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On Friday, March 19th, the Vermont Catamounts will look to make history and upset the tournament. Again. Clearly the #16 seed Catamounts are happy to be in the tournament, but are they happy to be facing #1 seed Syracuse Orange? At first glance, on paper, the Orange vs. the Catamounts game is of no particular interest except as an example of uninspired matchmaking. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. These teams have history, with the Catamounts upsetting the Orange in their last trip to the tournament in 2005. While Syracuse would no doubt be happy to avenge that loss, Vermont would love to see lightning strike twice. The Catamounts sport a record of 25-9 overall and finished second in the American East with a conference record of 12-4. The Orange, meanwhile, won 15 of their last 16, before getting bounced out of the Big East Tournament in their first game against Georgetown. Syracuse's serious zone defense will prove the key to whether or not the Catamounts can pull the upset once more - if they can stay tight from the perimeter, they can make this game a real nail-biter. Sportsbook odds makers show the Orange as a favorite, but many pundits are espousing the value of Vermont. Because UVM will be dealing with the Orange's notorious zone defense, coach Mike Lonergan will look to the men on his backcourt to hit 'em when they count. Vermont will keep it competitive, but look for Syracuse to pull away in the second half and get some post-season revenge. Make sure you get in all of your March Madness Bracket Contest picks! |
Aside from horse racing, betting enthusiasts have enjoyed betting on boxing since the beginning of the 1800s. Over the two centuries since, boxing and betting have almost become synonymous and for a short time in the 1970s and 1980s they were synonymous. From Ali-Forman to Holyfield-Tyson to the highly rumored Pacquiao- Mayweather, fans have enjoyed the luxury of wagering on their favorite fighters. Similar to baseball in the early 1920s, boxing underwent its fair share of scandal as in the 70s some fights were seen as fixed while others had terrible judging. However over the last 15 years boxing has come back to dominance. Today we talk about how to bet on boxing, for fans new and old to learn how to wager on the sweet science. Also similar to baseball, boxing uses the moneyline wagering technique when being bet upon by the public. Same as baseball, the odds are placed next to the two fighter's names, with the only difference being that a draw can occur in a boxing match. A money line for boxing would look like this Jim Bob - 200
Pete Rossi +150
Draw +2000
Essentially how this works is, that bettors picking the favorite Jim Bob, are being asked to wager $200 in order to get $100 back. Bettors wagering on the underdog Rossi are requested to put down $100 in order to get $150 back. Finally, gamblers who can't decide on Rossi or Bob to win the fight and believe it will end in a draw, are required to put down $100 in order to get $2000 back if the fight does indeed finish in a draw. Fans wagering on Rossi need him to win the fight in order to collect on their wager, same for Bob. However if they end in a tie, the house wins and both the wagers on Rossi at $100 and Bob at $200 are used to payout fans who chose a draw as an outcome. |
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Last night the NBA's Eastern Conference finals had its second game of the series as the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics resumed their epic battle from the weekend. NBA finals betting just got trickier for fans as the safe bet was supposed to be the Orlando Magic. However after two games both won by the Celtics it appears NBA betting odds are slowly shifting in favor of the Celtics. The game yesterday was closer than the game Sunday as the Celtics won 95-92, giving the Magic their second straight loss after riding an eight game winning streak going into the finals. In the second round the Magic had an eight day layoff and proceeded to cruise to a four game sweep of the Atlanta Hawks, a team whose star players looked disinterested after the first game. Before facing off with Boston the Magic had another six day layoff as a result of the easy second round matchup. The Celtics unlike the Hawks appear to be more motivated than ever as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, appear more focused than when they won the championship in 2008. During the game Boston again showed its dominance, leading by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but then the Magic woke up, luckily though Pierce's 28 points and five helpers and Rondo's 25 points were enough to help the Celtics grab a two to nothing hold on the series. On the Magic side, star center Dwight 'Superman' Howard poured in 30 points while former Toronto Raptor Vince Carter had 16 points. Further Carter missed two key free throws, reminding Raptor fans of Carter's struggles at being mister clutch. If the Magic hope to have any chance in the series they will need to show up before the fourth quarter in game three on Saturday. |
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 Kentucky Derby betting enthusiasts looking for a distraction from the odds should look no further than round two of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. With eight teams remaining in the NHL playoffs, 2011 Kentucky Derby betting handicappers, have a smaller sample size to choose the potential Stanley Cup winner from. Here are our picks for the four winning teams of the round two series, in hopes they move on to the next round.
Eastern Conference:
The four remaining teams in the Eastern Conference are the Washington Capitals taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins taking on the Philadelphia Flyers. For all intents and purposes, we believe that the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins will win their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers.
Western Conference:
Over in the West, the Vancouver Canucks are taking on the Nashville Predators and the San Jose Sharks are taking on the Detroit Red Wings. In our opinions, the two teams to win these series will be the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks.
Reasons Why Our Picks Will Win:
The four teams we have chosen above, the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks, besides having stacked rosters, all share one thing in common, they always choke in big game settings. For instance, only San Jose has made it past the second round in the last three seasons, and even then, they only made it to the third round, in which they were soundly defeated by eventual Stanley Cup winner Chicago.
In theory, this year is huge for all four of these teams, as their fan bases and ownership will not tolerate another year of disappointment. What this means is, each team, in particular the Bruins, will be playing with a chip on their shoulder. We single out the Boston Bruins, because last season, they had the Philadelphia Flyers on the brink of elimination by winning the first three games of their second round series. However, the Flyers fought all the way back, and became only the third team to be down three games to nothing and win a series four to three. This year, the Boston Bruins will look to put their foot on the Flyers throat, en route to winning a Stanley Cup. If they do not, expect huge changes in Boston this summer. |
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