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Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza

by Doc's Sports - 12/22/2015

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers

The extended college bowl season is starting to heat up as we get into the meat of the 41-game schedule. In this week's discussion with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza, we will get his insight into a couple of the top matchups on the slate over the upcoming Christmas holiday weekend.

Known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry, Raphael rose through the ranks to the prestigious position of Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria until his retirement in 2013. Since leaving the sportsbook industry behind, he has been splitting his time between Las Vegas and the Big Easy in New Orleans running a successful and diverse sports investment service. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: All reports point towards the Las Vegas sportsbooks taking it on the chin again this past Sunday in the NFL with the favorites posting another big day. When you break down the actual numbers, just how bad of a loss did the books really suffer at the hands of the betting public?

RE: Multiple reports that I have gotten from my Las Vegas contacts would definitely confirm that this was the biggest hit the books took this NFL season. Things just kept going from bad to worse with some steep losses on Arizona's romp against Philadelphia on Sunday night and the total going "over" in Monday night's game between Detroit and New Orleans, capping off a big run for the betting public.

Doc's Sports: We know that New England in the AFC and both Carolina and Arizona in the AFC are the top three contenders to win Super Bowl 50, but can you give us a sleeper team that has the potential to upset the whole apple cart with an unexpected run to a world title?

RE: The AFC is still pretty wide open with few teams capable of making a deep run. At the top of the list could be Pittsburgh as long as the Steelers actually make it into the postseason. I still believe it is a two-team race in the NFC between Carolina and Arizona, even with Seattle and Green Bay making a move in recent weeks. It will be a big test for the Cardinals this Sunday at home against the Packers, but they are my team to watch in this conference.

Doc's Sports :The college bowl season is in full swing with the start of the extensive schedule this past Saturday. Looking ahead to the games on this week's bowl schedule, can you give us one or two matchups that would be "must-see" TV for you during the Holidays?

RE: The two bowl games that I am looking forward to the most in the next wave of matchups are Saturday's Pinstripe Bowl with Indiana taking on Duke and next Monday's Military Bowl between Pitt and Navy. I am eying up a possible play on the over in that Indiana vs. Duke game with thoughts of basketball in my head, and I think the Midshipmen go out with a bang in quarterback Keenan Reynolds final college game.

Doc's Sports : Christmas Day in the NBA has long been known for dialing up some of the best matchups on the board, and at the top of this year's list is a rematch of last season's Finals between Cleveland and Golden State. The Warriors should open as slight favorites at home, so which way are you going in this one?

RE: The return of Kyrie Irving to Cleveland's lineup adds some extra interest to this game in which I see Golden State opening as a five- or six-point home favorite. I will be focused on the total line for this game with a possible play on the "under" if it opens higher than 207 points.

Doc's Sports: Turning to one of your favorite sports, you made the right call that boxing fans will have to wait a bit longer for a much-anticipated matchup between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. The question is, do see this fight coming together to meet the September 2016 time frame that everyone is currently talking about?

RE : Mid-January is the key time frame for this fight to still come together to make good on that September date. I think that negotiations will drag on a bit longer than expected to push things back a bit. I still see this fight coming together in 2016, but it would probably take place sometime in November.

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