2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2015

Bad beats. Every gambler has to endure them. And listening to someone talk about their bad gambling beat is a bit like listening to someone talk about "that one hand of poker that oh my god you wouldn't believe what happened". Since I am gambling every day, and have been for the past decade, I have bad beat stories for days. But I wanted to take a moment to reflect on, honestly, one of the worst beats of my entire NFL betting career, which I endured last week.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/11/2015

Then there were three. We made it halfway through the NFL season and there are currently three undefeated teams still standing. In fitting with the universe's sense of humor, one of those undefeated teams - the one with the greatest odds of living on that island the longest - the New England Patriots, are facing the New York Giants this weekend. The Giants are the very team that spoiled the closest anyone has and maybe ever will from a perfect season when they beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42 back in 2008.

NCAA Basketball National Championship Predictions: Best Futures Bets
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

Don't bet money on who will win the college basketball championship. That's the best advice I can give someone looking to lay down money on a college basketball futures bet. I don't like wagers on winning championships in any sport - the odds never reflect the actual degree of difficulty it takes to predict a champion. And trying to predict a college basketball national champion is even more ridiculous than trying to spot a title winner in any other sport, college or pro.

NCAA Tournament Predictions and Early Projections for the Field
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

Let's go dancing. Making the NCAA Tournament is really the measuring stick of success and failure for most college basketball programs. Every one of the more than 350 teams in the country begins the season dreaming of hearing their name called on Selection Sunday. There can be only one national champion, and that elite status is reserved for only a select few teams. But for everyone else an invitation to The Big Dance is a major victory in and of itself.

Top 12 Nonconference College Basketball Games 2015
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

College basketball, from a purely competitive standpoint, is a vastly superior sport to college football. Top-tier college football programs each generally have one pseudo-marquee non-league game during their entire campaign. And because college football schedules are laid out years in advance, it is almost impossible to get Top 5 teams from different conferences to meet up in high-profile early-season games.

College Basketball National Championship Contenders: the Sucker Bets
by Robert Ferringo - 11/9/2015

Sometimes the best bets are the ones you don't make. And when it comes to making predictions on who will win the college basketball championship, the first step is figuring out who ISN'T going to cut down the nets. Two years ago I nailed a 100-to-1 long shot to win the National Championship, predicting that Connecticut would win it all almost 12 months before they eventually cut down the nets. What did I do for an encore? Well, not much.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 11/4/2015

I get a lot of things wrong as a professional handicapper. It comes with the territory. But I want to take a brief second and crow about one of the things that I have gotten absolutely right: Andrew Luck is not nearly as good as everyone has made him out to be. I have been the only - the ONLY - NFL writer or analyst in the country over the past four years that hasn't been quick to canonize Luck as a legend in the making. Instead, I have written about how I've seen a turnover-prone quarterback that misses too many throws, floats too many balls, and has built a reputation by beating up pathetic opponents in a historically bad division.

2015 Big Ten Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2015

The Big Ten is perpetually one of the more overrated basketball conferences in the country. Hey, the Big Ten is top shelf. I'm not arguing whether or not they are an actual Big Boy Basketball Conference like I am with the SEC. But I am saying that members of the bobblehead media and the general betting public seem to suffer an annual delusion about the quality and depth in this league.

2015 SEC Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2015

I was watching ESPN's SEC college basketball preview and can honestly say I'm not sure if I've seen a more blatant case of pandering and peddling from The Worldwide Leader in a long time. ESPN, which owns the SEC Network, has a clear financial stake in promoting what is by far and away the worst of the "Big Six" college conferences.

2015 ACC Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/28/2015

In most conferences in the country there is one clear-cut favorite heading into the season. Kentucky is expected to win the SEC. Villanova and Kansas have stiff odds to win the Big East and Big 12, respectively. Maryland enters as the top team in the Big Ten and Arizona rules the Pac-12.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/28/2015

I think that this is a dangerous weekend in the NFL. Not just because of the dark, mystical forces that will be at work on All Saints' Day. But because the public seems to be crystalizing in its belief system about Who's Who and What's What in professional football.

2015 Big 12 Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2015

In the age of parity in sports, what Kansas has done in the Big 12 this century is astounding. The Jayhawks are the overwhelming favorite to win their 12th straight Big 12 regular season conference title this season. That's 12 straight. Twelve. Kansas' regular-season title streak is older than YouTube. Kansas' regular season title streak is older than a fourth grader. Kansas was just two months away its first title to start this streak when Barack Obama took office…as an Illinois senator.

2015 Big East Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/23/2015

The Big East has experienced as large of a fall from grace as there has ever been in college basketball. Three years ago it was the deepest and most competitive league in the sport. Now it is an afterthought, relegated to a second-tier status unbefitting its storied history.

2015 Pac-12 Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/22/2015

It's no big secret that West Coast basketball gets short shrift in the national college hoops discussion. The late start times prohibit a lot of East Coast fans and gamblers from watching teams in the Pac-12, Mountain West, and the bevy of solid small conferences that play on Pacific Standard Time. The fact that these games are on Fox Sports, and therefore all but ignored by media behemoth ESPN, doesn't help matters. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of great basketball being played on the Left Coast and that there aren't tremendous wagering opportunities in this part of the country.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/21/2015

I'm a big fan of NFL futures wagering. Rather than having to be the whim of a single individual event - like a side play or total - a futures wager encompasses knowledge and projections of a whole series of events. In a way it is a truer test of actual overall football knowledge, and I feel like there is a constant stream of value available to bold bettors.

2015 AAC Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/19/2015

Too big to be a mid-major, too small to be a power conference; that is the limbo that the American Athletic Conference finds itself in. The AAC is still trying to find an identity and is struggling to gain respect, nationally. The fact that two of their most recognizable teams, Connecticut and Temple, failed to earn an at-large big in the NCAA Tournament field last year despite each topping 20 wins was a clear sign that this conference has a long way to go.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/14/2015

Football is a terrible sport. Let me preface this by saying that I love football. I love watching it. I love handicapping and betting on it. I love Sundays and all the drinking, food and adrenaline that comes with it. All of the ancillary enjoyments are what has made football a pillar of our national economy. Football is a drug. And I am an addict.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/8/2015

We have a month's worth of data in the NFL and now we're starting to see the ripples and the contours to how this season will shape itself. Statistical handicappers, like myself, need at least four games' worth of stats before we can make any reliable projections, predictions, or maneuvers. But no matter what your statistic of choice when it comes to NFL handicapping the one number that you should ignore at this point of the season is simple: wins.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 4
by Robert Ferringo - 9/30/2015

So many McCowns. So little time. Quarterback injuries have completely altered the landscape in the NFL. Add in the usual first-month freakouts associated with unpredictably and good/bad starts by certain teams, and the National Football League betting landscape seems as chaotic as ever.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 3
by Robert Ferringo - 9/23/2015

It takes absolutely everything in my power each Sunday to keep from putting my fist through my television by the time I've watched my 250th Draft Kings or Fan Duel commercial. Daily fantasy sports are gambling. They just are. I know that the Supreme Court pulled a semantic tap dance to carve out a niche for them when they outlawed online gaming. But these daily fantasy leagues are obviously gambling.