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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 10/15/2015

jamaal charles

A. ACL . Chiefs' running back Jamaal Charles suffered the dreaded non-contact injury in a Week 5 loss to Chicago. Non-contact is never good news, and it wasn't. He is out for the year with a torn ACL. On the bright side for Charles, that means no more game-ending fumbles. BookMaker has Kansas City as a +4 underdog at Minnesota on Sunday.

B. Bill Haas . The Ryder Cup ain't walkin' through that door, but the Presidents Cup sure delivered some unexpected entertainment and drama last Sunday. The script could not have been made up, as it came down to the final match between Sang-Moon Bae of host nation Korea and Haas, the son of United States captain Jay Haas. The Americans prevailed 15.5-14.5 to win for a sixth consecutive time. They have not lost since 1998, a streak of eight events.

C. Chicago Cubs . For the first time in the history of Wrigley Field, the Cubs clinched a playoff series at home. They played long-ball-and then some more long-ball-to beat St. Louis three games to one. Now they can only hope that Steve Bartman does not end his 12-year exile and return for the NLCS. GT Bets has Chicago as a +280 second choice to win the World Series.

D. Devonta Freeman . How good is the Falcons' running back right now? So good that the refs made him score not once, but twice in order to beat the Redskins last Sunday. After an apparent go-ahead touchdown catch was called back, Freeman found the endzone two plays later via the ground. He finished with 197 yards from scrimmage as Atlanta improved to 5-0 with an overtime victory. The Falcons are -4 favorites at New Orleans on Thursday night, per Bovada Sportsbook.

E. Eifert, Tyler . Having allowed seven total points in the first three quarters against Cincinnati last weekend, Seattle gave up 17 in the fourth quarter alone as the Bengals force overtime and eventually stunned the Seahawks 27-24. Eifert played a major role, finishing with eight catches for 90 yards, two touchdowns, and zero fumbles out of the back of the endzone for touchbacks.

F. Fournette, Leonard . LSU's star running back was on South Carolina's side last Saturday-well, at least in one sense. Following the Tigers' win, he announced that he would auction his game-worn jersey to help flood victims. At first it looked like the NCAA would not let him, but it ended up giving him the green light. Fournette certainly didn't do any favors for South Carolina's football team, as he rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown on just 20 carries in a 45-24 beatdown. LSU is a -9.5 home favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook over Florida this weekend.

G. GIF . The NFL apparently does not like that Deadspin is amused by the occasional GIF. Roger Goodell's no-fun league had Twitter suspend the accounts of Deadspin and SBNationGIF on Monday for posting highlights.

H. Humans on Mars . With "The Martian" dominating the box office right now, NASA figured it would be a good time to announce a plan for putting humans on Mars by the 2030s. Get your prop bets in now on which unlikely event will happen first: a human walks on Mars or the Jacksonville Jaguars make the playoffs.

I. Indefinite leave . Indefinite leave quickly turned into immediate firing for USC head coach Steve Sarkisian earlier this week. Sarkisian forced the hand of athletic director Pat Haden by too many public displays of drunkenness. Now it is Haden who may be in hot water for apparently failing to understand that just one of those displays should have been one too many.

J. Jose Bautista . The bat flip to end all bat flips-or maybe to ignite a wave of even more bat flips-took place in what was a historic seventh inning of Game 5 between the Blue Jays and Rangers on Wednesday. Bautista's three-run shot broke a 3-3 tie and propelled Toronto to an uproarious 6-3 win and a berth in the ALCS for the first time since 1993.

K. Kane, Patrick . Flyers' fans bombarded the Blackhawks' star with "she said no" chants just about every time he touched the puck on Wednesday. Kane, of course, dealt with a sexual-assault investigation during the offseason. Philly goaltender Michal Neuvirth also said no, stopping all 30 of the shots he faced in a 3-0 victory. Chicago is a +105 underdog at Washington on Thursday, per GT Bets.

L. Luck . That's how Doc Rivers assessed the Warriors' run through the Western Conference and ultimately to the NBA title. Thoroughly unimpressed, both Stephen Curry and Draymond Green hit back earlier this week with sarcastic remarks. We may be in line for a great 2015-16 campaign if the preseason is already this entertaining.

M. Milestone . Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos notched his 500th career point in his 495th game Monday. That's fast. In fact, the only thing faster is Jimmy John's…well, and Sidney Crosby (369 games), Alex Ovechkin (373), Evgeni Malkin (413), and Jaromir Jagr (419).

N. Nick Chubb . Unlike Charles' injury, there was contact in this one-and a whole lot of it. Chubb is out for the season after his knee went in the completely wrong direction on the first play of Georgia's disastrous loss at Tennessee last Saturday. The sophomore running back somehow did not tear the ACL, but just about everything else got shredded. WagerWeb has the Bulldogs as -16 home favorites over Missouri this weekend.

O. Oklahoma . The Sooners love it when Texas is terrible. But when Texas is terrible and then beats Oklahoma, things go from good to bad in a hurry in Norman. OU's first loss of the season came to its least favorite of opponents as it went down to the lowly Longhorns 24-17.

P. Patrol . A Texas Highway Patrol trooper faces disciplinary action after posing for a photo with Cowboys' backup running back Christine Michael in front of Michael's pulled-over Bentley. The trooper stopped Michael for a tinted windshield before naturally letting him off with a warning-and a new Instagram post. Dallas is +300 at MyBookie.ag to win the NFC East.

Q. Quarterback controversy . Jim Caldwell says there isn't one in Detroit. The head coach benched Matthew Stafford in Sunday's blowout loss to Arizona but insisted afterward that Stafford is still the starter. Unfortunately for the former No. 1 overall pick, you know you have problems when there is even a remote chance of a controversy that involves Dan Orlovsky. SportsBettingOnline.ag has the Lions as -3 home favorites over Chicago in Week 6.

R. Rutgers . The Scarlet Knights came up with a new way of losing last weekend. Needing a last-second touchdown for a chance to tie Michigan State, Rutgers spiked the ball to stop the clock in hopes of an upcoming Hail Mary attempt. The only problem? The spike came on fourth down. Game over.

S. Steve Spurrier . The ol' ball coach abruptly stepped down as the head coach of South Carolina earlier this week. You know it has all gone wrong for Spurrier when he is the only one who can't beat Georgia. The Gamecocks are 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the SEC with a 32-point loss to UGA, double-digit setbacks against Missouri and LSU, and a defeat at the hands of Kentucky.

T. Tejada, Ruben . You would think a Game 3 with the series tied 1-1 would be motivation enough. Apparently the Mets thought otherwise. They actually had their injured shortstop walk out with a cane for introductions on Monday. In any case, New York powered its way to a 13-7 win over the Dodgers but lost the next night 3-1. The Mets (deGrom) are +137 underdogs at L.A. (Greinke) in Game 5 on Thursday, per BookMaker.

U. USMNT . The U.S. men's national team lost to Mexico 3-2 last weekend in a Concacaf Cup playoff match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Mexico thus secured a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup, while the United States can still qualify but will have to do some more work. Jurgen Klinsmann's seat became increasingly hot when his team fell to Costa Rica 2-1 in a friendly on Tuesday. In what could be unfortunate timing for the Americans, qualifying for the 2018 World Cup begins next month

V. Vick, Michael . Vick was little more than hopeless for almost three and a half quarters of Pittsburgh's Monday night game at San Diego. Then he threw a tying 72-yard bomb to Markus Wheaton with 7:42 remaining and engineered a game-winning touchdown drive by doing damage with both his arm and legs. It culminated with a successful do-or-die one-yard run by Le'Veon Bell, who just barely found the endzone to give the Steelers a 24-20 victory. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Pitt as a +3 home underdog against Arizona on Sunday.

W. Will Grier . Florida's starting quarterback has been suspended for one year after being found to have taken the banned supplement ligandrol. The guy sounded genuine-or at least genuinely devastated-but in this day and age of PEDs, you are guilty until proven innocent…and there is never any way to prove innocence.

X. Clinched . Joey Logano is through to the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup after taking home the checkered flag from last Sunday's Bank of America 500 in Charlotte. Logano is a +450 second choice behind Kevin Harvick at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the Sprint Cup.

Y. Yordano Ventura . The Royals' starter was in line to get the Game 4 loss in what would have been a season-ender for his team at Houston on Monday. But Kansas City stormed back from a 6-2 deficit heading into the eighth inning to prevail 9-6 and it erased a 2-0 deficit at home in Game 5 on Wednesday to punch its ticket to the ALCS with a 7-2 victory. Bovada Sportsbook has the Royals as +135 underdogs in their series against Toronto.

Z. Zero . That's how many losses Novak Djokovic has in Beijing after six appearances at the event. The world No. 1 improved to 29-0 lifetime by capturing his sixth title last Sunday with a 6-2, 6-2 beatdown of Rafael Nadal.

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