Eastern Conference

This could end up being a banner year for the Eastern Conference. It looks like the requirements to get into the playoffs in the East have just gotten a little stricter. Currently, the top eight teams in the East are all at least .500 ball clubs. That is something that could not have been said the last few years at the end of the regular ...  read more

I've analyzed the last five years of the mid-February mid-major hoops orgy known as Bracket Buster Weekend to see if I could establish any useful betting angles or trends. Instead of working over every single "official" Bracket Buster game I squared my focus on the ones that featuring the mid-major conferences that were routinely wagered upon. That includes the ...  read more

It was another great NFL betting season at Doc’s Sports and I couldn’t leave it without a wrap-up of thoughts on another excellent Super Bowl. So here is a special edition of the Ferringo Report on Super Bowl 44:

- Whenever I talk to people before the Super Bowl they still all say the same thing, “I just hope it’s a good game.” It’s as if the blowouts of ...  read more

Drew Brees Saints quarterback

Apparently, defense isn’t allowed in the NFL anymore.

This January we have seen a dizzying display of offensive artistry as points have been a-plenty through the 10 games that we’ve witnessed. And the two teams that have survived the splurging are – not surprisingly – the two best offensive clubs in the NFL, Indianapolis ...  read more

I'm a fan of the NBA, but it's not a sport that I follow as closely as others, and I don't handicap it very often. When there are sports that I'm not avidly following I find that I like to have little rules in my mind that I can use to quickly get a sense of how a team is performing - a snapshot of where they are at.

In the NFL, for example, I can get a sens ...  read more

We are well into college basketball conference play now, so teams have played more than enough games for us to get a sense of what they really are and how we should be dealing with them. Here's a look at 10 teams that have proven themselves trustworthy on totals so far this year - the ones that most consistently stay ‘under’ or go ‘over’. (‘over/under’ record follo ...  read more

Unlike the situation in the NFC, the AFC playoff picture is completely up in the air. Six AFC teams are on the outside looking in right now but each of those teams is well within striking distance. In the NFC, however, only three teams have a chance of crashing the playoff party. Besides the Colts, who not only have a playoff spot locked up, but also the divi ...  read more

Loyalty can be one of a gambler’s worst enemies. That’s why bettors should never – or at least rarely – wager on their favorite teams. They lose objectivity and are sometime blinded by their feelings about their teams.

Well, no time on the sports betting calendar puts loyalty to the test like college bowl season. This time of year I’m certain that colleg ...  read more

A - Ageless. Brett Favre just keeps getting it done. I fully expected him to be disappointing this year - last season with the Jets all over again. Instead, you don't even have to exaggerate to say that he is probably playing the best football of his career. He was virtually flawless on Sunday, completing 22 of 25 passes and connecting on four touchdowns as his V ...  read more

It used to be in the NFL that if you could run the ball you could dominate your opponent. The teams atop the NFL rushing leaders list were the same team atop the NFL rankings. Things have certainly changed.

The top four rushing teams in the NFL are the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins. All four teams are exactly 4-5 ...  read more

Game: Miami Dolphins (3-4, 3-4 ATS) at New England Patriots (5-2, 4-3 ATS)

Spread: Patriots -11.

Sure, the Patriots have looked like their old selves of late, friendly to backers and brutal to opponents against whom they have no reservations about running up the score until coach Bill Belichick is satisfied.

New England has won its past two games b ...  read more

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavs.

After a long summer, the NBA gets underway again this week. For those of you who are hardcore fans and bettors of the league these are happy times. I, too, am happy to have it back, but the league doesn't particularly change my life. I'll put it this way - it would kill me to go 10 minutes without knowing what's going on ...  read more

A - Alabama. The Tide came into Saturday looking like the best team in the country. They still looked the same when the day was done. Their offense wasn't overwhelming against South Carolina - other than running back Mark Ingram - but it rarely is. Their defense was just as potent as always, though, and made for another easy win. The AP voters took note, and did ...  read more

The number of unbeaten teams in college football, currently at nine, will for sure dwindle by at least one on Thursday when Big East contenders Cincinnati and South Florida face off in Tampa. The Bearcats are currently 3.5-point favorites.

It’s a little hard to figure out what to make of either of these teams yet. Neither one has played a team currently r ...  read more

The most offensively impressive and dominant team in the NFL so far this year has clearly been the New Orleans Saints. We knew that they were going to be offensively strong, but they have so far been even better than expected, and they have been competent on defense as well. The bandwagon for this team is quickly getting crowded, and that means that the betting pu ...  read more

There’s no second-guessing which premier matchup takes the cake in college football’s second week. Southern Cal travels to Columbus to take on Ohio State at the Horseshoe, so there will be enough coverage of this Top-10 collision.

With that said, we’re going to take a peek at another key tilt, our matchup of the week pitting Notre Dame against Michigan ...  read more

As we head into the NFL regular season, it's a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of injuries to our NFL handicapping. A key injury can turn a good bet into a bad one if it changes the complexion of the team, or it can make a good bet a great one if the public overcompensates for the injury and moves the betting lines in your favor. Here's a look at te ...  read more

We're about to enter an inner circle of hell - the last two NFL preseason games. I suppose that there are a couple of good reasons why these last two games exist, but by far the biggest is that it allows NFL owners to charge full price for two more games.

From a football perspective, the importance of these games range from reasonably slim to absolutely none ...  read more

Every year in college football, a few high-profile teams go well over their projected win total and a few fall well short. This probably isn’t really news to you. With the season about to kick off, however, I’m here to give you a bit of advice on which teams are trending upward or downward. So I will pick one team to focus on as the best value. All odds are cour ...  read more

Thursday

Connecticut (-7) vs. Purdue - Strong defense tends to thrive in the tournament, and both of these teams have top-rate defenses - in the Top 5 by defensive efficiency. The difference here is going to be the pace of play. UConn plays a far more up-tempo style that capitalizes on their size advantage over virtually everyone they play. Purdue will need ...  read more

Maryland Terrapins, ACC - Maryland played one of the most exciting and impressive games I saw all season when they beat North Carolina in overtime last month. Greivis Vasquez had a triple-double and was as good as a player can be. If you evaluate this team based on that performance, or when they beat up on Michigan State, then you would assume that this team is a ...  read more

Big East - We'll start with a tough one. The odds would logically suggest that three teams are favored well above the rest - UConn and Pitt at 7/4, and Louisville at 9/4. Head to head matchups don't help much - Pitt beat UConn twice but lost to Louisville, and the Cardinals lost to UConn. My personal bias would lean towards Louisville, but in this case I think th ...  read more

They have struggled to score points in some games and their once-revered defense has vanished and teams are consistently hitting the high 70s in points against UCLA during conference play. With the Bruins recent struggles, once team has jumped them in the standings and that is the Washington Huskies. Although the Huskies are led by a f ...  read more

Michigan - My beloved Wolverines are in dire straits. With four games remaining they needed two wins to likely made the tournament. That prospect took a serious blow when they turned their brains off and threw away a win in overtime against Iowa. That means that they need to win two of their last three, and it's hard to find those two amongst a home game at Purdu ...  read more

The Missouri Valley Conference had been the media darling on Selection Sunday during the middle part of this decade. The conference would receive multiple tournament bids and was able to shed the label of mid-major for most of the decade. But last year this conference seemingly fell back to mid-major status when it received just one bid to the Big Dance with Drake ...  read more

But once conference play opened up things went south and they dropped their first two games to Illinois and Penn State, both middle-of-the-road teams in the Big Ten. The main reason for this setback was the injury to Robbie Hummel, as he was out with a stress fracture in his lower back. This is an ongoing injury and appears that it will make him ...  read more

I think it's a pretty safe bet that Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes will never have to pay for another drink in Pennsylvania for the rest of his life. And if Las Vegas sportsbook managers are half as grateful as the members of Steelers Nation then Mr. Roethlisberger and Mr. Holmes should be welcome (and well-comped) guests in Sin City for the rest of hi ...  read more

We have so much time on our hands before the Super Bowl that we can afford the luxury of breaking this game down from a million different angles. It also means, unfortunately, that we have more than enough time to become very sick of talking about some aspects of the game. Yes, I'm talking about you, Anquan Boldin. That aside, the more I look at this game, the mo ...  read more

It appears the Northwestern Wildcats actually won't be Big Ten doormats for one season (thank you, Indiana). Behind Craig Moore's 22 points, NU beat No. 18 Minnesota, 74-65, on Sunday. That's a significant win for the program in that it was the Wildcats' first victory over a ranked team since Feb. 8, 2006. And they had dropped 27 of 28 Big Ten games (going 1-17 ...  read more

A - Andy Murray. With the Australian Open just around the corner, the tennis season is slowly and quietly off to a start. It's way too early to know how the year is going to turn out, but early indications are that Andy Murray, the talented but underachieving British star, is ready to unleash a big season. He beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on consecutive day ...  read more

A - Atlanta. I have to be a man and admit that I was wrong about the Falcons. I didn't believe that Michael Turner was going to get the job done, that Matt Ryan was going to adjust easily to the pro game, or that the team stood a chance of making .500, never mind the playoffs. That's an 0-fer for me. With a nice road win over the flailing Bucs on Sunday the Falco ...  read more

A - Arena Football League. The AFL is taking a year off to get their business in order. The question is whether anyone will care, or even notice. The most telling indication of the state of the league was that the New Orleans VooDoo had decided to fold even though they had been near the top of the league in attendance the last two years and were owned by Tom Bens ...  read more

A - Auburn. Tommy Tuberville is out as coach of the Tigers, but the circumstances, if the reports are to be believed, are odd. Even though his job was reportedly safe despite a lackluster 5-7 season, Tuberville stepped down this week. The administration says they were shocked, yet they decided to pay him his $5.1 million buyout even though they didn't have to. Ge ...  read more

What the heck was that? Louisville was the No. 3-ranked team in the country, and a popular early choice to be a No. 1 seed in March. They have four established guards, a near-certain lottery pick in forward in Earl Clark, and last year's High School Player of the Year at center. On Sunday night they played the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, a team best known for b ...  read more

There's a whole lot going on in the NHL that should be of interest to bettors, so let's not waste time:

Hot, But Soon To Be Not

There is no team in the NHL playing better right now than Vancouver. They have points in nine straight games, and 11 of the last 12. That puts them comfortably on top of the Northwest Division, and third in the conference. Th ...  read more

We're settling into the slow, steady rhythms of the middle of the NHL season when nothing happens too quickly. This is when we start to learn which teams are here to stay, and which ones are just killing time until golf season starts. To an outsider that may all sound a bit dull, but to hockey fans this is heaven. It's also pretty exciting when there are owners l ...  read more

The college basketball season is slowly but surely get underway. It will be a while before people start paying a lot of attention, but it's never too soon to start making some college basketball predictions. College basketball culminates in the single best spectacle in sports, but there is a lot of excitement and intrigue between now and the madness of March. As ...  read more

We are halfway through the NFL season, give or take. This is a good time, then, for us to take a look at the teams that are being particularly kind to bettors, and those that are soaking the money bet on them in gas and lighting a match. Here, then, is a look at the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

The Best

Tennessee (7-0 ATS) - Despite the Vinc ...  read more

A - Alexander, Shaun. The incredible fall from grace has taken a potentially brief detour to the nation's capital. The former MVP needed a job, the Redskins needed running depth, and Daniel Snyder is more than happy to spend money without thinking about it - it was a match made in heaven. Not surprisingly, Alexander had almost no impact in his first game since he ...  read more

I wish I could have started this column out with some good news as far as last week's selections are concerned. However, that is not the case. We did nail a nice 5-unit winner with Penn State, as they completely destroyed Wisconsin, 48-7. We also had a nice winner with Mississippi State ending Vanderbilt's perfect season, but those two wins did not come close to covering ...  read more

The Option Offense in football is one of the most venerable and classic nuances of America's New National Pastime. The Wishbone. The Wing T. The Single Wing. The very thought of The Option brings one back to Yesteryear, Better Days and Days of Yore. Those were simpler times - The Option reflects that - and a Golden Time when speakeasies, jazz, hard work and ra ...  read more

A - Anderson, Derek - A year ago the Cleveland Browns' QB and his team were one of the best stories in the league. Now it seems almost certain that his days as a starter, at least for now, are nearing an end. Anderson has been, in a word, brutal. He reached a new low this week against Baltimore, completing just 38 percent of his passes, with three picks and just ...  read more

Even though it’s still early in the college football season, a few teams have already packed it in. One of those teams is Syracuse. We used them as a selection two weeks ago at the dome against Akron and I felt that was a make-or-break game for them. The latter turned out to be the case, as they lost by double digits and they were pounded by Penn State last week, 55-13. I wanted to us ...  read more

Last year we tracked the opening steam movements of lines in both college football and the NFL. The idea was to see if the "sharp" money was really that, or if the idea of trailing these severe early line movements was merely a myth. Well, I'm glad to say that we are back at it this season and ready to build on last year's research.

Here is the basic met ...  read more

A - Appalachian State. A former Michigan man took it upon himself to avenge the crushing embarrassment dished out to the Wolverines by App State last season. Les Miles and his LSU Tigers emphatically popped the Mountaineers' balloon with a thoroughly overwhelming 41-13 victory. We didn't learn a lot about LSU's offense in the game, but we did see that the defense is going to ...  read more

Once again it’s that time of year, as this is the kickoff issue for our annual Fourth Down and Inches. What was most gratifying about the past weekend was that our top selection, Temple, completely destroyed Army, 35-7. I spotted that game early in the summer and, believe me, it would have been a rough Saturday had that game gone down Friday night. This is a much-improved Owls team, a ...  read more

A - Arizona Cardinals. The Cards beat the Raiders, 24-0, this week, but it wasn't nearly as promising as it might sound. Matt Leinart is supposed to be emerging as a star by now, but he was truly terrible in his half of play - four completed passes and three interceptions. Kurt Warner was much better in the second half. So much better, in fact, that the ageless f ...  read more

"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face."

- Mike Tyson

I know what you mean Mike. I do. See, in the world of the Betting in the National Football League, expectations, perceptions, and preparation are fundamental components of achieving success. And everyone has a plan, until they see some 255-pound gorilla of a linebacker spear his ...  read more

A - Artest, Ron. The Rockets are clearly looking to win while they still have a solid core in place. That's pretty much the only reason that they would take the gamble they have - adding Ron Artest to their line-up. There's little doubt that Artest is as good as anyone defensively. He's just also a locker room menace, and he can rip a team apart and cause trouble ...  read more

A - Anthony Kim. didn't win the Canadian Open this week - Chez Reavie did. Still, his eighth place finish deserves a bit of discussion. In his last nine tournaments he has won twice, finished second once, and had two more top-10s, including the British Open. He's made over $3 million in that stretch, and is sitting in fifth in the money list. Keep in mind that he ...  read more

With NFL training camps just around the corner now is the time we should be getting our head around how we think things are going to turn out by the time the playoffs roll around. That's easier said than done. A good place to start, though, and to get back into the swing of thinking about football again, is to look at the odds for each team to win their division. ...  read more

There is a rare break in the constant stream of action that makes up the baseball season, so it is a natural time to take a step back and evaluate where we are at. One thing that we can do now is consider who is likely to hit the most home runs on the season, and then to see if we can make some money from that belief. Bodog has odds listed for a dizzying number o ...  read more

College football is just around the corner, so it is a good time to look at college football season win totals. Looking at the totals this far after they have been released is mostly a frustrating situation - there isn't much value at all in the ones that seem to be the most straightforward or obvious. The only thing that makes sense to me in these situations is ...  read more

A - A's. Not only was there a ridiculous amount of money spent on a 16-year-old pitcher, but it came from a very unlikely team - Oakland. The A' s signed Michael Inoa to a minor league contract that included a $4.25 million signing bonus. The guy may be young, but he obviously has enough ability to make a team lose their heads - he's 6 foot 7, and he throws in th ...  read more

The Wild Card Weekend of the Arena Football Playoffs was completed last week and the underdogs dominated, covering all four games and winning three of them straight-up. The AFL playoffs follow the NFL prototype with six teams in each conference making the playoffs and the top two seeds in each earning a bye. That being said, a major difference is that there are onl ...  read more

A - Arnold, Benedict. If you aren't a hockey fan or a Canadian then you can't really understand the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are usually terrible and they haven't won a Cup since 1967, yet in the eyes of the team and their fans they are the only team that matters. Leafs fans are like really annoying Red Sox fans circa 1999. You can imagine, then, how thrilled fa ...  read more

The draws have been selected for the 2008 Wimbledon Championships set to serve from June 23 to July 6 as five-time defending Champion Roger Federer will have to face Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic if he wants to return to Centre Court. There is a possibility for an all-Williams' final on the women's side if defending Champion Venus Williams can get ...  read more

A - Andruw Jones. We won't have Jones and his oddly spelled first name to kick around for a month or more. Jones had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee on Tuesday and will miss four to six weeks. You'd never guess it if you just look at their payroll, but this is pretty much the best thing that could have happened to the struggling Dodgers. Jones, ...  read more

Recent reports have named Barry Melrose as the next coach of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Yes, this is the same Tampa Bay Lighting that won a Stanley Cup under John Tortorella in 2004. Tororella is still under contract to coach the Lighting next season but the team is in the process of being solid to Oren Koules. Many believe Koules is looking for a fresh start and has tabbed ...  read more

One of the hardest but most important tasks baseball handicappers face is deciding which pitchers are good value, and which one aren't worth risking your money on. The best and most obvious way to do that is by looking at statistics. Win-loss record and earned run average are the tools that most bettors rely on most heavily, but they can sometimes be misleading. ...  read more

A - A-Rod. After almost a month out of action, last year's MVP is back and in solid form. He's not lighting the world on fire, but he's not slumping either. What is more notable is that his team, the biggest disappointment in the league after the Tigers, has got their act together since his return, winning five of six. Of course, those six games have been against ...  read more

For North American sports fans European soccer can be incredibly confusing. Not only do teams play in their regular league, but they also play in ongoing tournaments like the Champions League that seem to never end. On top of it all, the players on the teams regularly go to join their national squads to play in friendly matches or to qualify for the World Cup or ...  read more

"They're scared."

That was my initial thought when I first scanned the projected field for the 2008 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, which will be run at 6 p.m., on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Pimlico, Md. My first thought was that Big Brown's dominating win at Churchill Downs just two short weeks ago was enough to ...  read more

A - A-Rod. New York's most hated hometown boy had a rough week. He's on the DL and off the radar, but that didn't spare him from embarrassment. We learned that Rodriguez passed out at the sight of blood during the birth of his first child. That, of course, is irrelevant to sports betting. I just find it hilarious that the guy has so much trouble getting respect f ...  read more

A - Anthony Kim. Kim hasn't been quite the prodigy he was supposed to be since he joined the PGA in 2006, but the 22-year-old earned his first win in style. He ran away from the crowd at the Wachovia Championship this weekend, and ended up winning by five strokes. The victory was tainted somewhat because the defending champion, Tiger Woods, was not in the field. ...  read more

We're only a month or so into the baseball season, and summer isn't even here yet, but that doesn't mean that we can't start looking towards October. Everyone makes World Series predictions before the season starts, so it only makes sense that you would revisit those predictions once you have seen 20 percent of the season. Things can change, even in a month - Det ...  read more

"Total chaos, no way to see the race, not even the track...nobody cares. Big lines at the outdoor betting windows, then stand back to watch winning numbers flash on the big board, like a giant bingo game." - H.S.T, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved"

Bingo.

We are just four short days away from the Fastest Two Minutes In Sports and one t ...  read more

A - Alexander, Shaun. We have seen a lot of rapid falls from grace in sports, but few that haven't involved dog fighting have been faster than this one. Three seasons ago the Seahawks running back was the easy choice for league MVP. The next offseason he signed a massive eight-year contract. Now he is unloved and unemployed after the Seahawks cut him following tw ...  read more

A - Anaheim. So much for a repeat Stanley Cup champion. The team should go back to being named after a Disney hockey team, because that was a truly Mickey Mouse performance. The Ducks got called for a ridiculous number of penalties, failed to show any interest or desire, and were handled easily by a Dallas team that is decent, but certainly wasn't viewed by a lot ...  read more

A - Andy Roddick. It took long enough, but the top American tennis player finally got a win over Roger Federer after 12-straight losses. It took the worst slump of Federer's career to give Roddick the opportunity to win, but if he can ignore that and just focus on the win then it could give him some much-needed confidence heading into the heart of the tennis seas ...  read more

A - Amazing. Stephen Curry and Davidson may have come up just a little bit short against Kansas, but that doesn't make what they accomplished any less amazing. Everyone in the world knew that he was the go-to guy whenever the Wildcats needed to score in any tournament game, yet no one found any way to shut him down. Kansas came the closest to containing him and h ...  read more

The Masters doesn't start in Augusta until April 10, but most of the field is set and odds are already available, so it is never too early to be on the lookout for potential betting value. After all, people aren't thinking about the tournament yet, so there could be some value in the numbers. Here, then, is a look at the 2008 Masters Golf Odds and Predictions. < ...  read more

Two games into the NCAA Tournament and all four No. 1 seeds are still standing. North Carolina has rampaged through their games like Godzilla through Tokyo. Kansas has been only slightly less impressive. UCLA has won despite some concerning injury problems. And then there is Memphis. The Tigers also have two wins, but they haven't really dealt a knockout blow to ...  read more

We all know that the West Coast is filled with nothing but communists and Ralph Nadar sympathizers. This is obvious. But yet another example of the total disrespect that the West has for Dominance and Order is the way that its American League division rotates and shares the crown of This Year's Surprise Money Team.

In each of the past four seasons the A ...  read more

A - Absolutely Cindy. Look out Rags to Riches, there's a new filly on the Triple Crown scene. Absolutely Cindy wasn't well regarded in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway on Saturday - she went off at 20-1. It will be a long time until she sees a price like that again. She was dead last at the top of the stretch before making one of the more breathtakin ...  read more

It was less then a year ago that these two teams were battling for the NCAA Championship in Atlanta. Florida dominated most of the game as their veteran leadership proved to be too much for the young upstart Buckeyes, led by two freshmen, Greg Oden and Mike Conley. The Gators won the game by nine points and thus completed back-to-back NCAA Champ ...  read more

A - Again. For the second time in just over half a season, Gerald Green has a new home. Minnesota traded him to Houston for Kirk Snyder. The only place Green has shone in his brief career is the slam dunk contest. Beyond that, the athletic freak who was drafted out of high school has been disappointing. He's from Houston, so maybe the change of scenery will be ju ...  read more

For the past couple of seasons the Missouri Valley Conference has been the media darling of the NCAA Tournament. They have become a major player in the college basketball landscape despite being a basketball only mid-major conference. Through creative scheduling MVC teams amass high RPI numbers that the selection committee can't help but notice and therefore they h ...  read more

A - Adios. Now is the time every year when we see just how ruthless the NFL can be - it's the time when formerly valued players get tossed aside by their teams to clear up cap space. There have been some impressive names given a pink slip so far - Trent Green, Zach Thomas, Byron Leftwich, Alge Crumpler. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and a reminder to every ...  read more

A - Ascension. Few would be able to name the team at the top of the Big Ten standings at first guess. It's Purdue. It might seem like they are upstarts compared to the four other likely tournament-bound teams in the conference, but the Boilermakers proved they belonged this weekend by completing a season sweep of Wisconsin. Add in a sweep of Illinois, a solid beating of Ohio ...  read more

Having the flu isn't a lot of fun. You probably know that from first hand experience. So do a surprising number of NBA players. Over the last couple of weeks the list of players who have missed time thanks to the flu is long and reasonably distinguished. Just take a look - Dwyane Wade didn't travel to play Orlando, Tracy McGrady didn't play Golden State, Yao Ming ...  read more

A - Aggies. It's been a pretty great 10 days for Texas A&M, with big conference wins over Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma. The 17-point victory over Texas was particularly striking. The only problem is that the team preceded this nice string with three conferences losses in a row, and they weren't close in two of them. This is one of those teams I find so hard ...  read more

A - Alfredsson, Daniel. The captain of the Ottawa Senators had a pretty good night on Thursday when his team traveled to Tampa Bay. If you call seven points a good night, that is. The Swede scored a hat trick and added four more assists to help his team double up on the Lightning, 8-4. The offensive star hadn't scored in two previous games, so this was a heck of ...  read more

The NBA season started with some surprise contenders such as Orlando and Boston immediately making an impact and adding a new wave of needed respectability to the Eastern Conference. But lately it has been sleepers from the West such as the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers who have stepped up and shown the immense depth of the Western Conference. If the t ...  read more

Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott - one of the most bizarre, over-hyped MMA fights in recent memory. The unproven Internet sensation meets the has-been for glory and not much else at Elite XC 'Street Certified' on Saturday Feb. 16. It probably won't be much of a fight, but it will certainly be a spectacle. The question of interest, though, is whether there is a betting ...  read more

A - Andy Murray. The former tennis prodigy won his first tournament of the year and was showing new maturity and focus after ditching coach Brad Gilbert late last year, so I boldly chose him as an upset pick at the Australian Open. The Brit rewarded my faith by going out and getting smoked in the first round. He went home with his tail between his legs and my poc ...  read more

Doc's Sports offers spread betting explained in a way that is easy for even novice bettors to understand. The definition of point spread is the predicted scoring differential between two opponents as quoted by a sports book. The point spread is also called the line. If you have have bet a sporting event in the past, but have never bet on the point spread this w ...  read more

One of the big challenges of college basketball handicapping is that things are constantly changing. In the NFL, for example, every game during the regular season is a regular season game, and can be looked at in much the same way. In college basketball, though, the season goes through many distinct phases, and each must be handled differently: preseason games gi ...  read more

A - Antonio Gates. San Diego beat Tennessee relatively easily once they decided to actually try, but it was a costly victory. Tight end Gates was injured, and in the replay it looks like his toe was folded over like origami. That's really gotta sting, and it certainly doesn't help the team's cause against the Colts. Philip Rivers wasn't exactly looking comfy on ...  read more

There is a full slate of Wildcard games this weekend, but the biggest story in the NFL will not be lacing up the cleats for another week.

Just as they did in the 2007 NFL regular season, the New England Patriots are overshadowing everything in the NFL - even when they have the week off.

The season has finally been put to bed and usually th ...  read more

A - Avalanche. Colorado will have to do something for the next eight to 12 weeks that they haven't had to do for quite a while - play without their captain. After three straight injury-free seasons, Joe Sakic is out for a long stretch after opting to get surgery on a hernia that wouldn't heal. Colorado's mired in a tight playoff race, so the loss of their leader ...  read more

Missouri (11-2) vs. Arkansas (8-4)

Conference match-up: Big 12 vs. SEC

Date: Jan. 1, 2008

Location: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

Spread: Missouri -3

Two high-powered offenses will take the field on the first of the year in Big D, and each couldn't be any more different. The Mizzou Tigers feature junior quarterback Chase Daniel and his multi- ...  read more

One of the keys of early season college basketball betting success is being able to identify teams that are better than people think. These schools obviously offer the most value in the fresh hoops season and are therefore the ones that you're most likely to turn a profit playing on. We are somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of the way through the sea ...  read more

Marquee matchups in November and December do much more than just fill up time between weekend football betting binges. They not only provide a prime profit opportunity for gamblers with knowledge and moxie to tackle these soft early lines, but they also provide bettors with a blueprint for how the season should shake out through conference play and into the Bi ...  read more

There's a reason why most sports fans prefer college basketball over the NBA; it's the same reason casual sports fans suddenly become glued to their TV sets during March Madness.

It's the drama, the finality of the one-and-done format of the NCAA Tournament. Teams' fortunes often hinge on one shot, and how many times can you remember an historic college baske ...  read more

A - ACC. The ACC crushed the Big Ten in the challenge between the two leagues. Again. The ACC won eight of the 11 games - only Indiana, Penn State, and Michigan State were victorious from the Big Ten. Some of the results were surprisingly emphatic - Duke beat Wisconsin badly, and North Carolina had little trouble with Ohio State despite playing without Ty Lawson. ...  read more

Though it's still early in the season the NBA has had its share of surprises - the Celtics adapted to their new lineup faster than anyone thought possible, the Bulls are way worse than they should be given their talent, and Cleveland and the Lakers have shown that you can be competitive with just one player as long as that player is of all-world caliber. Perhaps ...  read more

A - Agent Zero. The Wizards suffered a gigantic loss this week. Gilbert Arenas, for my money probably one of the top five players in the league when it's crunch time, will miss the next three months of action. He underwent not one but two knee operations on Wednesday. It's the same knee that he had repaired last year, so this has to scare the heck out of the team ...  read more

A - Amazing. They may not be the best team in the league, but no one has consistently delivered thrills and memorable endings this year like the Cleveland Browns. They threw away a 27-14 lead, looked dead before kicking a tying field goal with no time left on the clock, and then won in overtime with a truly bizarre field goal. It's not always pretty, but the Brow ...  read more

A - Atlantic Sun. No conference had a week in the college basketball world that was nearly as good as the Atlantic Sun. Gardner-Webb beat Kentucky on Thursday. Belmont topped Cincinnati on Friday. Mercer outscored O.J. Mayo and the Trojans on Saturday. Three big wins against three legitimate major conference teams in three days. That's a heck of a start.

B ...  read more

It always amazes me how fast the football season goes along each year. It seems like the first week of the season was just yesterday and now many of the conferences finish up next weekend.

One of the factors one should look for this time of year is teams that have packed it in and given up on this season. These teams cannot wait to turn in the pads and uniform and ...  read more

A - Autzen Stadium. It's not often that the noise and electricity of a stadium comes through on TV, but it was clear that the Oregon fans were totally out of control on Saturday. I live in the West, so I have seen Oregon play a lot this year. That means that their dominant performance, and the magic of Dennis Dixon, wasn't the surprise to me that it was to those ...  read more

A - A-Rod. The World Series wasn't even over before this guy was right in there making everything all about him again. There is no player I enjoy watching more, and no player that I enjoy hearing about less. To be fair, though, $25 million a year doesn't buy what it used to. Between this mess and Kobe I bet I will be incredibly sick of hearing about the search fo ...  read more

Our Big Ten Game of the Year was a major disappointment, to say the least. What disappointed me the most was the play of the Penn State defense. This unit on paper looked to make it very difficult for the Buckeye's offense, but that did not develop and I thought QB Todd Boeckman played outstanding. He moved the chains and made big plays with his arm and there was no quest ...  read more

A - Awful. How did it get so bad for Louisville? Their loss to UConn this weekend puts them at 4-4 and officially confirms that Steve Kragthorpe has made one of the roughest transitions into a new job in coaching history. The sad part is that this is a team that many people, including me, saw as the top of their conference before the season, but now I'm more surp ...  read more

A - Adrian Peterson. This guy's pretty good. Did anyone in the NFL more single-handedly lead his team to victory this week than Peterson (except maybe LaDainian Tomlinson, but we expect it from him even if he hasn't been at his best up to this point this year)? Twenty carries for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Not a bad day. Tavaris Jackson was only 9-of-23, but ...  read more

After years of trying to break through into the most hallowed golf tournament, the Worldwide Leader in Sports has finally gotten its foot into the door. It was announced this week that ESPN will air early round coverage of the 2008 Masters, held each April in Augusta, Georgia. Veteran golf announcer Mike Tirico will serve as host for ESPN, but the time coverage on Thursda ...  read more

A - Ageless. Brett Favre was the top passer in the league this week, and Green Bay continues to be the biggest surprise in the NFL. Bettors haven't started to completely believe in the team yet - they are 4-0 ATS, and they have covered easily each time, showing that the lines are softer than they need to be. The amazing thing about the Pack is that their schedule ...  read more

It seems like only yesterday the NHL Hockey season was concluding with the Anaheim Ducks hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time in their existence. That team seemed to have the perfect mix of young and old, skill and powerful, and two solid net minders. With the new restrictions and salary cap limits, the off-season has somewhat resembled the ...  read more

A - Appalachian State - I give the Mountaineers all of the credit in the world for the amazing upset that they pulled off in Ann Arbor on Saturday. As a passionate Michigan fan, though, this makes me feel really, really, really sick. I have only four words - Fire Lloyd Carr Now! How can a coach of a top five program not have his team prepared and ready for a 1-AA ...  read more

You are scanning the odds sheet at your favorite sports book on an autumn Saturday morning, looking for good values and vulnerable point spreads, when the big block letters next to a 5 p.m. game suddenly seem to glow and beckon like so much neon on the Las Vegas Strip.

E ... S ... P ... N.

Suddenly, you find yourself circling the game in red ink and, s ...  read more

The following is how I see the Big Ten Conference playing out for the 2007 season. Below you will find some tidbits of how I have analyzed each team, along with their strengths and weakness.

Big Ten Conference Predictions: Order Of Finish

1) Michigan 7-1 (11-1)

2) Penn State 6-2 (10-2)

3) Iowa 5-3 (9-3)

4) Ohio State 5-3 (9-3)

5) Purdue 5-3 (9 ...  read more

I've been away for a week on my honeymoon, and I didn't look at a paper or watch a second of TV while I was gone. That should mean that I'm not too biased or jaded this week. I'm glad to see, though, that all of the excitement and the lunacy carried on while I was gone. I'm also especially happy this week because I don't have to say a word about Barry Bonds. His ...  read more

With our main office being located in the Midwest we are located right in the heart of Big Ten Country. This is the conference that has allowed our company to prosper since 1971 and hopefully will continue to do so for another 36 years into the future. Most of us in the main office are die hard Wisconsin Badgers fans and for the past decade have enjoyed watching games on ...  read more

The best part of the NFL is that there are hundreds of different ways to get some action and hopefully make a bit of money. You can play your basic point spreads, totals or money line, but there is so much more out there. Everybody knows somebody who is running some sort of pool or fantasy league, and if you follow football closely you'll have an edge over the lo ...  read more

A - Arsenal. The Premiership powerhouse suffered a serious blow this week when superstar striker Thierry Henry transferred to FC Barcelona. Henry potted 226 goals for the Gunners, which is a club record, and he won two league titles and three FA cups with the team. It's not all bad for Arsenal, though - they got $32 million back from Barcelona in the deal.

...  read more

So let me get this straight: Roger Clemens is supposed to be the savior of the New York Yankees season. Clemens, a known scumbag with psychopathic tendencies, is the knight in shining armor that's supposed to make us forget about how old this team is, how their bullpen is already burnt out and how their lineup is poorly constructed? Is that right? Clemens is t ...  read more

It seems illogical in many ways when you think about it, but it's undeniably true - many baseball teams are significantly better at home than they are on the road. I say it's illogical because these guys essentially travel for a living -- they fly in the best planes, eat the best food and stay in the finest hotels, so there shouldn't be a particular reason why th ...  read more

The NFL Draft is finally getting close. After months of speculation and list making we are almost at the point where we will have all of our questions answered. We'll know what trades will be made (likely not as many as we want), which teams improve dramatically (not the Lions - Matt Millen still works for them) and what truly head-scratching picks will be made. ...  read more

The Masters golf tournament just completed this week and unknown Zach Johnson walked away with the green jacket beating the likes of Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen. This was the first time in decades that the winning score was over par and the tournament certainly had the feel of a U.S. Open. The Masters has always claimed to be a tradition unlike any other and that is cer ...  read more

With the Final Four now just days away, the Kansas Jayhawks will once again be sitting in Lawrence watching basketball instead of playing in Atlanta. The Jayhawks stumbled in their Elite Eight game against UCLA, falling apart in the second half before losing by the score of 68-55. KU scored just 24 points in the second half - a far cry from the team that averaged over 78 points per ga ...  read more

A - Amaker, Tommy. The Coach K protégé is out at Michigan. Thank god. Maybe that finally means that my team will play in a style that isn't completely and utterly embarrassing. Provided they make a good hire, the easy betting assumptions we've made about the Wolverines the last few years will have to be thrown out.

B - Big Ten. We learned something about th ...  read more

If you are a serious NBA handicapper, or if you aspire to be, then an understanding of betting NBA halves is a tool you have to have in your toolbox. They likely aren't something you would want to play all of the time, especially the second halves, but they are a powerful way to capitalize on situations that can give you an edge. A lot of people are scared of pla ...  read more

Each week two of Doc's Sports gambling aficionados will give their alternating perspectives on the key games and interesting issues in the game at both the college and professional levels. You may not agree, they may not agree, but it should be interesting!

Here are this week's topics:

No. 15 Texas at No. 3 Kansas (noon, Satur ...  read more