Recent Articles
What a Weekend
Oct 11, 2010 NCAA Football, NFL, Sports Betting 8,867 Comments
A red hot gambling day is a fantastic feeling. This weekend was a tremendous 48 hours. Not only did I hit the three picks I posted here, I kept it rolling the whole weekend — and managed to control the urge to let it ride on Sunday night adventures.
So first were the three that I posted here. While the noon games were going, I decided to also ride Michigan State at +4.5. Ding. That made for a 4-0 college football day. I made one bad bet on NFL Sunday, mistakenly teasing Buffalo and Atlanta together. Stupid.
I hit on Tennessee +7 at Dallas and the Philly/SF Over. That made for a 6-1 weekend.
Tonight I’m making two bets on the MNF game. Taking the Vikes +4.5, and under 39.5.
Record: 19-14
Quickly Getting in the College Football Bets
Oct 9, 2010 NCAA Football, Sports Betting 5,911 Comments
What I’m rolling with today.
Georgia -11.5 vs Tenn
Tennessee is terrible. Terrible. Terrible. This will be a rout.
Arkansas -6 vs Texas A&M
Like the Hogs defense to control the game and force a few turnovers.
Cal (ML), Stanford (ML), Georgia Tech (ML) Parlay
Think all three of these teams win at home today, like making small money line parlays on favorites.
SportsDork Gambling Update
Oct 7, 2010 NCAA Football, NFL, Sports Betting 471 Comments
Had a great 10 days in Hawaii. Being that far removed from the daytime news cycle really makes for a real vacation for a guy like (and probably you) who spends their day in an office and surrounded by the ceaseless news/sports chatter.
I was able to keep up with bets a bit, anyway. Unfortunately, the flights out to Honolulu covered virtually the entire NFL slate in Week 3. So not only did I miss the most dominating performance by the Eagles this season, I missed out on gambling altogether that day. But here’s how the rest of my work played out.
Texas A&M (+3.5) @ Oklahoma State
This one really had me sweating it out, but A&M managed to cover in in the end.
Colorado State (+34.5) versus TCU
TCU kept the Rams off the board completely, but the offense never really kicked it into high gear here. I thought this line was too high for a road game and it paid off.
Alabama (ML) and Iowa (ML) Parlay
In retrospect, should have just taken them individually rather than make the gambling n00b play. But this bet paid, so no worries.
New England @ Miami (Under 48.5)
Got burned by the Dolphins awful special teams here. Even with the kickoff return for a TD and the field goal block TD, this game only got to 55. Dammit.
Record Last Weekend: 3-1
Overall: 13-13 (yuck, but staying afloat)
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To get rolling this weekend, I’m taking a little baseball action today (Rangers ML). Love the CJ Wilson versus James Shields matchup for the Rangers.
I’m also leaning towards taking Arkansas against A&M (neutral site game) on Saturday, but no finality yet.
Gambling Notes
Sep 25, 2010 NCAA Football, Sports Betting 2,800 Comments
I made a small wager on SMU +18.5 last night, so a little momentum heading into the weekend which is always nice. A bit of a rush today with an early flight tomorrow to Honolulu. It’s sun and cocktails for the next 10 days.
Today’s work:
Boise St – 17 (got it on Thursday, it’s -18 or higher now).
South Carolina +3 (love them over Auburn, who I see as one dimensional)
Arkansas +7.5 (this game should be tight the whole way with the Razorbacks hosting. As soon as it went over a touchdown it was a must take).
Florida Atlanta -10 (North Texas was already awful before they were devastated by losing 10 starters to injury)
Oklahoma -14 (the Bearcats, like the rest of the Big East, are awful).
Yearly Record: 9-8
Hoping to be able to update here before tomorrow’s games start, but I’ll list myself as doubtful.
Nice Weekend
Sep 20, 2010 Eagles Commentary, Sports Betting 515 Comments
I really had an interesting, mixed bag of a weekend in Detroit. On the one hand, Ford Field is really nice. The Lions had an outstanding little block party going on outside before the game and it was awesome seeing the Birds live for the first time since 2008.
On the other hand, Detroit is such an epic mess of a city that it’s really difficult to keep yourself upbeat as you move around. Giant, empty buildings define downtown. On the way back to our hotel after the game I walked right by a guy as he lit his crackpipe. Yeah.
But the Eagles won on the road. Life is worth living and full of joy!
Gambling. Because of travel I didn’t have a chance to update here. Mixed results, but ended up for the weekend.
College. Penn State (-21), win. Wisconsin (-13), loss.
NFL. Washington (+3.5), win. Minnesota (-6), loss. Cle/KC (under 38.5), win. Cinci (+3), win.
Weekend: 4-2
Overall: 7-8
Update: Taking OVER 44 tonight.
The Impending Mike Vick Injury
Sep 15, 2010 Eagles Commentary, Eagles News 831 Comments
So it really looks like Kevin Kolb is out this weekend. Which means there’s a whole bunch of “Team Vick”* folks who are pretty happy.
But there’s little discussion about what seems to be a pretty obvious lack of judgment on the part of Big Red and his team… what happens if, during one of his many violent collisions with people much larger than him, Michael Vick gets injured?
Right now what happens is “Mike Kafka”. And maybe that’s a risk Andy Reid is willing to take with the understanding that the ringing in Kevin Kolb’s ears is going to clear up real soon.
But what if it doesn’t? Are we sure, given that Kolb is three days removed and still failing concussion tests, that he’s going to be back even in Week 3?
Things could get very, very ugly very, very quickly.
*Never too early to break this meme out
[Delaware Online] Kolb and Bradley Fail Concussion Tests
Some Gambling Success, Finally
Sep 13, 2010 NFL, Sports Betting 542 Comments
Completely avoided the NFL on Sunday. And it wasn’t because I didn’t look hard for a mark. I stared at the numbers for at least a half an hour before I realized if nothing stood out to me it was a damn good idea to just close things up for the weekend.
That decision left me with a prosperous weekend. I took Ohio State -8.5 and Washington -13 on Saturday. Which gets me to 2-5 overall on the year and still a lot of ground to make up.
Trying to keep it rolling tonight, taking KC +5.5 (@bodog). Hate the Chargers this season, love a home dog getting a fairly decent number. The public is hitting the Chargers hard as well, and the line is much lower at other places (as low as 4.5). Go Chiefs.
The Weekend, SportsBook Betting Trends
Sep 10, 2010 NCAA Football, NFL, Sports Betting, Syracuse Football 1,077 Comments
Last night felt like an unsatisfying nibble of the big meal to come this weekend. Some fun college football matchups tomorrow, followed by Man Christmas on Sunday.
One note about last night’s game. According to the folks who operate this site, sports books in Vegas were getting over 75% of their action on Saints -5/-5.5/-6. And over 80% on the over. Lots of losers last night (this guy included on the over). It looks like they plan on keeping their service free for a time.
Pretty excited (foolishly, for certain) for Syracuse’s trip to Washington. Gametime is 7. This is the sort of game where you might be able to find a sign the team is turning a corner, even in defeat. Cuse are 14 point dogs, and that number is likely to go up.
And to give you some perspective on just how unlikely a victory is for this weekend… since 1964 Syracuse is 1-11-2 when they make road trips to the Pacific Time Zone (and that includes some teams that are obviously much better than this one). Washington is 23-2 at home against east coast teams in that same time frame.
So let’s hope for more improvement, and delight if a miracle should happen.
In related football news, it looks like the Big East will be adding Villanova to its football group very soon. Pretty exciting for Philadelphia are college football fans.
NFL Betting… Can’t Be Any Worse
Sep 9, 2010 NFL, Sports Betting 7,511 Comments
The line has been moving slightly on this game. It started at either Saints -4.5 or Saints -5, and it’s now at -6 on Bodog.
There are competing thoughts as to who’s got the upper hand on this one. Many smart observers remember how much the Vikings dominated the NFC Championship last season. That their repeated fumbles are what cost them the victory, and that the teams are returning in much the same form.
On the other hand, the Vikings are extremely thin in the secondary — which is obviously bad news against Drew Brees. They’re looking at an inexperienced safety as their nickel corner. Not a good situation when you’re playing a Saints’ offense that knows how to exploit weaknesses.
So I’m avoiding that line and going for the over/under. Saints games made it to 49 in ten of their sixteen regular season contests in 2009.
I think we see more big plays all over the field tonight and both teams light up the scoreboard , so I’m taking OVER 49.
Season Record (only NCAA so far): 0-4 (yikes).
Fantasy Sports Rules
Sep 8, 2010 Fantasy Sports 386 Comments
If you run a league, it better be a damn emergency for you to schedule the draft/auction on opening night.
I’ve been in this football league for seven years. It’s a keeper league with relatively high stakes (for me, anyway). Literally every league member has complained about our draft being tomorrow night, but the commissioner has refused to move it.
Fantastic way to take the air out of the season opening joy balloon.
