Maddux Sports Blog

What a strange game Kentucky won last night. They scored 102 points to beat Sam Houston State, but they let the Bearkats score 92 points. That’s a bit disturbing, but it’s hardly the strangest part of this game. Kentucky used just four bench players in the game, and those players spent a total of just 35 minutes on the court – less than nine minutes a piece. The strange part, though, is that none of those four players scored a single point. Yes – the five starters scored all 102 points. John Calipari doesn’t always strive for a balanced offense, but that’s ridiculous. I don’t even know how it is possible. On the plus side, this total lack of balance meant that we got to see that all five of the starters can score – Darius Miller was the least productive, and he still had 15 points. The lack of bench production has to be a real concern for the team. So does the fact that the Bearkats sunk 15 three pointers on just 26 attempts – a 58 percent rate. That’s scary. This team has obvious talent, but they are not yet playing like the fifth best team in the country.

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I’m always intrigued by how teams respond to losing a star player. There have been so many injuries to stars in the NHL this year that there are lots of interesting examples. For one, Vancouver has played their last four games without all-World goalie Roberto Luongo. Their backup is Andrew Raycroft, a guy who has bounced around and was chased out of Toronto despite their goalie struggles because he was playing so poorly. You’d expect a fall in performance then, but that just isn’t the case – they were just 6-6 with Luongo, but they are 3-1 with Raycroft. Even more surprising, Raycroft has allowed just two goals in those three wins. Atlanta is another interesting case. Ilya Kovalchuk is by far their best player, and he was off to a good start, but now he’s out of action for several weeks. The team lost the last three games with Kovalchuk in the lineup. They lost the first one he was out for as well, but then bounced back and have won two in a row. The natural reaction would be that a team built around one star would struggle without that star, but the Thrashers won a high scoring game in Montreal tonight. Interesting stuff, even if it is anecdotal.

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I’m posting late because I was at the Calgary Flames game tonight. I managed to score a seat from a friend of a friend – fancy, expensive corporate seats. We sat right in the front row against the glass. I wouldn’t want to sit there all the time – you can’t really see the opposite end very well – but it is a truly incredible view when the play is right in front of you. Three or four times during the game there was a big hit right in front of us, and it was amazing – your whole body shook. If you like hockey then you really need to see a game from that viewpoint – you see things you don’t notice from other places, and you get areal appreciation for the size, strength, and speed of these guys.

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So much for that Heisman trophy clarity I was hoping for from last night’s game. Tony Pike reinjured the arm he broke last week just before the half. That means that he missed all but a couple of plays of the second half, and will very likely miss at least one more game – Louisville next week. Pike hadn’t played great before the injury, either – he had thrown for two touchdowns, but but had completed less than half of his passes. That’s the end of another Heisman campaign.

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If you are an American then I guess you are celebrating Columbus Day today. I have no idea what you do for that day – play a couple of afternoon hockey games and not much else, I guess. Up here in Canada it’s Thanksgiving, so as I write this I am fighting very hard to keep my eyes open because I am so full of turkey that I am about to explode. Ahhhh, tryptophan.Whatever the occasion, best wishes.

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It sucks to be Matt Holliday right now. Last night’s Cards loss to the Dodgers is one of those rare cases where a loss can be pinned solely on one player. It’s as simple as this – if Holliday hadn’t bobbled the line drive that hit his gut instead of his glove then the Cards would be tied in the series instead of down by two games. Holliday probably feels like killing himself, but he shouldn’t beat himself up too much – the team only played as well as they did down the stretch because of the play of Holliday. He’s a good player who had a bad day. That’s all. It will be very interesting to see how he bounces back from this setback.

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An interesting stat I saw today – the three teams that fired their offensive coordinators right before the season (Bucs, Bills, and Chiefs), have combined to go just 1-11 so far, and that one win only came when two of them met (the Bills beat the Chiefs). That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for making a change. Of course, it’s not likely that they would have been significantly better with the original OCs still in charge. We’ll have to wait longer to properly analyze this one.

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Very surprising happenings in Copenhagen today. Chicago was the co-betting favorite to win the right to host the 2016 Olympics. There were four cities competing – also favored Rio, lightly regarded Madrid (Given little chance because 2012 are in nearby London), and Tokyo which was given little chance by anyone. There were to be as many as three ballots, with one city eliminated on each ballot. Despite the presence of the two most important people in the country – Obama and Oprah – Chicago was shockingly eliminated on the first ballot. You can suggest any one of a hundred different theories for why this happened, but it all just boils down to the ridiculous politics of the IOC. On the plus side, Rio might be a bit chaotic in the organizing, but it should be a heck of a party when it happens.

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Division Winners

East

Atlantic – Pittsburgh
Northeast – Boston
Southeast – Washington

Conference finals – Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia in a bitter, thrilling battle for Pennsylvania
Upstart team - Tampa Bay

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The NHL season gets underway on Thursday night with four games. Most of you probably don’t care very much, and hockey is far from my favorite sport as well, but it’s still good to watch, and can be very good to bet as well, so it is worth a look. That’s just what we’ll do for the next two days. Today we’ll look for interesting value in the futures odds, and tomorrow we’ll make some bold predictions.

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