Olympic Bet of the Day – I had an easy win yesterday – I needed Finland to win by three goals, and they win by six. That means a modest profit of $83 on the day, and a loss up to this point of $242. Not great, but not bad all things considered. Today there is a lot going on, so I am going to do a big parlay to have a cheering interest in as much of it as I can. Here are the events: Sweden (-330) to beat France in men’s curling, Great Britain (-225) to beat the U.S. in women’s curling, Andrea Fischbacher (-110) to beat Fabienne Suter in Super G, Petter Northug (-205) to beat Dario Cologna in XC skiing, and Shani Davis (-400) to beat Chad Hedrick in 1500m speed skating. $100 on that will pay $568.
The Other Stuff
Early returns on the Cavs’ Jamison deal certainly aren’t what management was hoping for. Jamison came off the bench in his first game with Cleveland, and he was as bad as a player can possibly be. Awful. He was 0-for-12 from the field, and managed just two points in 26 minutes. He looked uncomfortable and confused the whole game, and just wasn’t the player he can be. I guess this can’t be that surprising – he hasn’t changed teams or systems in a long while, so the adjustment is going to be painful – especially because he can’t help but be intimidated by his two high profile, larger than life teammates. It will be very interesting to watch and see how long it takes him before he has a game that looks like a typical outing for him. My guess is that it will take three or four games, but I think he’ll be just fine once he does.
Incidentally, Larry Brown has to be doubly thrilled. Not only did his team get a nice, convincing win at home over the Cavs, but his new toy – Tyrus Thomas – was very good. He had nine points, 12 boards, and six blocks in 25 minutes. I love this acquisition – Thomas is stunningly talented – all-star potential – but it just wasn’t working for him in Chicago for whatever reason. Brown is a master at bringing skills out of players, and I think he and Thomas could be very happy together. I still can’t think of a player any more jaw-droppingly impressive and so promisingly full of potential in college than Thomas was.
Tiger Woods – much ado about nothing yesterday morning. That’s all I’ll say about that farce.
