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**Udog** · 09-07-2018, 12:46 AM

Armadillo: Friday's six-pack

From ESPN, six notable wagers in sports books (LV or NJ) on teams to win the Super Bowl:

• $12,000 on Falcons 22-1. Net win: $264K

• $10,000 on Raiders 20-1. Net win: $200K

• $5,000 on Lions 40-1. Net win: $200K

• $4,000 on Titans 50-1. Net win: $200K

• $1,000 on Jets 100-1. Net win: $100K

• $1,000 on Browns 100-1. Net win: $100K

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Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: Random stuff with weekend almost here

13) Pat O’Hara is the Tennessee Titans’ QB coach; maybe you’ve never heard of him, but chances are, you’ve seen him in the movies or watched him play ball on TV. More likely the movies.

O’Hara’s resume:
1987-90— Played (backup) QB at USC; he was Todd Marinovich’s backup
1991— Backup QB for the Buccaneers
1992— Played for Ohio Glory in the WLAF
1992— Backup QB for the Chargers.
1995-2000— QB for Orlando Predators in the Arena League
2001-02— QB for Toronto Phantoms in the Arena League
2003-06— QB for Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena League.

Since his playing days ended (he was on three Arena Bowl champs), O’Hara has been head coach of four different Arena League teams, and for the last three years, was an assistant coach with the Houston Texans. Now he is with the Titans.

Despite all that, here’s where you’re most likely to have seen Pat O’Hara; he has appeared in five movies; he was Tyler Cherubini in Any Given Sunday, the backup QB who got hurt, which put third-stringer Willie Beamon (Jamie Foxx) into the game.

O’Hara has also been the football consultant on 13 different Hollywood movies, including The Waterboy, Invincible and the remake of The Longest Yard. Interesting career.

12) Monday night in Los Angeles, Mets’ 3B Todd Frazier dove into the stands to try and make a catch— when he produced a baseball to the umpire, the batter was called out, but in the video, you can see a woman pointing to something on the ground.

Turns out she was pointing to the ball that Frazier didn’t catch; the ball Frazier shows the ump was a rubber baseball that was in a bag that Frazier landed on when he dove into the stands.

Weird thing about this is that is was the Mets’ TV crew that uncovered this mistake. Makes the umpires look bad. You wonder if a rule change will result from this, as far as umpires being more aggressive in making sure the player actually caught the ball.

11) Fantasy baseball is usually fun; except when your team gets eliminated from the playoffs, which mine did 10 days ago, mostly because Jose Abreu needed emergency abdominal surgery, and played in only one game that week. Not good.

Turns out the surgery was for “testicular torsion” which involves twisting of the spermatic cord, which has the effect of reducing blood flow to the affected testicle. Ouch.

From Abreu: “It was one of my testicles turned sideways and was strangled. The doctor had to perform emergency surgery to save it. I never thought about it, but it was serious. The doctors they did a very good job and everything is good. They saved the testicle. I’m really glad and thankful like I said before for all the people who helped me and who were there for me. I feel very grateful right now.”

Thankfully he is OK, but why doesn’t stuff like this happen in the offseason?

10) Houston Texans have a different starting QB for the 6th year in a row- DeShaun Watson. The previous five?

Tom Savage, Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Schaub.

9) In the last 50 years, there has been only one QB taken in the first round of the NFL Draft who never started a game for the team that drafted him.

Rich Campbell went to college at Cal, wound up lasting four years in the NFL, all with Green Bay (1981-84)— he appeared in seven games, completed 31-68 passes for 3 TD’s, 9 INT’s.

8) Former NFL QB Jay Cutler is a bit player on the reality show Very Cavallari that is on the E! Channel and stars his wife Kristin, a fashion designer who has been on other reality shows and has had small roles in movies.

Cutler has a dry sense of humor; you can see why CBS was going to hire him to analyze NFL games LY before he made a comeback (for $10M) with the Dolphins last year.

7) ESPN’s field mikes are cranked up so loud for Sunday Night Baseball; every time a guy hits a medium fly ball it sounds like a clap of thunder that could wipe out a small city.

6) Baseball oddity; Tuesday night, Marlins walked Phillies’ SS Mike Kingery intentionally his first time up, to get to the pitcher. Next time thru the lineup, they walked Cesar Hernandez on purpose, to get to Kingery. I’m betting that doesn’t happen very often.

5) From ESPN.com:

Over last 15 regular seasons, NFL favorites are 1,859-1,860-11 against the spread
During that time, over is 1,890-1,886-64.
Thursday NFL games; since 2003, favorites are 97-66-5 vs spread.

Looking at odds to win the Super Bowl, defending champ Eagles have the 10th-lowest odds. Not a lot of respect there.

4) RIP Burt Reynolds, 82, one of the biggest TV/movie stars of the 70’s/80’s. My favorite movie of his is the original The Longest Yard.

Back in the day, Reynolds was a running back at Florida State when the QB was Lee Corso; what a combo those two must have been. Bet they had a ton of fun.

RIP, sir.

3) Geno Crandall, a two-time all-Big Sky Conference guard at North Dakota, announced that he would be graduating over the summer, transferring to Gonzaga for his final year of eligibility.

One small problem; Crandall hasn’t graduated from North Dakota yet. To be a graduate transfer, you actually have to graduate.

If it takes him an extra semester to graduate from North Dakota, he could still bolt after the first semester and play for the Zags in the second semester. Crandall scored 28 points in a game for North Dakota AGAINST Gonzaga last season- he scored 16.6 ppg LY.

2) If you don’t think the NFL is still the king of American sports, consider this; in the heat of the baseball pennant race, with Falcons-Eagles the NFL opener Thursday, only four major league games were scheduled. Four out of a possible 15.

1) 2018 major league payrolls:
— Boston $233,752,429
— LA Dodgers $187,318,213
— Bronx $166,111,632
— Oakland $65,985,833

Go figure.

**Udog** · 09-07-2018, 12:47 AM

WNBA Finals Cheat Sheet

The 2018 WNBA Finals will begin on Friday Sept. 7 as the Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics meet in a best-of-five series.

Oddsmakers opened the Storm as minus-265 favorites (Bet $100 to win $37) to win the series while the Mystics have a return of plus-210 (Bet $100 to win $210).

Finals Schedule
Game 1 – Washington at Seattle (Friday, Sept. 7, 9:00 p.m. ET)
Game 2 – Washington at Seattle (Sunday, Sept. 9, 3:30 p.m. ET)
Game 3 – Seattle at Washington (Wednesday, Sept. 12, 8:00 p.m. ET)
Game 4 – Seattle at Washington (Friday, Sept. 14, 8:00 p.m. ET)
Game 5 – Washington at Seattle (Sunday, Sept. 16, 8:00 p.m. ET)

(Straight Up – SU, Against the Spread – ATS, Over-Under – O/U)

(1) Seattle vs. (3) Washington

Regular Season Meetings
May 29 – Seattle (-7) 81 vs. Washington 77 (Under 163)
July 8 – Seattle (-6) 91 vs. Washington 91 (Over 171.5)
Aug. 9 – Washington (-1) 100 vs. Seattle 77 (Over 172)

Playoff Form

-- Washington clobbered Los Angeles 96-64 in its second-round elimination game, easily cashing as a 4 ½-point home favorite.

-- In the semifinals, the Mystics defeated the Dream in five games. Washington went 1-1 at home and 2-1 on the road in the series. The ‘over’ went 2-1.

-- Seattle avoided the first and second round and was the highest overall seed in this year’s playoffs.

-- The Storm defeated the Mercury in five games as well.

-- Seattle lost both of its trips to Phoenix, a 20-point decision and a two-point setback.

-- At home, the club went 3-0 but failed to cover the spread (-6.5, -5.5) in a pair of identical 91-87 outcomes in Game’s 1 and 2.

-- The ‘under’ went 3-2.

ATS Numbers

-- Seattle owns a 23-15-1 ATS mark this season.

-- At home, the Storm went 8-8-1 versus the number. Seattle was a very sound investment on the road, going 14-5 ATS.

-- The Storm has gone 13-11 ATS versus teams above .500 this season.

-- Seattle was only listed as an underdog nine times and it went 5-4 ATS.

-- Including the playoffs, Washington has gone 22-16-1 ATS this season.

-- The Mystics weren’t as great at home versus the number (9-10) but they managed to turn a profit on the road with an 13-6-1 ATS mark.

-- As an underdog, Washington went 8-5 ATS.

-- Washington has gone 13-10 vs. clubs above .500 but they were better on the road (8-5) than at home (4-4) in those games.

-- Game 2 will be played in the afternoon and possibly Game 4. The Mystics are 8-5-1 ATS in day time games while the Storm are 7-5-1 ATS.

Total Talk

-- Washington watched the ‘under’ go 20-19 this season.

-- The Mystics saw the ‘under’ go 10-9 at home while the results were a stalemate (10-10) on the road.

-- Seattle has leaned slightly to the ‘over’ (20-18) in the regular season.

-- The ‘under’ produced a slight 10-9 edge in the Emerald City while the ’over’ posted an 11-8 mark on the road.

Stats to Watch

-- Seattle led the league in field goal percentage (46.8%) and was second in offensive scoring at 87.6 PPG.

-- Phoenix was ranked fourth in scoring offense (85.8 PPG).

-- Seattle only surrendered 79.7 PPG and they were ranked second in free throw attempts allowed (15.9).

-- The Storm (24) was ranked first in the WNBA in 3-point attempts per game and it also led the league in trey made per game with 9.

-- Washington allowed 81.4 PPG on the season.

-- The Mystics are shooting 85.8 percent from the free throw line, the best mark in the WNBA.

**Udog** · 09-07-2018, 12:47 AM

WNBA
Dunkel

Friday, September 7

Washington @ Seattle

Game 613-614
September 7, 2018 @ 9:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
113.106
Seattle
119.862
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Seattle
by 7
164
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Seattle
by 5
168
Dunkel Pick:
Seattle
(-5); Over

WNBA
Long Sheet

Friday, September 7

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WASHINGTON (25 - 14) at SEATTLE (29 - 10) - 9/7/2018, 9:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 9-19 ATS (-11.9 Units) as an underdog over the last 2 seasons.
WASHINGTON is 188-242 ATS (-78.2 Units) after a division game since 1997.
SEATTLE is 16-8 ATS (+7.2 Units) after allowing 75 points or more this season.
SEATTLE is 14-6 ATS (+7.4 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 77+ points/game after 15+ games this season.
SEATTLE is 3-12 ATS (-10.2 Units) in home games after a win by 10 points or more over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
WASHINGTON is 5-3 against the spread versus SEATTLE over the last 3 seasons
SEATTLE is 5-4 straight up against WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
5 of 9 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Friday, September 7

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Trend Report
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Washington Mystics
Washington is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games
Washington is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 6 games on the road
Washington is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Seattle
Washington is 6-13 SU in its last 19 games when playing Seattle
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Seattle
Washington is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Seattle
Washington is 1-14 SU in its last 15 games when playing on the road against Seattle
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Washington's last 19 games when playing on the road against Seattle
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 6 games when playing on the road against Seattle
Seattle Storm
Seattle is 17-7 ATS in its last 24 games
Seattle is 19-5 SU in its last 24 games
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Seattle is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Seattle is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games when playing Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Seattle's last 5 games when playing Washington
Seattle is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Washington
Seattle is 14-1 SU in its last 15 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Seattle's last 19 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Seattle's last 6 games when playing at home against Washington

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Announcement

Friday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 9/7

Friday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 9/7

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