This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 5/10/1027

by Ricky Dimon - 5/10/2017

A. Always Dreaming . For the fifth straight year, the post-time favorite won the Kentucky Derby. Trained by Todd Pletcher with jockey John Velazquez on board, Always Dreaming triumphed at Churchill Downs last Saturday by 2 and ¾ lengths over 33-1 long shot Lookin at Lee. Two more races for Always Dreaming and then it will be time to make babies. He is +300 at MyBookie.ag to win the Triple Crown.

B. Boston . Boston strong? More like Boston wrong. Orioles' outfielder Adam Jones was the recent victim of racial slurs at Fenway Park, but he received a standing ovation prior to his first plate appearance the next day. Baltimore (Miley) is a +163 underdog at Washington (Strasburg) on Wednesday night, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

C. Canelo Alvarez . Alvarez dominated an all-Mexican matchup with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last weekend in Las Vegas. All three judges had Alvarez posting a shutout; 10-9 in each round for a total score of 120-108. Now he is in line for a showdown with unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin.

D. Djokovic, Novak . As every American knows right now, when things aren't going well you fire people. It's no different in Serbia, apparently. Struggling mightily in 2017, Djokovic gave his entire team the boot last week. The world No. 2 at least managed to win his opening match in Madrid on Wednesday, in three tight sets over Nicolas Almagro.

E. Everest . Officials in Nepal are mulling an age limit for climbers on Mount Everest after an 85-year-old recently died while attempting to regain his record as the oldest person to scale Everest. Min Bahadur Sherchan set the record in 2008 at 76 years old but was surpassed by 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura in 2013. R.I.P.

F. Fox . The Bears made a curious move by trading up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the NFL Draft and selecting quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Now they won't even have the benefit of intercepting former QB Jay Cutler in the upcoming season. Cutler unofficially retired when he agreed to do TV for Fox in 2017.

G. Giants . You know it's not your year when your best player gets injured in a dirt-bike accident. And it hasn't been for Madison Bumgarner-less San Francisco, which is the worst team in Major League Baseball right now at 11-23.

H. Harman, Brian . When Dustin Johnson wins, we all win, because when Dustin Johnson wins we get to see Paulina Gretzky on golf telecasts. Unfortunately, Harman sank a 28-foot birdie putt on the 72^nd hole of last week's Wells Fargo Championship to beat Johnson by one stroke.Johnson is a +700 favorite at Bovada Sportsbook to win THE PLAYERS Championship.

I. Inside the park . Ezequiel Carrera hit some kind of home run during Toronto's loss at Tampa Bay last Saturday. Whether it was over the wall or of the inside the park variety, perhaps no one will ever know. Carrera rounded the bases just in case while outfielders presumed the ball had ricocheted back into the field of play only after clearing the wall. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Toronto (Liriano) as a +139 home underdog against Cleveland (Salazar) on Wednesday.

J. John Daly . Daly won a Champions Tour tournament last Sunday for his first win in 13 years. It had that same, national holiday type feel as Bartolo Colon's first career MLB home run in 2016.

K. Kerr, Steve . Does any person in the world have a better job than Kerr right now? He gets paid to do nothing, watches his team potentially power its way to an NBA title, and receives official credit in the record book for all of Golden State's wins.

L. Lionel Messi . An Iranian man who looks so much like Messi was causing such a commotion in the streets that he was detained earlier this week and had his car impounded. Police just need to tell him to shave his beard and take off his Barcelona jersey. Problem solved. FC Barca is +250 at BookMaker to win La Liga.

M. Manny Machado . Machado is batting just .226 this season, but he leads the league in most f-bombs in a single post-game press conference. Baseball fans are not worthy of all the entertainment provided by that Orioles-Red Sox series.

N. New York Rangers .The Rangers trailed for a grand total of 13 minutes and 10 seconds after five games against Ottawa and still found themselves behind 3-2. They trailed almost the entire way on Tuesday and lost Game 6 4-2 to see their season come to an end.

O. Out . Tony Parker is out for the rest of the playoffs because of a ruptured quadriceps. The Spurs were also without Kawhi Leonard in overtime on Wednesday, but they still won Game 5 110-107 to take a 3-2 series lead. San Antonio is a +7 road underdog on Thursday, according to MyBookie.ag.

P. Porzingis, Kristaps . "My Twitter account was hacked" is the present day's "I don't know how that performance-enhancing drug entered my body." Porzingis was the most recent athlete to use the former excuse after his account tweeted "LA Clippers" with three smiley faces last week. Further investigation suggests Porzingis may have been trying to send a direct message to L.A.-based model Abigail Ratchford instead of making a public tweet. In other words: great idea, not great execution.

Q. Quitness . The respective treks by Cleveland and Golden State through the Eastern and Western Conference have been giant snooze-fests. In fact, the only interest in the Cavaliers' first eight playoff games came when LeBron James faked drinking a fan's Dortmunder Gold beer during last Monday's win over Toronto. Great Lakes Brewing tried to capitalize on the incident via social media, but this is the same company that produced "Quitness" beers when LeBron bolted Cleveland for Miami. Hell will freeze over before LeBron and his legal team let Great Lakes Brewing capitalize on him.

R. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Stenhouse Jr., who is dating Danica Patrick, won a Monster Cup race for the first time in his career last Sunday, triumphing at Talladega Motor Speedway. An ensuing USA Today article was titled, "With Talladega win, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. no longer just Danica's boyfriend." No, it doesn't matter how many races you win; you will always be just Danica's boyfriend. And that's not a bad thing.

S. Sidney Crosby . For the Penguins, nothing is more typical than losing Crosby to a head injury. For the Capitals, nothing would be more typical than losing Game 7 of a conference semifinal playoff series at home after winning Game 6 on the road. The former has already happened (but Crosby has returned since missing just one contest). The latter could happen on Wednesday, when Game 7 takes place in Washington. The Capitals are -190 favorites , as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

T. Tottenham . Well, that will just about stick a fork in Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs lost to West Ham United 1-0 last weekend before English Premier League-leading Chelsea crushed Middlesbrough on Monday. The Gunners now trail the Blues by seven points on the EPL table with only three matches remaining.

U. U.S. Open . Tony Romo has retired from football and will hit the CBS booth this fall. His athletic endeavors are not entirely over, however, as the former Dallas quarterback tried to qualify for next month's U.S. Open on Monday. Romo shot a 75 at Split Rail Links & Golf Club in Texas, finishing T40 out of 117 golfers-six shots away from what was necessary to advance. For whatever it's worth, he probably would have beaten Tiger Woods.

V. Vladimir Tarasenko . The Blues' star forward lit the lamp in just one of six games against Nashville in the Western Conference semifinals. He scored twice in St. Louis' Game 2 victory but otherwise produced just one assist (in this past Sunday's season-ending Game 6 loss). The Predators are -120 favorites at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the Western Conference.

W. Wes Wilcox . The Hawks rarely make noise this time of year. When they do, you can be sure it's regarding some kind of transaction as opposed to a deep playoff run. That is exactly the case now, as Atlanta-which lost to Washington in the first round-removed Wilcox from his general manager duties. Wilcox will remain on board as some kind of special advisor to ownership, whatever that means.

X. Xhaka, Granit . "It's my style of play and nobody can make me change that. Even if I get another red card, then that happens." That's what Xhaka recently had to say about his extensive disciplinary history (he has been sent off nine times in the last three years and has received 11 cards for Arsenal this season). The Gunners beat Manchester United 2-0 last weekend to end the Red Devils' 25-match unbeaten streak in the English Premier League.

Y. Yankees . The Yankees actually lost on Tuesday, thus ending a streak of six straight wins. Perhaps equally surprising is that Aaron Judge failed to go yard in a 5-3 lost to Cincinnati. New York is +600 at GT Bets to win the American League Pennant.

Z. ZO2 Prime . A pair of the new Lonzo Ball shoes will set you back only $495. Lonzo's dad and unofficial Big Baller Brand spokesperson, LaVar, said earlier this week that 495 people have already bought the shoes. It sounds like LaVar was confusing the number of buyers with the price.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 8:00 PM
Expert:	Scott Spreitzer
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