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This Week in Sports Betting A-Z


by - 1/18/2018

David Perron Vegas Golden Knights

A. Army . Don't mess with the Vegas Golden Knights...if you're in the NHL, at least. The expansion Knights are leading the Western Conference with 61 points. Army, however, can mess with them. The U.S. Army filed a challenge with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week, claiming the NHL club's name and color scheme is too closely associated with the military branch. Vegas countered by saying that is has never gotten a complaint from fans indicating they went to the arena expecting to see a parachute team as opposed to a hockey game. That response is…well…golden. The Golden Knights are +144 underdogs at NHL-leading Tampa Bay on Thursday, per BetOnline Sportsbook.

B. Brady, Tom . As usual, Brady and the Patriots are back in the AFC Championship and once again hosting it. They took care of Tennessee 35-14 last Saturday night.


C. Cleveland Cavaliers . The Cavs actually have a decent chance of winning a basketball game on Thursday. They are going up against Orlando, which has the worst record in the NBA (tied) at 13-31. And Cleveland even gets to play at home. But who knows? LeBron James and company have lost four games in a row, the first two of which came by at least 28 points each. The Cavaliers are -10.5 favorites , according to MyBookie.ag.

D. Donovan, Landon . Donovan has come out of retirement to join Leon in France's Liga MX. Why is the 35-year-old doing this? Well, we know it's not to get ready for the USA-less 2018 World Cup!

E. Eason, Jacob . The former UGA quarterback has confirmed that he is transferring-likely to Washington-after losing his starting job to Jake Fromm following an early-season injury. Is Alabama's Jalen Hurts next?

F. Fifty . That's how many points Lou Williams scored when the Clippers beat Golden State 125-106 last Wednesday. And it was no fluke, either. The sweet-shooting veteran guard followed that up with performances of 30, 26, and 31 points. The Warriors are -250 at GT Bets to win the NBA title.

G. Georgia . The state is Loserville, USA once again. The Falcons have blown leads in two playoff games in less than 365 days, the Hawks are currently the worst team in the NBA (tied), the Braves haven't made the playoffs since 2013 and were just punished heavily by Major League Baseball for illegal dealings with international prospects, the United fell at home to Columbus in the MLS playoffs, and the Bulldogs squandered a 13-0 lead in the National Championship against Alabama.

H. Hood, Rodney . Hood delivered 25 points, eight rebounds, and zero swats of cell phones out of fans' hands in Utah's win over Sacramento on Wednesday. The former Duke standout was ejected from a game last week, after which he walked off the floor and sent an unsuspecting phone flying.

I. Injured reserve . Jaromir Jagr, who is reportedly 45 years old but must be over 100 years old since he has been in the NHL basically since 1920, was placed on injured reserve by Calgary last Sunday. Jagr, who is dealing with a lower-body injury, has played in just 22 games in his first season with the Flames.

J. Josh Donaldson . The 32-year-old third baseman signed a one-year worth $23 million to stay with the Blue Jays for the upcoming 2018 season. That breaks the record as the largest contract for a player eligible for arbitration.

K. Keith Jackson . Jackson was the voice of college football. The legendary ABC broadcaster passed away last week at 89 years old. R.I.P.

L. London . The 76ers led Boston by 22 points only to eventually lose 114-103 in last week's game in London. They blamed the result in part on a crooked rim. But they may have a point, because Celtics' guard Kyrie Irving also reported one of the rims to be crooked.

M. Minneapolis Miracle . Down 24-23. At your own 39-yard line. Ten seconds left. No timeouts. Game over… More like game not over. All the Saints needed to do was tackle Minnesota in bounds. Instead, they gave up perhaps the most ridiculous touchdown in NFL history. Case Keenum threw a strike to Stefon Diggs near the sideline, two New Orleans defensive backs collided, and Diggs scored with no time left on the clock to give the Vikings an unbelievable 29-24 home win the divisional round of the playoffs. Minnesota is a -3.5 favorite at Philadelphia on Sunday, as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

N. Nick Foles . Foles is one win away from playing in the Super. Foles…. Super Bowl…. You can't make this stuff up, folks. He went a solid 23-for-30 with 246 yards in Philadelphia's 15-10 home win over Atlanta this past Saturday.

O. Over . Andrew Cogliano's streak of consecutive games played is over. The NHL's iron man, a center for Anaheim, had logged 830 appearances in succession (fourth most in league history) before being suspended from Monday's game against Colorado. Cogliano sat after delivering a late hit to the head on Kings' forward Adrian Kempe last weekend.

P. Pittsburgh Steelers . There will be no Pittsburgh vs. New England rematch of their Week 15 thriller. Instead, it's Jacksonville going to Foxborough for the AFC Championship after the Jaguars upset the Steelers 45-42 last weekend. Pitt head coach Mike Tomlin made some hard-to-explain decisions involving clock management and onside kicks. For example, after scoring a touchdown to get within seven points at the 2:18 mark of the fourth quarter, the Steelers went with an onside kick despite having two timeouts and the two-minute warning. They didn't recover it, so they went to book their offseason tee times. 5Dimes Sportsbook has Jacksonville as a +8.5 underdog against the Patriots.

Q. Quadriceps . Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely, having failed to recover 100 percent from his lingering quadriceps injury. Leonard returned briefly in San Antonio's win over Denver last Saturday, but he has since been shut down. Head coach Gregg Popovich insisted that his star forward is not out for the season and labeled the decision "conservative." That's the opposite of how Popovich will be labeled if he runs for President in 2020.

R. Rory McIlroy . McIlroy recently announced that he has been dealing with a slight heart irregularity, but he also is also fine and unconcerned as long as he takes proper precautions. The Northern Irishman is already back on the golf course, playing a tournament this week in Abu Dhabi. McIlroy is +750 at MyBookie.ag to win the Masters.

S. Streak . Manchester City's streak is over. The Sky Blues had won 22 consecutive English Premier League matches before losing 4-3 at Liverpool last Sunday. But that's just about where the bad news ends for City. The club is still 12 points ahead of Manchester United on the Premier League table. Bovada Sportsbook has Man City as a +300 favorite to win the Champions League, as well.

T. Tennys . Is there a better name in sports than tennis player Tennys Sandgren? That's right; the dude's name is actually Tennys. A 26-year-old American, Sandgren beat three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open on Thursday.

U. Update . Your weekly Ball brothers update that you probably don't want but you're getting anyway: they are in the midst of a stellar week. Their professional stop in Lithuania has been up and down, but the team for which LaMelo and LiAngelo play is 2-0 in its last two outings and the brothers combined for 60 points on Monday and 36 points against tougher competition on Wednesday. UCLA is a -1.5 favorite at Oregon State on Thursday, pet GT Bets.

V. Venus Williams . Venus got a dreadful draw and lost to talented Swiss Belinda Bencic in the first round of the Aussie Open. No Serena. Now no Venus. Who's left? Elena Svitolina is a +475 favorite at BookMaker to win the title.

W. Waiters, Dion . The Heat announced last week that Waiters will undergo season-ending ankle surgery. He was averaging 14.3 points per game. Ouch.

X. Xavier Woods . If you bet on wrestling, you're hardcore. And if you're that hardcore, you already know this: Woods lost to Jinder Mahal in Monday night's episode of WWE SmackDown. With his victory, Mahal is through to the finals of the U.S. title tournament.


Y. Young, Trae . It seemed like Hell would freeze over before Young had a bad game. But Hell has not frozen over and Young had a bad game on Tuesday. In Oklahoma's 87-69 loss to Kansas State, the freshman phenom went 2-for-10 from three-point range and turned the ball over 12 times. He's human.

Z. z-#Sacksonville . That is the official Twitter handle of the Jaguars, and it mercilessly trolled the Steelers. Pittsburgh safety Mike Mitchell said before last Sunday's divisional-round showdown vs. Jacksonville that his team would beat New England in the AFC Championship regardless of where the game was played. Of course, there is no such matchup now that the Steelers are out. "You can play them on @EAMaddenNFL all offseason" the Jaguars' Twitter account posted. BetOnline Sportsbook has Jacksonville at +900 to win the Super Bowl.

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