The Blind Side leading the Blind
Bodog.com confronts would be sports gamblers with the slogan, "IT"S JUST ABOUT WINNING. Bet the NBA playoffs." The words are flanked by graphics of Dwight Howard and LeBron James going up for dunks. Kind of ironic, especially the morning after Boston trounced Orlando 94-71 to take a 3-0 lead in that series. I'm sure their ad campaign was put together weeks ago, but how hard would it be to throw up new graphics with some players who are actually...winning? You know, since that's what it's about, and what-not.
SUPER EASY. Especially since I've seen graphics on their site previously with the likes of Kobe Bryant. Pretty sure I've seen Kevin Garnett on there as well. If not, I'm sure they could whip off a pic of Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, or somebody from the Celtics...since they're winning.
Anyway, last I checked it was all about covering the spread. Unless you're taking the money line or something. Just one more example of bodog insulting their customers' intellegence.
I had BOSTON(-3)over orlando last night. I'd post it here, but nobody reads this, whereas at least a few people post their picks on covers.com's facebook page, so that's where I've been posting lately. Even if only a few people check there, those people are all hardcore handicapping geeks, and therefore actually care about who picks what, even if they're just trying to glom off each other's winnings.
Speaking of glomming off each others' winnings, I finally had a lightbulb light up about 18 inches above my receeding hairline. That's why I'm giving my pick for the Lakers at Suns game right here, in the hopes that I get some readers. I will link a post on covers.com's facebook to here, right after I complete this post.
I'm not sure why this attempt to lure readers to this space is conjuring up an image of a dark room lined in plastic, like the ones Dexter uses to ritualistically kill his victims. Maybe it's because I've been reading Panic! by Michael Lewis,* and in my mind tout services are equivalent to stockbrokers, not only morally, but literally. For the purpose of this discussion, all you need to know about this book is that it makes it painfully obvious that the people on Wall Street who charge commissions for their expertise have no idea what they are doing.**
Apparently Michael Lewis sees some sort of parallels between finance and sport as well, since along with financial books like Liars Poker and Panic!, he has also written Moneyball and
The Blind Side. Yeah, that Michael Lewis. Same guy.
Same guy who inspired me to hope that the Detroit Lions would draft a left tackle last year, rather than Matthew Stafford. Or instead of Brandon Pettigrew, the Oklahoma State tight end the Lions took with the 20th pick, just before the Ravens took Michael Oher with the 22nd, and just after ESPN lauded the Ravens' Ozzie Newsome for his top-notch-ultra-consistent drafting prowess. Newsome's esteem for Oher confirmed for me the Lions' continued draft-day idiocy. I was convinced the Lions ought to take a left tackle, and wait for Sam Bradford this year. Without Stafford, the Lions lose that shootout vs Cleveland (might notta been a shootout, either) and get the top pick again this year.
At this point I'm happy though, since Stafford so far has been better than I expected, since Bradford got himself injured, and since the Lions got Ndamukong Suh this year. I'd take Stafford and Suh over Bradford and any left tackle you could name. The fact that the Lions could have had Oher with the 20th pick still chaps my ass, though. Pettigrew had better be a stud.
Where was I? Yeah, I've been reading Michael Lewis. So should you. And sometime soon I'm going to watch season 3 of Dexter.
Anyway, if you didn't want to put up with my above nonsense, you probably scrolled down to here. la lakers(+1)over PHOENIX. While this is one of those spots where I would usually count on the Lakers to slack off, the Celtic win last night ought to give them enough motivation to crush a Suns team who has shown no indication that they will stop the Lakers defensively. Ever. Not that the Suns never will stop the Lakers. It just wouldn't surprise me if we saw some personnel changes before that day.
If the Suns go off and drain some threes they could throw the outcome into doubt. They will need to give LA some help though. The Lakers aren't going to blow this one on their own. Right now they're playing well enough that I'm worried my bet of Boston at 7/4 to win it all may have been a mistake. On the other hand, the odds of that are down to 3/2.
To sum up, I'm catching up on Dexter, you should read Michael Lewis, bodog doesn't respect their customers, I love Ndamakong Suh, and the Lakers are going to win today, because they don't want the Celtics to get any rest. Not to give away how I'm leaning the next couple of games, but get out the brooms.
*Excellent read, by the way. The book is a collection of essays written before, during and after the last four big financial meltdowns.
**The big meltdowns in this book seem to indicate that the higher-ups on Wall Street that really do know what they're doing may not know either.
SUPER EASY. Especially since I've seen graphics on their site previously with the likes of Kobe Bryant. Pretty sure I've seen Kevin Garnett on there as well. If not, I'm sure they could whip off a pic of Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, or somebody from the Celtics...since they're winning.
Anyway, last I checked it was all about covering the spread. Unless you're taking the money line or something. Just one more example of bodog insulting their customers' intellegence.
I had BOSTON(-3)over orlando last night. I'd post it here, but nobody reads this, whereas at least a few people post their picks on covers.com's facebook page, so that's where I've been posting lately. Even if only a few people check there, those people are all hardcore handicapping geeks, and therefore actually care about who picks what, even if they're just trying to glom off each other's winnings.
Speaking of glomming off each others' winnings, I finally had a lightbulb light up about 18 inches above my receeding hairline. That's why I'm giving my pick for the Lakers at Suns game right here, in the hopes that I get some readers. I will link a post on covers.com's facebook to here, right after I complete this post.
I'm not sure why this attempt to lure readers to this space is conjuring up an image of a dark room lined in plastic, like the ones Dexter uses to ritualistically kill his victims. Maybe it's because I've been reading Panic! by Michael Lewis,* and in my mind tout services are equivalent to stockbrokers, not only morally, but literally. For the purpose of this discussion, all you need to know about this book is that it makes it painfully obvious that the people on Wall Street who charge commissions for their expertise have no idea what they are doing.**
Apparently Michael Lewis sees some sort of parallels between finance and sport as well, since along with financial books like Liars Poker and Panic!, he has also written Moneyball and
The Blind Side. Yeah, that Michael Lewis. Same guy.
Same guy who inspired me to hope that the Detroit Lions would draft a left tackle last year, rather than Matthew Stafford. Or instead of Brandon Pettigrew, the Oklahoma State tight end the Lions took with the 20th pick, just before the Ravens took Michael Oher with the 22nd, and just after ESPN lauded the Ravens' Ozzie Newsome for his top-notch-ultra-consistent drafting prowess. Newsome's esteem for Oher confirmed for me the Lions' continued draft-day idiocy. I was convinced the Lions ought to take a left tackle, and wait for Sam Bradford this year. Without Stafford, the Lions lose that shootout vs Cleveland (might notta been a shootout, either) and get the top pick again this year.
At this point I'm happy though, since Stafford so far has been better than I expected, since Bradford got himself injured, and since the Lions got Ndamukong Suh this year. I'd take Stafford and Suh over Bradford and any left tackle you could name. The fact that the Lions could have had Oher with the 20th pick still chaps my ass, though. Pettigrew had better be a stud.
Where was I? Yeah, I've been reading Michael Lewis. So should you. And sometime soon I'm going to watch season 3 of Dexter.
Anyway, if you didn't want to put up with my above nonsense, you probably scrolled down to here. la lakers(+1)over PHOENIX. While this is one of those spots where I would usually count on the Lakers to slack off, the Celtic win last night ought to give them enough motivation to crush a Suns team who has shown no indication that they will stop the Lakers defensively. Ever. Not that the Suns never will stop the Lakers. It just wouldn't surprise me if we saw some personnel changes before that day.
If the Suns go off and drain some threes they could throw the outcome into doubt. They will need to give LA some help though. The Lakers aren't going to blow this one on their own. Right now they're playing well enough that I'm worried my bet of Boston at 7/4 to win it all may have been a mistake. On the other hand, the odds of that are down to 3/2.
To sum up, I'm catching up on Dexter, you should read Michael Lewis, bodog doesn't respect their customers, I love Ndamakong Suh, and the Lakers are going to win today, because they don't want the Celtics to get any rest. Not to give away how I'm leaning the next couple of games, but get out the brooms.
*Excellent read, by the way. The book is a collection of essays written before, during and after the last four big financial meltdowns.
**The big meltdowns in this book seem to indicate that the higher-ups on Wall Street that really do know what they're doing may not know either.
posted by roQQ | 7:24 AM
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