I don’t mean to keep coming back to the Olympics when the football season is getting near, but there just keeps being interesting topics to consider. I promise I won’t talk about it anymore by next week. Anyway, I want to take a few minutes to talk about the sprints.
I wrote a couple of days ago that I thought that betting on the 200m world record being broken at +200 was an attractive bet. Even though I had obviously thought about it happening, and even thought it could happen, I was amazed how thrilling it was to actually see it happen. Usain Bolt is in a small handful of the biggest freaks I have ever seen in my life. His 100m win was impressive, but winning the 200m and breaking an seemingly unbreakable record at the same time is even more eye-opening. The guy is an uber-freak, and I count myself very lucky to have been able to watch both him and Michael Phelps make a mockery of their sports this month. Incredible.
It’s time to move on from the Olympics and get back into what matters – football. We’ll find lots of different ways to look at things in the coming weeks, but to ease back into it lets take a quick survey of some of the interesting stories out there concerning the most over-watched and over-hyped position on the field – the quarterbacks. I’m interested in these stories partly because of the impact they could have on the field, and partly because the betting public will almost certainly overcompensate for the situations.
We’re back, and we’re hitting the ground running. We’ll be focusing heavily on football for the next while, but before we do I want to take a look at the Olympics before it is too late. I have very much enjoyed watching these games, and attempting to find attractive bets despite a level of knowledge that falls well below that I have for other sports. That’s right I’ll admit it – I know football better than table tennis. As we speed into and through the second and final week of the games, here are five spots that I’ll be paying attention to and may consider pointing part of my bankroll towards:
With preseason in full swing and the NFL and College football regular season right around the corner we have a little house cleaning to take care of. Because of updating databases, getting some seasonal previews up, as well as handicapping the days card, blogging will have to take a back seat. Daily blogging will resume on Monday the 18th, although we may pop in with a post or two before than.
The opening ceremonies got underway today which brings some good wagering opportunities for the savvy sports bettor. With wall to wall coverage from the NBC networks whether you are an Olympic enthusiast or just a casual fan, being able to bet on just about any event can make the Olympic experience more enjoyable. Everyone knows about Olympic basketball, volleyball, and swimming, but what about an interesting prop as to which country will land more gold medals? How about an over under prop on the number of medals the US and China will win? Read on to get the inside scoop.
Shockey Trade Boosts Saints Odds – Courtesy of our friends at Pinnacle Sports.
Although Jeremy Shockey was dealt on July 21, it took a little time for the sports betting market place to catch up. We have noticed a shift in the season win totals and divisional odds on the Saints as has Pinnacle.
I actually don’t believe that headline, but at least we have taken a giant step forward. In the last few minutes the news has broken that Brett Favre has been traded to the Jets. We will have to endure a few more days of drama as we hear how he feels about the move, as he flies to New York, as he puts on a new uniform for the first time since his days in Atlanta, as he throws his first pass as a Jet, as he throws his first incompletion, as he… well, you get the point. Still, we are a lot closer to being able to talk about something other than this mess than we were a day or two ago. Before we move on entirely, though, let’s take a quick look at some of the interesting aspects of this move.
Two things are catching my eye as I glance at the sports news today:
The Olympics are now only three days away. I will be writing extensively about how to get some action down on them as they go on. For now, though, the biggest story is obviously the basketball – the Redeem Team. My position on them is this – I think that they are going to win the gold medal, but they are ridiculously undervalued to do so, so I won’t be betting on them. Proof of the difficulties came in full force last night. They played an exhibition game against Australia. The Aussies rested Andrew Bogut, so it should have been an absolute and utter cake walk for the Americans. It wasn’t. They ultimately won by 11, but en route they encountered way more troubles than they should have. The Aussies were close well into the third quarter, and they were able to shake Kobe Bryant and knock him off his game. I’m not saying for a second that this shows that the Americans are going to lose. It doesn’t. What it does show, though, is that international basketball is tough, and anything could happen. This will not be the walk in the park for the Americans that the odds and much of the media suggests it will be.
Starting off the NFL season with a winning bet did little to change my mind about the Hall of Fame game – it was still a ridiculous, glorified practice that taught us little about the two teams. Things went pretty much as expected – Jim Zorn looked keen and eager to please, while Tony Dungy looked like his list of places he would rather be could have stretched over about three pages. Single-spaced. Making projections about players or changing opinions based on what is seen in a game like that is very dangerous – schemes are simplified, the players aren’t in game shape, and the real talent was on the sidelines (if they were in Canton at all). That being said, I do want to just take a minute or two to talk about two players that shone in their opportunities after not getting nearly the respect they deserved on draft day:
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