Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Freak NFL stat: if you are +1 on takeaways/giveaways, you will win 80% of the games...in what would be a huge development, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger may jump ship to take over at Real Madrid. What a difference that would be, going from a large club with significant restraints because of the financing on the Emirates Stadium to one that is a bottomless pit of money...Chris Paul and Lebron James told the great show E:60 that they regularly play XBox head to head. Online. Something about that amuses me...add the Arizona Cardinals to NFL home sides that are struggling or struggled to sell out their game this weekend. As of yesterday morning, they had 3,700 tickets to get rid of. This, for a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in a decade. No word on if they managed to sell out...Stephon Marbury might land with the Boston Celtics. Seriously. Interesting Starbury fact: teams that deal him improve by an average of 27 wins the following season. Look for the New York Knicks to make a huge leap next season if that holds...the Baltimore Ravens five losses this year are to Pittsburgh (twice), Tennessee, Indianapolis and the New York Giants, who combined to go a whopping 49-15...a perfect 2-0 start to the year on Prime Time Picks, and today, gunning to make it 3-0. Here's some background: teams that enter the playoffs .500 are 2-7 since 1972, with one of those wins coming when two 8-8 teams played each other. San Diego enters the playoffs at 8-8. Indy has won 12 straight, but is only a one point fav. Seems strangely, sucker-bet low, no? Regardless, taking Indy to drop the hammer on the Bolts and cover the spread (-1 +101) comfortably. Get down with Pinnacle here...it was only a matter of time before somebody was killed from a hockey fight, and now, Don Henderson of the Whitby Dunlops becomes the test case for what the game does going forward...Buffalo Bills safety Ko Simpson started the "NFLers Arrested" edition for 2009 off with a roaring start, busted for not leaving the area while a friend of his was being arrested. In true athlete fashion, he played the "don't you know who I am?" card and told the police he's "worth millions!" Step your game up, Ko, Eddie Belfour already used that tactic in telling the cops he was worth "billions" years ago...NBA ref Derrick Stafford will not be punished for calling Vince Carter "boy", which Winessa didn't like. That is not right in my opinion. The NBA should come down hard on Stafford for calling a girl a boy...Canada faces Russia in one semi-final of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Of note, the U.S. soiled the bed in their quarter-final yesterday with a 5-3 loss to Slovakia, a huge underdog to one of the pre-tourney favs who will now face Sweden in the other semi-final. If you sweat karma, however, saw one sign at a bar driving through town yesterday that said "Catch Canada go for gold on Monday here"...have a great Saturday.

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Detroit Red Wing Johan Franzen has 36 goals in his last 43 games yet somehow flies under the radar...the Department of Lame is at it again: if you want tickets to the World Baseball Classic, you have to purchase tickets to each game at that venue. Guess baseball hasn't learned from the Buffalo Bills that that kind of selling doesn't fly in Toronto, where Canada will host the U.S. I predict they'll have similar success...the New York Red Bull will face Columbus Crew in the MLS Cup next Sunday. Prediction? Red Bull win, and ratings that the NHL could only dream of...with the economic crisis where it is, you've gotta think that if the NBA is concerned about its impact, it has to be ready to euthanize the WNBA...it is a time honored tradition that Toronto Raptors fans point out that the back-up point guard is undefeated as a starter, which Will Solomon is after a 107-96 win over Miami. And what was with Jose Calderon doing his "six fingers" to indicate a three pointer thing for other guys buckets? Glory hound...usually a big fan of the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons, but when he says he misses Chuck Swirsky on Raptors broadcasts, I'm less a fan of Simmons. Matt Devlin is a night and day improvement...in a prison somewhere yesterday at around 7:00pm, Tim Donaghy watched the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers finish and thought the fix was in...seven Liverpool players have had their houses robbed in the last year while they were playing...the most popular ingredient on pizza in Costa Rica is coconut. Seriously...Marion Barber looked like a rejuvenated man coming off the bye week. His impact in the Dallas Cowboys win over Washington was far greater than Tony Romo's. There is still a pulse in that team...banner day for Vegas and gambling houses everywhere yesterday. When a tie in the NFL happens like it did with Philadelphia and Cincinnati, you've got money line losers across the board. That was the first tie since November 10th, 2002...most impressive win of the day? That has to be the New York Giants shredding the Baltimore Ravens 30-10, who came in real hot and playing airtight defence...Yankee fan Lebron James, good friends with CC Sabathia, says "we're gonna get him, absolutely." Good enough for me...13-6 on Prime Time Picks. Heady times, indeed. Tonight, going to make it 14-6 by riding the Buffalo Bills at home (-4.5) who will take the Cleveland Browns down with a double digit win in what should be a frigid, snowy Buffalo. Do yourself a favor and pick up some free Christmas shopping money at Pinnacle..have a great Monday.