Yankees and Red Sox. Red Sox and Yankees. If you’re one of the many baseball fans out there who could do quite nicely without having these two teams marketed down your throats year after year, now could be your chance for some payback. Literally.
This is exactly the time of year you want to be a handicapper. The NBA and NHL playoffs run virtually side-by-side. Baseball feeds us dozens of betting opportunities every week. The volume and variety of “summer sports” on the board is staggering. We’ll take another grand tour for this week’s Top 5 betting events; all listed times are Eastern, and the freshest lines are just a click away at sports.bodog.com.
There are 32 teams remaining, and the NCAAB betting action gets underway Saturday with 8 more matchups coast to coast. March Madness betting odds for second round action can be found at one of our premiere advertisers Bodog Life Sportsbook. There are some great matchups on tap for today. Texas vs. Duke, Maryland vs. Memphis, UCLA vs. Villanova, the list goes on.
Championship Week has taken over campuses across the United States. Some teams need to perform extremely well at these conference tournaments to get invited to the Big Dance. Teams like Maryland, Providence, Oklahoma State and about half of the Big Ten are in danger of falling off the bubble.
Weather isn’t usually a factor in college hoops, but if you’re in one of the big East Coast markets like New York or Philadelphia, you know how challenging it is to get anything done in a snowstorm. Away teams should have at least a small early-week disadvantage traveling through the snow as the NCAA regular season draws to a close.
If you’re a hoops junkie, you’re in your element now. This is the last week of the regular season in college hoops; it’s been a lucrative season, as you can see in our Top 10 lists of the biggest moneymakers in the NCAAB and the NBA.
I can’t deny the fact that I’ve got a great job. But it’s not like I spend all day sipping mai-tais and browsing the swimsuit issue. I have to make sure that the betting lines I put up are an accurate reflection of the betting marketplace – one half-point in the wrong direction could take food off my plate.
It’s almost March already. Time to brush up on your college hoops. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is just three weeks away; brackets will soon be filled nationwide, as office poolies show off their skills and hope to make a buck or two in the process.
The NBA trade deadline is the big story this week; some of the teams listed below could have a different look to them – but apparently not the Hornets. Tyson Chandler is going back to New Orleans after he failed his physical.
It’s the Year of the Upset – or is it?
It always causes a sensation when a big-name college basketball program gets its head handed to it on a platter by one of the lesser-known teams outside the Top 25. Case in point: Sunday’s 80-74 win by Boston College over then-No. 5 Duke (-7.5). Or even more amazing, the Eagles’ 85-78 defeat of then-No. 1 North Carolina (-23) back on Jan. 4 – in Chapel Hill, no less.
The NBA All-Star Game marks the unofficial halfway point of the regular season. College hoops doesn’t have the same kind of milestone event, but you know things are getting serious when the bracketologists start coming out with their projections for who will get invited to the NCAA Tournament.
If Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were still around today, well, they’d be over 200 years old. And being two very smart people, they’d be betting on the following five events, presumably using some of those sharp observation skills that made them great. Don’t forget to tell Abe and Chuck that all times listed are Eastern, and to visit Bodog Sportsbook for the latest betting lines.
Now it’s time to have some fun.
Not that betting on the NBA isn’t already a hell of a lot better than flipping burgers. But this weekend’s All-Star gala is the handicapper’s equivalent of going to the carnival. Seven-foot giants (and Nate Robinson) will perform like acrobats in the Slam Dunk contest.
This Sunday is the 58th annual NBA All-Star Game, so we’ll be going to school for this weekend’s list of the 10 tastiest basketball stats and factoids. But first, here’s a goodie: The Western Conference has won all four All-Star Games played at football stadiums. Next year’s venue is the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington.
It’s not the official slogan for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, but there’s no doubt that the sport of stock car racing is living in interesting times. And it’s exactly in these times of transition that sharp bettors can swoop in and make a dollar – starting with Sunday’s 51st annual running of the Daytona 500.
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed our weekly NFL previews this year. Now it’s time to make the full switch from the stadium to the arena and play some hoops. We’ve got the Top 10 basketball games of the week for your consideration – but first, let’s check in on the biggest moneymakers against the spread thus far in college and the NBA.
