The week in Betting, A to Z
A - Alonzo Mourning. It’s been a rough ride for Mourning for the last several years, and he certainly didn’t deserve to go out like this. A knee injury suffered this week likely ended his season, which almost certainly means the end of his career. It would have been a real treat to see what Mourning could have done if he had been able to stay healthy. He and Grant Hill are the captains of the all-regret team.
B - Bill Parcells. I know that the common theme in the media is that the return of the legend is the greatest thing that could have happened to the Dolphins. Am I the only one that isn’t buying it? He’s an egotistical freak who was disinterested for much of his time with Dallas, and he gets far too much credit for turning the team around. I don’t see it as a coincidence that he had to leave before they could reach their potential, and I don’t believe he can set his enormous ego aside long enough to do good for a tremendously flawed Miami team.
C - Celtics, Boston. It took way longer than I ever would have guessed, but Boston finally lost at home this week when the Pistons took them down. I have said it before and I will be forced to say it again - I never would have believed in a million years that the Celtics’ changes would be as wildly successful as they have been so far. I still maintain that the long term health of the big three is a huge question mark, but I tip my hat to what they have done.
D - Dancing with the Stars. The obnoxious reality show appears to have spawned an odd business relationship. The news broke this week that Floyd Mayweather, who participated this most recent season, is in talks with fellow competitor Mark Cuban about moving into MMA. Cuban owns HDNet Fights, and he has the money to wage war on UFC, but he needs the star power to get his fledgling organization noticed. Stars don’t come much bigger than Mayweather. It seems like it could be a match made in heaven for two of the cockiest people on the planet.
E - End of the line. The dreams of a perfect season died for three more teams on Saturday, as Clemson, Georgetown and Texas suffered their first defeats. Clemson’s loss to Ole Miss was the most suspect, but then Clemson was a pretty suspect unbeaten squad. Those losses all hurt, but none was as bad as Oregon, who was embarrassed on a trip to the Palace of Auburn Hills by lowly Oakland. Obviously the Ducks started their holidays a few days early.
F - Fast Willie Parker. The NFL’s leading rusher isn’t going to end up winning the rushing title, and he isn’t going to be so fast for the rest of the season. parker broke his leg in Thursday night’s easy win for Pittsburgh over St. Louis and is out for the year. The injury is a shame for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that Najeh Davenport was able to rush for 123 yards in Parker’s absence, so Willie could have likely put the title out of reach if he had played.
G - Gaborik, Marion. The Minnesota Wild forward pulled of a rare feat on Thursday night when he became the first player since 1996 to score five goals in a game. Though it was obviously beyond his control, the timing of the feat was unfortunate - it happened the same night that Sidney Crosby got into his first ever fight, and the North American sporting world only has a limited attention span for hockey, so Gaborik got far less credit for his feat than he deserved as the replays of Crosby’s goonery dominated sports broadcasts.
H - Huh? The hottest team in Basketball is the Portland Trail Blazers? Must be a mistake. Portland won their tenth in a row on Friday night. The way the season started it was hard to believe that they would win ten all year. The remarkable part is that leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge has missed much of the action with a foot injury. In his absence Brandon Roy has released his inner beast, leading the team in scoring in seven of the ten wins.
I - Indianapolis. I hate to say it because I am not a fan, but the Colts are certainly looking playoff ready. Manning was ruthlessly efficient, the running game worked as it is supposed to, and they look as good as they did last year, even without Marvin Harrison in action. Has there ever been anything in sports more inevitable than a Colts-Patriots AFC Final?
J - James, LeBron. The King trumped Kobe this week in the latest matchup of the two best players in the NBA. The Cavs won by four, and the margin between the two superstars was even more decisive on the scoresheet. LeBron had a huge game, with 33 points and 10 rebounds, while Kobe was far less impressive, netting just 21 while struggling badly with his shooting all night.
K - Kevin O’Neill. The Lute Olson drama doesn’t seem to be affecting Arizona too much, but the stability of a certain future should help keep them focused. Olson is due to return next year, but it was announced this week that interim coach O’Neill will replace Olson whenever the legend choses to retire. O’Neill is a very solid coach, and he seems to work well with the team, so this has to be seen as good news. It’s also part of a slightly odd larger trend of naming a successor - the same thing happened this week at Florida State.
L - Lewis Hamilton. The American phenom may have come incredibly close to winning the Formula One world title in his rookie year, and he clearly is one heck of a driver, but he’ll have to hitch a ride to the track for the next month. He lost his license after going 40 miles per hour over the speed limit in France this week. 40 mph is a lot, and especially considering that the limit was 85 mph. Apparently Lewis thought he was still on the track.
M - Memphis. I felt fairly confident that Memphis would beat Georgetown because the Hoyas couldn’t match the fireworks and intensity of one of the most exciting teams in the country. I didn’t think it would be so one-sided, though. Roy Hibbert got into foul trouble and was not a factor, Derrick Rose was impressive, and Chris Douglas-Roberts rediscovered his recently missing mojo as the Tigers cruised to an easy 85-71 victory. Memphis has by far the best chance in the country to go undefeated now.
N - New England. Yawn. It was another easy win against an outmatched opponent for the Patriots. They aren’t very exciting to watch a lot of the time, but they are businesslike and I am almost certain that they will go winless. If you wanted to be critical you could be concerned that Brady threw two interceptions, but they were more bounces than terrible passes, and he’ll be just fine. The running game is as good as it has been all year.
O - Ohio State Buckeyes. As a Michigan fan I am pleased any time Ohio State suffers even the slightest hardship. That means i am one happy camper right now. Heading into the national championship game that they don’t really deserve to be in, the team has lost at least a top back-up cornerback, and potentially a starter, too, depending upon the report you read, due to the violation of team rules. That has to make LSU more attractive than they already were.
P - Pitt. Duke is dead! Long live the Panthers! Pitt announced their intention to be among the country’s very top tier this week by knocking Duke from the ranks of the undefeated. The game was one of the classics of the current season, with a late basket giving Pitt a one point overtime victory. It was a costly victory - senior forward Mike Cook suffered a knee injury that will end his year. Cook had started 48 consecutive games.
R - Rusty Smith. Florida Atlantic’s sophomore QB had been getting some buzz for his under-the-radar but solid performance this season. He’s not a secret anymore after the New Orleans Bowl. Smith threw for 336 yards and five touchdowns as he led his school, which has only played football for seven years, and has been in Division I since just 2005, to their first bowl victory over Memphis.
S - Seminoles, Florida State. It’s a rough time to be a Seminole fan. The team heads to the Music City Bowl against Kentucky with 34 players missing the game, most on suspension after cheating on their classwork. Thirteen of the players have started games this year. The line is very uncertain, with several books not listing anything at this point. It will be interesting to see if Bobby Bowden can weather this mess, or if he gets pushed into a not-very-early retirement. It certainly seems that mismanagement and a lack of oversight allowed this mess to happen.
T - Taylor, Fred. If I could give Taylor a Christmas gift it would be a couple of get out of jail free cards. That way he could slap the next few Pro Bowl voters around without fear of the assault charges. The fact that Taylor didn’t make the Pro Bowl this year is ridiculous. The fact that none of his Jaguar teammates did, either, is even more of a joke. The fact that Taylor has never been to a single Pro Bowl is a total and absolute travesty.
U - Utah. The Utes probably got lucky with a botched touchback call, but that didn’t affect the fact that their Poinsettia bowl victory over Navy was one heck of a game. It was back and forth action. Both teams dominated for long stretches, but neither team would quit. The game had a ton of scoring, a crazy comeback, wild athleticism, and everything else you could want. The first game of bowl season is supposed to be a bad one, but this one sure wasn’t.
V - Very exciting. The Hawaii Bowl wasn’t a highlight on most people’s bowl schedule, and it seemed like one of the more one-sided games with Boise State seemingly more talented than East Carolina, but Skip Holtz’s team ended up winning a thriller. East Carolina went ahead 38-14 six minutes into the third quarter, Boise State fought back to tie it up with just over a minute left, and the Pirates kicked the winning field goal as time expired.
W - Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Bruce Pearl turned this program around and rode the success to the national stage. Things continued to go well for the program for a while, but this year is turning into a train-wreck. This week, senior, and leading scorer, Torre Johnson was booted from the team after being arrested, and sophomore Roman Gentry left for personal reasons. At the start of the season, last year’s leading scorer Avery Smith was kicked off the team. From the outside it is easy to feel as if coach Rob Jeter has lost control of a promising squad.
X - Xavier. It was another rough week for our beloved Xavier. They only played one game, and they looked as if they would beat Tennessee as late as 16 minutes into the second half, but then an inexplicable collapse led to a seven point loss. The bad news is that the schedule only gets marginally easier for the next two weeks or so. Conference play can’t start soon enough for the Musketeers.
Y - Yikes. The Browns had a playoff spot right in the palms of their hands, but true to the tradition of their franchise they couldn’t deal with the success. Derek Anderson was mostly terrible, throwing four interceptions. A playoff berth is still in their grasps, but it is much harder now. Not that it really matters, anyway - they will have to play either Pittsburgh or Jacksonville if they make it, and neither is an easy matchup.
Z - Zzzzz. What a terribly dull week of NFL games that was. teams for the most part were either secure in a playoff position or out of contention, and few teams played with anything remotely similar to passion. The list of dud performances is long - New Orleans, Green Bay, Cleveland, Oakland, Miami, Baltimore, Houston. Thank goodness that most people were too busy shopping or visiting to pay too much attention.
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