2023 Kentucky Derby Horse Numbers: Post Positions and Expert Analysis
by Robert Ferringo - 5/4/2023

The post draw is a critical feature of the Kentucky Derby. It isn’t definitive and doesn’t always trump talent. However, the post draw does have an impact on how horses are expected to run and is factored into the Kentucky Derby morning line odds. The horses in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots can get pushed against the rail and caught in traffic. The horses posted No. 16 and wider will avoid the early race crush but will be forced to run a longer race.

NFL Draft Grades 2023
by Robert Ferringo - 5/1/2023

NFL draft grades are tricky because you can never really tell how a class is going to shake out until four or five years down the road. But I am grading teams based on how they did with the information they had in the here and now. So, with that in mind, here are my 2023 NFL Draft grades:

2023 March Madness Bracket Predictions: Midwest Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/15/2023

I think that the East Region is the most unpredictable bracket in the NCAA tournament this year. There are a lot of big-name programs that are just begging to break hearts and get laughed out of The Dance with ignominious exits. The Midwest Region isn’t far behind, though, if you are looking for a section of the bracket that is likely to unleash the insanity into this March Madness tournament.

2023 March Madness Bracket Predictions: East Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/15/2023

If you are hunting for a portion of the NCAA Tournament bracket that is most likely to descend into pure chaos, I say look no further than the East Region. The East is by far the shakiest group of teams in the field, with massive overachievers (Marquette and Kansas State), surrounded by massive underachievers (Tennessee, Duke, and Kentucky), with plenty of landmines (Florida Atlantic, Oral Roberts, Louisiana) sprinkled in.

2023 ACC Tournament Predictions with Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/7/2023

The ACC Tournament has historically been one of the marquee events of Championship Week. The league championship usually showcases National Championship contenders, Hall of Fame coaches, future NBA stars, and a host of NCAA Tournament-caliber teams fighting for bids. That isn’t really the case this year. The ACC is having one of its worst seasons in decades.

2023 Big 12 Tournament Predictions with Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/7/2023

At one point this season, there was talk about whether or not all 10 teams in the Big 12 would make the NCAA Tournament. Things didn’t shake out that way. Six teams should feel secure about their prospects for The Big Dance, and maybe one or two more could play their way in with some magic in this week’s league tournament.

How to Bet Spring Training Baseball: Don’t Do It
by Robert Ferringo - 3/2/2023

When I tell people that NFL Preseason betting can be a great source of early season value, they usually look at me with an expression that is a mix of shock and horror. I can actually see the thought bubble with the word, “DEGENERATE” forming above their heads.

2023 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 3/1/2023

It isn’t always pretty basketball, but the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament always comes through when you are looking for drama and emotion. This tournament, which has its championship game this coming Sunday, really tips off the start of March Madness and hammers home the reality facing every team in the country over the next month: if you lose, your season may be over.

College Basketball Betting Advice: Betting on Bubble Teams
by Robert Ferringo - 2/22/2023

For the uninitiated, a “bubble team” is a college basketball team that is on the fringe of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Because the criteria for selection into the tournament is subjective, there is no real way of knowing who is in and who is out heading down the stretch. This isn’t like, say, the race for the playoffs in MLB or NBA, where a team’s record is the sole determination of who makes the postseason and who doesn’t.

2023 Super Bowl Outlook: Old vs. New as Eagles Will Use Brute Strength on Sunday
by Robert Ferringo - 2/10/2023

The Chiefs are hoping to create a dynasty. They won Super Bowl LIV just three short years ago, and this is their third trip to the championship game in four years. That title in 2020 was first championship for both quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid. It was supposed to harken the beginning of the league’s next dynasty.

2023 Super Bowl Handicapping and Betting Advice
by Robert Ferringo - 2/10/2023

I am usually the Super Bowl Grinch. Every year, just about everyone I know shoots me a text or an e-mail in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl with the same question: “Who is going to win?” With rare exception my answer is usually the same: “How the hell should I know? I’m not a fortuneteller! You shouldn’t be betting big on the Super Bowl anyway!”

Tips for Betting Super Bowl Props 2023
by Robert Ferringo - 2/8/2023

The Super Bowl is the apex sports spectacle. It isn’t an event as much as a living, breathing testament to the gaudiness and hypocrisy of American Exceptionalism. It is through this vessel that we, Citizens of This Great Nation, exercise our right to excessive drinking, gambling, and feasting around the spectacle of some good, old-fashioned, state-sanctioned violence.

NFL Power Rankings Week 18
by Robert Ferringo - 1/3/2023

The last thing you need is another hot take on the Damar Hamlin situation. I’m not trying to ignore the biggest story in football right now. But I’m instead going to choose to stick to the game. And I have the same advice for every football bettor every year heading into the final week of the regular season: tread lightly.

NFL Power Rankings Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/27/2022

One of the themes that I’ve discussed in this space all season is that the NFL is a fundamentally different game now than it was as recently as five years ago. By extension, betting on the NFL has taken on a completely different form. There is a multitude of reasons for the changes, but the end result is that games are much closer and lower scoring than they have been in decades.

NFL Power Rankings Week 16
by Robert Ferringo - 12/20/2022

Betting on sports really can be masochistic sometimes. And last week, after watching a rash of come-from-behind wins like the NFL has never seen, I feel like anyone getting ready to bet again on pro football this week must secretly love the pain.

NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/13/2022

It looks like Mother Nature is going to have her say in the NFL playoff race. December football is a completely different beast than games played during the rest of the regular season. The stakes are higher. Teams rarely have their full complement of players due to injury. Shifting motivational and situational factors come into play.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/6/2022

I don’t like to have wild swings in my NFL Power Rankings. The reason is that I expect these to be a static, stoic, sober view of the pro football hierarchy each week. And to do that, you need to avoid wild swings, overcorrections, and overreactions to short-term results.

NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/29/2022

I have talked about it often in this space, but I just want to be unequivocal in my stance about young quarterbacks in the NFL: No team should ever start a rookie quarterback. Ever. Under anything less than emergency circumstances. And not only that, but with rare exception, quarterbacks should not go into their second season as the unquestioned starter. Anything short of that should be considered football malpractice.

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/22/2022

I do want to take this opportunity to again point out that I will be releasing my football selections on Wednesday this week to accommodate the Thanksgiving holiday. That goes for all of Doc’s football handicappers, and we want to get our clients to be able to get their action in early and then sit back and enjoy an orgy of alcohol, eating and gambling that would make the Romans blush.

2022 World Cup Betting Trends and Wagering Advice
by Robert Ferringo - 11/16/2022

The easiest way to explain the World Cup to someone that doesn’t follow international futbol is to tell them that it is the soccer equivalent of the NCAA Tournament. The structure – a four-team group round robin (The Group Stage), followed by a 16-team tournament (The Knockout Round) – is completely different from its college basketball counterpart. But the upsets, the surprises, and the eventual ascent of the powerhouse teams all tracks remarkably well with one of America’s signature betting events.