NCAA Bloodbath
I went a whopping 2-for-9 yesterday (I also took Lou’s Anaheim suggestion in NHL). 3 of the games I bet on went into OT lol
Thankfully, I qualified for a bonus to set some MORE money on fire today.
The only games I hit after being stuck 0-2 in the hole early were Harvard second half (I should of taken them for the entire game; Cincinnati got a technical for not including a substitution in their pregame sheet!) and MSU+Over in a teaser (with a great “miracle cover” moment…although not so much for our bettor below who had Delaware +13.5):
We'll this call and free throw cost me msu https://t.co/w3Qv2te167
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) March 20, 2014
Here are my picks today:
Teaser: UMass +5 and Under 137 vs Tennessee
Stanford +3
Teaser: VCU -6.5 and Over 136 vs Stephen F Austin
Providence vs UNC Under 143 (-105)
Updates:
Took Mercer 2H vs Duke and that went well. There are a few times a yr I get that shit-eating grin on my face throughout the entire day – Duke losing in the NCAA Tourney is one of them.
UMass is currently shitting the bed so I now take the Stanford and Mercer money and put it on Wichita St -16.5
Off to Beer Fest!
NHL Play
Nothing doing on NCAAM plays just yet. It’s going to sound weird but the result that is most surprising to me so far very early is Syracuse winning easily. One of the first odds I looked up was on Syracuse not making the Sweet 16.
Dallas Stars @ Philadelphia Flyers ML -139 @ 14
Thursday
Nothing yesterday though Charlotte covered and Nashville lost for anyone who played. Hockey has Dallas, Columbus and Anaheim on the shortlist for today with Minnesota in NBA showing up as well. I have OSU to win the East at +1100 for my only NCAA action which is not looking very good at the moment.
Season update on NHL is 27-21 +15.31
UPDATE: Here’s a nominee for the I Don’t Give a Shit Award.
Bernard Tomic’s comeback from hip surgery did not last long.
In fact, it did not even last as long as the previous shortest completed match in ATP history.
Tomic lost to Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-0 in 28 minutes and 20 seconds during first-round action at the Sony Open Tennis tournament in Miami on Thursday afternoon. The 21-year-old Australian won one point in the first five games, three points in the first set, and 13 points in total.
We’ll refrain from pointing out the obvious things like how it’s no longer possible to “fix” a tennis match anymore via withdrawal so we’re left with this sort of “performance” which really could have been turned in by anyone with both a tennis racket and a drinking problem. If Tomic was injured or re-injured himself, why not just withdraw from the match? We make lots of jokes about failure here, but it’s really not anywhere near as much fun when the people involved don’t even pretend to try.
UPDATE 2: I am taking Pat’s action on Philly as I would be strongly considering taking Dallas tonight otherwise, despite them playing an out of conference game. One confirmed play tonight: Anaheim +145 @ Los Angeles. The other game we are watching as mentioned earlier is Columbus and it’s very, very close and will be a GTD.
UPDATE 3: Columbus +119
Early NCAA Day 1
Teaser: Ohio St -2 and Over 127 vs Dayton
St Joe’s +5 vs UConn
Western Michigan 1H +7.5
More degeneracy later. Hopefully I will get a miracle cover like this guy on Wheel of Fortune (I got one last night taking the under in the TN/IOWA game at 144…total finished at 143 in OT):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BobNg1-CSH4
Wednesday
Carolina was an easy winner yesterday and successfully played the NHL’s version of prevent defense in the 3rd, getting outshot 19-0. Shot totals tend to significantly skew toward the losing team in the 3rd period, but that’s kind of ridiculous. Not much doing tonight. Nashville at Vancouver is easily the best option, but Nashville played last night in Edmonton so they are excluded here. Charlotte at Brooklyn is the best of a typically garbage NBA end of season schedule.
First Bet of a Long Journey
Xavier -4 (and in teaser with Under 140) vs NC State
Well have our shining moments later in the week.
Cue the music (and sing to yourself, “Bad Decisions……Bad Decisions……Gambling Irresponsibly!!!):
BTW a PSA from Canada:
Tuesday
Phoenix was a winner yesterday, again failing to play three periods, this time taking the second off, but managed to come from behind to win 4-3. Single play today and it’s a very straightforward one, Carolina +150 @ Columbus
NBA Play
Raptors @ Hawks +3 -102 @ 13
Largely brain dead from St Patrick’s Day weekend so this will be a quickie. As I noted to Louis, it is nice when you have a big weekend, and you wake up Monday morning and don’t find a thread of mind-blowingly horrific bets. “Lakers moneyline? Devils over?? Fairfield second half?!?!?!”
MTD : -24.68
St. Patrick
Drinking in public and commuting are usually combined, tolerated and encouraged here in New York, but not today unfortunately. It’s very obvious around the city today who has a job and who is either a student, unemployed, or just doesn’t give a crap.
In what all four of you are here to read, we have a leaner on Phoenix tonight in the NHL equivalent of Fulham at Stoke and nothing doing on the other three games. I shall now resume tasting whiskeys from all 32 counties in Ireland. Meath is a +250 favorite.
One play tonight: Phoenix +150 @ Los Angeles
Luck of the Irish
So Miracle Covers contributor (and Suns fan) Nick and I went to the Celtics game last night vs the Suns. The story of the night wasn’t the miracle cover that happened at the end of the game, where the Suns went on a 10-0 run in the final 1:30 to beat the Celtics 87-80 (and cover the -4.5 point spread) as the Celtics chucked up wild shots like it was the final seconds of a Pop-A-Shot run.
The *real* story (and incredibly tilting) for me was losing the half time beer bet with Nick on the 10th graders (all white kids….so it was evenly handicapped). We got back to our seats late from a beer run and saw his team, the Green team, hit a set-shot 3……so he set the line at -2.
My team, the White team, then went on a 11-6 run with 1 minute to go (thanks to having the tallest kid on the court who grabbed so many rebounds maybe the Celtics should look at signing him). Then, out of nowhere, the Green team scores 6 points in the span of 20 seconds, mostly on long shots I couldn’t hit at that age on a regular basis………including hitting a meaningless 3 at the buzzer despite being up one when they had the ball and the last shot. I yelped in agony, Nick raised his arms in victory, and everyone in our section was looking at us like we had two heads as I am yelling furiously at these poor children, “Pass the ball! Rotate! Box Out! Forward!”.
Yes folks, we have a gambling problem (and yes, like most of those in the stadium, you probably bought a Mega Millions ticket too, you degenerates!).
And it was….a miracle cover.
Today’s bets:
NCAA:
NC State +9.5 (-105) vs Duke
St Bonaventure vs St.Josephs Under 142.5 (-115)
UFC 171:
Diego “The Dream” Sanchez vs Myles “Fury” Jury Under Rounds +200; Fight does not go distance +170 (try to watch Diego fight if you can, the guy is simply an animal. He always puts up good fights too, with 7 Fight of the Night awards, because the guy just goes forward, no hands up).
Alex “The Dominican Nightmare” Garcia wins fight -400 (good prospect)
Hector Lombard vs Jake Shields fight goes distance EVEN (These guys are both wrestlers, so that means alot of grabbing and hugging and all out boringness)
Robbie “Ruthless” Lawyer wins by Inside Distance +400 (a speculative play vs Johny Hendricks, but we are getting good odds on a guy who has been knocking out people since 2005)
