Hello again everyone. With Christmas just around the corner I hope last week was a profitable one. The college football regular season just ended and now the bowl lineup is all set. The big game is between Miami and Ohio State, with Miami opening up at -13. If you like Miami, I suggest you take them now because when the dust settles they will be at least -15, or higher by kickoff. Over the years the one thing I've noticed about betting bowl games is you cannot underestimate teams that are struggling coming in. A lot of these teams have three weeks to prepare and teams that are banged up get healthy, it also gives them time to study game tapes and devise offensive and defensive strategies. So I would not put a lot of emphasis on how a particular team finished their season, it means nothing. I will have my bowl picks in my article prior to the start of the bowl games.
The last couple of weeks I have gone over different betting angles and teams to look out for - whether to bet on or bet against. As of now, add the Rangers as a bet against with Pavel Bure being out for the season and with Brian Leetch and No.1 goalie Mike Richter out as well, this team is in enormous trouble. Eric Lindros and Mark Messier are also no longer dominant players, so it makes for an uphill battle. The Islanders are starting to get their act together and finally playing with some confidence, especially Chris Osgood, their goalie, who couldn't stop a beach ball a couple of weeks ago. Keep a lookout for the Isles. Pittsburgh has three starters out on defense, which is a big hole to fill back there. The Pens really weren't solid defensively to begin with, but now they're awful and with no big time goalie to carry them it makes it almost impossible for them to win. I would not make any under plays with the Pens involved, not now anyway.
Buffalo is starting to string some wins together and are getting more confident with each win. With Biron playing well in net, keep an eye on the Sabres. Philadelphia is a team that's really going backwards and now with their leading scorer John LeClair out it makes it worse.
Over in the West, a couple of coaching changes were made, as Darryl Sutter was fired as coach of the San Jose Sharks, which was somewhat of a surprise. Greg Gilbert was fired as the coach of Calgary, which was no surprise at all. Usually coaching changes, at least for the first little while, prove to be positive, only time will tell how these two underachieving teams do. This conference is very tough right now, as a bunch of teams continue to play well. If any team has a bad month, they might not make the playoffs, that's how competitive this division is. Right now Vancouver, Dallas, Detroit, and Edmonton continue to play well, while the Aves are again struggling. Colorado also lost the backbone of their defense, as Adam Foote was injured; he's irreplaceable back there. Phoenix continues to be decimated by injuries, thus their struggles continue, they're not a deep enough team to overcome five or six starters out of the lineup, right now they're a bet against. A team that's rumored to have their coach fired soon is Nashville, as coach Barry Trotz is reportedly on his way out. Since this rumor started to circulate, the Predators have elevated their game and are playing much better, winning in LA and in San Jose. The LA Kings are starting to get healthy again as both Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh have returned to their lineup. Allison, to his credit, came back three weeks sooner then expected only to have his Kings lose 3-2 at home to Nashville. Now that the Kings have, for the most part, a full lineup look for them to make their move. St. Louis continues to show a tremendous amount of heart, as they continue to do well despite numerous injuries; I'm not sure how far this Blues team can go without a top tier goalie. Chicago continues to struggle, but did get Theo Fleury back, which will help despite his off-ice problems.
For years I always loved to bet the NFL as opposed to college football but once I started betting college football to me it's a better gamble. The NFL, to its credit, has created a league where parity exists, there's no dominant teams anymore and a lot of teams, for the most, part have a legitimate chance at winning the Super Bowl. That's what makes betting the pro's tough. I run a college and pro football threads every week at our forum at www.Everyedge.com and every year top cappers do much better in college football then in the pros. Feel free to check these two threads out or just join our forum and make your picks. I also keep all the records for the cappers who post their picks, so you can see who's doing well or even see whom to possibly fade, it comes in real handy. That's about it for this week, please remember to bet safe, tomorrow's another day, all the best.
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| Joe C |
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Many of our readers will be familiar with Joe C. from his
informative and winning posts in the www.everyedge.com
posting forum. As one of the new additions to the Winner’s Edge
team of contributors, Joe brings the players perspective to our
pages. He has been a long time player and student of the activity
of wagering on sports. Read Joe here every week and join him
every day in the posting forum.
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