Christmas is no reason to stop gambling

Merry Christmas. The NBA is on today, and I've bet NEWYORK(-1)over chicago, and LALAKERS(-3)over miami. I'm staying away from Boston at Orlando, though the Celtics are tempting at (+2).

I've taken STLOUIS(-2)over sanfrancisco. The 'Niners don't seem to be able to settle on a starting QB, so Troy Smith starting is more of a sign of instability than a talent upgrade, at least to me.

Knicks-Bulls is halfway through the 3rd quarter, and New York is up 73-69...73-71. Right now the extra vig I paid to get the line down from 1.5 to one seems well spent.

Texas A&M-LSU is off the board, on bodog at least. I'd like to see the Aggies win, but I'm looking at betting the Tigers. Beating 'Bama and losing by 7 or 8 to Auburn and Arkansas is more impressive than the 5 or so straight wins that A&M have rattled off. Can the 12th man turn Cowboys Stadium into a home field for the Aggs? This is the only way LSU(-1) makes sense to me. Louisiana is only a state away, and I expect they'll be there in force as well.

I like Illinois(+1.5)over Baylor, though again, I'd like to see the Bears pull off the win. Baylor has some impressive wins this year, but when they lose they've tended to get blown out. If the Illini can figure out how to stop Robert Griffin III they should be okay...if not they may still be okay--Baylor isn't big on playing defense.