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This Week in Sports Betting A-Z


by - 12/5/2017

Clemson cornerback Kelly Bryant

A. ACC Championship . To heck with the turnover chain. Miami wishes it had a do-over chain. The Hurricanes failed to show up for last Saturday's ACC Championship, or perhaps they just got outclassed by a much better team. In what amounted to be a national quarterfinal, Clemson clobbered Miami 38-3 to punch its ticket to the College Football Playoff. There is one more game prior to bowl season; Navy is a -3.5 favorite over Navy on Saturday, per Bovada Sportsbook.

B. Bagley III, Marvin . Well, it's safe to say Bagley is living up to the hype. Through 10 games-all wins-as a freshman at Duke, he is averaging 22.0 points and 11.2 rebounds. Bagley has delivered five straight double-doubles and eight in total.


C. Corey Crawford . The Blackhawks placed Crawford on injured reserve last Friday due to an undisclosed injury. And that is not good news because the 32-year-old goalie is ninth in the NHL with a 2.29 goals-against average and fourth with a .930 save percentage.

D. Derek Dorsett . On the advice of his surgeon, the Canucks' forward has called it quits on his NHL career. Dorsett, 30, underwent cervical fusion surgery last December and played 20 games this season before being forced to retire. Vancouver is a -107 home underdog against Carolina on Tuesday, according to BookMaker.

E. Ejected . Playing in his 1,082nd game in his 15th NBA season, LeBron James was ejected for the first time in his career during Cleveland's win over Miami last week. So LeBron-the best player on the planet-gets ejected for mouthing off at an official and Rob Gronkowski-not even the best player on his own team-doesn't get ejected for basically trying to end someone's career? Welp.

F. Fisher, Jimbo . Fisher had 75 million reasons to leave Florida State for Texas A&M (or $75 million to be exact). And leave is exactly what he did. Also, nothing gets people in the Christmas spirt quite like announcing you are leaving Tallahassee by discarding your Christmas tree on the front lawn on Dec. 1.

G. Gundy, Mike . Mike Gundy is a man. He's 50 (no longer 40!). And what grown men are smart enough to do is turn down the Tennessee job. Oklahoma State's head coach got a $675,000 raise to stay in Stillwater and he is now turning his attention to the Camping World Bowl against Virginia Tech. From the sound of things, that isn't a top-flight bowl. But it sure beats Tennessee.

H. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters . That is the current team of Shohei Ohtani, who is alleged to be the Japanese version of Babe Ruth. Ohtani recently told both of Ruth's former clubs-the Yankees and Red Sox-that they are out of the running for his services. The Giants, Padres, Astros, and Cubs are among those in the mix.

I. Ingram, Mark . A team that began the season with Adrian Peterson on its roster currently boasts arguably the best backfield duo in the NFL…and Peterson isn't a part of it. No, Ingram and Alvin Kamara are leading the 9-3 Saints with a combined 1528 yards and 16 touchdowns. Kamara also has 614 receiving yards and four additional scores. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Saints as -1 favorites at Atlanta on Thursday night.

J. Jozy Altidore . Altidore will not be going to the World Cup next summer, but he is going to Major League Soccer's championship match this weekend. The 28-year-old scored what proved to be the winning goal of last week's second semifinal leg between Toronto FC and Columbus. It allowed Toronto to prevail 1-0 on aggregate following the two legs and sent the club to Saturday's MLS Cup against Seattle.

K. Kansas City Chiefs . The Chiefs started the season 5-0. They are now tied in the AFC West with one team (the Chargers) that started the season 0-4 and another team (the Raiders) that has a minus-29 point differential. Ouch.

L. Losing streak . The Grizzlies won an actual game of actual basketball, and they did so at the expense of an actual solid opponent on Monday. In its fourth outing with interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff at the helm, Memphis ended a whopping 11-game skid by getting the best of Minnesota 95-92.

M. Manning, Eli . Manning's streak of 2010 consecutive starts at quarterback-the second-most in NFL history-came to end this past week when the Giants inserted…wait for it…Geno Smith. Ben McAdoo's much less impressive streak of 28 games as New York's head coach came to an end when he was fired along with general manager Jerry Reese on Monday. The Giants fell to 2-10 with a 24-17 loss to the Raiders in Week 13. They are +6 home underdogs against Dallas on Sunday, as indicated by BetOnline Sportsbook.

N. Nathan Peterman . It was a banner day for the Bills' rookie quarterback. Yes, his team got blown out 23-3 by New England and he went an anemic 6-of-15 for 50 yards. But get this: he did not throw a single interception! Peterman, who was picked off five times in a single half against Pittsburgh earlier this fall, replaced Tyrod Taylor after Taylor exited in the fourth quarter with a left-knee injury.

O. Out . "We had a job to do in Indianapolis, and we did it," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said after his team was left out of the semifinal festivities. "The College Football Playoff committee had a job to do, and they did it. We respect it, move forward, keep swinging, and the most important thing is to go win this next game for our seniors." A 27-21 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship was not enough-unlike a 59-0 romp in the 2014 Big Ten title game that propelled the Buckeyes into that year's playoff. MyBookie.ag has the Buckeyes as -6.5 favorites over USC in the Cotton Bowl.

P. Process . Seven straight double-doubles for Joel Embiid? It's all part of The Process. A home loss to the lowly Suns on Monday? Yes, unfortunately for Philadelphia that is also part of The Process.

Q. Quick, Jonathan . Winter is coming. And as the weather gets colder, Quick gets hotter. The Kings' goalie has allowed no more than two goals in five consecutive starts. He is 4-1 during this stretch (4-0 in his last four outings) with a 1.40 goals-against average and .947 save percentage.

R. Rose, Derrick . Rose apparently wants to give basketball another go. Cleveland's veteran guard, who left the team last Wednesday to ponder his future in the NBA, returned on Monday to start rehabbing a sprained ankle. The Cavaliers are +500 at GT Bets to win the NBA title.

S. Sixty-one . That's what Rickie Fowler shot on Sunday to win the Hero World Challenge. Fowler trailed third-round leader Charley Hoffman by seven shots heading into the last 18 holes, but an 11-under propelled him far past everyone else in the field en route to a four-stroke victory.

T. Tiger Woods . The story at Tiger's tournament, however, was Tiger himself. Making his first start since early February and first since his latest back surgery, the 41-year-old fired rounds of 69, 68, 75, and 68 to tie for ninth place at 8-under. From the moment Tiger piped his opening tee shot long and down the middle, people were already proclaiming him 2018 Masters champion. And why not? He is now +1800 at Bovada Sportsbook to win another green jacket.

U. University of Tennessee . Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

V. V Week . The V Week for Cancer Research has been gracing the ESPN family of networks. Speech: great. Cause: even greater.

W. World Cup . The 2018 World Cup draw ceremony took place last Friday in Moscow, Russia. Spain and Portugal were drawn into the same group, while another especially tough quartet features defending champion Germany, Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea. Germany is a +450 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook to win it all.

X. Xavier . In terms of sheer bad blood, there is not a better college basketball rivalry than Xavier vs. Cincinnati. The Musketeers prevailed 89-76 on their home floor last Saturday, after which Bearcats' head coach Mick Cronin had to be restrained from going after Xavier senior J.P. Macura. Cronin accused Macura of dropping the f-bomb on him three times.


Y. Yankees . Aaron Boone was hired last week to be the new manager in New York, where he replaces Joe Girardi. Now the Red Sox get to relive that Aaron Bleepin' Boone moment from the 2003 ALCS 18 times every regular season.

Z. Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl . Yes, there is actually something called the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. There's also the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Walk-On's Independence Bowl, the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, and the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. BookMaker has Alabama as a +190 favorite to win the College Football Playoff.

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