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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 2/1/2017

Carmelo Anthony New York Knicks

A. Anthony, Carmelo . Four teams (Golden State, San Antonio, Houston, and Cleveland) are hogging so many wins that if you aren't in an NBA playoff spot, you stink. Charlotte is three games under .500 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference; Denver is five games under .500 and in eighth place in the West. The Knicks are even worse than that and therefore on the outside looking in-2.5 games out of playoff position at 21-29. Anthony may want to think about waiving his no-trade clause if New York is successful in shipping him out of town. The Knicks are -2.5 favorites at Brooklyn on Wednesday, per GT Bets.

B. Bautista, Jose . "He's actually a pretty good dude…said no one ever." That's what Orioles' slugger Chris Davis had to say about Bautista, whom he called "a guy who's easy to dislike." As if the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was not enough in the American League East, things are heating up nicely between Baltimore and Toronto.


C. Colorado Avalanche . Colorado is in the midst of the NHL's longest current losing streak with room to spare. The Avalanche have lost eight in a row and have taken a point in just one of those eight. By far the worst team in the league with 28 points (10 behind Arizona and 21 short of all other clubs), the Avs have won two of their last 20 contests and they do not have a single victory in regulation since Dec. 11. Colorado is a +240 underdog at Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to MyBookie.ag.

D. Dodgeball . After another snooze-fest of a Pro Bowl, it's safe to say that next year the game should be eliminated and the NFL's best players should simply play dodgeball all weekend long. What did we learn from this year's ball-dodging festivities? The NFC has a nice handle on the five D's of dodgeball, Alex Smith does not, and Ezekiel Elliott really enjoys winning at this sport.

E. Eighteen . That's how many Grand Slam titles Roger Federer owns after he outlasted Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in a thrilling Australian Open final last Sunday. Nadal could have turned the GOAT discussion into a real debate had he pulled to within two slam titles of Federer (17 to 15), but 18 to 14 is a pretty clear gap. Federer is +1600 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the French Open.

F. Farmers Insurance Open . In a field that included Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, and Louis Oosthuizen, last week's festivities at Torrey Pines were won by…John Rahm!?!? The 22-year-old won for the first time in his 12th PGA Tour start, which he capped off by draining a 60-foot eagle putt to prevail by three strokes.

G. Georgia Tech . Break up the Yellow Jackets! Tipped by many to be the worst team in the ACC, Tech currently stands at 5-4 in the conference following last Saturday's buzzer-beating win over Notre Dame. The Jackets could lose out and Josh Pastner should still be in the running for ACC Coach of the Year. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Georgia Tech as a +11 underdog at Clemson on Wednesday.


H. Houston Astros . Major League Baseball on Monday ordered the Cardinals to give Houston $2 million and their top two 2017 draft picks (56th and 75 th overall) for hacking into the Astros' database. Former St. Louis scouting director Chris Correa is already serving a federal prison sentence of almost four years.


I. Indians . MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has met several times this offseason with Indians' owners regarding the Chief Wahoo logo. Manfred could make it really easy by taking away Cleveland's 2019 All-Star Game if the team refuses to do away with Chief Wahoo, but that's not likely.

J. John Tortorella . Tortorella missed all-star weekend because of…wait for it…a sick dog. The Blue Jackets' head coach instead spent time with family and his son's ailing 10-year-old pit bull named Emma. Tortorella and his wife run The John and Christine Tortorella Foundation, which-among other things-helps neglected and abused animals. Respect. Columbus is +1050 atBookMaker to win the Stanley Cup.

K. Kansas . Rupp Arena is reportedly going in the Guinness Book of World Records for breaking the all-time record for crowd noise in an indoor arena when Kentucky hosted Kansas last weekend. But it still wasn't enough of a home-court advantage to get past the Jayhawks. They took care of UK 79-73 after trailing by as many as 12 points during the first half.

L. Le'Veon Bell . In the AFC Championship, Pittsburgh got blown out by New England 36-17 and Bell left in the first quarter due to a groin problem. Adding insult to literal injury, the Steelers are now under investigation by the NFL for failing to put their star running back on the pre-game injury report. Bell had already been nursing a minor groin issue, but head coach Mike Tomlin said "it wasn't significant to the point where it affected planning or the anticipation of planning in any way." The Patriots are -3 favorites over Atlanta in Super Bowl LI, as indicated byBetOnline Sportsbook.

M. Mike Krzyzewski . Krzyzewski can't even coach right now because of back surgery, but he can still make headlines. Coach K has banned his players from wearing Duke stuff until they start playing more typical Duke basketball. The Blue Devils are 3-3 in their last six games.


N. No. 1 . Gonzaga became No. 1 in the AP poll for the second time in school history on Monday. If the Zags are still No. 1 on April 3, now that will really be something.

O. Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham recently partied at the same Miami nightclub where he was spotted with Giants' teammates four weeks earlier. It made more sense this time around; no, not because he didn't have a playoff game to prepare for, but because Justin Bieber wasn't involved.

P. Practice . As part of the soap opera that is the Chicago Bulls, the young players on the roster reportedly want Dwyane Wade to practice more. And Allen Iverson is like, "what?!?!?!?"

Q. Quiet . That's what Tom Brady has told his dad to be prior to the Super Bowl. "I've banned my dad from talking, so he's no longer available to the media," Brady joked after Tom Brady Sr. recently put NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on blast regarding Deflategate. Of course, you know the younger Brady secretly enjoys it whenever Goodell gets put on blast. GT Bets has the over/under at 59.

R. Real Madrid . Madrid took further control of La Liga this past Sunday when it rolled over Real Sociedad 3-0. Sevilla, which had been just one point back of the Ronaldo-led powerhouse, fell to ninth-place Espanyol 3-1. Madrid now owns a four-point advantage over Sevilla and FC Barcelona.

S. Serena Williams . In one of the most legendary weekends in tennis history, the women's Australian Open final featured a matchup even more surprising than Federer vs. Nadal. Serena was obviously expected to be there, but Venus Williams had not played in a Grand Slam final since 2009 at Wimbledon. Venus' amazing run in Melbourne was ended by her sister, who prevailed 6-4, 6-4 last weekend. That gave Serena an Open Era record of 23 major titles, one more than Steffi Graf.

T. Tiger Woods . Tiger has won at Torrey Pines a whopping seven times. But not even a return to his old stomping grounds could cure all the things that ail Tiger's golf game. He fired rounds of 76 and 72 at last week's Farmers Insurance Open to miss the cut by four shots. Speaking of four shots, the 14-time major champion hit a lot of "fore!" shots during his first official PGA Tour start since August of 2015.

U. UCLA . Following consecutive losses to Arizona and USC, UCLA is out of the AP Top 10 (11th) for the first time since the fourth week of the season. The Bruins are -16.5 favorites at Washington State on Wednesday, per by Bovada Sportsbook.

V. Vegas . Vegas, baby, Vegas. That's what the Raiders are-or maybe were -thinking. The move appeared to be a done deal until financial backers started waffling left and right. Stay tuned….

W. Waltrip, Michael . Waltrip announced last week that this month's Daytona 500 will be the final race of his career. The 53-year-old is a two-time winner in Dayton, including in 2001 when teammate Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed on the last lap. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is +1400 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the Sprint Cup championship.

X. Xavier Rathan-Mayes . What's wrong with Florida State? It got blown out at Georgia Tech by 22 points last Wednesday, and not even Mayes' return to form could save the team against Syracuse in a 10-point loss this past weekend. Mayes had gone four straight games scoring in single-digits before contributing 16 at the Orange's expense.

Y. Yasiel Puig . At the Dodgers' annual fan festival last weekend, Puig took responsibility for an inconsistent 2016 campaign in which he was briefly sent down for a stint in the minors. The 26-year-old, who batted .263 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs, added that he wants to remain in L.A. despite rumors of being on the trade block. MyBookie.ag has the Dodgers at +800 to win the World Series.

Z. Zach LaVine . The dunk contest pretty much stunk ever since the Michael Jordan era, aside from a few decent performances by Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. Then LaVine arrived. He was the dunk contest the last two seasons. But LaVine has announced that he will not participate this year, leaving the spoils to Aaron Gordon.

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