Thank God it's Friday: Atlanta Chokes Again

by Ricky Dimon - 2/10/2017

It will take a lot longer than five days for Atlanta to get over its latest choke-job. Even the most painful of the Braves' playoff failures paled in comparison to what transpired this past Sunday in Super Bowl LI. But it's been a tough week for others, too. Tiger Woods may be back on the shelf due to injury, Zach LaVine wouldn't have been able to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest even if he had wanted to, the Boston Bruins need a new coach, and a bizarre tennis incident took $7,000 out of a 17-year-old's pocket.

All odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook.

Atlanta . Since the city won its only major sports championship when the Braves triumphed in the 1995 World Series, there has been almost nothing but heartbreak. The Braves lost two more World Series thereafter, including a meltdown from 2-0 up on the Yankees in 1996, to go along with several other postseason collapses. But not even the Braves had committed a sin so egregious as what the Falcons did last Sunday. They blew the biggest lead-by far-in Super Bowl history, losing to the Patriots 34-28 in overtime after enjoying a 28-3 advantage in the third quarter. And Atlanta thought its football team's blown 17-0 lead over San Francisco in the 2012-13 NFC Championship was bad…. New England is a +500 favorite to win Super Bowl LII.

Claude Julien . Julien was fired as head coach of the Bruins on Tuesday. Boston had missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons and is currently a mediocre 26-23-6 during this 2016-17 campaign. The team has lost six of its last nine games after most recently falling 6-5 to visiting Toronto this past weekend. Julien was the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL, having started with the Bruins in 2007-08. He went 419-246-94 over nine-plus seasons, with two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals and one title (2010-11). Boston is +2500 to win the Eastern Conference.

Zach LaVine . LaVine recently announced that he would not return as the two-time defending champion of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. It turns out he would not have been able to, anyway. The Timberwolves' shooting guard suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during last Friday's loss to Detroit. LaVine, who will obviously miss the rest of the 2016-17 campaign, was averaging 18.9 points per game. Minnesota is a -3 favorite over New Orleans on Friday .

Louisville . It wasn't really a fair fight when the Cardinals paid a visit to Virginia on Monday. They were already without guards Quentin Snider (hip flexor) and Tony Hicks (broken bone in his hand). Adding insult to injury, forward Deng Adel and center Mangok Mathiang were suspended for missing a team curfew. Needless to say, life in the absences of Snider (12.1 ppg), Adel (11.1 ppg), and Mathiang (7.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg) was tough for Louisville, which went down to the Cavaliers 71-55. Head coach Rick Pitino had no interest in talking about his offending players. "I don't want to hear," Pitino said when asked afterward about Mathiang. "Don't mention his name to me. That's all I got. Thank you everyone." The Cardinals are +1200 to win the National Championship.

Tiger Woods . A missed cut at Torrey Pines, where Tiger has won seven times, was bad. But things got even worse one week later when the 14-time major champion took his talents-or what is left of his talents-to Dubai. He carded an opening 77 with five bogeys and no birdies and ended up withdrawing prior to last Friday's second round of the Dubai Desert Classic because of back spasms. The 77 marked Tiger's worst score in 29 career rounds at Emirates Golf Club. If there is any good news, it's that the issue was merely spasms and reportedly unrelated to any nerve damage that sidelined him for much of the last two seasons. Tiger is still expected to play at Riviera in two weeks. He is +3300 to win the Masters; Jordan Spieth is a +800 favorite.

Denis Shapovalov . First-round action in tennis' annual team competition-the Davis Cup-took place around the world last weekend. Canada hosted Great Britain, and to say it did not end well for the home side would be a gross understatement. Trailing two matches to one in the best-of-five format, Canada's Vasek Pospisil forced a decisive fifth contest by winning his singles match last Sunday. Shapovalov probably wishes his teammate had lost. In the final showdown, Great Britain's Kyle Edmund led the teenager by two sets to love and took complete control with a break of serve at 1-1 in the third. That's when Shapovalov blasted a ball in frustration-straight into the eye of chair umpire Arnaud Gabas. Although the direction was unintentional, Shapovalov was automatically defaulted and eventually fined $7,000. And that's how Canada's 2017 Davis Cup bid came to a halt.

Arsenal . Arsenal's already faint hopes of an English Premier League title in 2016-17 took another hit when it lost to league-leading Chelsea 3-1 last Saturday. Playing in front of their home fans at Stamford Bridge, the Blues overwhelmed Arsenal with a goal in the 13^th minute and two more on the way to a 3-0 lead before stoppage time. The Gunners found the back of the net once before it ended, but that was nothing more than a meaningless tally. They are now 12 points back of Chelsea on the EPL table. Manchester City beat Swansea City this past weekend and passed Arsenal for third place, while Manchester United blanked Leicester City to move within one point of the Gunners. Thus their hold on a top-four position and a berth in the 2017-18 Champions League is weakening. Chelsea is -800 to win the Premier League title.

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