Herm Edwards once said, “You play…to win…the game.” This is true, but you also play the game because it is not won on paper. If it was, the Miami Heat would not be in a Game 7 and the Pittsburgh Penguins would not be trailing the Eastern Conference Finals 1-0.

No, it was not a good weekend for some of the most heavily-favored teams and players in sports. Miami lost Game 6 in Indiana on Saturday night and did so in unceremonious 91-77 fashion. Pittsburgh dropped Game 1 at home against Boston on Saturday and did so without even making the contest particularly interesting. On the diamond, Washington is struggling to win and keep players in uniform. On the football field, recent news has not been great for Notre Dame and New England. On the fairways (or more like in the rough), Tiger Woods endured one of the worst tournaments of his career heading into the U.S. Open.
(All odds provided by Sportsbook.ag).

Miami Heat. At the beginning of these playoffs, the “over/under” on Heat losses prior to the NBA Finals was 3.5. They are one setback away from going over that total in one series alone -- and that means they are one setback away from taking to the golf course. Their supporting cast has suddenly become dreadful, and LeBron "back to my Cleveland days" James knows it. Dwyane Wade's knees are about as useful as those of Marcus Lattimore, Chris Bosh scored one more point in Game 6 than the number of letters in his last name, and Ray Allen has been borderline Jesus Shuttles-worthless. Miami is a -6.5 home favorite in Game 7 on Monday. It is still favored to win its second straight NBA Championship, but the margin is closing. LeBron and company are -140, while the well-rested Spurs are +150. Indiana is +800 to win it all.

Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins did not just lose Game 1. They were thrown completely out of whack by Boston’s tenacity in a 3-0 home blowout. Pittsburgh did not play well, but will it even matter when the team does? After all, the Bruins are on fire right now. Since trailing Toronto 4-1 in Game 7 of the first round, they are 6-1 and have outscored opponents 23-10. The Penguins and Blackhawks have spent much of the season’s second half swapping places as favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Pittsburgh is currently the second choice behind Chicago at +210. Sidney Crosby’s squad is still a slight -115 favorite to win its series against Boston.

Washington Nationals. Jayson Werth is still out, Bryce Harper has joined Werth on the disabled list, and Stephen Strasburg left his Friday start with a strained lat muscle. Adding insult to injury, Washington (28-29) dropped two of three on the road at NL East-leading Atlanta after taking the first game of the weekend series. Its problem has generally been hitting, but the pitching was so bad against the Braves that it allowed a walk-off single to B.J. Upton of all people and also gave up a home run to the lesser Upton less than 24 hours later. The Nationals are +500 to win the National League Pennant and +1100 to win the World Series. The Braves, meanwhile, are +350 favorites to win the NL and +800 to win the World Series — tied with Texas and trailing only Detroit.

Everett Golson. Notre Dame announced early last week that its former quarterback is no longer enrolled at the school. The reason? “Poor academic judgment.” When you are a football player at a major university, “poor academic judgment” means absolutely no academic judgment of any kind. In other words, Golson must have literally almost never gone to class. With Golson out of the picture until at least 2014 (he says he could return), senior Tommy Rees and newcomer Malik Zaire are among the QB contenders. Notre Dame is +4000 to win the BCS National Championship, well behind title defender Alabama at +300. This obviously eliminates Golson from the Heisman Trophy discussion as well. Johnny Manziel — the 2012 winner — and Braxton Miller are well ahead of the pack in that department; Manziel is a +300 favorite, and Miller is +600.

Gronk. Rob Gronkowski has been through more surgeries than an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” New England’s star tight end has gone under the knife not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times on a broken forearm. Now he is set to have a back procedure. Gronkowski is expected to need eight more weeks to recover from the forearm issue, and now he will have another problem to worry about when the back surgery is performed in mid-to-late June. Gronk could miss all of training camp and questions surrounding his Week 1 availability are surfacing. The Patriots are +250 favorites to win the AFC Championship, and they are the second choice at +700 — behind San Francisco — to win the Super Bowl. New England is a -7.5 road favorite against Buffalo in Week 1.

Tiger Woods. Just when it looked like Tiger was in early-2000s invincibility mode, he delivered a Memorial that will not be memorialized in his history books. The world No. 1, who triumphed last month at The Players Championship, stumbled to an eight-over total of 296. For those counting, that's exactly 20 strokes more than winner Matt Kuchar. Tiger's 44 on Saturday's back nine was the highest nine-hole total of his entire career. Woods is still an overwhelming +350 favorite to win this month’s U.S. Open. Nobody else has better odds than +1200 (Rory McIlroy). Kuchar is third at +2000. Woods is -175 to go without a major title in 2013, +175 to win one, +1000 to win two, and +2000 to win each of the next three.

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