Kentucky Derby Handicapping: The Post Position Draw
by Robert Ferringo - 4/29/2010

Well, it wasn’t exactly the NBA lottery draw, but the Kentucky Derby post position draw took place on Wednesday evening and the field for the Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports is now set. To the untrained eye the post positioning may seem like a random factor of little consequence. After all, it’s a race, right?

Team-by-Team NFL Draft Grades
by Robert Ferringo - 4/26/2010

The NFL Draft is in the books and there were, as always, plenty of successes and failures. As always, we won’t be able to accurately assess how each organization managed until about three or four years from now, but based on value, addressing need, and overall talent hauled in I have put together my 2010 NFL Draft grades.

NFL Draft First Round Draft Grades
by Robert Ferringo - 4/23/2010

Despite all of the bobbleheads going berserk on Friday recapping the “winners” and “losers” of the NFL Draft’s first round we still have six rounds to go. There is no way to fully evaluate each team’s draft because there are still so many significant picks to be made, which may or may not address specific team needs. I actually feel like Day 2 – the second and third rounds – are more important than the first round because that’s when teams have historically gotten the best value.

NFL Draft “Don’ts”
by Robert Ferringo - 4/20/2010

“Don’t do it man.” We’ve all been there. Whether it’s advising your hammered homeboy not to rail some sloppy sweat-dumpster at the end of some dank townie bar or trying to talk your college roommate out of doubling down on a Norv Turner team in the playoffs, we’ve all uttered the same desperate, but sage, advice: “Don’t do it man.”

NFL Draft - Quarterbacks as No. 1 Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 4/16/2010

While the NFL Draft is one of the biggest gambles in sports I will say that it isn’t rocket science. And over the past 20 years the modern draft has given front office folk a pretty steady blueprint of what you should and shouldn’t do with your first round picks. Despite this fact, teams repeatedly ignore those signs, symbols, blueprints, tarot readings, and previous cautionary tales, passing by the rotting corpses of past first round failures on their way to the guillotine.

MLB Handicapping: Early Winners and Losers from the N.L.
by Robert Ferringo - 4/13/2010

Yesterday I laid out some random thoughts and general musings about what I learned about the American League through the first week of the season. Below are some observations I’ve had while watching the National League clubs at work through the first week or so of this Major League Baseball season:

MLB Handicapping: Early Winners and Losers from the A.L.
by Robert Ferringo - 4/13/2010

One week of the 26-week grind that is the Major League baseball regular season is in the books. And amidst the home openers, blown saves, exciting plays, beautiful weather and monster home runs there has been plenty of information for the discerning baseball handicapper to pick up. Some of our preseason hunches may have been confirmed or debunked and other wait-and-see situations may have started to unfold.

MLB Handicapping: Young Pitchers to Avoid
by Robert Ferringo - 4/8/2010

Below is a list of young “up-and-coming” pitching that I’m not quite as high on as a lot of fans, scouts, bettors and oddsmakers. The names on this list are ones that some people might recognize and think, “Yeah, that kid is going to be good.” While others are names that only fantasy baseball players or diehard fans would be able to opine about. But in my opinion the list below is full of guys that I expect Reality to slam in the face with the force of an Albert Pujols 42-ounce Louisville Slugger.

MLB Handicapping: Potential Breakout Pitchers
by Robert Ferringo - 4/7/2010

Last week I discussed some veteran arms that I think could pose some excellent MLB betting value if they can bounce back and achieve some of the success that they’ve experienced in the past. In this space I’m going to go the opposite direction and try to tab some young, up-and-coming arms that could be the next generation of aces, value arms, and piсata pitchers to fade away.

MLB Handicapping: Ranking the Pitching Staffs
by Robert Ferringo - 4/6/2010

The Major League Baseball season is only two days in. but let’s get down to brass tax here. Pitching doesn’t win championships, it wins money. Lots and lots of money. And gamblers need to be able to take the long view with teams and staffs and be able to look at each starting rotation along the lines of how it relates to the others in the league.

MLB Handicapping: Veteran Pitchers Primed for Big Year
by Robert Ferringo - 4/2/2010

Baseball is a game of habit, routine, ritual and method. The most accomplished players are the ones that can repeat their motions, their approach, and their successes consistently, in spite of constant failures. Betting on Major League Baseball shouldn’t be any different.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: Midwest Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/17/2010

The Midwest Region is by far the most difficult region in the NCAA Tournament bracket. It’s the most difficult to make predictions in and its going to be the most difficult to win. Eight coaches in this region have been to the Final Four, seven coaches have been in the national championship game and four of the headmen have NCAA championship rings.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: West Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/17/2010

The top seed just lost one of its most critical pieces. The No. 2 seed is a program with no pedigree and a team with an unimpressive non-conference resume. The No. 3 seed is plenty shaky and is the shell of a team that couldn’t get it done last season. The No 4 doesn’t play any defense and is barely favored in its first round game and the No. 5 is an overrated mid-major with zero wins over top-notch BCS clubs in the last two years. And those are the best teams in this region.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: South Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/16/2010

A story that’s bouncing around the bobblehead media discusses how Duke was given the easiest bracket and the easiest road to the Final Four as some sort of conspiracy by CBS to juice up their ratings for March Madness and the NCAA Tournament. Notorious scumbag Jason Whitlock was one of the first to put that thought out into the ether and Colin Cowherd then took it and ran with it on his ESPN radio show. So now apparently this is a story.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: East Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/16/2010

My March Madness bracket prediction for the East Region: a whole lot of people with their face buried squarely in the lap of John Wall, John Calipari and the rest of the Kentucky Nation. But what they don’t realize (and I’ll come back to this with another story tomorrow) is that Kentucky doesn’t have a chance in hell in cutting down the nets and winning the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 12
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010

Well, this is it. Selection Sunday is just two short days away and all of the weeks and months of speculation about the NCAA Tournament field will be put to rest. Sure, there will be plenty of bitching and second-guessing the NCAA Selection Committee. But – barring some totally irrational – the teams at the end of the at-large line really don’t have much to complain about this year. While I don’t agree with Jay Bilas that this is the “weakest at-large field in history” I do know that those teams really don’t have much to complain about because they all have significant holes in their resumes.

MLB Betting: 2010 NL Central Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010

The last time that the Cardinals won more than 90 games (they actually won 100) they suffered a precipitous drop of 17 games the next year…but still won the division. Three crowns in five years and, as the overwhelming favorite in 2010, it looks like St. Louis has as tight of a stranglehold on their division as any team in baseball.

College Basketball Handicapping: ACC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/11/2010

The Duke Invitational Tournament begins today in Greensboro, N.C. Also known as the “ACC Tournament”, the Duke Invitational is generally held as a coronation for the Blue Devils en route to an inflated seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke has won eight of the last 11 ACC titles and have appeared in 10 of the last 13 conference championship games. And scoping a relatively weak ACC field I don’t see how this weekend will be much different for the top-seeded Devils.

College Basketball Handicapping: SEC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010

To suggest that the SEC East is just a little bit better than the SEC West this year might be a bit of an understatement. The top four teams in the East – Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida – went a perfect 24-0 this season against the six teams in the West. Overall the East sported a ridiculous 27-9 mark against its brethren out West. That is domination, pure and simple.

College Basketball Handicapping: WAC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010

Looking around the college basketball landscape I can say that the WAC is one of the few conferences in the country that is actually better this year than it was last year. This league brought back 33 of 45 starters from last year and eight of 10 all-league performers, all along with 14 of their top 15 scorers and 13 of their top 15 rebounders.