Maddux Sports Blog

Yesterday I touched on how uneven and uninspiring so many teams have been in the NFL has been this year. It’s really striking how large the gap is between the good teams and the not-so-good ones – bigger than usual, I think. As I was thinking about that earlier I was particularly struck by the sad state of quarterbacking in the league. There are always some QB problems, but I’m not sure that there is also this many teams in such a hopeless situation. Here’s a look at the worst offenders:

(more…)

The Lakers convincing win over the Celtics to end Boston’s 19 game winning streak was the highlight of the Christmas basketball action, but there was more to take note of as well. San Antonio’s last second win over the Suns was further proof that San Antonio’s bad start was just a blip on their path to the same predictability dull dependability that they have become known for. Cleveland won yet again, but they had to work way too hard to get past the lousy Wizards. Dallas looked very convincing against the Blazers. The Mavs are another Texas team that has turned things around after a forgettable start. Most surprising, though, was Orlando’s win over New Orleans. Orlando didn’t look like they were working very hard, yet they crushed the Hornets and totally shut down Chris Paul.

(more…)

For a plain old Wednesday there sure was a lot of interesting news today that is of interest to sports bettors. Here’s a quick hit look:

1. Pacman Jones is apparently done for the year with a neck injury. It’s a shame when bad things happen to good people.

(more…)

We’re going to try another new feature for the football season. Each Monday we are going to look back at some of the teams that the large majority of people weren’t backing that nonetheless managed to cover the spread. We’ll look back at their stats or their performance coming in to see what could have tipped us off to the eventual outcome. In other words, we’ll go back and make a case for betting on the eventual winners. This is my way of saying ‘I knew it all along’, even when I didn’t necessarily. This isn’t to suggest that the underdogs were always the right pick. It’s just that doing this can fulfill two important roles – it can potentially help us learn for next time, and it can be therapy to ease the pain of losses. Without further ado:

(more…)

I was passing some time tonight by browsing around the odds at Pinnacle looking for anything interesting (it was a slow night, obviously). As I did that a few lines of interest popped out that are worth a comment:

Men’s Olympic soccer – Anything can happen in a short tournament, but it would be a major upset of the winner of this tournament wasn’t either Argentina or Brazil. They are just that much better than anyone else. Interestingly, they are priced in such a way that you could bet both if you wanted and still make money if you were right. Argentina is +188 and Brazil is at +238 to win them all. That’s not bad for heavy favorites at this point.

(more…)