This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z 7/27/2017

by Ricky Dimon - 7/27/2017

A. Adam Jones . Death, taxes, and Pacman Jones incurring a suspension…. Jones will miss the Bengals' season opener for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. It stems from a January arrest at a Cincinnati hotel, where he allegedly pushed a security guard, poked him in the eye, and failed to comply with law enforcement. Sounds about right for Jones-or for anyone on the Bengals, to be fair.

B. Branden Grace . Grace didn't win the British Open, but he did fire the lowest score in major championship history with a 62 on Saturday. A slew of golfers had shot 63, and there was nothing more commentator Johnny Miller loved to do in the both more than remind viewers that he was part of that slew. Thanks to Miller, Grace has never had so many people rooting for him.

C. Cespedes, Yoenis . While playing against the Athletics last week, Cespedes said that he wants to end his career with them. The 31-year-old suited up for Oakland in 2012 and 2013 and is now in his second full season with the Mets. Those quotes may not have been music to the Mets' ears, but at least he helped them take two of three from the A's. Oakland (Manaea) is a +165 underdog at Toronto (Stroman) on Thursday, as indicated by 5Dimes Sportsbook.

D. Dempsey, Clint . Landon Donovan now has company as the U.S. men's national team's all-time leading goal-scorer. Dempsey matched him at 57 after finding the back of the net in last Saturday's 2-0 victory over Costa Rica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals. In his 136^th international appearance for the USMNT, Dempsey also notched his 20^th assists on an insurance goal by Jozy Altidore.

E. Ezekiel Elliott . Elliott's offseason exploits include a recent incident at a night club and a citation for driving 100 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. He is also awaiting possible discipline for an alleged domestic violence incident from last July. Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones said last week, ""I have reviewed everything, and there is absolutely nothing-not one thing-that had anything to do with domestic violence." Shocker that that's Jones' opinion! Elliott is +2000 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win MVP.

F. Froome, Chris . For the fourth time in the last five years, Froome is the champion of the Tour de France. The 32-year-old Brit took a 29-second lead into last Saturday's time trial and had no trouble sealing the deal. Froom's Sky teammate Mikel Landa took fourth, one second off the podium.

G. Great white shark . Or not. Michael Phelps raced a simulated great white-not an actual one-in a Discovery Channel special that aired this past Sunday. And he still lost.

H. Hugh Freeze . Freeze got the boot from Ole Miss last week. Well, he resigned before being fired to be exact. School officials uncovered a pattern of questionable behavior that included phone calls to a female escort service. If told that this is the biggest SEC head coaching scandal in the last 10 years, Bobby Petrino would be like, "hold my beer!" BookMaker has Ole Miss' over/under season win total at 5.5.

I. Irving, Kyrie . The offseason is going from bad to worse for the Cavaliers. General manager David Griffin's ouster? Check. Failure to acquire Paul George in a trade with Indiana? Check. Chancey Billups declining to join the front office? Check. And now Irving demanding a trade? Check that one off, too. Citing a desire to escape the shadow of LeBron James and become a primary option for some other team, Irving wants out of Cleveland.

J. Jordan Spieth . Spieth and Matt Kuchar did not produce the same kind of golf as the Henrik Stenson vs. Phil Mickelson duel at Troon from last summer (at least not from start to finish), but they just about matched it in the drama department. After driving onto a different continent on hole 13, Spieth caught fire. He salvaged a bogey on 13 to fall only one shot behind the rock-solid Kuchar and then went birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie to clinch the Claret Jug. The 23-year-old American's unbelievable finish puts him within one PGA Championship victory of the career Grand Slam. Kuchar, who beat everyone other than Spieth by at least three strokes, remains without a major championship. GT Bets has Spieth as a +800 favorite to win next month's PGA Championship.

K. Kershaw, Clayton . The Dodgers' ace is headed to the disabled list. Kershaw (15-2, 2.04 ERA) left after two innings of this past Sunday's start against Atlanta because of lower-back tightness.

L. LaVar Ball . Gene Hackman in Hoosiers: "My team is on the floor." LaVar Ball in his AAU game last week: "My team is not on the floor." Coach Ball made his team quit and walk off the floor in the middle of the game because he was upset with officiating.

M. Malik Jackson . The Jaguars' defensive tackle thinks his team is going to win the Super Bowl. Before you laugh, consider that there are instances of such overconfidence every year. For example, the Falcons probably thought they were going to beat Tom Brady when they led the Super Bowl 28-3. Jacksonville is a +4.5 home underdog against Green Bay in Week 1, according to MyBookie.ag.

N. Neymar . It was widely reported that Neymar was going to be transferred from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a cool $258 million. But just hold the phone. For now he is sticking with Lionel Messi on his powerhouse Spanish club.

O. O.J. Simpson . "I've basically lived a conflict-free life" is what O.J. told the four board members who ended up granting him parole last week. What?!?! That's like Antonio Cromartie saying he has basically lived a life of celibacy.

P. Pablo Sandoval . If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to…look out for the Kung Fu Panda! Recently re-signed by the Giants, Sandoval is in the minor leagues right now but will certainly be called up soon with third baseman Eduardo Nunez traded to Boston and top prospect Christian Arroyo on the disabled list.

Q. Quintana, Jose . The Cubs' deal for Quintana with the cross-town rival White Sox is looking mighty good at the moment. He has turned in two quality starts in two appearances, owns a pair of wins, and has fanned 19 batters in 13 innings. The Cubs (Lester) are -227 road favorites over the White Sox (Pelfrey) on Thursday, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

R. Roddick, Andy . Roddick was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame this past weekend. You might ask: "With only one Grand Slam title?" But then you realize he played in the same era as Roger Federer. Free pass!

S. Sale, Chris . Chris is crossing up opposing batters at alarming rate this season. He recorded his 200^th strikeout last week and mowed down 11 more batters in a 4-0 win over Seattle on Wednesday. Sale, who has recorded double-digit strikeouts in six of his last seven outings (and the only exception was nine) is on pace for more than 330 in 2017. The Red Sox are +300 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the American League Pennant.

T. Tim Tebow . Justin Bieber cancelled his Purpose World Tour to go watch Tebow play minor-league baseball. Okay, that's not really true. It's not really true, at all. But a lot of people want to watch Tebow these days, and not just because he's Tebow. The former Heisman Trophy winner is becoming a legit minor leaguer, with a .315 batting average in advanced Class A.

U. Uber . A Nashville Uber driver has filed a lawsuit against, Michael Oher, the former Panthers' offensive tackle, stemming from an incident this spring. According to a 911 call, the driver said that Oher went all Mike Tyson on him in the form of a bite. It's safe to say this won't help Oher's prospects in free agency.

V. Viktor Arvidsson . Arvidsson recently signed a seven-year, $29.75 million extension with the Predators. For those counting that's $4.25 million per season for a guy who has a productive 39 goals and 38 assists in 142 career games with Nashville. And the NFL players are the ones griping about their contracts?!?!

W. Wall, John . Wall agreed to a four-year, $170 million extension with the Wizards last week. He has two years and $37 million remaining on his current deal before the next one kicks in starting with 2019-20 campaign. It looks like a sweet contract, but at this rate guys like Marco Belinelli are going to making $170 million in 2019-20.

X. Xander Bogaerts . The Red Sox are clinging to a one-game lead in the American League East, and they could use a return to from Bogaerts in their effort to hold off the Yankees. Bogaerts is batting .150 in July and he is 0-for-13 in his last three games.

Y. Yankees . The injury hits just coming for New York-even faster than Aaron Judge's home run total. Starting pitcher Michael Pineda is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery, and first baseman Greg Bird is sidelined for the foreseeable future because of ankle surgery. Now second baseman Starlin Castro (hamstring) is back on the disabled for the second time this season.

Z. Zimmer, Mike . According to the Vikings' head coach, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater will begin training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Bridgewater missed all of the 2016 campaign after sustaining knee ligament damage on August 30 of last summer. On the bright side for Minnesota, Sam Bradford actually turned in a 4-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2016 (20 TDs, five INTs). The Vikings are +250 at MyBookie.ag to win the NFC North.

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