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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 1/22/2016

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers

A . Aroldis Chapman. Local police in Florida announced on Thursday that charges will not be pressed against Chapman in relation to a domestic-violence incident from this past October. Congratulations, Yankees; hope you are now real proud of your recent trade for the guy.

B . Blue Devils. Diddukewin.com is probably experiencing server issues to heavy traffic of late. Anyone who enjoys seeing the red "NO" pop up on the aforementioned website have been having a ball the last two weeks. Duke is riding a three-game losing streak, with setbacks against Clemson, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. The Orange extended the Devils' woes by winning at Cameron Indoor Stadium as 11-point underdogs on Monday. Duke is +1000 at GT Bets to win the National Championship.

C . Coin toss. Well, we know at least one prop bet that will be offered for Super Bowl 50: will the coin flip? Like, actually flip. It didn't prior to overtime in last weekend's Green Bay vs. Arizona game. Clete Blakeman, the offending official, was named head referee for the Super Bowl a few days after his toss-or lack thereof-heard 'round the world. The Cardinals are +3.5 underdogs at Carolina on Sunday, per Bovada Sportsbook.

D . Djokovic, Novak. Djokovic has been getting bombarded with match-fixing questions in his Australian Open press conferences after a story (about tennis in general, not Djokovic specifically) broke just as the tournament began. But there is no questioning this: he is by far the best player in the world these days. The five-time champion in Melbourne has cruised through his first three matches without dropping a single set.

E . Edelman, Julian. Edelman caught about a zillion balls on a zillion targets in New England's win over Kansas City last week. Actually it was an even 10 for an even 100 yards. He also got called out on Facebook by Tom Brady for failing to throw a block during Brady's 10-yard run from the 11-yard line to just short of the endzone. Edelman responded by saying that when he dives for the endzone, he gets in. Good times. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Pats as -3 road favorites at Denver in the AFC Championship.

F . Florida Panthers. Yep, the Panthers are officially bipolar. They boast a winning streak of 12 games on their resume this season. They have also been saddled with losing streaks of three, five, three, and four games. The latter skid is current and it has come immediately on the heels of the 12-game surge. Perhaps the problem is that 43-year-old Jaromir Jagr has not yet reached his prime; but he will surely be there soon. Florida is -105 to win its game against visiting Chicago on Friday, as indicated by BetOnline Sportsbook.

G . Gomes, Fabian. Don't fault Brandt Snedeker for failing to maintain a share of the 54-hole lead at last weekend's Sony Open in Honolulu. Snedeker carded a final-round 66, but the little-known Gomes stormed from behind to force a playoff by carding a Sunday 62. Gomes clinched victory at Snedeker's expense with a birdie on the second extra hole.

H . 'Huskers. Nebraska is just 12-8 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten. But records were thrown out the window on Wednesday when the Cornhuskers somehow won 72-71 at Michigan State. Clearly peaking for their favorite time of year (March), the once-No. 1 Spartans have lost three in a row.

I . Iowa State. No. 1 teams in college basketball are losing left and right. But that should not diminish the value of such an upset. Iowa State pulled off an especially impressive one on Monday, toppling Buddy Hield and visiting Oklahoma 82-77. The Sooners had been 15-1, with their only previous loss coming in triple-overtime at Kansas.

J .Jordan Spieth. Spieth signed a multi-year deal with Coca-Cola last week that "puts him on level with LeBron & Taylor Swift" according to ESPN business insider Darren Rovell. But it apparently does not make him immune to the rules of golf. Spieth incurred a penalty for slow play during round one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Thursday. He is a +505 favorite at BookMaker to win the Masters.

K . Khloe Kardashian. "I've definitely recorded myself having sex with my ex-husband," Kardashian said in an interview last weekend. "But not like, talking to (the) camera. You remember those little cameras; little video cameras? That was my jam for a moment." And the ex-husband, of course, is Lamar Odom. But Khloe will probably learn from her sister's mistakes and not let any videos get out.

L . Louis Van Gaal. The Manchester United manager said following his club's 1-0 win over Liverpool last weekend that it is still a contender for the English Premier League title. The Red Devils are currently in fifth place on the table, six points back of Arsenal and Leicester City. SportsBettingOnline.ag has Man U as a -120 favorite over Southampton on Saturday.

M . Matt Barnes. The Grizzlies' forward got fined $35,000 for comments made prior to a game against the Knicks last weekend. When asked about confronting New York head coach Derek Fisher at his home, Barnes responded, "Violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is. And unfortunately, it happened." This all started because Fisher is dating Barnes' ex-wife, and it's one of those stories that just never ends. The Knicks are +2 home underdogs against the Clippers on Friday, according to GT Bets.

N . Noah, Joakim. You would think having Derrick Rose on the roster is enough. Not for the basketball gods, apparently. They cursed the Bulls with yet another injury as Noah suffered a dislocated shoulder in last Friday's loss to Dallas. The former Florida Gator had previously missed nine games in December and January with a shoulder sprain. Noah is expected to be sidelined for the remainder of the season (4-6 months). WagerWeb has Chicago as a +3 underdog at Boston on Friday.

O . Oscars boycott. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are among those boycotting the Academy Awards over the fact that no black actors were nominated in any of the categories. With Chris Rock set to host, this could get real interesting. MyBookie.ag has Spotlight as a -140 favorite to win Best Picture.

P . Patrick Kane. They Chicago Blackhawks lost. Yes, they lost an actual hockey game. Kane and company had won 12 in a row before falling in a rematch of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals on Thursday, 2-1 at Tampa Bay. The star forward still has a four-game point streak going and he leads the NHL in both goals and assists. Chicago is +500 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the Stanley Cup.

Q . Quinn, Bob. The Lions' general manager decided to keep head coach Jim Caldwell after hours upon hours and even days upon days of consideration. Quinn must have ultimately remembered that they are the Lions, and it doesn't really matter who is at the helm.

R . Rodgers, Aaron. Lightning struck twice for the Packers. But while they won the regular-season contest (vs. Detroit) in which Rodgers heaved a Hail Mary, this time around it was not enough. Arizona prevailed in overtime, sending the star quarterback in an offseason that is sure to be filled with Olivia Munn.

S . Stewart, Jonathan. Stewart almost broke the internet last weekend in Carolina's division-round victory over Seattle. Actually, it was the girl to whom he gave his touchdown ball who almost broke it. Her reaction to receiving the coveted pigskin was nothing short of priceless. The Panthers are +200 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the Super Bowl.

T . Touissant, Fitzgerald. My, how the tables turned. One week earlier, the Bengals had the lead and basically could have run out the clock for a playoff win. But they fumbled and Pittsburgh advanced. This time it was the Steelers' turn to squander a fourth-quarter advantage. Leading late in Denver, Touissant and company had a chance to either add insurance points or run the clock-or both. They did neither, as Touissant fumbled and the Broncos immediately went on a game-winning touchdown drive.

U . Unimaginable. Reports are surfacing that Chargers' linebacker Manti Te'o has a new girlfriend. She's Jovi Nicole, a model who works at CAKE nightclub in San Diego. And unlike his previous girlfriend, she's real. Well, most of her is real.

V . Valanciunas, Jonas. Not since Jurassic World have raptors enjoyed this much success. Toronto has won six in a row and has climbed to second in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games south of Cleveland. Valanciunas went 9-for-9 from the floor for 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds in Wednesday's victory over the Celtics. The Raptors are +1000 at BetDSI Sportsbook to win the Eastern Conference.

W . Wozniacki, Caroline. Stop me if you see a trend here; or don't, because it's kind of funny. Semifinals in 2011. Quarterfinals in 2012. Fourth round in 2013. Third round in 2014. Second round in 2015. First round in 2016. Wozniacki completed the trend (or maybe she will keep it going next year if she loses in qualifying) by bowing out of the Australian Open in the first round on Monday. As shown, the former world No. 1 has been getting progressively worse with each installment of this tournament.

X . Xavier. Previously 16-1, the Musketeers got upset 81-72 at home by Georgetown on Tuesday. And that may not even be the worst sporting moment endured by head coach Chris Mack this month. Mack was at the Bengals-Steelers playoff game and tweeted, "Pack it up Pittsburgh!!!!" when Cincinnati scored a late go-ahead touchdown. Oops!

Y . Yoenis Cespedes. Free agents have been dropping like flies, and one of the last to fly off the market was Justin Upton, who signed a six-year, $132.75 million with the Tigers earlier this week. That leaves Cespedes as really the last slugger available. The Mets, Nationals, and White Sox are among those in the discussion. By the way…$132.75 million for Upton? That's a lot of money for a lot of strikeouts-and it's also good news for Cespedes.

Z . Zaza Pachulia. Zaza almost became a starter in the upcoming NBA All-Star Game. You can't make this stuff up, folks. This is a journeyman who had not started on his own team in almost a decade until this season with Dallas. He finished fourth among Western Conference front-court players, a little more than 14,000 votes behind Kawhi Leonard of the Spurs.

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