by Robert Ferringo - 09/29/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 09/22/2008

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

By Doc

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

by Robert Ferringo - 09/09/2008

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

By Doc

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

by T.O. Whenham

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

by T.O. Whenham - 08/25/2008

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

by Robert Ferringo - 08/11/2008

"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

by T.O. Whenham - 08/06/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 07/28/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 07/19/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 07/16/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 07/15/2008

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

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

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

by Max Powers - 07/01/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 06/24/2008

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

Christopher G. Shepard - 06/23/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 06/02/2008

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

by Max - 06/03/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/28/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/26/2008

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

by T.O. Whenham - 05/21/2008

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

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 - 02/06/2007

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 - 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 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 - 01/29/2007

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 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