This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 8/11/2016

This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by Ricky Dimon - 8/11/2016

A. Alex Rodriguez . Rodriguez will play his last Major League Baseball game on Friday. Not surprisingly, it's not his choice. He will be released immediately afterward, before becoming a special adviser and instructor with the club. With A-Rod hitting .204, this is good news for the Yankees. The bad news is that they wanted this to happen many years ago.

B. Bosa, Joey . Chargers vs. Joey Bosa is now Chargers vs. the entire Bosa family; or something like that. Bosa's mom, at least, is throwing her hat into the ring. Cheryl, whose son is the only first-round draft pick still unsigned, posted the following on Facebook earlier this week: "It bums me out for him so much. Wish we pulled an Eli Manning on draft day." San Diego is a +2.5 underdog at Tennessee on Saturday, as indicated by 5Dimes Sportsbook.

C. Chicago Cubs . The Cubs slumped for a while around the midway point of the season, but they have once again cemented themselves as the best team in baseball-both in the standings and via the eye test. Chicago has won eight in a row, pushing their MLB-leading record to 70-41. They own a hard-to-believe 12-game advantage in the NL Central over second-place St. Louis. The Cubs (Lester) are -170 home favorites against the Cardinals (Martinez) on Thursday, per Bovada Sportsbook.

D. Denny Hamlin . Hamlin took home the checkered flag from Watkins Glen this past Sunday. A competitive finish saw Martin Truex Jr. pull within a few feet of Hamlin, but Brad Keselowski was also making a charge and he spun Truex out, sending the No. 78 car to seventh place. Hamlin's victory marked his second of the year, and it has him in the fourth spot in the Sprint Cup standings.

E. Edelman, Julian . The Patriots' receiver left practice early on Tuesday, igniting fears that he had suffered a setback in his return from foot surgery. However, reports indicated that Edelman suffered an unrelated leg injury and will not miss any substantial time. But the news is not as good for New England defensive end Rob Ninkovich. He suffered a torn triceps on Tuesday and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

F. Furyk, Jim . How is the winner of a golf tournament not the story on the final day? When someone else shoots a 58, of course. Furyk fired the PGA Tour record round at the Travelers Championship on Sunday, besting six golfers (including Furyk, himself) who had previously carded a 59. The veteran finished tied for fifth along with Daniel Berger, who had shot a third-round 62 but closed with a 74. Russell Knox charged from behind to triumph by one stroke over Jerry Kelly.

G. Griffin III, Robert . RG3 is once again a starting quarterback in the NFL. That being said, who hasn't been a starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns? He will be the franchise's 25^th starter since it returned to the NFL in 1999. The Browns' "over/under" win total at BookMaker is 4.5.

H. Hall of Fame Game . Last weekend's Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, between the Colts and Packers was cancelled because of problematic paint. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Paint on the midfield logo and in the endzones was "like cement" and only got harder when workers tried to fix the problem by applying heat. Some poor dude drove eight hours to see the game. Ouch.

I. International Cycling Union . The ICU has been called out for making the Olympic road race course too difficult. It was certainly too dangerous on Sunday, when Dutch competitor Annemiek van Vleuten was leading on a quick descent before crashing and suffering three small fractures to her spine. The 33-year-old van Vleuten later tweeted from the hospital that she "will be fine."

J. Juan Martin Del Potro . In the words of Vince Lombardi, "what the hell's going on out here?" The No. 1 seeds at the Olympics in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles are already out. In fact, they combined for only two total wins (both by Serena Williams in singles). As for Novak Djokovic, he got handed a brutal draw and lost in the opening round to Del Potro 7-6(4), 7-6(2). The top-ranked Serb later withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters citing a wrist injury and will next play at the U.S. Open.

K. Kovalev, Sergey . The current WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion is set to fight Andre Ward on Nov. 19. And guess who is the one guy Kovalev wants by his side for his grand entry into the ring? If you guessed Russian president Vladimir Putin, you are correct.

L. Ledecky, Katie . The United States has been utterly dominant in the pool so far at the Rio Olympics, and Ledecky is a big reason why. The 19-year-old captured individual gold in the 200-meter freestyle and the 400-meter freestyle, even setting a new world record in the latter. She also has a silver with the 4x100m freestyle relay team.

M. Maurkice Pouncey . Pouncey is ready to return this season after a nightmarish 2015 campaign, during which he underwent six surgeries and a skin graft. In an Aug. 23 preseason game against Green Bay, the Steelers' Pro Bowl center broke his left fibula and tore an ACL. Pittsburgh is a -3 home favorite over Detroit on Friday, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

N. Nathan Adrian . Adrian could not quite bring home the gold in the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday night in Rio, instead taking bronze behind an 18-year-old winner from Australia, Kyle Chalmers. But Adrian already has one gold, having triumphed with Michael Phelps and company in the 4x100 freestyle relay.

O. Obama, Barack . Obama is on his annual vacation in Martha's Vineyard-which means it's time for some golf with NBA stars. The POTUS hit the links with Chris Paul on Sunday before going 18 with Stephen and Dell Curry on Monday. Let's hope Curry closed better than he did in the NBA Finals.

P. Phelps, Michael . It will be Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte in the 200 individual medley final on Thursday night. That has been the case at every Olympics since 2004. Some other folks will be involved, too, but chances are good that it will once again all come down to the two Americans. Phelps already has three golds in Rio (200 butterfly, 4x100 freestyle relay, and 4x200 freestyle relay), bringing his career total to 21.

Q. Quits . That's what Prince Fielder is calling it. The Rangers' first baseman will earn $106 million between now and 2020 by sitting around doing nothing, but he'd rather be earning it the hard way. Fielder, 32, is being forced to retire because of a recurring neck problem. MyBookie.ag has Texas (Harrell) as a -145 home favorite over Colorado (Bettis) on Thursday.

R. Russell Westbrook . So much for the Knicks' aspirations of landing Westbrook in the summer of 2017. Kevin Durant's co-star turned lone star signed a three-year, $85 million extension with Oklahoma City last month. Perhaps New York will turn its 2017 to re-signing Derrick Rose-if Rose shows signs of being able to stay healthy this season.

S. Suzuki, Ichiro . 30 for 3,000. Ichiro became the 30^th player in major-league history to record 3,000 career hits when he tripled on Sunday in Miami's 10-7 victory at Colorado. He added two more hits on Wednesday to pass Roberto Clemente for solo 29^th on the all-time hits list.

T. Tim Tebow . Tebow's next move is…wait for it…professional baseball. According to his agents he will hold a workout for teams later this month. Good luck!

U. United . Manchester United completed its transfer for Paul Pogba earlier this week. The 23-year-old French midfielder had played the previous four seasons with Juventus. Money can buy talent; now we'll see if it can buy wins. Man U is a +300 second choice at Bovada Sportsbook to win the Premier League.

V. Vegas . The NHL is taking its talents to Las Vegas. That much was announced earlier this summer. Now the next step is giving the franchise a name. Owner Bill Foley says the announcement is coming soon and that some form of either "Night" or "Knights" will be included.

W. Walker, Jimmy . Four majors, four first-time winners; such was the golf season in 2016. First it was Danny Willett in Augusta, then it was Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open, then it was Henrik Stenson at the Open Championship, and most recently it was Walker at the PGA Championship. The 37-year-old American triumphed at Baltusrol by one stroke over defending champion Jason Day. GT Bets has the United States as a -150 favorite over Europe to win the Ryder Cup this fall.

X. XXX . That's what your latest Dennis Rodman update is rated. Well, sort of. In a recent interview with the TV network Viceland, Rodman said he has broken his penis three times. Hopefully he rebounded from those incidents as well as he rebounded basketballs.

Y. Yasiel Puig . A combustible personality such as Puig, on assignment in Triple-A, and Snapchat in the palm of his hand…. What could possibly go wrong? The Dodgers' outfielder posted a series of videos showing his Oklahoma City team dancing in the clubhouse following a loss and then dancing, drinking, and shouting obscenities at a night club. Oops. BetOnline Sportsbook has the Dodgers at +650 to win the World Series.

Z. Zach Hemmila . The University of Arizona offensive lineman passed away in his sleep before his cousin found him on Monday morning. Hemmila was 22. R.I.P.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 10:07 PM
Expert:	Vernon Croy
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