This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 9/27/2017

by Ricky Dimon - 9/27/2017

A. Ausmas, Brad . Ausmas is out as manager of the Tigers, and not a moment too soon. Detroit reached the playoffs during Ausmas' first season at the helm in 2014, but the club has not made it since and certainly isn't going to this year as the worst team in the American League at 62-95.

B. Bellinger, Cody . Aaron Judge may be stealing the show among rookies, but don't forget about Bellinger. The Dodgers' first baseman set the National League rookie home-run record with his 39^th of the season last Friday.

C. Chubb, Bradley . After his team pulled off a 27-21 road upset of Florida State, N.C. State's star defensive end sprinted to midfield and spit on the Florida State logo. This was his response when questioned: "I always spit when I'm playing football. I don't remember doing that. It wasn't intentional at all. It wasn't a celebration. I celebrated with my teammates." Yeah, and Roger Clemens thought a broken bat was a ball when he tossed it in the direction of Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series! The Wolfpack are -13 home favorites over Syracuse on Saturday, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

D. Detroit Lions . Count that among the bizarre finishes in NFL history. Trailing the Falcons 30-26, Detroit appeared to score a touchdown with eight seconds remaining. Upon video review, however, Golden Tate's knee was ruled down short of the endzone. By rule, a 10-second runoff ensued because the Lions had no timeouts left. Game over one way, and then game over the other way.

E. Endzone . That's where you have to get to in order to score a touchdown. Someone forgot to tell Bears' cornerback Marcus Cooper. After scooping up a blocked field goal against Pittsburgh last weekend, Cooper stopped short of the goal line and had the ball stripped and knocked out of the back of the endzone. Chicago had to settle for a field goal. Luckily for Cooper, his team ended up winning in overtime.

F. Flacco, Joe . How bad were Flacco and the Ravens last Sunday in London? Well, they showed up for the national anthem, but they might as well have not showed up for the game. Flacco went 8-of-18 for 28 yards and was replaced by…wait for it…Ryan Mallett (!!!!!) during a 44-7 loss to Jacksonville. Baltimore is a +3 home underdog against Pittsburgh in Week 4, per MyBookie.ag.

G. Gundy, Mike . Last Friday was the 10-year anniversary of Gundy's 'I'm a man, I'm 40!' rant. Getting to see that played over and over again was awesome. Seeing his team play on Saturday was not awesome. Previously undefeated Oklahoma State stunk up the joint at home and lost to TCU 44-31.

H. Huegel, Greg . Clemson's kicker suffered a torn ACL in practice last week and is out for the season. No offense to kickers, but the Tigers could probably win it all with an offensive tackle assuming extra point, field goal, and kickoff duties. Clemson is +450 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the National Championship.

I. I'm the man . There was a whole lot of "I" talk from Missouri head coach Barry Odom following his team's most recent loss, a 51-14 laugher against Auburn. Odom insisted over and over again during his post-game press conference that he is the right man for the job. If you have to tell people that many times that you are the right man for the job, you probably aren't.

J. Joffrey Lupul . The Maple Leafs' veteran forward failed a physical and then blamed the team for "cheating" so that it could save room in its salary cap. That's not exactly an ideal opening day of training camp for either the player or the franchise. Toronto is +700 at GT Bets to win the Eastern Conference.

K. Keenum, Case . The Bucs must have thought they were pretty good after blowing out the Bears in their season opener. One week later, they got blown out themselves by a team quarterbacked by none other than Keenum. The former Houston QB turned in his third career performance with three touchdowns and no interceptions as Minnesota hammered Tampa Bay 34-17.

L. Laver Cup . Tennis has a new team competition to rival the Davis Cup. The inaugural Laver Cup in Prague, highlighted by a doubles partnership between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, delivered all kinds of thrills last weekend as Team Europe defeated Team World.

M. Miami Marlins . Derek Jeter is not messing around. The soon-to-be president of baseball operations for Miami is set to fire Jack McKeon, Jeff Conine, Andre Dawson, and Tony Perez from management positions when he officially takes over. When you're Mr. Hannah Davis, you can do whatever the heck you want.

N. NL Central . September sure felt a lot like October last Thursday through Sunday in Milwaukee. Needing a big result against the defending World Series champions, the Brewers lost the first two games in 10 innings before walking off with a win on Saturday. Chicago answered by blanking Milwaukee 5-0 in the finale and effectively ending the Brewers' NL Central hopes. The Cubs' magic number to clinch the division title is one.

O. Oklahoma City . Knicks' general manager Scott Perry said last week that he had "an open mind" regarding Carmelo Anthony's future in New York. Oh, it was open alright. Perry promptly unloaded 'Melo to Oklahoma City in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a second-round draft pick. There's a big three in OKC now with Anthony, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George.The Thunder are +1000 at BookMaker to win the Western Conference.

P. Presidents Cup . It's a poor man's Ryder Cup, but a poor man's Ryder Cup still isn't bad. Festivities will take place this week in New Jersey, where the American side is led by Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, and FedEx Cup champion Justin Thomas. The Internationals have Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day, among others. Team USA is a -333 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook .

Q. Quickley, Immanuel . Quickley, a five-star prospect and point guard from Maryland, committed to Kentucky last week. That's not going to brighten Louisville head coach Rick Pitino's week.

R. Released . Dwyane Wade was bought out by the Bulls earlier this week. When he clears waivers, the veteran guard will join LeBron James in Cleveland.

S. Squirrel . He could. Go. All. The. Way. And he did! A squirrel invaded the Louisville vs. Kent State game and ran all the way into an endzone before lying down to huff and puff. It sent the fans into a frenzy, celebrating as if it scored a touchdown. It was the most excited the fans got, because they saw what was otherwise a snooze-fest (Louisville dominated 42-3).

T. Todd Gurley . Given the choice between watching paint dry and watching 49ers vs. Rams, most people outside of California would choose the paint. So, naturally, last Thursday night's contest turned out to be an unexpected, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Gurley racked up 149 yards from scrimmage and three total touchdowns as Los Angeles prevailed 41-39. MyBookie.ag has the Rams at +450 to win the NFC West.

U. United . The head of Russian football's security committee issued a warning to Manchester United and Liverpool fans who are in Russia this week for Champions League action. Vladimir Markin assured that there will be consequences for any hooliganism. "I don't want to scare anyone, but I warn those who plan to come here not to support their side and see the country but to commit hooliganism: The law is the same for all, not just for Russians.Those who break it will face a suitable punishment, possibly in the form of a long stay in Russia, in conditions our guests won't like." Isn't "a long stay in Russia" basically the same thing as "conditions our guest won't like"?!?!

V. Verrett, Jason . The Chargers' cornerback is out for the season-again. Verrett missed the last 12 games in 2016 with a partially torn ACL in his left knee. He played in this year's opener against Denver but was never 100 percent and has opted for another surgery. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Eagles at Chargers on Sunday as a pick 'em.

W. White House . What really started the whole thing was President Donald Trump's tweet saying that Stephen Curry was no longer invited to the White House for a potential Warriors celebration. Of course, as LeBron James pointed out, Curry was never going to attend in the first place. And, of course, LeBron called the President a "bum" in the process.

X. Xander Schauffele . If you don't know who that is, you probably aren't alone. But Schauffele won the final PGA event of the season, the Tour Championship. The 23-year-old American triumphed last week in Atlanta, while Thomas edged Spieth for the overall 2017 FedEx Cup.

Y. Yankees . Judge mashed two more home runs on Monday, giving him four in the span of two games and 50 for the year. With his 50^th, the 25-year-old broke Mark McGwire's major-league rookie record for homers in a single season. The Yankees (Severino) are -270 home favorites over Tampa Bay (Andriese) on Wednesday, as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

Z. Zero . That's how many times in Major League Baseball history before last Saturday that a manager had his own son pitch against his team. Thus a bit of history was made when Boston boss John Farrell faced Cincinnati reliever Luke Farrell. It was a win-win for the manager. His 26-year-old son tossed one inning of scoreless ball, but the Red Sox still prevailed 5-0.

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