The NFL Playoffs are about to begin. College bowl season has gotten serious. The NBA is in its second week of play. NCAA basketball has begun conference play. And the Rangers just beat the Flyers in the Winter Classic, one of the more underrated NHL betting events that we have.

What more can a sports bettor ask for?

It is truly impossible for a sports fan to not feel overwhelming excitement and thrill once the Christmas holiday is over. We return back to work or school following our holiday season overweight and exhausted, but with a feeling of enthusiasm for the coming sporting events.

Enjoy the moment. But vacation is over and it is time to get back to work. Keep your head on a swivel and stay frosty. And as we brave this damn cold just keep in mind: March will be here before you know it.  

A strong congrats goes out to the Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans for making the NFL playoffs for the first time this century (there is still one NFL team that hasn’t – keep reading). This is a great time of year that is only matched by late March/early April (NCAA Tournament and St. Patrick’s Day).

THE COLD LIST:

10. Buffalo Bills – The Bills ended their season 1-8 straight up after starting 5-2. As the coup de grace, they were up 21-0 on New England Sunday but promptly gave up 49 unanswered points. The Bills were 4-2-1 ATS in their first seven games and 2-7 ATS in their last nine. Here’s to next season Bills fans.

9. Behar Merlaku – This 26-year-old is still waiting for his $54.3 million jackpot from an Austrian casino. I know this happened last March, but Merlaku is fighting the casino’s ruling that the machine was faulty. His lawyer is doing everything he can, but low and behold, the Austrian government owns the casino. Ugh. The casinos will take it with no problem, but if you want to get paid you need to rip it out of their hands.

8. Georgia Bulldogs – The Dawgs had a seven-point lead with less than two minutes to play in the Outback Bowl and pissed it away. Prior to that they were up 16-0 with eight minutes to go in the third quarter. Many Georgia fans will tell you how good their team is/was, but they seem to forget that they didn’t beat one ranked team this season. They also failed to cover versus any ranked team as they fell to Boise State, South Carolina, LSU, and Michigan State.

7. Back-to-Back-to-Back’s – Every team in the NBA will face one of these stretches at one point this season. For the prima donnas and the elderly in the league this is not a good thing. Look for that final game of the set to lack any and all entertainment value, as well as become a headache for NBA handicappers.

6. Manchester Football Clubs – Both Manchester United and Manchester City lost their most recent matches to bottom-feeders Blackburn and Sunderland, respectively. If Man U and City lose a few more like this, Tottenham, Chelsea, and the like have a shot to catch them. Should be a fun second half to the EPL season.

5. Golden State against the Total – The Warriors have typically been a solid ‘over’ bet as their explosive offense and nonexistent defense made 210+ totals commonplace and easily topped. This season is a different story. With Mark Jackson at the helm the Warriors are giving up only 97 points a game. Even more significant, or weird, is that they are averaging less than 90 points a game offensively. Jackson has them playing slow on both ends of the floor, which has lead to a 0-4 record versus the total this season.

4. Rashard Mendenhall – Uh-oh, Steelers fans. Mendenhall has torn his ACL and will miss the entire playoffs. This shouldn’t be an issue in their first round tilt with Tim Tebow – unless the Higher Power is at work – but I don’t think you have a chance in hell to win twice without him.

3. Tampa Bay Bucs – The Bucs ended their wretched season by giving up 42 first half points to the Atlanta Falcons. They did put up 24 in the second half, but that just wasn’t enough to save Raheem Morris’ job. Tampa Bay ended the season both 4-12 SU and ATS. 

2. Washington Wizards – The Wizards are 1-4 ATS and 1-4 versus the total this season. They look absolutely abysmal on both ends of the floor, averaging a measly 83 points per game and giving up 97 points per game. It could be a while before they finally get into the straight up win column as well.

1. 2011 – This was not the best year for professional sports. This past year treated us to an NFL and NBA lockout, the MLB MVP being accused of using a banned substance, major collegiate programs dealing with sexual abuse scandals, and Tiger Woods playing awful golf. Mix in the political instability, natural disasters, and just overall bizarre stories from every corner of the globe and I, for one, won’t be missing 2011. 

As my friend Robert Ferringo so aptly put it, “Yeah, 2011 can go #^*& itself.”

THE HOT LIST:

10. Tony Romo – This may seem a bit odd considering the Cowboys lost to the Giants, but he deserves credit for playing with his injured hand. He really toughed it out and respect must be paid. It wasn’t his fault the defense couldn’t stop anyone, or fall on a fumble for that matter.

9. The BCS Bowl Games – Yes, the system is a disaster. And the BCS completely invalidates college football as a legitimate sport. But you have to admit; Monday’s games were outstanding! Both the Oregon-Wisconsin and Stanford-Oklahoma State games were exceptional from start to finish (unless, of course, you had bets on Wisconsin and Oklahoma State). The BCS title game has a lot to live up to.

8. New Orleans Saints – New Orleans is on an absolute tear as they have been manhandling everyone that tries to get in their way. Since their loss to St. Louis on Oct. 30 the Saints are both 8-0 SU and ATS. They have won the eight games by an average of just over 17 points a game. New Orleans has opened as 11-point favorites over the Lions this weekend.

7. NBA ‘Unders’ – Early in this NBA season the ‘under’ has been a cash cow. As teams try to shake off the rust, bad basketball is all over the league. The ‘under’ is hitting at a 60-percent clip as there are as many (six) teams scoring less than 90 points a game as there are (six) scoring more than 100 points a game. That’s just gross.

6. The Winter Classic – The Rangers and Flyers gave hockey fans a great game in the Classic, with the Rangers scoring two goals in the third period to win, 3-2. Philadelphia had a penalty shot stopped by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist with 19 seconds left in the game. The Rangers are now tied for first in the NHL with 52 points.

5. New York Giants – The Giants dismantled the Jets and Cowboys on their way to hosting a playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The Giants are 5-1 ATS in their last six-playoff games and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall. And those numbers don’t even count the Jets and Cowboys games, which were essentially playoff games.

4. Brock Lesner – The Dutch UFC star just couldn’t stay with Alistair Overeem and ultimately had to call in the dogs to pee on the fire. Lesner had a solid career, but that brutal beating was a tough way to go out.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves – Minnesota is the only undefeated ATS team left in the NBA. The Wolves are 5-0 ATS in their first five games, with impressive covers against “better” teams. This team is playing exciting basketball and it will be interesting to see how long it lasts. 

2. Syracuse Orange – Hey, I hate to keep banging the drum on this one, but the No. 1 team in the land continues their dominance.  Syracuse is 15-0 SU and 10-4 ATS so far this year and they just got done wrecking DePaul. Take that Seth Davis, you schmuck!

1. Hot/Cold List – Check back next week for more of The Hot/Cold list.

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