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Interesting week in the world of sports betting, as this week saw five NFL players suspended (three for the whole season, two for six games) for violating the league’s policy on gambling.
For the longer suspensions, guys like Shaka Toney and Quintez Cephus were found to have bet on NFL games, much like Calvin Ridley last year. For the six-gamers, those dudes didn’t bet on NFL games but did place bets while at a team facility, which is against the league’s rules.
Much like it did with Ridley, the discourse has kicked up regarding athletes betting on sports, and the heavy volume of sports/gambling partnerships we’ve seen pop up since sports betting started to become legalized in states across the U.S.
I’m not a lawyer, nor am I even that particularly smart. I definitely don’t believe NFL players should be betting on NFL games, but when every TV break comes with two or three different commercials for sportsbooks, which the NFL makes a lot of money off of, are we surprised?
Those commercials are always terrible, too. I always get the sense after watching a TV spot for DraftKings or FanDuel that the people who wrote the commercial have never tried betting on sports in their life.
The absolute worst is the Aaron Paul Bet365 commercial that I see during every Yankee game. If you know, you know.
As for the two players suspended for betting at a team facility, there’s an easy fix for that.
Go outside. Cross the street. Walk around the block. Problem solved. It’s hard to have sympathy for that level of stupidity. I have a friend who used to drive to the Water Gap and into New Jersey before Pennsylvania legalized sports betting. No excuses, Jameson Williams.
One thing is for sure: I have, thus far, eluded an official Times Leader suspension for sports betting. If I decide to start laying action on the over/under how many pages are allotted in Monday’s sports sections (always the largest sports section in the region!), my time may be up.
Let’s take a look at what’s coming up.
Texas Rangers (-105) vs. Cincinnati Reds — Monday, 6:40 p.m.
Pick: Rangers ML, OVER 8.5 runs
Two for the price of one! You only find that kind of value in Monday’s Free Access E-edition, folks.
Let me be clear, right off the bat: I’m not saying parlay these together, I’m saying play them straight up. If you wish to string them together, go right ahead, I feel pretty good about both but I don’t give out parlays often.
Anyway, I faded the Reds in this space last week and they cooked me, beating up on the Rays. But I go back to the well here because, since that game, Cincy has lost five in a row (and potentially six, if the Pirates beat them Sunday and finish a four-game sweep).
Meanwhile, the Rangers are finally looking like all that free-agent cash is starting to blossom. The Rangers are 13-7, first place in the AL West and firing on all cylinders.
The pitching matchup is likely the reason why the Reds are actually favored: Texas starts Nathan Eovaldi, with a 5.40 ERA through his first four starts, and the Reds send young lefty Nick Lodolo out to the hill.
Lodolo has a lot of upside, but his ERA is all a pretty unwieldy number at 4.99, with his last time out against Tampa Bay resulting in eight earned runs in less than five innings of work.
The Rangers are hotter and better, so I think they win. As for the over, and frankly I think the total will bump up to nine runs before first pitch, consider this:
Texas has the second highest runs scored number in baseball, only behind Tampa Bay. Their run differential, while also second behind Tampa, is a lot further behind the Rays because they do have a tendency to give up some runs.
But the Rangers have cleared 8.5 runs by themselves in three of their last five games. They scored 12 on back-to-back nights in Kansas City, and 18 at home against the Athletics on Saturday.
Yeah, those teams stink. So does Cincinnati! I think this one might be ugly, and that’s good for the over.
Milwaukee Bucks (-5.5) vs. Miami Heat — Monday, 7:30 p.m.
Pick: Heat +5.5
I did hit a winner on the Sixers -10 or -10.5 or whatever it was last week, and it may be the worst thing that could have happened. Now I’ve got the hunger. The National Basketball Association has its hooks in me.
So I’m going to turn to an old favorite of mine to see if we can’t stay up in the NBA.
Back in 2020, when the NBA played its postseason in the Disney bubble, I decided I wanted to throw some money on someone in the bubble.
I looked at the futures odds, and I honed in on the Miami Heat, who I believe were the second-longest odds at winning the title of any of the playoff teams that year.
The Heat did not win the title, but they did make a heck of a run through the East to reach the finals, where I cashed out my future bet for a tidy sum of dough. Between that future and betting on Miami as an underdog in just about every game, it was a profitable run for this man.
Now, I see Miami up 2-1 over the Bucks, who will be without Giannis Antetokounmpo on Monday night. I see that the Heat managed to steal one in Milwaukee, and are back at home.
They don’t have as impressive a unit as they did in 2020, but I think they could cover here. Jimmy Butler is playing out of his mind, they’re getting good contributions from a number of different players, and they appear to be pretty deep, with 10 different players averaging at least 18 minutes of game time through the first three contests.
Do it for Udonis Haslem. Take the Heat.