by Robert Ferringo - 05/14/2008

"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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/13/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/07/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/07/2008

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

by Robert Ferringo - 04/30/2008

"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

by T.O. Whenham - 04/29/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 04/21/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 04/08/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 03/31/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 03/31/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 03/25/2008

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

by Robert Ferringo - 03/25/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 03/03/2008

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

by Max Powers, Senior Handicapper - 02/27/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 02/26/2008

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

by Max Powers - 02/19/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 02/19/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham

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

by T.O. Whenham - 02/04/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 02/06/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 01/29/2007

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

by Josh Nagel - 01/29/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 01/24/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 01/21/2007

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

by Jason Shimberg - 01/15/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 01/09/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 01/08/2007

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

by Gavin McDougald of betED - 01/03/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 12/31/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 12/27/2007 There are some things about the Atlantic 10 conference that don't make sense - most notably that is has 14 teams. What is making more and more sense every year, though, is that this is a conference worth paying attention to. The quality of play is extremely high, several member teams are regularly making waves beyond the confines of the conference, and betting oppor ...  read more

by Jordan Adams - 12/17/2007

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

by Robert Ferringo - 12/11/2007

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

by Robert Ferringo - 12/05/2007

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

by Josh Nagel - 12/05/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 12/03/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 11/28/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 11/26/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 11/19/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 11/12/2007

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

by Doc - 11/08/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 10/30/2007

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

by Doc - 10/30/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 10/30/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 10/22/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 10/15/2007

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

by Max - 10/12/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 10/02/2007

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

by Max, Doc's NHL Hockey Expert - 09/25/2007

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

by T.O. Whenham - 09/05/2007

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

by Josh Nagel - 09/03/2007

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