In mid-April, sportsbooks around Las Vegas started to post their lines for the opening weekend of NFL action. It was exciting to see what the market feels about those Week 1 contests (apparently, they're for the Raiders and against the Chargers, for one), but that's just 16 games. We need more chances to throw away our money.
Enter the Cantor Gaming group, the arm of Cantor Fitzgerald that operates the sportsbooks at several Vegas-area casinos, including the brand-new sportsbook at the Palms. The Cantor books are known for being non-smoking and offering tablets for live betting during games, but they took a step forward in our hearts in May by posting lines for a few more of those NFL games we like to throw money at. Instead of merely posting lines for the 16 games of Week 1, Cantor posted lines for the first 16 weeks of professional football.
The possibility got me thinking about previous New York–L.A. clashes. It turns out that in 336 combined years of American championships (big four sports only), the two biggest cities in the country have met just seven times. That was it. New York is 4-3. Hooray!
That limited history set my mind to wandering, and after an hour spent looking at lists of NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL champions, along with some furious notepad scribbling, I discovered the greatest sports trivia question of all time. It has to do with cities and championships, but after the time put into the research and the ensuing thrill of discovery, I'm going to be totally heartless and make you read a bit more.
First, a fantastic trivia question that will live forever in the shadow of the one that comes later:
Yesterday, Tim Tebow made the obvious decision to rename his dog. It was "Bronco," so he had to. There was no way around it. Did he have to land on "Bronx"? Absolutely not. But it happened because he has no one in his corner with any renaming skill. The good thing about renaming, however, is that once you rename your young, innocent, beloved pet, you can just keep screwing with its head indefinitely, renaming it over and over again.
I definitely don't see the Jets as Tim's last NFL stop. On numerous occasions, I've had the thought that Tebow should spend a little time on every NFL franchise, in a sort of missionary role, spreading joy and the word "great" and mind-boggling football courage throughout the land. If this happens, however, he'll need to keep renaming that poor dog.
I know this isn't your style, Tim, but pretend for a brief moment like no one is watching and let Rembert Take the Wheel. Just for renaming. I promise, nothing more.
Generally, in all walks of professional life, the last thing you want to feel after having a meeting with someone is confused. That's really the only point of a meeting. To lessen any confusion you might have. That's my working theory, at least. But then I've never been in a meeting with Todd Haley.
1. Papiss Cisse: Magpie Magician
It's been 11 goals in 11 Premier League games for Newcastle's striker sensation, and I don't know that we'll see a more outrageous strike this season. (Van Persie's volley was better? I don't know, how can you figure that out?) Here's what I love about Cisse giving Chelsea the blues (wink wink): (a) It was his second in a match that had huge Champions League qualification consequences, (b) Petr Cech's struggle face, (c) Newcastle manager Alan Pardew's I'm happy/I'm nervous/Stop laughing/OK, we're laughing reaction, (c) Cisse's laconic trot over to the Newcastle traveling fans, (d) IT'S THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOOT WHAT IS HE EVEN THINKING?
The 2012 NFL draft is in the books, and already Vegas has posted propositions related to this year’s picks. I’m lying. They haven’t. But I have. So shake loose some fake jermajesties from your fake wallet and let’s have some fake fun with these.
Over/under 3.5 plays into Andrew Luck’s first game before the network shows a graphic comparing his stats to Peyton Manning’s at the same point in his career
I’ll say under. Looking forward to seeing whether Luck ’12 or Manning ’98 recorded a faster jog out of the tunnel during their inaugural pregame introduction.
According to the individuals whose job it is to quantify NFL prospects, Brock Osweiler stands six and seven-eighths inches taller than Kellen Moore; according to these same men at Scouts Inc., Osweiler receives an overall “grade” of 87 as a prospect, while Moore gets a 42. This makes perfect sense: If forced to choose between a quarterback who is potentially too tall to play the position and one who is potentially too short, the choice seems obvious. And yet if I were forced to place a thousand-dollar futures bet on which of these quarterbacks will be in the league five years from now, I would probably put my money on the little guy.
We all know that players’ stock rises and falls up to, and even during, the NFL draft, which begins Thursday night in New York. But how does this happen? What looks like good or bad luck is often the work of the one person who can really influence a prospect’s fate throughout the NFL combine, team workouts, and in the months leading up to the event — his agent.
Today, April 26, is the anniversary of what was nearly the most singular confluence of luck and skill in MLB history.
On this date in 2005, the Yankees faced Bartolo Colon and the Angels at what is now the "old" Yankee Stadium. In the first inning, Alex Rodriguez came up with Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui on base. He blasted a three-run home run to left center. In the third, he came up again with Gary Sheffield on base. This time, his home run was a two-run shot. It only took one inning before he found himself facing Colon again with the bases loaded. The grand slam that followed gave A-Rod three home runs in three at-bats and chased Colon from the game. He hit a single in the sixth, and came up for one last chance in the bottom of the eighth. The bases were empty. Jake Woods threw his 0-1 pitch, and A-Rod lined a ball deep into center field. There's no video of the moment, because nobody quite knew the history at stake, but we know it went deep, and we know Jeff DaVanon was close to the wall when he made the catch.
And though nobody knew it at the time, that warning track shot was the closest anyone has come in major league history to hitting for the home run cycle — a solo, two-run, three-run, and grand slam home run in the same game.
My favorite NFL draft memory is from my freshman year of college. It has nothing to do with who my Chicago Bears took that year (Greg Olsen, 31st overall), or which colossal bust made his way into the top 10 (JaMarcus Russell). No, that year was about testing the durability of a miniature hockey stick when slammed against a dorm room furnace, which is how a friend reacted when his Packers ended up with Justin Harrell at no. 16 instead of Marshawn Lynch, who went to the Bills at no. 12. The stick lost.
The reason I always go back to that one has less to do with what happened than it does how many of us were there to see it. For some of my friends, the draft is better than Christmas morning, and for one of us (my Rams-loving former roommate), the only day every season where hope doesn’t seem so ridiculous.
This year is no different. When it was clear Jay Cutler’s broken thumb would keep the Bears from the playoffs, I immediately started doing two things: (1) becoming embarrassed at my inability to figure out the draft order, and (2) hoping Michael Floyd had just enough alcohol-related run-ins with the law to fall to no. 19. The second one doesn’t look like it’s going to work out, but I do have three more draft-obsessed observations that I think should.
1. Claude Giroux: All Claude Everything
I am obligated by William Penn blood oath to award any Philly athlete the top spot in Rankonia, but Sarah Larimer really makes a compelling case for the Flyers forward: "Katie Baker is right. It is pretty much impossible to dislike Claude Giroux. Apologies to that Monet bro, but Giroux is now my favorite dude named Claude. Let's all start a Claude Giroux Fan Club. We can get T-shirts that say 'Are you taking this faceoff here?'
"'Before they even dropped the puck, he came over and he told me watch the first shift,' Danny Briere said after the Flyers' 5-1 win. 'When he did, I didn't know what to say to him. He's been our leader all year and once again he took another step in that direction today. It was simply amazing, plain and simple. He was possessed.'
NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi joins Bill Simmons to discuss the upcoming 2012 NFL draft. Simmons and Lombardi talk about the Vikings' pick, the Trent Richardson dilemma and whether Justin Blackmon is the poor man's A.J. Green.
This week, Giants owner John Mara slipped a very interesting tidbit into the public consciousness for the first time. Mara, who is on the league's Competition Committee, noted that the league has had preliminary discussions about removing kickoffs entirely from the NFL. Such a move would eliminate one of football's most dangerous plays in the hopes of keeping players healthier by reducing the league's dangerous concussion rate. In the process, though, it would make the game less exciting and remove a competitive advantage for teams like the Bears and Jets.
The other day, at some kind of social function, I broke out the phrase, "Looks like someone called a hot route," when referring to someone doing something a little bit unexpected. All the people I was standing with looked at me, and it was clear they were all thinking the same thing: "Awesome use of football terminology in everyday life. This guy obviously pays close attention when he watches Gruden's QB Camp."
I do really pay close attention when I watch Gruden's QB Camp. I find that the lingo comes in really handy and it generally improves the way people look at me at the office, at parties, just wherever I break it out. These are all phrases used in the most recent run of Gruden's … episodes, featuring prospects such as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Brandon Weeden, and Brock Osweiler.
You never really know what you're going to get with an athlete's "official site." Sometimes you get a really nuanced, emotionally transparent view into the soul of the man (like with Andrew Bynum's blog). Sometimes you get exciting opportunities to buy official NHL gear, like the street bazaar that is BrianUrlacher.com. Then you get something like Gronk Nation, and the wonder and promise of the World Wide Web is made apparent.
Gronk Nation is the Web destination for all things Gronkowski Brothers. (Rob has two brothers who also play in the NFL: Dan and Chris.) You can cop a Yo Soy Fiesta T-shirt, to commemorate Rob's classic ESPN Deportes interview, get up to date on various Gronk trends with the Daily Gronk, or purchase a wristband with the inspirational slogan, "Get Gronk'D." Have some of that LiveStrong.
