Football Betting: Early Week Line Movements
by Robert Ferringo - 9/22/2009

Once again, those people late to the party came up short on the early line movements. Last week the college teams we tracked went just 2-4 against the spread while the NFL teams went 1-1. For the season, the heavy line moves are just 7-13 ATS in college and 10-15 ATS overall. Here is this week’s action:

The Ferringo NFL Report
by Robert Ferringo - 9/18/2009

Well boys and girls, the Ferringo Report is back by popular demand. I will have my weekly nonsensical ravings and rants in this space for your viewing pleasure. Week 1 is in the books and, with few exception, things went pretty smoothly and according to script. Don’t worry though: that will change soon enough.

NFL Power Rankings Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/17/2009

Week 1 is in the books and I have to say that with few exceptions there were very few surprises in the NFL’s opener. In fact, things seemed just a little too easy last week. But since this sport is The Beast, I can assure you that there will be more upsets and insanity this Sunday when the pros tee it up.

College Football Power Rankings - The Ferringo 15
by Robert Ferringo - 9/16/2009

The Ferringo 15 is my Profit-Power Rankings, a ladder or hierarchy based on which teams are the most profitable on the field. I’m not trying to give you some other nonsensical, random, speculative power rankings based on my own biases and conjecture. So instead of Ohio State moving up or down the polls on the basis of how badly they blew out Northwestern the previous Saturday, I’m going to rank each team based on past, present, and projected future achievement against the spread.

Football Betting: Early Week Line Movements
by Robert Ferringo - 9/15/2009

According to legend, early in the week is the time when professional bettors make some of their moves – the other most important time is just prior to kickoff – and they tear apart the ripe lines from the Las Vegas Sports Consultants. For the last two years I have tracked the opening steam movements of lines in both college football and the NFL. The idea was to see if the “sharp” money was really that, or if the idea of trailing these severe early line movements was merely a myth.

NFL Power Rankings Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2009

I did not change the order of my NFL Power Rankings from last week to this week. Sure, some things have changed around the NFL. But after months of projection, conjecture, and pontification I am done trying to establish my imaginary landscape of professional football. I’m done. For now. It’s time to play some football and then base our predictions and projections on some visceral experience.

College Football Power Rankings - The Ferringo 15
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2009

The Ferringo 15 is my Profit-Power Rankings, a ladder or hierarchy based on which teams are the most profitable on the field. I’m not trying to give you some other nonsensical, random, speculative power rankings based on my own biases and conjecture. So instead of Ohio State moving up or down the polls on the basis of how badly they blew out Northwestern the previous Saturday, I’m going to rank each team based on past, present, and projected future achievement against the spread.

Football Betting: Early Week Line Movements
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2009

According to legend, early in the week is the time when professional bettors make some of their moves – the other most important time is just prior to kickoff – and they tear apart the ripe lines from the Las Vegas Sports Consultants. For the last two years I have tracked the opening steam movements of lines in both college football and the NFL. The idea was to see if the “sharp” money was really that, or if the idea of trailing these severe early line movements was merely a myth.

College Football Power Rankings - The Ferringo 15
by Robert Ferringo - 9/3/2009

Polls. Our culture is permeated by swarm of focus-group happy vagrants who value style over substance. And in the sports world there is no area where this plague is more rampant than college football. My former sports editor back in New York used to say that college football is nothing more than a glorified beauty pageant.

Football Betting: Early Week Line Movements
by Robert Ferringo - 9/2/2009

Early in the week is the time when professional bettors make some of their moves – the other most important time is just prior to kickoff – and they tear apart the ripe lines from the Las Vegas Sports Consultants. For the last two years I have tracked the opening steam movements of lines in both college football and the NFL.

Doc’s Sports College Football All-American Team
by Robert Ferringo - 9/2/2009

Money players are the guys who come through. Money players are the guys who make a difference. Money players are the guys who move the line depending on if they are healthy, angry, or motivated. Money players are the guys that turn everything around when you are in your most desperate, distraught, distressed state each weekend.

NFL Power Rankings – Preseason Edition
by Robert Ferringo - 8/31/2009

The NFL war drums are sounding in the distance and echoing over the hills. But we’re still a full week-and-a-half away from any meaningful action. However, I felt like it was time to unveil the first version of my NFL Power Rankings for Doc’s Sports.

Sports Futures Market Offers Great Return on Investment
by Robert Ferringo - 8/24/2009

Tu Dign has a barren, cookie-cutter office at the local branch of Bank of America. His desk is relatively unimpressive and cluttered with pamphlets and literature on a variety of BOA programs (“Buy Pizza, Save Money!” is the tag line on one). There are no pictures on the wall, save for the knock-off print from The Met that’s framed in glass but still about three sizes too small for the space it struggles to occupy.

NFL Preseason Totals Predictions for Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 8/18/2009

A fellow handicapper at Doc’s Sports sent me the following e-mail late Monday night: “They must have gotten burned with some overs last week, they are really bumping up the totals.” The “They” in that sentence refers to our common mortal enemy: the sportsbooks. When I did my initial scan of the football odds for NFL Preseason Week 2 I did notice that the totals seemed high.

NFL Handicapping: Jay Cutler Will Be Bears Bust
by Robert Ferringo - 8/17/2009

Four years ago I was writing on this very site that Dante Culpepper was the most overrated quarterback in the NFL. As you might expect, this statement was met with a waterfall of vitriol and was nearly as popular as Rick Pitino at a Birther’s rally. After all, Culpepper had been to multiple Pro Bowls and was coming off a year in which he threw for 4,700 yards. He was the man, right? Well, not to me.

2009-10 Pac-10 Football Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 8/11/2009

A 5-0 bowl season was able to mask what was an otherwise mediocre season for the Pac-10 conference in 2008. The Pac-10 was the Mountain West’s bitch after going 1-6 against it, and besides USC’s blowout over Ohio State there were multiple nonconference embarrassments. Personally, I thought the conference was way down and ready to hit a slide.

MLB Handicapping: Look Back At Trade Deadline Deals
by Robert Ferringo - 8/10/2009

This happens all the time in fantasy baseball: two teams make a blockbuster trade, everyone in the league starts burning up the message boards about how one side got molested and what an unfair deal it is, the teams that made the deal start hurling insults back and after about a three-day shelf life the trade gets forgotten.

NFL Handicapping: Futures Breakdown
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2009

Chamfort, an18th century French author, was a big fan of epigrams and the cornerback blitz. And his wisdom on public perception couldn’t be a more suitable lead in to discussing the grueling, sadistic endurance trial that is betting in the National Football League.

College Football Handicapping: Impact Of Today’s Coaches Poll
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2009

The first USA Today Coaches’ Poll for college football was released today, which officially marks the start of the Hype & Bitchin’ Season. Now all of the two-bit hack writers that like to bitch about playoffs and the BCS have some fresh ammo. And for those who like to brag up their team/player/conference, well they can surely point now to the infallible poll rankings as “proof” of their boasts and assertions.

NFL Handicapping: Unheralded Players
by Robert Ferringo - 8/7/2009

Brett Favre mows his lawn and it’s front-page news. Chad Johnson changes his name and he ends up just chewing up airtime. Terrell Owens doesn’t do something crazy and there are op-eds discussing his mental state. Well, Favre isn’t playing this year. Johnson is a good receiver for a team that’s won about five games per year the last two seasons. And Owens had nearly as many dropped passes (10) last year as his quarterback had touchdowns (11).