NCAA Tournament Projections and Bracketology
by Robert Ferringo - 2/1/2016

Selection Sunday is usually painted as this wild, controversial day on the sports calendar. But the reality is that by that Sunday afternoon the NCAA Tournament field is generally pretty clear. There are always three or four teams battling for the final one or two spots. But beyond that the other 66 positions are pretty cut-and-dry. And at the end of the day we get a tournament field that is relatively problem free.

How to Bet Super Bowl Props Expert Advice and Tips
by Robert Ferringo - 1/29/2016

The Super Bowl is the ultimate sports spectacle, a living, breathing testament to American Exceptionalism. It is an opportunity to exercise our rights as Citizens of This Great Land to party hard, gamble openly, and enjoy sanctioned, state-financed violence just like the Good Lord intended. Super Bowl Sunday is a glorious, self-proclaimed national holiday and represents the apex of sports, entertainment and corporate whoring in our society.

NFL Playoffs Handicapping: Revenge a Factor in all Four Divisional Round Games
by Robert Ferringo - 1/15/2016

Motivation is one of the biggest factors in handicapping any sport. One of the unique challenges of handicapping the NFL postseason is the fact that the motivation angle is essentially gone since each team in the playoffs has exactly the same motivation: win a championship and prevent the end of the season.

NFL Divisional Round Predictions: Expert Handicapper Handicaps Games
by Robert Ferringo - 1/15/2016

The NFL Divisional Round takes place this weekend, and there are all kinds of stats, facts, tidbits and trends for intrepid football bettors to pour through before making their wagers this weekend. Well, I'm here to throw a few more at you! Here are five interesting angles to consider before putting your money down at the window this weekend:

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/30/2015

The two biggest NFL stories of the week were Bill Belichick's decision to kickoff at the start of overtime and the firing of Chip Kelly. Both of them were unique situations. But in a way the media firestorm surrounding both were born of the same fundamental underlying issue: it's all about results.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 16
by Robert Ferringo - 12/24/2015

Merry Christmas to everyone! It is the happiest time of the year - unless you are a professional sports handicapper or a member of the Cleveland Browns. But one of the keys to surviving the holidays is suppressing your seething rage in the name of consumerism and Catholicism, so instead of railing against the NFL and its minions we will get on with the show.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/16/2015

It was announced this week that the league is considering making some officiating changes for the postseason. The idea is that they are going to have someone from the league office working in conjunction with replay officers and officials during the playoff games. My question is this: why the hell isn't the standard throughout the season? Wouldn't that have helped to quell the fecal storm of blown calls and missed plays that have plagued this season?

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/9/2015

College football is taking a breath before the bowl game bukakee erupts onto the holiday sports scene. That means that the NFL is front-and-center this weekend and that the attention of the sportsbooks is squarely set on pro football lines. That means that the numbers will be sharper and the line movements more meaningful as every gambler in the country casts their lot in the weekly Thunderdome that is NFL betting.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 12/2/2015

Playoff football is here. I know there are still five weeks left in the regular season, but from here on out nearly half of all games each week will feature games with major playoff implications. This week just two games - Jags-Titans and Ravens-Miami - feature "dead-money" teams that are just playing out the string. Parity has created opportunity. But don't mistake playoff hopes for actual playoff potential.

College Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Might be Time to Jump Ship on Villanova
by Robert Ferringo - 12/1/2015

The Wildcats are currently 6-0 and ranked in the Top 10 of both major college basketball polls. They are currently the No. 1-rated team according to Ken Pomeroy. However, I feel confident that if you ask any square bettor or even any decent college hoops fan to name the best teams in the country the would likely run through a dozen or so teams before they got to the boys from Philly.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/24/2015

Let's get Elias or EPN Stats and Information on this one: when was the last time that the Browns, Raiders and Jaguars were all favored on the same weekend? I'm guessing never. But I don't know if anything serves as a better sign of the fact that the NFL has been terrible this year than that. Combined with the fact that there won't be enough .500 or better college football teams to fill out all the bowl games and facts are facts: there is a lot of awful, ugly football being played in this country right now at all levels.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2015

Bad beats. Every gambler has to endure them. And listening to someone talk about their bad gambling beat is a bit like listening to someone talk about "that one hand of poker that oh my god you wouldn't believe what happened". Since I am gambling every day, and have been for the past decade, I have bad beat stories for days. But I wanted to take a moment to reflect on, honestly, one of the worst beats of my entire NFL betting career, which I endured last week.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/11/2015

Then there were three. We made it halfway through the NFL season and there are currently three undefeated teams still standing. In fitting with the universe's sense of humor, one of those undefeated teams - the one with the greatest odds of living on that island the longest - the New England Patriots, are facing the New York Giants this weekend. The Giants are the very team that spoiled the closest anyone has and maybe ever will from a perfect season when they beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42 back in 2008.

NCAA Basketball National Championship Predictions: Best Futures Bets
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

Don't bet money on who will win the college basketball championship. That's the best advice I can give someone looking to lay down money on a college basketball futures bet. I don't like wagers on winning championships in any sport - the odds never reflect the actual degree of difficulty it takes to predict a champion. And trying to predict a college basketball national champion is even more ridiculous than trying to spot a title winner in any other sport, college or pro.

NCAA Tournament Predictions and Early Projections for the Field
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

Let's go dancing. Making the NCAA Tournament is really the measuring stick of success and failure for most college basketball programs. Every one of the more than 350 teams in the country begins the season dreaming of hearing their name called on Selection Sunday. There can be only one national champion, and that elite status is reserved for only a select few teams. But for everyone else an invitation to The Big Dance is a major victory in and of itself.

Top 12 Nonconference College Basketball Games 2015
by Robert Ferringo - 11/10/2015

College basketball, from a purely competitive standpoint, is a vastly superior sport to college football. Top-tier college football programs each generally have one pseudo-marquee non-league game during their entire campaign. And because college football schedules are laid out years in advance, it is almost impossible to get Top 5 teams from different conferences to meet up in high-profile early-season games.

College Basketball National Championship Contenders: the Sucker Bets
by Robert Ferringo - 11/9/2015

Sometimes the best bets are the ones you don't make. And when it comes to making predictions on who will win the college basketball championship, the first step is figuring out who ISN'T going to cut down the nets. Two years ago I nailed a 100-to-1 long shot to win the National Championship, predicting that Connecticut would win it all almost 12 months before they eventually cut down the nets. What did I do for an encore? Well, not much.

2015 NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 11/4/2015

I get a lot of things wrong as a professional handicapper. It comes with the territory. But I want to take a brief second and crow about one of the things that I have gotten absolutely right: Andrew Luck is not nearly as good as everyone has made him out to be. I have been the only - the ONLY - NFL writer or analyst in the country over the past four years that hasn't been quick to canonize Luck as a legend in the making. Instead, I have written about how I've seen a turnover-prone quarterback that misses too many throws, floats too many balls, and has built a reputation by beating up pathetic opponents in a historically bad division.

2015 Big Ten Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2015

The Big Ten is perpetually one of the more overrated basketball conferences in the country. Hey, the Big Ten is top shelf. I'm not arguing whether or not they are an actual Big Boy Basketball Conference like I am with the SEC. But I am saying that members of the bobblehead media and the general betting public seem to suffer an annual delusion about the quality and depth in this league.

2015 SEC Predictions with College Basketball Conference Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2015

I was watching ESPN's SEC college basketball preview and can honestly say I'm not sure if I've seen a more blatant case of pandering and peddling from The Worldwide Leader in a long time. ESPN, which owns the SEC Network, has a clear financial stake in promoting what is by far and away the worst of the "Big Six" college conferences.