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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 9/15/2015

Wide receiver Braxton Miller of the Ohio State Buckeyes

A. Amaro Jr., Ruben . The Phillies' general manager was given a long-overdue pink slip last week. As pathetic as Philadelphia is, it may not finish it dead-ass last. The team is just a half-game behind Atlanta in the National League East-and the overall MLB standings. Philly (Buchanan) is a +217 home underdog against Washington (Strasburg) on Tuesday, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

B. Braxton Miller . Miller did not do much last week against Hawaii, but he didn't have to as Ohio State trounced the Rainbow Warriors 38-0. And he did more than enough in the Buckeyes' opener against Virginia Tech. Miller's spin move en route to one of his two touchdowns has SportsCenter anchors, just about everyone on OSU's campus, and who knows who else trying to recreate the move. Good luck.

C. Calipari, John . Calipari was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last Friday. Memphis was initially planning to honor its former coach, but then it didn't. But if jealousy is the sincerest form of flattery, then it honored him by not honoring him. Kentucky is a +800 co-favorite with Maryland at GT Bets to win the National Championship.

D. Dareus, Marcell . The Bills upset the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1 despite missing the highest-paid (in terms of guaranteed money) non-quarterback in NFL history. Dareus earlier this month signed a six-year extension with $60 million guaranteed, making his deal worth $108 million over the next seven seasons. But he missed the opener because of a one-game suspension for violation the NFL's substance-abuse policy. No matter for Buffalo.

E. Edwards, Carl . Edwards won something called the Bojangles' Southern 500 earlier this month before finishing 11th at something called the Federated Auto Parts 400 last weekend. The first of 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup races will take place on Sunday with the myAFibRisk.com 400. Maybe NASCAR should make up even more bizarre names for its events in order to get the common sports fan to show some semblance of interest. Sportsbook has Edwards at +1000 to win the Sprint Cup.

F. Florida . Jim McElwain, who made headlines for ripping into Fred Taylor's son on the sideline this past week, will use a two-quarterback platoon for Florida's SEC opener at Kentucky on Saturday. Treon Harris started against New Mexico State before Will Grier played the second and third quarters. Grier started against East Carolina before Harris took over after one quarter. And around and around it goes….

G. Gronkowski, Rob . The Gronk wins off the field and the Gronk wins on the field. In the opening game of the NFL season last Thursday, the star tight end caught five passes for 94 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots held off Pittsburgh 28-21. It's gonna be a long year for opposing defenses. New England is a -1.5 road favorite over Buffalo in Week 2, according to Bovada Sportsbook.

H. Hamlin, Denny . Hamlin suffered a torn ACL while playing basketball last Tuesday. Five days later, he started 25th at the Federated Auto Parts 400, led twice for a total of 14 laps, and finished an impressive sixth. If only you could play football despite an ACL injury, the Oakland Raiders might actually win a game; then again, maybe not. They might have gone 0-16 even with a functioning Nate Allen at safety.

I. I.K. Enemkpali . As of last Friday, the Bills' defensive end was suspended for four games for his preseason sucker-punch of Jets' quarterback Geno Smith that will have Smith sidelined for the foreseeable future. Buffalo promptly signed Enemkpali to its 53-man roster so that no other team can steal him in the meantime. You know Rex Ryan just loves these kinds of guys.

J. Jordan Cameron . The Saints' defensive end was allegedly involved in a nightclub altercation earlier this month, during which he may or may not have sprayed champagne on a man and the man's girlfriend. Cameron is denying all accusations. Perhaps the entire New Orleans defense should be investigated for its performance in a Week 1 loss to Arizona. There'd be no denying that! The Saints are -10 home favorites over Tampa Bay on Sunday, per WagerWeb.

K. Kansas State . During the halftime show of Kansas State's season-opening win over South Dakota, the Wildcats' band performed a Star Trek-themed show in which the Starship Enterprise is supposed to defeat an evil Kansas Jayhawk. The rest is history-and by history I mean something that looked exactly like a certain sex act. It was so blatant that KSU had to suspend its band director amidst so much backlash.

L. Leonard Fournette . LSU? More like LFU. Leonard Fournette University edged Mississippi State 21-19 last Saturday. The star running back did it all, racking up 159 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. No other Tiger did anything on the offensive side of the ball. LSU is a -7.5 home favorite over Auburn this weekend, as indicated by GT Bets.

M. Mayweather, Floyd . Clippers' forward Josh Smith must think life is hard for Mayweather. After all, Mayweather earned "only" $32 million for his career-ending fight against Andre Berto last weekend in Las Vegas. By comparison, Money Mayweather brought in an approximately $250 million during his win over Manny Pacquiao earlier this year. Mayweather dominated Berto by a unanimous decision to finish with a 49-0 record.

N. National League Central . The only two teams with winning percentages greater than .600 (the Cardinals and Pirates) reside in this division. The third-place Cubs are also a borderline lock for a wild-card spot. This division is just loaded. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Chicago (Lester) as a +109 underdog at Pittsburgh (Happ) on Tuesday.

O. One . That's how many hits Giants' ace Madison Bumgarner gave up last Saturday night. He took a perfect game into the eighth inning against San Diego before finishing with a complete-game shutout.

P. Premier League . The EPL season is not over-in fact, it's just begun-but Manchester City is showing signs of running away with the title. While rival Chelsea is a horrendous 1-3-1 through five matches, City is 5-0-0 and has not allowed a single goal. With 15 points, the Sky Blues are already a whopping 11 clear of the defending champions.

Q. Quarterback carousel . You know you have problems when you make the Jets' QB situation seem like it's on solid ground. But that's what Cleveland did in Week 1. While Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the Jets' 31-10 victory, the Browns saw Josh McCown go down with a first-quarter injury before being replaced by Johnny Manziel. Although he tossed a touchdown pass, Manziel completed only 13 of 24 passes and was picked off once. BookMaker has Cleveland as a -1 home favorite over Tennessee on Sunday.

R. Rickie Fowler . After missing the cut at The Barclays to begin the FedEx Cup playoffs, Fowler rebounded to win the Deutsche Bank Championship two weeks ago with consistent rounds of 67, 67, 67, and 68. He is now in great shape to go into the Tour Championship at East Lake in a top five standing, which would allow him to control his own destiny. Fowler is +1300 at MyBookie.ag to win this week's BMW Championship; Jason Day is a +580 favorite.

S. Serena Williams . With Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci the only two players remaining in the U.S. Open draw along with Serena, it was all right there for the world No. 1 to finish the job and capture the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. Instead, Vinci pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tennis history by stunning Serena in three sets during semifinal action. Pennetta went on to win the title at the expense of her fellow Italian.

T. Tanner Mangum . Just when you thought Mangum could not get any more legendary, well…he couldn't. After, it really does not get better than heaving a game-ending Hail Mary to stun Nebraska. But BYU's quarterback was at it again one week later, rallying the Cougars from a 24-14 deficit going into the fourth quarter against Boise State by outscoring the Broncos 21-0 over the last 10 minutes and 22 seconds. Mangum rushed for a score to start the rally before throwing a go-ahead, 35-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds remaining. He is +3300 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the Heisman Trophy.

U. UCLA . The Bruins are off to a solid 2-0 start with wins over Virginia and UNLV. But not all is well and good in L.A. Freshman tight end Chris Clark, a highly-touted recruit, has left the team for undisclosed reasons. Well, at least he lasted longer than Snoop's son.

V. Votto, Joey . Cincinnati's first baseman went positively batshit crazy after being called out on strikes by home-plate umpire Bill Welke during a game last week. Votto was suspended two games for his efforts, but he is appealing and therefore has not yet been shelved. Good luck with that.

W. Washington Nationals . The Nats have actually won two games in a row, but it hardly matters when the Mets have won eight straight. Washington's epic collapse currently has it 9.5 games back in the NL East.

X. Ten . That's how many Grand Slam titles Novak Djokovic owns after beating Roger Federer in the U.S. Open final last weekend. The two best players in the world were facing each other in a second consecutive major final, having previously squared off at Wimbledon. Once again it was Djokovic getting the job done in four sets.

Y. Yousafzai, Malala . The 18-year-old Pakistani woman, who has always expressed a desire to attend Stanford, actually has to take the SAT in order to be accepted. This is someone who has won the freaking Nobel Peace Prize, for crying out loud. That would be like making Peyton Manning pass a target practice test for accuracy to gain entrance into the Hall of Fame. Or something like that. SportsBettingOnline.ag has Denver as a +3 underdog at Kansas City on Thursday.

Z. Zaire, Malik . Notre Dame's starting quarterback suffered a nasty, year-ending broken ankle in a thrilling win at Virginia in Week 2 of the regular season. It has been a brutal start on the injury front for the Fighting Irish this year. In their opener against Texas, starting running back Tarean Folston was lost for the season due to a torn ACL just three carries into his 2015 campaign. Notre Dame is a +2.5 home underdog at BetOnline Sportsbook against Georgia Tech this week.

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