What have we been missing?… January 29, 2003

After emerging from my 5 month hiatus that is known as football, I’ve found that many things have changed.  This is not the same world it was back on September 5, when the Niners edged the Giants by a field goal with: 06 seconds left to open the NFL season.  The world seems different now, it seems….smaller.

When the doors opened from the football dungeon, my eyes could not believe some of the sites it had before it.  Never in my life would I think that something could be so beautiful.  Are the Lakers really 3 games under .500 and 18-25 ATS?  And those New Jersey Nets, those wonderful, beautiful New Jersey Nets are 29-16.  Who would believe such things back in September?  And the Atlanta Hawks those woeful birds in the south.  The Hawks sit at the bottom looking up at the rest in ATS at 16-30?

Seeing these numbers makes me wonder what other glorious opportunities have we missed.  So far this season Bill Diamond at LasVegasSportsLine has been a 23-13-2 ATS in college basketball and shows no signs of letting up?  When will this madness end?

And the Mountaineers from Appalachian St are tied with Marquette for the Division 1 NCAA men’s basketball best 10-3 ATS.   I’m telling you things just get crazier and crazier.

The Ottawa Senators are 35-18 ATS in the NFL?  That’s 35-18!  That is one hell of a return.  The Dallas Stars are not far behind them at 34-19 and the Devils are 31-19!  Combined that is 100-56.  At 100 units per game that would be a return of almost 4000 units.  And we’ve been missing this stuff!

On good thing about the end of the football season is that it means that pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks and just looking at some of the World Series odds; SportingBetUSA has the Red Sox at 12-1, the Yankees are at 9-2, and the Angels are at 6-1.  In the National League the Diamond Backs at 10-1, the Braves at 12-1 and the Giants at 12-1.

At 5-1 doesn’t the Kings vs Nets matchup seem like a good bet at this time of year?  The two have been by far the most consistent teams this year in the NBA.  The Lakers and the Nets are at 10-1.  Seems like a bigger long shot than that, but I guess you can never count out a team that has Shaq in the middle.

Tiger Woods is a 2-1 favorite for the 2003 Masters.  Tiger always seems to perform well down at Augusta but 2-1 seems a little off.  I maybe like Ernie Els at 10-1 to make a pay-off worth while.

Yes folks we have missed a lot since the beginning of football season.  Its time that we open our eyes and see what else is out there.  There are thousands of opportunities to be had while looking for that Dare to be Great moment.

As always, good luck.

Nick Rizzo

Questions and comments can be directed to NickR@LasVegasSportsLine.com