Maddux Sports Blog

Olympic Bet of the Day - Alright, enough fooling around – it’s time to do some winning. Like my fellow Canadians I am underperforming so far during these Olympics, but like my Canadians I plan to close strong. We’re going to start this road back to redemption with a nice, hopefully winning, five event parlay. It will include: Russia (+138) to win women’s biathlon relay, Sven Kramer (-510) to win the men’s 10,000m speedskating, Didier Cuche (-165) to beat Bode Miller in the giant slalom, Canada (-4.5  -114) over Germany in hockey, and Switzerland (-1  +110) over Belarus in hockey. That will pay $1702 if and when it wins.

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The Blue Jays seem determined to rip every shred of decency out of this season. It seems impossible to believe, but they were actually competitive back in April, and people thought for a while that they may be able to keep their act together. Instead, they have been the pathetic laughing stock of the league. Last night they found a way to sink to a whole new low. They couldn’t just accept that they were beating up on the Yankees in New York behind their ace, Roy Halladay . Instead, they had to mar the win with an ugly brawl. The benches cleared twice, and the second time it got ugly – punches were thrown, players wrestled on the ground, and there was general chaos. A fittingly ugly chapter in one of the uglier seasons baseball has seen in a while. Never has a team needed a total, top-to-bottom house cleaning more than this one.

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I really don’t understand the Bucks. They traded away Richard Jefferson, so they have a lack of scoring to make up. They drafted a point guard, so they have some depth there. So what did they do? Offered a contract to their free agent point guard and not the solid scoring threat. Ramon Sessions will likely be back with the team, but Charlie Villanueva has been cut loose. Very bizarre. I was certain that it was going to go the other way. It looks like things could end up very well for Villanueva – he looks like he will take he mid-level exception in Cleveland.

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Here we at the end of month three of the 2009 Major League Baseball season with about 75 games played and 87 to go. There’s been some movement, drift and milestones In the American League as the West is in flux, the Central is looking a tad odd and the East looks like it can change at any moment. Let’s take a quick look at each division.

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MLB is in high gear as is NASCAR and the PGA. Plus, the NBA and NHL playoffs are entering their final rounds. And sooner than later NFL and NCAA football will be prepping for another season. Here’s a look at what’s going on in the world of sports.

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For your viewing pleasure you get a double dose of baseball news and thoughts today. There is so much interesting news going on these days that you can hardly help but think about what it means for us betting types.

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A couple of very interesting things showed up in the news today, and both have a significant impact on my out look of the teams involved:

1. Steve Nash and the Jason Richardson trade. On paper, Richardson makes the Suns better. There’s an interesting angle I had forgotten about until I read it, though – Raja Bell and Steve Nash were best friends and were practically inseparable. According to Nash, the first he heard of the possibility of a trade was when he woke up from his pre-game nap, checked his texts, and saw the news. Bell was already at the airport.

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The Blue Jays have extended Cito Gaston as manager through the 2010 season. Let me be the first to prematurely declare this team as one to watch next year. The tough AL East should be even tougher thanks to this move. It is no fluke that the Jays have been a much improved squad since the calming influence of Gaston has been in charge. He thinks offense, he doesn’t tolerate crap, and he has the respect of his charges. The team is 48-36 since Gaston took over, and made the AL East race more interesting. The team likely has a spot or two in the rotation to fill, and they still need a bat or two, but the core of this team is good enough to compete. A very good move.

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Novak Djokovic is an absolute moron, and I suspect that there is no one more embarrassed on the planet right now. If you missed it, he spent a great deal of effort last week telling everyone who would listen to him that Roger Federer was vulnerable. Since Djokovic was set to play him in the semi-finals at Wimbledon if they both made it that far, the clear assumption was that Djokovic was going to beat him. I have no problem with a claim like that. You have to back it up, though. Djokovic didn’t even come close. He came out in the second round of the tournament and fell in straight sets to Marat Safin. Safin used to be good once, but those times are a distant memory. Djokovic should have been able to win the match in his sleep, but instead he looked lethargic and unfocused. Even worse, he whined his way through the whole match. Terrible. This is one more reason added to an already large pile why I don’t buy into the prevailing theory that Djokovic is a future number one.

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Another day, another manager fired. This time it was John Gibbons in Toronto. That comes a day after Seattle made a change, and just a few days after Willie Randolph started this current epidemic of managerial upgrades.

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