Bart’s Best Bets: My Beef with College Basketball Scheduling

Man, what a great college basketball game UCLA v. Kentucky was last Saturday. Wait, you didn’t get to see it because you were watching Oklahoma State v. Oklahoma? Well certainly you got to watch the battle out west with Arizona and Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon! Oh, you didn’t see that one either because you were watching the SEC Championship game? I really shouldn’t be the one complaining, because I actually watched both basketball games while I streamed the football games on my iPad (Sweet brag about having an iPad and watching sports on it, bro). I’m not complaining for me, I’m complaining for the common sports fan, because I care about you guys!

I think everyone knows by now that college football runs the show when it comes to college sports, and it’s not even close. So why did they decide to schedule these great college basketball games on the day conference football championships are decided? Adolph Rupp and John Wooden are probably rolling over in their graves right now! Why didn’t they wait until this Saturday when there is only one college football game on all day? I figured the college basketball slate must be so jam packed this weekend that they couldn’t fit those two games in so they had to have them last weekend. False. Take a look at this Saturday’s matchups and find me ONE GAME better than the two played last Saturday. There are only 2 games in which both teams are ranked in the top 25. Honestly, there’s not really a game in that whole schedule that I really want to watch other than Nebraska @ Kansas and that could very well be a blood bath.

Look, I know that scheduling is a really hard thing to do, especially non-conference games, but you can’t give me a good enough reason as to why they played those games on CFB Conference Championship Saturday rather than Army v. Navy Saturday. I, like many other sports fans love college football and college basketball, don’t put us in a position where we have to choose between the two! College basketball schedulers, next time you’re lining up a great big non-conference opponent, maybe check the football schedule and use some common sense. That’s all I ask.

I hope I’m not the only person who got upset about this last Saturday, because if I am, I just wasted 3 minutes of my readers precious time. Alright, now on to the college football pick you have all been waiting for. Army vs. Navy, it’s go time!

Bart’s Best Bets: Week 15

Army vs. Navy: Navy (-6) and UNDER 47

This line started at Navy -11 and has worked itself all the way down to -6, and I completely understand why. Temple shut down Navy last weekend and cruised to an easy double digit victory. Navy also lost their starting quarterback for the season in the process. A bad loss and a impactful injury are never great news for a team, especially going into a rivalry game like this. Another reason the public is on Army is because they are well rested. They haven’t played a football game since November 19th. I don’t think that much rest is a good thing though. I buy into the theory that too much rest can be a bad thing. I believe this is a throw out the records kind of game, just like most rivalry games are. Each team is going to triple option each other to death and I think defense controls this game for the most part. This is a complete gut call, but I like Navy to win this one 24-17. For the record, I like the under 47 much more than Navy -6.

With only one football game on Saturday, what are all you sports fans going to do? It would be an absolute fantastic day to watch UCLA and Kentucky battle it out on the hardwood. Or maybe even Gonzaga v. Arizona. Oh well, I’ll be back on Sunday with a MNF Special. Have a great weekend!

NFL Week 14 Color Rush: Andy Reid’s Wife is too hot for him

I’ll admit I have a football addiction, I watch any terrible matchup the NFL rolls out on a week night just because I’m excited about a game during the week. I don’t proudly admit this but I watched 3 quarters of a Titans-Jaguars matchup one time on a Thursday night. Its not that I have a gambling problem, its just a football problem. The NFL is finally starting to thank fans everywhere for sitting through terrible Thursday matchups and rewarding us with a second straight great Thursday matchup, The 10-2 Las Vegas Oakland Raiders vs the 9-3 Kansas City Chiefs.

I hate the TV show King of Queens and have hated it ever since it came out. I don’t hate it cause its a pointless show that isn’t funny, I hate it cause I could never get over the fact that as a viewer I’m supposed to believe that Paul Blart is married to that hot chick.

I mean C’MON MAN how stupid is the American television viewer that they kept this show on the air for almost 10 years?! If at any point I tried to watch an episode of that show I wouldn’t be able to focus on what was going on cause I couldn’t get over the fact that he was married to her. That is sort of the same way I felt when I saw Andy Reid’s wife for the first time.

Now Tammy Reid is no Mrs. Bret Bielema (even more of a head scratcher how that douche with a faux hawk was able to land that hard 10.) but Tammy Reid is a very pretty lady especially considering that she is almost 60!! Regardless of how she looks why would any human woman with a pulse be married to the fat, mustached, human version of the kool aid man?

The fact that Andy Reid clearly out kicked his coverage when it comes to his wife can only mean one thing: this man has an extreme amount of self confidence. BartSauce and I like to refer to this as “the Cardale Jones Theory” (which we will elaborate on in a later blog.) Even though his wife is clearly more attractive than him, he married her anyway; and even though his team ranks 29th in total defense entering week 14 they are 9-3 and finding crazy ways to win games. Kansas City has won games this year in ways I didn’t think were possible especially on the road at Carolina, Denver, and last Sunday in Atlanta. The only explanation could be the team has taken on the identity of their head coach. Even though they look in the mirror and they are fat, bald, and have the world’s creepiest mustache; they still go out and play like they look like Channing Tatum.

My Thursday Night Color Rush Pick: Raiders +3.5 over Chiefs

This Thursday Kansas City’s fake confidence gets exposed against a real Super Bowl contender, the future Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders come into KC on a 6 game winning streak and haven’t lost a game since October 16 when they lost at home to the Chiefs. The fact that the Chiefs beat the Raiders earlier this season will scare off some people but for whatever weird reason the Raiders are actually playing better on the road than at home this season. As for the Chiefs, they have not done their part covering the spread as a home favorite this year. 5 times this season KC has been a home favorite and they are only 1-4 ATS. The Raiders on the other had are 3-0 as a road underdog and that is straight up and ATS! Say no more I’m taking ~~Las Vegas~~ Oakland’s glove buddies Derek Carr and Jack Del Rio to cover over Kansas City and Paul Blart/Kool aid man Andy Reid. I will be back Sunday with my full slate of Week 14 NFL picks.

Research is OVERrated

Have you ever studied for a test so much that when it came time for the test you actually forgot everything and ended up failing the thing? I feel like that was me this weekend. I did so much research and number crunching this week in efforts to give my readers the best picks possible, and it completely came back to bite me. I studied all week, and then when it came to take the test Friday and Saturday, it all blew up in my face. I should have known that even though Western Michigan is a good football team and PJ Fleck is an incredible coach, they weren’t going to beat a good Ohio team by 19. Colorado never had a chance. I will never forgive the Troy football program for what they put me through yesterday. Picking West Virginia was completely my fault, Big 12 Football is so unpredictable it’s stupid. I know that Wisconsin and Penn State have great defenses but betting the under was OVER before it started.

I don’t want to be completely negative though. Temple, Alabama, and Clemson/VT really came through yesterday. I want to congratulate the Temple Owls for finishing the regular season at an astonishing 11-1 against the spread. That’s incredibly impressive and I’m upset they don’t get a trophy or something for that (seriously, someone should look into that).

This isn’t going to be a very long post because I promised my wife that I would put up the Christmas lights on the house this afternoon (happy wife, happy life. I think my dad said that once, or maybe it was Jim Harbaugh). I just wanted to reflect a little bit on the lesson I learned this week: Too much studying can be counterproductive. Sometimes you just need to go with your gut instinct, and I will be doing just that the rest of the way. Ok that’s false, I’ll be doing research, I just won’t go to three different weather websites to research the December 3rd forecast for Laramie, Wyoming anymore.

I do want to thank you guys for reading Double COVERage this week. My picks might not have been so great, but my dude Holst is still on fire! Since the handful of readers were so great this week (and we hope you continue reading, because this is kind of fun), I’m going to do a Monday Night Football Special Pick (with very little research). I’m officially done ranting, here’s my pick.

Bart’s Monday Night Special

Indianapolis Colts at New York Jets: Colts (-2)

HELLO! The Jets are not a good football team, and I’m pretty sure they quit playing to win the game in about week 3. On the other hand, the Colts are getting Andrew Luck back this week and have had a nice break since Thanksgiving to rest up and get healthy. With a win, the Colts would have a share of the lead in the terrible AFC South.

Bottom line: The Jets are really bad at the game they get paid to play/coach. The Colts aren’t a whole lot better, but they have their playoff lives to play for and Andrew Luck is the definition of a gamer. Give me the Colts, and I don’t think it’s really even close.

NFL Sunday Week 13: I’m taking a knee in protest of the Bears-Niners game

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 13th straight week, Welcome to NFL Sunday.

This Sunday we have a critical matchup featuring 2 dumpster fire franchises, both starting backup QBs. The 1-10 49ers vs. the 2-9 Chicago Bears. Why is this garbage matchup so important? 5 months from now one of these teams will get to draft ahead of the other if they lose this game. The Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas has this game as a Pick ’em and even Vegas knows neither team wants to win this game.

What do Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson all have in common? None of them were ever a backup Quarterback. This season it seems everyone from President Obama to my Grandmother at Thanksgiving dinner has had an opinion on Colin Kaepernick and I’ve seen something in common, none of their opinions mention his team has won 1 game all year and he didn’t even start in that game because he was a backup. Regardless of how you feel politically we can all agree that men like Ali, Owens, and Robinson had people listening to what they said politically off the field because of how good they were on the field. If Kaepernick wants people to take his political views seriously start with winning a game, then he should make headlines for something other than being benched or what kind of socks he’s wearing. Another part of Kaepernick’s problem is he is being coached by future college football coach Chip Kelly. I don’t really have a good reason for disliking Chip Kelly, I could say he’s racist, he’s bad at his job, he’s never really won, but my real reason for disliking him is he looks like a guy who couldn’t tell you the last time he saw a treadmill but probably has half the cheesecake factory menu memorized.

The other side of the field we have the Bears who have turned into a classic light bulb franchise, as in ‘how many Bears fans does it take to change a light blub, none they just sit around and talk about how good the light bulb was in 1985.’ Part of the reason for this development is investing 126 million dollars into a Quarterback who’s resting facial expression is that of a man waiting in line at the DMV.

The collection of awfulness that will be on display in Chicago Sunday has led to one conclusion: I am taking a knee in protest of the Bears-Niners Game. For the first 10 minutes of my NFL Sunday, a time I usually spend meditating to get in a zen state of mind before gametime, I will be taking a knee to protest that fact that the fascist dictator known as Roger Goodell will allow this game to be played. I wouldn’t suggest that my worst enemy even spend a minute of their time watching soccer but for this Sunday if you choose to watch a barnburning 1-1 soccer draw over this game I understand, I’m not saying you should but I understand.

NFL WEEK 13 PICKS

All lines are from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Ravens -3.5 over Dolphins

Lions +6 over Saints

Bucs +3.5 over Chargers

Ravens -3.5 over the Dolphins

No one knows it yet but the Ravens are the best team in the AFC North. The Ravens are 4-2 ATS at home this season and are 3-0 ATS in their last 3 as a home favorite. One reason to love about the Ravens as less than a TD favorite is they have Justin Tucker who is the best kicker in the league and the closest example we have for a kicker having swag. The Dolphins on the other hand have won 6 games in row and why would anyone gamble against a team this hot. Just like the Cowboys on Thursday, the Dolphins are about to come back down to earth, no team in the NFL stays hot forever, especially when their QB is Ryan Tannehill and they are going against a good defense on the road. I like the Ravens big in this one.

Lions +6 over Saints

Tough pick to make cause 1. I am totally biased against the Saints and hate them more than anything and 2. The Saints have played really well at home, but having said that I LOVE the Lions getting +6 this week. Detroit played on Thanksgiving and get the extra 3 days rest but more importantly every Lions game this season has been decided by 7 points or less. The Lions may not win but they will keep it close.

Bucs +3.5 over Chargers

Tampa Bay has been on fire the last 3 weeks with impressive wins over future playoff chokers Kansas City and Seattle. Their defense has been solid allowing only 10 PPG during their win streak and Jameis Winston looks like he’s come a long was from stealing seafood and standing on tables yelling obscenities in college. The real star in Tampa however is Mike Evans, this dude is a beast and it just shows how stupid everyone is that he was over shadowed by Johnny Manziel in college and now Jameis in the NFL. Evans is the best receiver in the NFC not named Julio or Odell and he deserves more credit for Tampa’s success. Bucs should be able to win out right in the Whale’s Vagina but if not they will at least cover.

Teaser of the week:

Jags +10.5 over Broncos

Seahawks PK over Panthers

Bills +10 over Raiders

Jags are not a good team at all but they have a decent record of 5-6 ATS this season and Blake Bortles is the master of the Garbage time TD. I like them to stay close to the Broncos at home since Denver is starting a Rookie QB. Member when the Panthers were gonna dominate the NFC for the next 5 years? Oh I Member! Carolina sucks again and Seattle doesn’t lose at home. For as good as the Raiders have been this year they have not beat a anyone at home by more than 10 points. I like Rex and the Bills to keep it within single digits at the black hole.

Shootout of the week:

Giants-Steelers over 48

Ben vs Eli, AB vs Odell, Bell vs whoever the hell the giants RB is. Nothing about this game makes you think either team is gonna stop the other. Sunday afternoon game of the week is gonna be a fun one with lots of points, 31-24 somebody. either way its going over.

NFL Week 13 Color Rush: Blair Walsh causes alcoholism

I’m sick and tired of hearing people complain about Thursday Night Football. ‘the games aren’t competitive’ ‘the matchups are terrible’ ‘I can’t watch Thursday night because Grey’s Anatomy is on’ If you have ever said any of the previous phrases I invite you to move to Russia, no Thursday night football in Russia. Now this week there are no college Thursday games which is incredibly sad that college football is almost over but good news is we have a great matchup of 10-1 Dallas vs. 6-5 Minnesota

Here’s how this is going to work, I am going to give my reasoning first then make a pick at the end for who is going to COVER.

My man Bartsauce and I took a trip to Minnesota two years ago to watch a Vikings game and I noticed a few things about that state.

Minneapolis is easily the most annoying place to watch an NFL game as an opposing fan. For those of you that don’t know the Vikings have a fight song, sort of the same way that mediocre high school teams have a fight song. The Vikings play their fight song for everything; first downs, field goals, touchdowns, and in case none of those things happen for them (when your QB is Sam Bradford sometimes you go games without seeing FD, FGs or TDs) they play the song every timeout, quarter or halftime. The song is bottom line a top 5 worst song of all time, right up there with call me maybe, what does the fox say, or anything by Miley Cyrus. I would be surprised if the song was invented by governments to torture prisoners but was determined to be cruel and unusual punishment. I swear I still have nightmares where I’m trapped in a small room with no windows and no doors and nothing but the Vikings fight song playing on a loop, now that is a living hell. On top of being the only team in the world of professional sports with a fight song they also sound a loud Viking horn every time something happens in the game to make sure no one forgets what their mascot is. (note: Vikings wearing horns is not historically accurate and any first year history student could tell you that but no one seemed to tell the good people of Minnesota.)
People in Minnesota like to drink, a lot. Now American traditions are part of what makes this country great and the people of Minnesota love great American traditions; such as voting, standing for the national anthem, or the right to beat your child with a switch. But one of my favorite traditions is having a few adult beverages and watching a football game and the people of Minnesota take this to a whole other level. The good people of Minnesota prepare for a football game the way civil war soldiers would prepare to have have a limb amputated; drink until you can’t feel anything. Bart and I realized the drinking did not stop from Saturday night to the afternoon kickoff at 3:00 Sunday. We went to a bar near the stadium around 11 AM Sunday to eat before the game and the place was standing room only and had a line to get in. During the game was even more impressive when we watched people slamming Miller High Life tall boys for $9 a piece like it was water. Nothing special about seeing people drink at a sporting event but the level at which Minnesota does it is truly impressive.

These two observations led me to one conclusion: Blair Walsh causes alcoholism.

Losing a home playoff game because your kicker misses a 30 yard field goal may be the single most depressing tragedy anyone can go through. After 2 years I’ve finally realized why Vikings fans feel the need to get so drunk that singing the world’s most annoying song 600 times during a game sounds fun, their kickers made them do it. First it was Gary Anderson in the ’98 NFC championship game and more recently it was Blair Walsh. This lack of clutch kicking has turned the beautiful state of Minnesota into the most alcoholic state in the union (maybe, i didn’t fact check that). At last all is well with the Vikings because 2 weeks ago they cut Blair Walsh and are now prepared to not blow another playoff game (because they won’t make the playoffs).

My Thursday Night Color Rush Pick: Vikings +3.5 over Cowboys

Cutting your POS kicker doesn’t only help your fan base cut down on alcoholism but it also helps you cover spreads when you’re getting a field goal and a hook at home. Gambling on Sam Bradford is like eating dog food, there is no real benefit to doing it and no human should ever do it, but somehow ol’ Sammy Sleeves is 4-1 at home ATS as a Viking. However this pick has nothing to do with the Vikings, this is about TNF and the Dallas Cowboys. Home teams on Thursday night have gone 8-3 this season ATS. As for the Cowboys they are an astonishing 9-1-1 ATS this season and 10-1 straight up. If this were college I would be all over Dallas for the rest of the season but in Pro football no team ever ends the season with only 1 loss against the spread. Teams are too good, competition studies film and catches onto schemes, and sportsbooks always end up getting ATS records as close to .500 as possible. The Vikings will keep this game close and maybe their fans won’t need to drink their way through the rest of the season. (their QB is Sam Bradford, so yeah they probably will)

Bart’s Best Bets: The Beginning

This is my first blog post, so be prepared for an absolute nightmare. This wasn’t my idea either, my awesome wife Kaylee basically got tired of hearing me rant about sports to her everyday, so she told me that I should start a blog (Basically her way of telling me she doesn’t care about any of it). So if this thing is a complete dumpster fire, it’s completely on me, but if it succeeds with flying colors, then she gets all the credit (For those of you who aren’t married, that’s how marriage works, so deal with it). I also want to give credit to Barstool Sports for inspiring me (a common man) to write about sports topics that only a select few (other common men) actually care about. If you haven’t read or heard any of their stuff, check them out at barstoolsports.com.

I’m not going to spend much time introducing myself, because if you are reading this first post, it’s probably because you’re my friend and I’m forcing you to read it, and/or bribing you with beer. I’m a high school math teacher during the week (It’s not as bad as it sounds, I actually really enjoy it), and I’m a professional sports fanatic on the weekends.

I like to think I’ve done pretty well with College Football this year, but NFL has been terrible, so I’ll try to just stick with CFB for now, but if there’s an obvious NFL bet out there, I’ll be sure to let you know about it (Those usually don’t exist). My main man Holst (He lives in Vegas, so he’s kind of a big deal) will be taking care of the NFL picks on this blog, because he’s right up there with Larry the Goldfish when it comes to picking NFL games.

I wish I would have been doing this at the start of the season, but for some reason my wife put up with me talking to her about it for a whole 13 weeks. God bless her soul! So here goes nothing; my picks for College Football Week 14. Bet my picks, fade my picks, or completely ignore my picks, doesn’t really matter to me. I’m just some random dude living in SW Nebraska with a blog. Just remember, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot!

College Football: Week 14

Western Michigan vs. Ohio: Western Michigan (-19)

I know 19 is a large number that a lot of people might be afraid of, but don’t let that scare you away. This team is legitimate and have a 9-3 record ATS compared to Ohio’s 6-6 record. I think WMU is a little salty about just being 17th in the CFP Rankings. They also have a New Years Six Bowl appearance at stake. I could go on and on with why Western Michigan will cover, but I’ll stop here. Western Michigan will “Row the Boat” in this one, all the way to the Cotton Bowl!

Colorado vs. Washington: Colorado (+7.5)

If there’s one thing I love more than my wife, it’s a nice half point hook. Colorado is the 2nd best team ATS this year at 10-2. I fell in love with them around week 4 and haven’t wavered yet. They are also kind of a fun football team to watch, and that’s saying a lot coming from a loyal Nebraska fan. Colorado hasn’t beat Washington in their last six games, but those teams aren’t this Colorado team. I think this will be a close game that will come down to the last possession. Washington will probably win, but they won’t win by more than 7. Word of advise: When given a good looking hook, take it!

Temple vs. Navy: Temple (+3)

Temple is the best kept secret in college football. Why do you ask? BECAUSE THEY’RE 11-1 AGAINST THE SPREAD! That’s why. I didn’t figure this out until last week and I’m so mad about it. Oh yeah, and their getting 3 points against a Navy team I really don’t know much about. All I know about Navy is that they are a public team which means a lot of people are betting Navy because they don’t know any better. I could see Temple winning this thing outright, so give me three points all day long.

Troy vs. Georgia Southern: Troy (-7)

I’m going to go ahead and blame this pick on brother Joe. He told me about these guys in like week three and I’ve been riding them ever since. They’re only 6-5 ATS so it’s been a bumpy road, but a fun one nonetheless. Their also playing a Georgia Southern team who is a Sun Belt worst 2-9 ATS. Don’t really know why Troy is only favored by 7 points; Vegas probably knows something I don’t, but I’ve been on this train for too long, and I’m not getting off anytime soon. Go Trojans!

Wisconsin vs. Penn State: Wisconsin (-2.5)

Not going to do a whole lot of explaining with this one, because I think Big Cat from Pardon My Take said it well when he predicted that the CFB Playoff Committee will rig this game in favor of Wisconsin because having to make a decision on Penn State is their worst nightmare. I’m not a conspiracy guy, I’m more of a connect the dots guy, and there are a lot of dots out there. Also, that was my plug for Pardon My Take. If you haven’t listened to the PMT podcast, quit depriving yourself of the awesomeness and subscribe to them on iTunes.

Alabama vs. Florida: OVER 40.5

I really like the total at 40.5 here. I’ve watched Florida a few too many times this year and I’ve found out one thing: THEY CAN’T SCORE THE BALL! Usually that would scare me away from the over, but their playing Alabama and Nick Saban doesn’t have a heart when it comes to blowing teams out. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bama wins this thing 50-3.

Baylor @ West Virginia: West Virginia (-17)

This is probably the game I know least about. What I do know is that Baylor has lost their last five games straight up and ATS. Their starting quarterback is out for the season, and they really don’t have a whole lot to play for. Oh yeah, I think they might be allergic to defense as well. Combine all that with West Virginia playing at home and I think we have ourselves a nice blowout.

SDSU @ Wyoming: OVER 62

Here’s a nice little tidbit to put in your pocket: SDSU has gone over in their last five games, and Wyoming has gone over in 7 of their last 8 games. Put that together with two bad defenses and two above average running backs and I think we have ourselves a classic old west shootout (running back style).

Clemson vs. Virginia Tech: OVER 58

The ACC is a basketball conference through and through, and their football scores reflect that also (sometimes more than their basketball scores). I haven’t watched a whole lot of either team, but Oddshark has this game ending with a total of 73.4. I’m not a stats guy (more of a sabermetrics guy) but that’s a lot more points than 58. Over seems like the pick here.

Wisconsin vs. Penn State UNDER 48

Ahhhhh, last one. You may be a crazy person if you’re still reading this, but I really appreciate it. Fortunately for you, I saved my favorite pick for last. Wisconsin and Penn State both have hit the over the past few weeks, but that’s because they’ve been playing bottom of the barrel Big Ten teams. When these two teams have met up with upper half Big Ten teams, the scores have been relatively low. Both these teams rely on their dynamite defenses and that doesn’t change in this one. I honestly think this game could end up being 14-7 with three defense touchdowns. This is my favorite bet of the week by far, what could go wrong?