, which was the last time the Cubs advanced to the National League Championship Series.  Blaine apparently partied with the Cubs while Jeff cruised to the most lopsided Picks championship ever -- a 20-game edge.  Now history is repeating itself as Blaine already finds himself 12 games back.

Lucky for Blaine that everyone lost more games than they won in "Pick Like Pa Week," held on the first Sunday in October in honor of the crazy veteran whose picks were always infested with long shots.  Each person was required to choose five underdogs, but the week's biggest upsets were still missed by all.  No one had the winless Bears stunning the Raiders, or the struggling Browns dominating the Steelers.