Sorry I missed you guys over the weekend. I am in the Southern Cal so some of the games tip off as early as 9 am on the weekend. I wanted to make my picks for Saturday on Friday night, but after I went out I didn’t want to make my picks under the influence. That is if the all the lines were even available at the time. That is one very cool thing about Vegas. The lines for weekend games are available as early as 9 pm the night before. Before I get into the rest of the weekend let me tell you all what happened on Friday. If you read Friday’s blog you know I took Indiana as a one and a half point favorite over Boston. The Pacers were ahead by 9 in the third quarter, but went on to lose by one point. I also took Charlotte as 12 point dogs at Dallas. They were down 1 at the break and ended up losing by 14. A few points here and there can make a world of difference. I found myself in the same position as the previous night. I had to throw some money on Seattle getting points at home to recoup some of my losses.

Saturday: The fact that I did not make my picks until I woke up on Saturday caused me to miss the opportunity at probably half the college games. I normally only bet on the teams in the power conferences for lack of intimate knowledge on the smaller schools. I do not take this approach in college football. The point is, this leaves me with only 4 to 5 games that I am willing to put money on because the others have already tipped off or are in progress. One game I really wanted was Tennessee(+2) at Vanderbilt. I know that it is a rivalry game and UT just loss at home to Kentucky, but this was a lock. This was such a lock that I would have taken this game on the money line. The money line is when you bet a team to win straight up. Since the Vols were underdogs I would stand to win even more money than if I had taken the points. A similar opportunity presented itself later in the day. I only made one bet on Saturday and it was Washington getting two points at Arizona. Arizona beat the Huskies in Seattle in a 96-95 thriller. I figured that there is really only one senior on Arizona that plays significant minutes so there is a. a lack of experience and b. the senior day factor is somewhat eliminated. The exact opposite holds true for the Huskies, who are senior laden plus they would want to exact revenge for the earlier loss. I thought about taking the Huskies on the money line, but decided to just take the two points. Arizona lead for most of the way, but a steal late in the game gave UW the lead and they held on for a three point victory.

Sunday was ok, but could have definitely been better. I made two bets for the same amount of money. The theory being that it is not hard two pick to winners, but in the instance I don’t, I won’t lose anything. I am obviously not even considering the possibility of losing both games. I took Oklahoma as ten point dogs at Texas. You would think it would be a good game. The Sooners have won the last 3 or 4 between the two teams including a win earlier in the season, it’s the last game of the regular season, it’s the Red River Shootout, yada yada yada. Long story short, Oklahoma never had a chance and got whooped in the process. I also took Toronto at home versus the Celtics. Maybe I wanted to get back at the Celtics for the mental anguish they caused me on Friday. Or maybe it’s that they are now 7-22 on the road, with 3 of those wins coming in the last two weeks. This may cause one to proceed with caution, but I still don’t believe in the Celtics. Who is there point guard? Anyone, anyone... Most teams can’t win that many games overall without a strong floor leader and they certainly can’t win on the road, which makes Atlanta, although an improving team, look stupid for not taking Chris Paul. Sunday was actually disappointing in hindsight because I picked all the NBA games and I had a 7-2 record, but I only put money on one. I need to capitalize on something like that. Oh yeah, so the site I bet on gives a free $10 bet on Sunday. This week was the over/under on what Lebron would score on the Bulls. It was 31 and a half. I took the over. I won. As always, things change throughout the day so I will try to update accordingly. Here’s the deal for today:

miami(-7) over CHARLOTTE-that is if Wade plays, if not proceed with caution
sacramento(+4) over NEW JERSEY
**phoenix(-4) over THE HORNETS(cant lose)
DENVER(-5) over memphis
UTAH(-4.5) over orlando(can't lose)

cant lose record: 3-5-1 (this is starting to worry me)
bonus pick record: 18-12-1-66%
today's bonus pick is the under(199) in the Miami/Charlotte game

HOME TEAMS IN CAPS
Happy Betting!!!