Ala Hann Sport picks

Archive for September, 2010

Sports betting can be a risk if you spend your entire time betting on teams like the Seattle Seahawks. You can feel it in the nearly autumn air. It is that sense in the NFL football betting world that, at some point, the Seattle Seahawks have to fall back to Earth and lose some football games.

The Seahawks are coasting along in first place in the NFC West. They have a 2-1 record, they have scored 72 points in three games and only allowed 57 points. They are undefeated at home and their nine offensive touchdowns is second in the league. But football betting enthusiasts cannot shake that feeling that the Seahawks are living on borrowed time and it will all come crashing down.

The St. Louis Rams are not doing too badly under their new rookie quarterback Sam Bradford. The Rams are 1-2 this season and have a positive point differential with 57 points scored and 49 points given up. They are playing excellent defense compared to last season, and their special teams are much improved as well. If Bradford and the offense can figure out how to put 20 or more points on the board each game consistently, the Rams could be in business.

That is the dynamic of this game. On the one hand you have the team that no one expected to be winning in the Seahawks, and on the other hand you have the team with the first overall draft pick that needs to start showing results. The Seahawks are walking on eggshells while the promise of the new St. Louis Rams seems to be potentially real.

The Seahawks have give up just as many points this season as the Rams have scored. While that is a wild coincidence, it is also significant. The NFL pick for this game would have to go to the team that is used to playing conservative offense over the team that has been playing run and gun all season long. The Rams defense can shut down the Seahawks offense, and the Rams offense could rack up big time of possession numbers against the Seahawks defense. If Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and the offense is not on the field, it cannot score.

Bradford is developing quickly. He has been lucky to have an elite running back like Steven Jackson to help take some of the pressure off of him. Jackson came up injured in the Rams week three victory over the Washington Redskins. If you ask Jackson, he will say he can play. The doctors and coaches will make that decision later in the week.

The entire St. Louis offense looked good against the Washington Redskins. The Redskins have been having problems on both sides of the ball this season, but any time a team can beat a Mike Shanahan coached team with Donovan McNabb at quarterback then that is an accomplishment. It is an accomplishment that the Rams will build off of and use to defeat the Seahawks in week four.

Pick: St. Louis Rams 34-27

Many Cincinnati Bengals fans were betting that the arrival of Terrell Owens would be that thing the team needed to become a real Super Bowl contender. While T.O. has certainly helped the Bengals offense, the team is not the powerhouse that the NFL betting world thought it would be.

The Bengals opened the season against the New England Patriots and displayed a long list of defensive weaknesses. In week two some questionable officiating helped the Bengals offense to run up just enough point to beat a struggling quarterback Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens offense. The NFL scores generated by the Bengals have shown that the Bengals know how to exploit a weak opposing offense, but a decent offense seems to be able to really run up points on the Bengals.

The Panthers are seeing the Jimmy Clausen era at quarterback being rushed in thanks to injuries to season starter Matt Moore. Moore suffered a concussion in week one, but he is ready to go and will not be starting. Instead, Carolina head coach John Fox has decided to start the rookie Clausen.

The Panthers have been having quarterback problems for years. The team has a decent offensive line, a respectable running game and a wide receiving corps led by Steve Smith. But for the last few years former starting quarterback Jake Delhomme has been abysmal. It would not be difficult to see something better in Clausen than what the team was used to when Delhomme was quarterback. Matt Moore seemed to have problems making the decision to throw the ball downfield. Clausen does not seem to have that problem.

The big challenge for the Bengals is the unknown factor of Clausen. He has never started an NFL game, he has never set the tempo for an NFL game and he has never been the quarterback a team prepares for all week long. The sportsbook reviews of Clausen playing for Notre Dame may help to understand his tendencies in given situations, but the Bengals know that watching college game film is not going to help them get ready for Clausen’s first NFL start.

The Panthers defense has already given up 51 points this season in only two games. The Cincinnati offense may be struggling a bit, but the Carolina defense does not pose the same threat that New England and Baltimore did. The Cincinnati offense should be able to put up a lot of points on a relatively weak Carolina defense. The Cincinnati defense can handle a pocket-passer like Clausen, but the kid can be mobile when he needs to and that is when the Bengals get in trouble.

The Bengals received a lot of official assistance in beating the Ravens. Cincinnati should not need any help in defeating the Jimmy Clausen-led Carolina Panthers. This game will be interesting to watch to see how Clausen reacts to starting an NFL game and what kind of future the kid may have.

Pick: Cincinnati Bengals 35-17

It is a pretty good bet that the Los Angeles Dodgers will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by the end of the week. Going into this game the Dodgers are two losses, or two wins by the San Francisco Giants, from being eliminated from all playoff contention. The Dodgers are not doing themselves any favors as they have lost six of their last 10 games.

The San Diego Padres are competing with NFL football betting and the San Francisco Giants as the season winds down. The Padres had what looked to be a solid lead in the NL West pennant race, but a rash of recent losing streaks have put the Padres one-half game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West pennant race. The Padres cannot score runs anymore. Their pitching has remained respectable, although ace Tim Lincecum has been less than reliable this season, but the Padres cannot bring the runs across the plate late in the season.

The Dodgers surprised no one in the MLB betting world by getting rid of Manny Ramirez, but the problems with the Dodgers go much deeper than the Manny circus. Los Angeles is near the bottom of the NL in save percentage, home runs hit and double plays turned. Basically, the Dodgers are not able to do the little things that win pennants. They cannot rely on their bullpen to hold a lead, they lack power at the plate and their defense cannot get off the field when it needs to.

The San Diego Padres have been riding their pitching all season long. When the sportsbook reviews on the Padres pitching started to come back negative, San Diego fans knew trouble was coming. While the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies were winning games, the Padres were slipping. Now, instead of a healthy lead in the NL West, the Padres find themselves in a three-way battle for the NL West pennant with the Padres not playing well at all.

In this game the Padres will be sending newly designated starter Tim Stauffer to the mound. Stauffer has a 4-4 record this season with a very impressive 1.99 ERA. But he has been showing signs of having problems making the permanent move from reliever to starter. He had a strong start in his last outing against the Cardinals, but in the sixth inning he gave up three runs and had to be pulled before getting an out.

The Dodgers will be sending Ted Lilly to the mound for this game. Lilly has an 8-11 record and a 3.83 ERA this season. He has had trouble being consistent this season, and that has gotten worse late in the year. His September ERA is 6.06, but his one good start this month was against the Padres.

The Dodgers may feel like they need this game to keep their fleeting playoff hopes alive, but the Padres are the ones that really need to win this. Los Angeles pitching offers exactly what the Padres need, inconsistency that has resulted in runs in the month of September.

Pick: San Diego Padres 7-2

The NCAA college football betting world has been dominated by talk about the Heisman trophy in recent weeks, more specifically it has been about whether or not former USC Trojans star running back Reggie Bush deserved to keep his 2005 award. That argument ended when Bush his self decided to forfeit the award on Tuesday, a decision that had been weeks in the making after the second-overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft was accused of accepting gifts from agents during his time with the school.

Weeks after winning the Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints, the betting on NFL star came under heavy criticism along with other former stars that played for both the football and basketball teams with USC for accepting bribes during his college career, a violation of NCAAF rules. The NCAA passed heavy sanctions on the Trojans’ athletic programs after discovering what took place, which included a ban from Bowl games, scholarship restrictions, and a stain on their national championship runs from the two seasons when Bush was there. USC decided after the sanctions to wipe the clean slate concerning the 2005 Heisman, returning the copy of the trophy that was given to the school back to the Heisman Trust. Next would come Bush’s decision, which was along the same lines. After hearing for weeks how the Heisman Trust may choose to take back the award, Bush decided to become the first player in online sports betting history to give back the trophy. One of the few criteria that is used to determine the trophy winner is whether or not any of those NCAA rules were broken, and since it was proven that they were, the award could have very likely been taken back by the Trust anyway.

In the aftermath of the US Sportsbook reviews concerning the return of the trophy, the Heisman Trophy Trust has decided they will not give the award to any other player, deciding instead to leave the spot vacant. Many people felt that there was potential for the Trust to award the Heisman to the runner up from that season, which was former Texas quarterback and current Tennessee Titans signal-caller Vince Young. Young finished a distant second to Bush in 2005, but in the end the Heisman committee decided to leave the award spot vacant for that year. Whether it was to be taken away by the committee or not the pressure was on Bush to address the situation, and he decided to take care of it his self rather than let it continue to linger and eventually be decided by the committee. Bush admitted during the return press conference that winning the trophy was one of the greatest accomplishment’s of his life, and he thanked his teammates and former head coach Pete Carroll for helping him get to that playing level, noting that he could not have done it without their support both on and off the field.

The online sportsbook makers can see from the NL West standings and the NL wild card standings that the San Francisco Giants will be able to catch the San Diego Padres for first place in the NL west before they would be able to catch the Atlanta Braves for the NL wild card. But with the way things have gone in the NL the last few weeks, all the Giants need to do is win a few games to make their move.

While the country starts betting on NFL games, the MLB betting enthusiasts are pulling their hair out as the NL teams continue to play musical chairs. All season long the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres looked to be the upstart teams in the NL that will make it to the playoff and challenge for the NL pennant. But all of that has changed in just the last few weeks.

The Braves, who had led the NL East for most of the season, have fallen hard and are now trailing the Philadelphia Phillies by one game. The Padres, who had led the Giants in the NL West for most of the season, have hit a skid as well and now find themselves only one-half game ahead of San Francisco.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, after briefly challenging for the NL West pennant in July, have been hovering around the .500 mark and currently find themselves at two games under .500. That is good enough for a nine game deficit in the NL West and an 11 and a half game deficit in the NL wild card race. Considering the way the Dodgers have been unable to produce runs lately, it looks like they are playing for pride the rest of this season.

The betting services around the country see that the Giants are only trailing the Padres by one in the loss column and are tied with the Padres in wins. The Padres have one more game with the Rockies in Colorado, where the Rockies have been winning in the past few weeks, and then the Padres take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants have a chance to gain some ground on the Padres with a good showing against the Dodgers.

The Giants have a 42-27 record at home while the Dodgers are 30-42 on the road. The Dodgers just lost a game in Houston as they prepare to go and take on the Giants in San Francisco. The Giants just beat the Padres in San Diego, and San Francisco understands the importance of winning this series against the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are sticking with their pitching rotation and send 11-game winner Chad Billingsley to the mound for this game. Billingsley gave up four earned runs in his last start, and he has thrown five walks per game in two of his last three starts.

Matt Cain takes the mound for the Giants with his 11-10 record and 3.19 ERA. Cain has been the best starting pitcher for the Giants since the all-star break as he has amassed a 5-2 record since the July break. He won his last start in which he pitched nine effective innings against the Padres.

Pick: San Francisco Giants 4-1

Head coach Urban Meyer could only scowl after watching his team put on one of the worst performances he has coached during his tenure in Florida. Meyer well understood the talents he had on teams that won a national title and a bowl game in consecutive seasons under quarterback Tim Tebow, and that the talent falloff this season from the loss of the former Heisman trophy winner and NFL betting draft pick would be significant, but few expected the Gators coming out as flat as they did in the season opener. Meyer feels he has his team ready to make a statement against an inferior opponent this weekend, and for Florida fans hopefully shun the memory of what happened in their week one win.

South Florida Bulls @ Florida Gators

Saturday September 11, 2010 – 12:21 PM ET

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

Online Sports Betting Odds: Florida – 15

NCAA Football Betting Preview: South Florida

South Florida was nearly perfect in their home opening 59-14 win over Stony Brook, pacing the game on both sides of the ball en route to pilling away for the 55-point win. Head coach Skip Holtz had little to complain about in his head coaching debut, save for a couple of long touchdown drivers the Bulls allowed that in the end hardly affected the contest. Holtz watched as his offense engineered plays of 63, 59, and 47 yards, showing their quick-strike ability, the type of attack that can lead to upsets. Quarterback BJ Daniels played mistake-free football throwing for 264 yards and a pair of scores, and with a plethora of talent at the skill positions around him could open up the playbook even further as the season progresses.

NCAA Football Betting Preview: Florida

Miami of Ohio was supposed to be a cakewalk for the Gators. Instead Florida struggled with fumbles and turnovers throughout the first three quarters, managing only 25 yards on offense throughout the first three quarters. Although the Gators were able to turn the game around in enough time to secure the 34-12 victory, they definitely showed some vulnerabilities that will undoubtedly be exposed by stronger teams. Look for Florida to open against the Bulls with a steady dose of running to open up the passing game for their quarterback, as the Gators aim to establish the foundation for the post-Tebow era.

The Match Up: South Florida vs Florida

While South Florida may not have the talent and depth to upset the Gators on the road, they do have enough skill and motivation to keep this game close. Florida looked awful in the opening game, and will need to be much better in a hurry with big games against Alabama and LSU just a couple of weeks away. The Bulls will watch the football betting tape of what Miami did so well the previous week, and look to capitalize on the Gators’ weaknesses with a strong offensive effort.

NCAA Football Betting Pick: Florida – 15

So the betting world waited and waited to see this Cuban pitching phenom for the Cincinnati Reds named Aroldis Chapman. This guy was supposed to be throwing heat in excess of 100 miles an hour consistently, and have some great control. When the Reds did finally reveal Chapman to the MLB betting community, mouths dropped and the Reds were pleased.

The Cincinnati Reds are still battling with the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL Central pennant. Before NFL betting and college football betting can begin in Cincinnati, the Reds still want to make their mark on the sports landscape. Chapman could be the final piece in a playoff puzzle that the Reds have been waiting for. The hard throwing pitcher does consistently throw over 100 miles per hour, but he seems to be limited on pitches. Obviously, his great arm strength and pitching speed would open the door for a potent change-up, but Chapman is still working on a breaking ball. Opposing hitting coaches have a right to be concerned with a pitcher that can throw over 100 miles per hour and is working on a breaking ball.

The Rockies had a couple of key wins in late August that have spurred thoughts of the NL wild card berth in Colorado. Right now the Rockies trail the Padres by four and a half games in the NL West and trail the Philadelphia Phillies by five games in the NL wild card. Two weeks ago that may not have given Colorado much of a chance to win anything, but recent events have made every game for the Rockies very important.

The San Diego Padres have lost nine of their last 10 games. The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies are suddenly within striking distance of a NL West pennant that seemed out of reach in mid-August.

The other event that has happened is the Colorado Rockies have won seven of their last 10 games, including a four game winning streak. The Rockies are currently working on the longest winning streak in the NL, and if the Padres keep losing then that could make the NL West pennant a battle between the Rockies and the Giants.

For this game the Reds are sending Bronson Arroyo to the mound with his 14-9 record and 3.84 ERA. Arroyo is a career 21-10 in September and October, and he has been pitching effectively his last three starts. He has the ability to keep the Rockies in the high altitude confines of Coors Field.

The Rockies will put Aaron Cook on the mound. Cook has a 5-8 record and a 5.21 ERA. Cook is a sinkerball pitcher that just beat the Padres in his last outing, and in his last start against the Reds he shut them out for seven innings.

The Reds need this game to continue momentum into the playoffs and the Rockies need every win they can get to improve their playoff chances. Before Chapman was available in the bullpen for the Reds it may have been thought that the Rockies had enough to beat Arroyo in Coors Field. With Chapman in the bullpen, it is a completely different story.

Pick; Cincinnati Reds 4-1

The betting world rejoices as the NFL regular season is ready to open. After a week of only having NCAA football betting available, NFL fans are ready to start with the NFL betting immediately.

The preseason was interesting, and we got a chance to see what the top teams in the NFC have to offer. Considering the season they had last year, the Minnesota Vikings do not appear to be impressing anyone that makes the NFL football betting lines. There is a big reason why the New Orleans Saints are four and a half point favorites in this game. Just like Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings are not what they used to be.

The Vikings only have one functioning starting wide receiver in Bernard Berrian. Receivers Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice are both sidelined with health issues. Harvin announced that he no longer gets the migraine headaches that kept him out of the preseason, but he missed the preseason conditioning and timing drills. Quarterback Brett Favre is still complaining about his ankle and the distractions being caused by Favre’s apparent lack of respect for his head coach are becoming evident.

The Saints, on the other hand, are pretty much the same team that won the Super Bowl last season. They still possess the single most potent offense in the NFL, and when their defense is healthy they can stand toe-to-toe with any NFL team. A hobbled Brett Favre will make a tempting target for Saints pass rushers like Will Smith and Jimmy Wilkerson. If the Saints can get into the Minnesota backfield on a consistent basis then this will be a short game for the Vikings.

Running back Adrian Peterson had an uneventful preseason, but as long as Favre is limping around and the receivers are out, Peterson is the Minnesota offense. The problem is that head coach Brad Childress has almost no say in the offense when Favre is on the field, and Favre is not a fan of a prominent running game.

Saints running back Reggie Bush started to show some unexpected power in the preseason, and that adds yet another angle to the Saints offense that defensive coordinators will have to watch for. If the Vikings have any weakness on defense it is up the middle at linebacker. That is probably where the Saints running game will go.

The Saints have been working on refining all aspects of their game this preseason and that includes special teams. Kicker Garrett Hartley won the job in camp and, after not playing much in 2009 it looks like he will be the only kicker on the Saints roster this season. Anyone that watched Super Bowl XLIV knows how much special teams means to the Saints. It won them the Super Bowl.

After all the drama created by Brett Favre and the Vikings this summer the simple fact is that the Vikings offense is a shell of what it was last year. Favre has worked with less and won, but that was many years ago when he was younger and healthier.

Pick: New Orleans Saints 27-20