For the sports bettors

[Talking Poker]

Who do you work for, eddo? What do you do?

[eddo31]

currently i work for the cincinnati reds in baseball operations. there might be a change of positions/organizations in the near future, but for the time being i am in cincinnati.

i know that the risk of any type of sports betting coming back to bite me is small, but i dont really see the need to take any risks. especially seeing that my position puts me in direct daily contact with the manager and field staff, any sort of bets could put me in a very precarious position.

[Windbreaker]

Just make a friendly wager weather Pete Rose makes the hall of fame. That has nothing to do with sports

[eddo31]

i think i would rather put my money towards making sure that he stays out. that guy is a professional scumbag.

[omahilo]

interesting stuff indeed.

Peng is right... I was 'freerolling' coming into the MNF game since NYR had already cashed for me. The only problem was that I was cashing in on the rams after leading 17-0... I was counting the money and everything

I love to bet sports personally but I wont lie, I usually lose whatever I deposit.

I wish I could handicap a game... I do actually try to look at stats, trends, etc before placing a bet but Im sure there is more to it.

[Penguinfan]

Here's somewhere to start, stats are nice but they are only a means to an end. First thing you can do when handicapping football either NFL or NCAA is look at what the precieved better teams strength is and how the other team stands to deal with it.

Lets start to take apart the Pittsburgh/Cincy game since it was brought up in another thread:

Cincy's strenth is obviously Carson Palmers performance and Pittsburgh CERTAINLY has problems in it's secondary giving up just over 200 yards a game to the opposing QB's while Palmer is racking up over 25 yards a game! Right here I stop and think if I don't find something very positive about Pittsburgh I may have a play on Cincy.

Pittsburgh's strengh is it's running game and ability to control the clock. Pittsburgh averages almost 120 yards a game rushing while the Cincy defense is allowing almost as many, this presents a problem. The team that runs the best usually wins a game in the NFL. With the line being a virtual pickem at -1 for Cincy this game could honestly go either way.

Does Pittsburgh get an interception to kill a drive? Does Palmer pass for 300+ yards against a horrible secondary? How healthy is Rothleisberger? Too many variables for this game.

Honestly I looked at more than this, but even if you just look at the above you know this game is not playable and move on to the next game on the board looking for a play. Lots to choose from.

That is not to say that someone doesn't have another angle and plays Pittsburgh and gets the win, I just know what works for me.

Good luck.

[omahilo]

cool man thanks... never really thought about all that.

So lets say that the steelers only avg like 60 yds on the ground and the bengals only gave up 60 yds on the ground a game, would this push you towards cincy at all?

How lopsided do stats like this have to be in order for you to give action to one side or the other?

[omahilo]

You can say what you want about Pete Rose but the way he played the game was amazing, no one played harder than him.

Everytime you see him, hes sliding head first into 3rd or plowing over a catcher at home.

No one in todays game can come even close to playing the game as hard as he did.

I wish he would of admitted his problems along time ago and fixed his problems. If he would of did this he would easily be in the hall as of today because he was (still is) one of the most popular players because of the fact he was just a average joe who put himself on the line every single play of every single game.

[eddo31]

honestly, i have never put a lot of stock in the pete rose charlie hustle image. yeah, he looked like he played hard on every play, but he did a lot of unnecessary things on the field that are really false hustle and showmanship.

there are a ton of players out there that play the game just as hard as he did, and who have avsolutely maximized whatever talent they do have. david eckstein is at the top of that list for most people, but you also have to include guys like darin erstad, ryan freel, eric byrnes, and tons of others across the major leagues. most people dont realize the absolute dedication that it takes to make it to the major leagues and stay, because it is easy to look at some of the supremely talented individuals that play the game lackadaisically and think that talent can take you all the way to the major leagues (Andruw jones and manny ramirez come to mind for most). they dont see the behind the scenes work that these players put in to get to the level they are at. of course there are players that do not maximize their talent due to a poor work ethic, but there are far more players who make it to the majors and stay there because of their work habits and dedication.

my major problem with pete rose is that the public perception of him has never been equal to his actual abilities. he was a .303 hitter in the major leagues, which is a tremendous accomplishment dont get me wrong, but it is not the indication of one of the greatest hitters ever. he was a very good player, but the fact is he was never the best player on his own team, never mind the whole league. (i know that he won the 1973 mvp, but look at the seasons put up by willie stargell, joe morgan, bobby bonds, hank aaron and tony perez that year. rose pales in comparison) he should not be mentioned in the same breath as the true greats of the game, and that is even before his abhorrent actions off the field are taken into consideration.

just my 2 cents. (i think that you probably get an idea of how i feel living in a city that worships at his feet)

[omahilo]

I agree with you that he wasnt one of the greatest hitters ever and that he wasnt the best player on his own team but I still respect him as a player.

He won 3 gold gloves (I believe) and also has played 6 or 7 different positions throughout his career... He moved from 2B to 3B to make way for Joe Morgan, etc. He has done this several time and this show he is a teamer and wants to win.

He played 162 games a year just about every year of his career and having him on the field every single day also adds some value to him.

He also won 5 world series (3 with reds, 2 with phillies) and winning is what matters to me above everything else. You have tons of great players that put up tons of HRs, hit for well over .300 and dont have a WS to show for it. Im sure Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr and a few others had just alittle to do with the reds success but still, he was the guy who was always on for them to drive him in.

As for todays players I agree that Eckstein is the one of the best players in the league base on hustle. He plays great defense, runs out every ground ball, rarely strikes out, comes up with clutch hits everywhere. Ryan Freel is one of my personal favorite reds because he does alot of the same stuff as Eckstein does + He can play 3-4 different positions. Last year he had the webgem of the year at 2 different positions (CF and 3B).