Schlock Baseball

In two days the inaugaral World Baseball Classic begins. While we here at BetBug have odds up for the winner of this thing, you will forgive me if I'm not jumping for joy at the prospect of watching it.

THIS IS GOING TO BE A JOKE.

Pitchers that cannot go even 5 innings. None of the hurlers in shape.

This could have been a fabulous event. If MLB were willing to shut down for 2 weeks mid season and stage a true and legitimate World Cup of Baseball's best country vs. country it would be a fascinating event. Of course that would cost the Owners money and so that is why it will never happen.

This made up Baseball "Classic" is nothing of the sort. It is schlock. Nothing less. Not in a million years would I waste one second of my time on it.

Tick Tick Tick...

As we approach the end of the month it will only be a few short weeks till you know what begins. That's right. Bracket Madness.

Watching UConn dispatch Villanova yesterday has gotten me good and ready for March's college basketball schmorgasboard.

BetBug NCAA Hoops Futures for the tourney go like this:

Duke +300
UConn +300
Texas +800
Memphis +900
Gonzaga +2000
Villanova +1100
OSU +2000
Tennessee +2500
Pittsburgh +2500
Iowa +3500
Florida +1800
West Virginia +2000
MSU +1400
UCLA +4000
NC State +5000
Illinois +3500
Georgetown +3500
BC +4000
Kansas +3500
GW +4000
LSU +3500
Oklahoma +4000
North Carolina +4000
Northern Iowa +10000
Field +1000

Congrats Kroners

Well the Swedes finally got their Gold Medal. Congrats and thank goodness this is over. As we can finally get back to the NHL regular season. It starts up again on Tuesday and BetBug will have all your hockey odds ready to go.

The Most HATED or LOVED Man in Basketball?

Love him or Hate him, Reddick keeps you watching. BetBug has Duke at 3:1 to win it all. Whether or not they do depends almost entirely on the aforementioned little skinny white kid.

"HURRY HARD!!!!"

So if I asked you to name the sport that has been garnering the highest ratings on Italian TV during these Turino Games what might you respond with?

Cross Country perhaps? That huge rivalry with the boys from Norway in the relay is certainly worthy of interest.

Possibly alpine skiing? With the build up to their new "Tomba" in the slalom, surely they whole country is waiting for this event.

Maybe even figure skating? It generally gets big TV numbers thanks to the female audience it draws.

Well uh no.

The most watched event in Italy during the past two weeks?

CURLING!

Somewhere The Wrench is laughing in his beer.

OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY MEDAL ROUND

After 5 completely meaningless games for each team the Olympic Ice Hockey competition finally gets down to brass tacks today.

BetBug's Quarter Final Pucks start like this:

Sweden -650 vs Switzerland
Finland -170 vs USA
Canada -135 vs Russia
Slovakia -105 vs Czech Republic

The World Series

We complete our run down of futures odds offered by BetBug for the upcoming baseball season with a look at the odds for the ultimate prize, The Commissioner's Trophy:


Arizona +10000
Atlanta +1800
Baltimore +10000
Boston +1100
Chicago Cubs +1500
Chicago White Sox +1000
Cincinnati +10000
Cleveland +1200
Colorado +10000
Detroit +10000
Florida +10000
Houston +3000
KC +10000
LA Angles +1200
LA Dodgers +2500
Milwaukee +4000
Minnesota +3500
NY Mets +1100
NY Yankees +400
Oakland +1400
Philadelphia +10000
San Diego +3000
San Francisco +2500
Seattle +8000
St. Louis +600
Tampa Bay +10000
Texas +3500
Toronto +3000
Washington +10000

Gentlemen Start Your Engines

I could swear the Nascar season just ended. But indeed, The Race for The Chase does begin anew today down at that most venerable of racetracks, Daytona International Speedway.



BetBug has your RACE and CHASE odds right here and while I'm not sure I can give you the winner, I can tell you that you may in all honesty be able to watch a sporting event today where someone DIES! And how often can one say that.

Bump Drafting indeed. Nice work NASCAR, nice work.

The Pennants

Continuing in our spring vein here today, let's run through BetBug's odds for both Pennants:

American League

Baltimore +5000
Boston +550
Chicago White Sox +500
Cleveland +800
Detroit +3000
KC +10000
LA Angels +700
Minnesota +1700
NY Yankees +250
Oakland +700
Seattle +3500
Tampa Bay +10000
Toronto +1500

National League

Arizona +4000
Atlanta +600
Chicago Cubs +900
Cincinnati +5000
Colorado +10000
Florida +10000
Houston +1300
LA Dodgers +1200
Milwaukee +2000
NY Mets +500
Philadelphia +1500
Pittsburgh +5000
San Diego +2000
San Francisco +1500
St. Louis +250
Washington +5000

Talking Baseball

Ok, as mentioned a few days ago this is the week pitchers and catchers report for work. So I thought we'd run down BetBug's odds for MLB. Today we'll kick it off with the divisions:

AL East

New York -275
Boston +300
Toronto +850
Baltimore +4500
Tampa Bay +10000

AL Central

Chicago +100
Cleveland +170
Minnesota +425
Detroit +2000
Kansas City +6000

AL West

Oakland +140
Los Angeles +100
Texas +700
Seattle +1300

NL East

Atlanta +180
NY Mets -150
Philadelphia +800
Washington +1500
Florida +5000

NL Central

St. Louis -220
Houston +800
Chicago +400
Cincinnati +3000
Milwaukee +1300
Pittsburgh +2000

NL West

Los Angeles +150
San Francisco +200
San Diego +300
Colorado +3000

NBA ALL STAR GAME

Well it's not exactly MJ vs 'Nik is it? The NBA Slam Dunk competition has become so watered down with the big boys unwilling to participate that David Stern's favourite league has had to rename it the Rising Stars Slam Dunk. Rising Stars. HA! More like No Stars. Well if Vince, Kobe, and LeBron don't want to take part, I see no reason why I should watch. Now, betting on it? That of course is another matter. But just because you might have a little monetary interest in the All Star Weekend, courtesy of BetBug does not mean you need to tune in.

RISING STARS SLAM DUNK

Andre Iguodala +260
Nate Robinson +320
Josh Smith +180
Hakim Warrick +500

THREE POINT SHOOTOUT

Ray Allen +300
Raja Bell +650
Chauncey Billips +450
Dirk Nowitzki +400
Quentin Richardson +600
Jason terry +600

Oh sweet Joy

Can you say Maria Sharapova's first ever swimsuit shoot? I bet you can.

Hope Springs Eternal

Amid the snowy tundra that engulfed most of the Norhteastern seaboard this past weekend, do not forget that the unofficial First Day of Spring is tomorrow. That's right. Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training in Florida and Arizona. BetBug has all your baseball betting needs covered with divisions, leagues, and the World Series. Like they say, everyone is in first place (even the Royals!), at least until opening day.

Turin

I like the Olympics as much as the next guy. And as a Canadian, I'm quite happy to accept Gold in all these new schlock sports like moguls, short track, and curling, since we seem to excell in most of them.

But please, come on. These are not exactly legitimate Olympic events. The 5000m Long Track Speed Skating Gold. The Alpine Skiing Downhill Gold. The Ice Hockey Gold. These are real medals, for which I would generally be ready to sacrifice my first born (if I had one that is).

To somehow equate Biathlon to Halfpipe is just ludicrous. One is a century old, tradition laden Olympic sport. The other? An X-Games rip-off.

If it doesn't conform to HIGHER, FASTER, STRONGER...ie if it is a JUDGED EVENT, it has NO PLACE in the Olympic Games. And yes I realize that that means all the big TV rating sports like figure skating, freestyle skiing and snowboarding and for that matter the summer ones like gymnastics and diving all would be out!

Well guess what. There are too many sports in the Olympics as it is. We need to get rid of some of them.

As much as I loathe the new short track version of speed skating, at least it meets the criteria of being an impartially arbitrated sport...ie...NO JUDGES!

Man traded for Cartoon Rabbit!!!

This has to be a first. Al Michaels, the long time play by play announcer for Monday Night Football was allowed out of his contract with ABC to follow the rest of his MNF crew (director, producer, colour man) to NBC for their new Sunday Night Football package.

The compensation for this deal? An 80 year old cartoon rabitt named Oswald.

Apparently he is the pre-cursor to Mickey Mouse. Whatever. Albino now is the answer to one of the greatest sports trivia questions of all time:

Name the sports figure who was traded for a rabbitt?

Best of all, this last departure, completely exposes ESPN's new day long hype fest for its VERY diminished Monday Night Football package (no flex schedule, no playoff games, no Super Bowls) as just pure schlock. I can't wait to watch their ratings go into the tank. If there's one thing in the world I loathe, it's FAKE HYPE. And that basically is all MNF (and for that matter most of ESPN's programming) is now.

Sundays on the other hand, should be grand. The two best tv sports announcers of their generation paired together on the same show Costas and Michaels, along with Madden and Collinsworth. Here in the BetBug offices, I think there will be some disension next year as to just what will be on the TV's late on Sundays during next years NFL season. I think Mr. Berman and the boys at Prime Time suddenly have some real competition.

Just Win Baby...?

Uh...didn't we see this picture before?

Art Shell
to be Raiders new Head Coach.

I suppose it could be worse (although not by much). Al could have hired Mike Martz. Raiders fans must be thanking their lucky stars that the haplessly lead (Hi Matt) Lions are still in the league.

CITIOUS ALTIOUS FORTIOUS

Enough already with the Witchunt on 99. Let's take a look at the tournament he is about to lead a team into. The Olympic Ice Hockey competition is not a dream team like coronation event. While Canada is the favourite, they are far from a sure thing. The Czechs with Hasek in net will be the main competition, but Sweden (even missing Naslund) with the Rangers all world rookie in goal, and Russia with the upfront power of Kovalchuck, Ovechkin, and Malkin and with probably Bryzgolov in net, will provide any team playing them a very stiff test.

BetBug's Olympic Ice Hockey Odds:

Canada +120
Czech +310
Sweden +500
Russia +650
Slovakia +1500
USA +1200

Smile Bill

The latest SI hits the stands today. And I have to say. As much as I didn't particularily care for the game, in retrospect I am rather glad to see Cowher get his ring. If for no other reason than so we might see the man actually smile.

Rick Tocchet

Do you know what my first reaction was upon seeing the stories about Rick Tocchet's new legal difficulties?

What the hell happened to his hair?

Illegal gambling. Rick, Rick, Rick, you dim witted moron. You could have been playing at www.BetBug.com and had nothing to worry about. But no, you had to go with the mob.

To quote Teddy KGB from Rounders..."BAD JUDGEMENT"

48th Grammy Awards

Ok, so first of all, who on Earth is Kanye West? And what does the fact that I have heard exactly ONE of the five nominees for Song of the Year mean?

Suddenly I have a feeling my 36 years are catching up to me.

At any rate, for those that have indeed heard of some of this music here are BetBug's Odds for Album, Record, and Song.

Btw, what the hell ever happened to Wham?

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

The Emancipation of Mimi +150
Late Registration +200
Love Angel Music Baby G +900
How To Dismantle an Atom Bomb +700
Chaoes and Creation in the Backyard +1800

RECORD OF THE YEAR

We Belong Together +100
Boulevard of Broken Dreams +300
Gold Digger +250
Hollaback Girl +1000
Fell Good Inc +1200

SONG OF THE YEAR

We Belong Together -130
Ordinary People +400
Bless The Broken Road +400
Devils and Dust +1200
Sometimes You Can't Make it on your Own +700

The Worst Day of the Year

Ah yes, Monday after the Super Bowl. Life as we know it, or at least as we would prefer to know it must now end for 6 months until pre-season.

The game was there for Seattle to take certainly. I would say Pittsburgh played the lesser of two mistake filled games. But the final score is the final score so hats of to Cower for finally getting his Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Just so long as Al Michaels ditches his ESPN deal for next year and signs to call the games on NBC along side Madden, I'll be happy. Not that I think either of them are at the top of their game any longer, but there are certainly many many worse. And the thought of having to listen to Joe Theisman on next year's Monday Night Football is just too much to bear. At least if Albino goes, there will be ZERO reason to watch Monday next year. BECAUSE, a little fyi here, Sunday nights are now the old Monday Nights. Flex schedule, better games to begin with and Super Bowls for NBC. What does ESPN get for their all new Monday Night Football. NOTHING. ZERO. Bad games (witness the usual drek that the old Sunday Night's got stuck with...and I don't mean Paul McGuire), no ability to switch off, and no playoffs.

Next year's Monday Night Football will be just one long hype fest for ESPN to promote whatever its latest horrid attempt at a reality tv show is.

Jump Albino. Jump long, jump hard, but jump.

Best Director

Ok, now where were we before being interrupted by that rather tasty dinner. Ah yes, the Oscars. So apparently the stupid Academy, having blown it a few years ago when they denied Ang Lee his Best Director award for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, are just bound and determined to make up for that slight by this year presenting him a "pity" best director nod, when his movie this time around is just some overheated tale about two funny boys and their 20 year unrequitedness (is that a word???). Basically just a piece of celluloid melodrama, better suited to an episode of Oprah than to the big screen.

Needless to say, I'm cheering for an upset in this one.

BetBug's Best Director Odds:

Ang Lee -1200
Steven Spielberg +1500
Bennett Miller +2500
Paul Haggis +3000
George Clooney +3000

The Major Wager Dinner

Last evening in Toronto, BetBug and Major Wager hosted a get-together for well over 20 posters from Major Wager and our BetBug crew.

It was a sincere pleasure to discover that not all posters on internet forums are of the same breed as that famous William Shatner quote from Saturday Night Live, "Get out of your parents basement!"

We had a great time, the steaks were delicious, and it was fun and intriguing to be able to put faces to names.

It everyone came away with at least a little better understanding of what it is we're attempting to do here at BetBug then the night was a success.

Our goal is, quite simply, to offer players value, legalitity, and security and to shift the paradigm of online sportsbetting by forever removing the terms "bookie" and "bookmaker" from the lexicon of sport wagering.

Hopefully a good time was had by all last evening and if anyone does want to speak to us further about anything related to BetBug , we're always available by email or phone at:

info@betbug.com
1-866-775-7791

Lastly, a special thanks to Russ (the Major) and Anthony (BetBug's founder) for putting on such a great event. Looking forward to the next one. Especially if we can convince a certain double initialed poster to attend. That alone would make the night.

I do love Fillet

Posting cancelled today on account of Russ and the Major Wager boys and one hell of a good dinner.

Best Actor and Actress

The NY Times called this years Academy Award nominees the worst in history. I am inclined to agree. They really are a rather desultry lot. However, just because the films were bad and the performances mediocre does not mean that you can't make some money off them!

BetBug's Best Actor Odds:

Philip Seymour Hoffman -500
Heath Ledger +600
Joaquin Phoenix +1500
David Strathairn +4000
Terrence Howard +4000

And on the Distaff side:

Reese Witherspoon -400 (this chick bothers me, too damned perky)
Felicity Huffmna +380
Judy Dench +5000 (the fact that she is in a thespian competition with our vapid favourite is certainly an insult to the acting ability of one of them...)
Keira Knightley +500
Charlize Theoron +5000