Maddux Sports Blog

Olympic Bet of the Day – We came darned close yesterday – our Japanese skater finished second by a very small margin. That means that we are down $125 after three days of betting. We’re going to get it back today by betting on women’s curling. I may get my passport taken away here because Canada loves their curling, but I am going to bet against them. Canada is the favorite in the tournament, and I like their chances of hitting the podium, but they have no international experience and little experience dealing with the pressure of large-crowd tournaments. Their first game is against he Swiss. Mirjam Ott has the distinction of being the only curler to own two curling medals – both silver. She’s a wily veteran and will be more settled early than Bernard and Canada. The Swiss are at +175, and I see a lot of value there.

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1. Jay Wright is a very lucky man. He’s the coach of a Final Four team now, but he came very close to being second-guessed for the rest of his life. With his team clinging to a late two point lead with seconds to go, Wright made the very bold call for a home run throw from the in-bounds. The receiver at the far end of the court couldn’t catch the ball and stay in-bounds, and they turned it over and gave Pitt a chance to win. The Panthers tied it up and Nova took the lead for good with less than a second left, though. If it hadn’t turned out that way, though, then Wright would have been haunted for life by questions about why he went for the bomb when he could have gone for a traditional in-bounds, probably gotten fouled, and won with less stress. Beyond that, though, that was probably the most entertaining game of the tournament. At least for a while, anyway. It was a slugfest between two heavyweights, and Nova proved that they are going to be very interesting down the stretch. They have been a nice, reasonably safe moneyline play as a mild underdog the last two rounds, and there is a good chance that that will continue next round.

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