What’s in ...  read more

N.Y. Jets at New En ...  read more

The 2008-09 season begins Tuesday, but the sharpest handicapp ...  read more

October baseball just gets better and better. The Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays will go head-to-head in what should be an exciting ALCS to determine who will advance to this year’s World Series. These two teams don’t like each other—let’s not forget about their regular season brawl—which only adds to the drama of this series. The AL East division champion Rays had success agai ...  read more

Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens
Rookie QB Joe Flacco looked poised against the Steelers last week, but the Titans defense should be able to put even more pressure on him. Kerry Collins looks to be everything that Vince Young is not. Namely, a leader.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Carolina Panthers
Don’t let the win fool you. L.J. isn’t “ ...  read more

Angels vs. Red Sox - One team has the best record in baseball, the other is the defending World Series champion. It’s a shame this is only a five-game series.

Series Breakdown: These two teams are very similar in terms of their makeup. Both teams have a strong defense to back up solid pitching staffs. The bullpens for both teams are also extremely talented with ...  read more

Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are the better football team. The Falcons will continue to win against bad teams and lose to good ones as they rebuild. Look for a heavy dose of Julius Peppers up in Matt Ryan’s backfield all day long.

Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals took the defending champs to overtime…and amazingly & ...  read more

Many fans thought it was the best side in the nation by the end of last season. This year, the polls have built on Georgi ...  read more

Everything was all good in fantasy just a month ago.

Brett Favre was retired. Every rookie runner seemed poised to grab starter carries. And 2008's fantasy studs and duds were clearly defined.

But now that preseason has kicked, things done changed. Favre ...  read more

Despite having the shortest season of all the major sports, no game has an offseason as important (also see: dramatic, crazy and entertaining) as the National Football League.

And we're not talking only in terms of ...  read more

Every year, the MLB trade deadline is like an M. Night Shyamalan movie: all buildup, no payoff.

Well, every year, except this one.

The talk of big moves on the horizon weren't just the desperate ramblings of some MLB insider. Parity has made the 2008 W ...  read more

Perhaps it's an arrogance of sorts for the highest-paid team in Major League Baseball. Or, maybe it's just one of those statistical anomalies. Whatever it is, the New York Yankees have made quite the habit of digging a hole for ...  read more

The Tampa Bay Rays came into the current MLB campaign like they have every season since being born in ...  read more

Thank goodness for the 2-3-2 format. Without it, we'd likely be looking at life with no basketball, no hockey and no football. With it, we can treasure at least two more days until baseball is all we've got, ...  read more

I could give you some cliched, reminiscent opening straight from the NBA's PR machine before diving into this Boston vs. L.A. NBA finals preview, but by now, you're probably already sick and tired of hearing about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird's short shorts, Red Auerbach's ...  read more

"The possibility of even more beautiful basketball involving the two most storied franchises in professional hoops should be one of the biggest stories this NBA playoffs."

That's what we wrote more than a month and a half ago whe ...  read more

Say what you will about the entertainment value of the San Antonio Spurs. All that matters for bettors is one thing: Those guys know how to win ...  read more

It's been a tough road to San Antonio vs. Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals.

There have been a lot of tough matchups, a lot of tough games and a lot of future Hall of Famers sent packing. But things ended up as expected.

The L ...  read more

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’.

I wonder where the football is?

Yes, it seems a tad bizarre to break down pigskin futures in the month of May. The National Football League should be out of our collective consciousness; Major League Baseball is in full swing while the NBA and NHL ...  read more

Those who watched Game 1 and 2 of the San Antonio/New Orleans series witnessed something rare: the Spurs dominated by a younger, quicker and surprisingly smarter team – the Hornets.

Of course, no series is over until the victory confetti drops but the Hornets have dismantled the Spurs in game ...  read more

Lately, the Kentucky Derby has lacked a woman's touch.

There hasn't been a filly in the Derby field since 1999, when Excellent Meeting posted a fifth place finish while Three Ring placed 19th. And you'd have to go all the way back to ...  read more

Let’s be honest here, the fact that the NBA makes the first round of the NBA playoffs a best-of-seven series is a little annoying.

Don’t get me wrong, the 2008 postseason has been compelling for the first time since Michael Jordan was shopping for a “threepeat. ...  read more

It was 1987 the last time the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers f ...  read more

Kansas is a desolate place in the winter: fallow, gray and lonely. It's a sparsely populated farming state that you definitely wouldn't visit for pleasure. One thing is certain, however. In the belly button of America, they sur ...  read more

Do a Google search for "Memphis Tigers" and "respect" and you get quite the list. No wonder, the former is quickly earning the latter.

They play in a sub-par conference.

They can’t hit free throws.

Memphis Tigers basketball coach John Calipari hea ...  read more

Just when you think they're out, they pull themselves right back in.

That's been the story for the San Antonio Spurs all year. It's almost like head coach Gregg Popovich picks his spots when to put a spur in the ass of his superstars.

Tim Duncan is ranked 49th in minutes played for the sea ...  read more

Last season, North Carolina was 10 points up and 6:02 away from a spot in the Final Four.

Then, the floor caved in. The Tar Heels missed 22 of 23 shots through regulation and overtime to gift wrap Georgetown's East Region championship.

You expected the UCLA Bruins to reach the Final Four. The Bruins expected the Bruins to reach the Final Four.

But as losers in the semifinals the last two years, what they ...  read more

It’s true that Rotisserie Leagues can be a fun way to take the boring out of Major League Baseball’s 162-game regular season by giving some real meaning to the minutiae – if only for you.

Let’s face it, though, chicks have always dug the long shot.

So, wit ...  read more

Not a bad job by the selection committee. Not bad at all. Not as good as its ranking of the East region, where all four top seeds advance ...  read more

If your gang's going to hit Detroit, you better come with weapons. No popguns, either. An arsenal is needed on the mean streets of Motown. Big rifles, handguns, any rapid-fire machinery you can snag. Want a study on how to roll into Michigan? Read up on ...  read more

Three teams made the Sweet 16 by blowing out the competition.

One made it by the skin of its teeth.

But at the end of the day, it all went according to plan.

The only region to advance its top four seeds - No. ...  read more

There were plenty of upsets in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, and the West region had a chunk of them.

No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Drake fell in the first round, while No. 2 Duke made it as far as the second until No. 7 West Virgin ...  read more

The Houston Rockets' improbable run had to end sometime, so it might as well be at the hands of the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics.

I hope you took the opportunity to milk every last Houston wager during their 22-game streak, because they went a whopping 19-3 against ...  read more

You'd think that any discussion of top shooting guards in the Midwest region would start with Brandon Rush of Kansas. That's not the case when Stephen Curry and O.J. Mayo are lurking. In a bracket littered with defense-first squads like Georgetown, Wisconsin, Kent State and Kansas State, the s ...  read more

There's two predominant themes coming from the East Region: It's gonna be big, and it's gonna be blue.

The big is in reference to the plethora of paint-patrolling post players.

The blue is in reference to a shade of Car ...  read more

Talk about a wild-card region. The top seed hails from a mid-major conference and can't hit free throws. No. 2 lost its best player after last season and the third seed has dropped three of its last five. Oh, and let's assume Texas Arlington has drawbacks too.

Inside Story read more

With a mix of talented small schools and slumping high-profile programs, most of the West region could go any direction in the first and second rounds.

But in the end it would be a tourney shocker if the No. 1 UCLA Bruins aren't t ...  read more

This opening was supposed to be about Jason Kidd and his trade from the New Jersey Nets to the Dallas Mavericks.

But since Devean George decided to power trip on the Mavs, everything's on hold until the deal is done... if it even gets done at this point.

"I've got to do what's best ...  read more

This could be the most exciting first half of the NBA since the Lakers were gunning for their third NBA title.

The San Antonio Spurs don't look like they're in control of their championship destiny, l ...  read more

Not counting Sunday ...  read more

What does Joe Pisarcik have to do with Super Bowl XLII? Nothing and everything.

This Sunday's matchup between the Giants and Patriots is unique because its point of origin can be traced back 30 years to one of the most infamous plays in NFL history. On Nov. 19, ...  read more

For the 2007 NFL season, Mike Halford and Jason Brough broke down weekly trends, picks and betting advice for games each and every Sunday. Now, with just two teams and one game left, they've changed focus to Super Bowl XLII, with a comprehensive brea ...  read more

Each week, we'll take a look at the big six NCAA basketball conferences - the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC - and preview the hottest betting tips and trends. The followin ...  read more

If there's one constant in sports betting, it's that oddsmakers are always gunning to find balance.

They'll only allow a team to win or lose against the spread for so long before they adjust the lines to kill any chance of bettors finding a trend. Oddsmakers gave the Patriots eight game ...  read more

So it comes down to Brady vs. Manning after all.

While Peyton's reviewing endorsement opportunities and brushing up on acting techniques, the two men who've lived in his shadow will battle to take his crown. He'll be rooting for his kid brother, of course, a ...  read more

The Seattle Seahawks gained a grand total of 28 yards rushi ...  read more

Each week, we'll take a look at the big six NCAA basketball conferences - the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC - and preview the hottest betting tips and trends. The following are for the week of Jan. 15-22:

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Believe it or not, the 2008 PGA Tour season is off and running. Yep, while North Americans were busy enduring dose after dose of meteorological abuse, professional golfers were playing two tournaments in Hawaii. Tough gig. This week, it’s off to Palm Desert for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. After that, it ...  read more