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As the 2013 National Football League season begins, consider all the “firsts” that will take place this weekend. Players will return to the field hoping to record the first touchdown, the first tackle, the first sack or the first interception of the season while trying to avoid the first penalty, the first in-game mistake, the first turnover or the first severe injury of the season. Fans will experience the first stadium parking lot tailgate, the first football gathering among friends, the first fantasy football trash talking opportunity of the season and the first of hopefully several victories for their favorite team. Eight head coaches are beginning their first season with a new team this year and two rookie quarterbacks will start on Sunday. London will host two regular season games for the first time this season and East Rutherford, N.J. will host the first Super Bowl in a cold weather city on Feb. 2 to conclude the season.
To celebrate the excitement, hope and wishes that the first week of the NFL season brings to its players, coaches and fans, the Week 1 predictions theme is beginnings, firsts and starts.
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Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos-Sept. 5-8:30 p.m.-NBC
The Broncos played the Ravens for the first time in 1996, the year Nintendo released Pokémon Green, the first edition of the video game series, in Japan. In years a handheld Pokémon game becomes available, the Ravens are 43-46 in road games. The Broncos are 59-28 at home. Nintendo will release Pokémon X and Y on Oct. 12.
Pick: Denver
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Oakland Raiders at Indianapolis Colts-Sept. 8-1 p.m.-CBS
Pokémon: The First Movie premiered in the United States in 1999, the year the European Union established the euro. The Raiders are 2-4 in Week 1 games in years a European country has made the euro its official currency. The Colts are 4-2. But no European countries introduced the euro in 2013.
Pick: Oakland
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Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions-Sept. 8-1 p.m.-Fox
The euro will become Latvia’s currency in 2014. Helmut Balderis, the first Latvian to play in the National Hockey league, was born in 1952. Detroit is 243-205-7 at home since 1952.
Pick: Detroit
Captain Clarky 