I really don’t understand the appeal of Tim Tebow. He’s a nice player and all, and he was a very successful college quarterback, but I don’t know why that is turning into a love affair with NFL fans unlike any other. The guy was a marginal first round pick who is only third on the Denver depth chart, and he’s far from a lock to be a long term NFL starter, never mind a star. Despite all of that, he led all players in NFL sales in April. That’s not just rookies, but everyone – including Donovan McNabb in new threads. Sam Bradford is a better player with a much brighter future, but his jersey only ranked ninth in the league. People are strange.
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I have the Blue Jays’ game on in the background as I write this. Ricky Romero has struck out four of the first five batters he has faced. Regular readers will know that this isn’t the first time I have talked about this guy. He’s a youngster who is already very good, and he has a chance to be very special. I bet on him tonight, and I expect to do a lot of that until people start to notice what he is. There isn’t a lefty with a better change-up in the league. Check this guy out if you have a chance. With the rotation they have now and Kyle Drabek ready any day the Jays have a shockingly good rotation for a team that just lost the best pitcher in baseball. Fun to watch – and to profit from.
I’m beginning to think that Donovan McNabb is stupid. Not just sort of stupid, either – cripplingly stupid. how else could you explain his suggestion to the Redskins that they sign Terrell Owens. There are about a million things wrong with that suggestion. McNabb and Owens were oil and water last time around. McNabb really needs to get off to a strong start for his new team. Owens has lost a step or three and clearly isn’t the player he once was. There isn’t a more divisive player in the league. Even at his best Owens wasn’t a great fit for what Mike Shanahan likes to do. Thinking that he’s up to the challenge of playing with Owens again, or that Owens would make an impact in Washington worth the heartache, is a sign of a stunning lack of awareness.
I just can’t get over the contrast between the two playoffs that are ongoing. The NHL is totally haywire. The first seven series all started 1-1, and the eighth appears headed that way. Good teams have looked bad, and bad teams have looked great, and nothing is really making a whole lot of sense as of yet. On the flipside, the NBA playoffs couldn’t be more predictable. All six home teams that have played so far have won their first games reasonably easily, and the seventh looks like they will as well. The only one of those favorites that hasn’t covered is Orlando, and they only missed by a point, so you could probably have found a winning price somewhere if you got lucky. The public is having a very good start to the NBA playoffs and getting absolutely brutalized by the NHL.
I absolutely love the Brandon Marshall deal – a true win-win for both teams. Denver obviously had to get rid of him, and getting two second round picks for him is impressive value all things considered. You’d like to get equivalent value, but that just doesn’t happen in the NFL. For Miami it’s a masterstroke. Ted Ginn Jr. was never going to be a number one receiver, so they needed to get someone. Marshall is an elite receiver – one of the top five – or fewer – in the whole league. It’s rare that you get access to a player like that, and especially rare that you get him at a price like this – one that is certainly fair. There is some risk that Marshall is going to be an attitude issue, but he should be happy to see new surroundings, Bill Parcells doesn’t take a lot of crap, and he does have the ability to play nice if he wants to. There is some downside risk, but it’s worth it to get a player of this caliber – a true game changer who can change an offense with his presence. As a diehard Michigan fan I’m obviously a big Chad Henne fan, and Henne – already a pretty solid NFL quarterback – has the opportunity to take his game to the next level. Henne looked pretty brilliant as a freshman throwing to Braylon Edwards, and Marshall is an even better deep threat than Edwards, so this pairing could be sweet music for years to come.
Manu Ginobili got himself a three year, $39 million extension with the Spurs yesterday. Thus ends and interesting drama. Ginobili was heading towards free agency, and was understandably upset that the team wouldn’t have extended him sooner – he was looking for a deal last summer. The Spurs were nervous about the ankle injuries that had limited the Argentinian in the playoffs the last two years and were playing hardball. I can’t imagine that he would have been happy going into the playoffs without a deal, and he has been playing so well recently that he is definitely needed if they stand any hope of a playoff run. Ginobili is 32 so he would have been very attractive on the open market – especially as a consolation prize for the teams that have cleared space but don’t land one of the big prizes.
The Raptors just can’t catch a break. They are just barely hanging on to a playoff spot – one that is worthless anyway because it just means they’ll get crushed by the Cavs – and now they have to try to hold off the Bulls without Chris Bosh. Bosh tried to eat Antawn Jamison’s elbow last night. The hit wasn’t intentional, but it was so hard that he smashed his face, broke bones, and will be missing some time. The Raptors are lousy with Bosh, and without him they are impossibly bad. It’s possible that Bosh has played his last game for Toronto. What a pathetic organization the Raptors have turned into.
Olympic Bet of the Day – Wow, that was frustrating. I won the first three legs of my parlay, and after two periods of the hockey game Slovakia was up 3-1 and cruising. The reason I picked them in the game was because they closed so strong against Canada, while Finland collapsed under pressure. Contrary to logic, then, it was Finland who mounted a rally – four goals in the third – while Slovakia collapsed and felt sorry for themselves. Ah well, clearly not meant to be. That means that I am now down $280 over the games. There’s only one bet to make today – Canada to win the gold medal. They are -127 to win in regulation. I’ll bet $357 on the game – that way I’ll profit $281, and at least make a profit on the two weeks.
Olympic Bet of the Day – Another day of coming close. I won three of the four events I played and was only let down by Canada’s women curlers. Losing at curling doesn’t make me happy, but I am happy to forgive considering my boys will be playing for gold – and kicking the crap out of the Americans – on Sunday. What a game that’s going to be, but more on that tomorrow. Today we’ll have one last shot at a big parlay. The events will be: Canada (-1.5 -150) in the men’s curling final, Slovakia +194 over Finland in regulation time in the bronze medal hockey game, Jasey Jay Anderson (-125) over Benjamin Karl in the snowboarding, and Silvan Zurbriggen (-130) over Michael Janyk in the slalom. That will pay $1460.
Continue reading “MJ, Tennessee, and The Last Full Day of Olympics”
Olympic Bet of the Day – If you put a bunch of monkeys in a room of typewriters you’ll get a book eventually, and if you let an idiot pick parlays long enough he’ll eventually hit a winner. With Yu-Na Kim’s dominating win of the figure skating I clinched my first parlay win of the games. That’s a profit of $562 on the day, and that decreases the loss on the games to just $80 with three days left to get positive. In an attempt to eradicate that deficit I’ll try to get lucky with a parlay again. I’ll go with: Canada (-385) over Slovakia in hockey, Norway (+160) to win the men’s biathlon relay, Canada (-191) to win the women’s curling gold medal, and U.S. (-105) to beat Finland in hockey. That will pay $874.
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