When it comes to sporting events, we don’t just want our teams to play well or to be merely entertained. Instead, we want to experience the adrenaline rush that only competitive sport can inspire and be swept along with the action regardless of what we’re watching or where it’s taking place. Be still, our beating, sport-loving hearts. While the Super Bowl might be over for another year, there are still plenty of exciting sporting events to come, many of which you’ll want to get involved with. From now until the end of 2017, here are just a handful of those games, matches, races and tournaments. It’s going to be a great year!
The 2015 Copa America kicked off in Chile on 11th June and while there is still plenty of time before the final on 4th July, we can safely say that this could prove to be one of the most exciting tournaments on South American soil in recent years. With the likes of Brazil and Argentina hoping to make amends for missing out on the 2014 World Cup trophy and hosts Chile and star-studded Colombia desperate to prove they can mix it up with the best of them, we are in for a couple of eventful weeks.
As usualy, the BCS provided plenty of drama leading up to the final weekend of college football before the bowl season. Supporters of the BCS have always pointed to this weekly drama as the reason we should keep this ridiculously flawed system that only let the top two teams in the country play for the National Championship. In some years this has worked out great with epic matchups between Ohio State and Miami and then USC and Texas. Those games made the BCS system a significant improvement over the old system, where #1 rarely played #2 in the bowl games. But the imprved system made most of us want more, as it further exposed the arbitrary nature of college football and the silly notion that losing one game could disqualify you from playing for a championship. It also highlighted on a weekly basis the absurd notion that opinions and style points should somehow determine the fate of a football team, as opposed to winning a game on the field in a playoff.
Next year we will finally move to a more rational system. But for this year, with some lucky breaks at the end, including the resolution of the Jameis Winston drama, we got a game with Florida State and Auburn that most people can support. With that we also got some more games that football fans and betters can enjoy, and there will be plenty of people researching odds and free bets in order to enjoy an interesting slate of games.
The title game will get a ton of attention as usual, as the incredibly talented Florida State team seems poised to put an end to the SEC dominance of this game. Auburn is a 7.5 to 8.5 underdog with the various sports books, which is a pretty big spread considering Auburn won the SEC. Of cours ethe miracle finishes need to be considered as well. But this game is often ripe for upsets, as the break between the end of the season and the game can stretch out over a month. We’ll see if Florida State is really that good, or if they just ran up the score against mediocre competition.
One of the best bowl matchups has Ohio State roughly as a 2 or 2.5 point favorite over Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State opened as a 5 point favorite in some books and over a field goal in others, so money is definitely coming in on Clemson. Both teams have issues on defense, as it will be difficult for Clemson to stop Ohio State’s running game while the Ohio State defense often gets carved up by good quarterbacks like Tajh Boyd.
The worst game looks like Baylor vs Central Florida, where Baylor is favored by over two touchdowns. Of course the spread will make this interesting for betters, but it’s hardly the type of game fans look forward to. Perhaps UCF can spring the upset. Enjoy!
Plenty of fans are jumping on the Colin Kaepernick bandwagon, as we’re seeing the 49ers as a road favorite at Atlanta, and the spread is actually moving even more in San Francisco’s direction.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots opened as a big home favorite against the Ravens, but money has been coming in on Baltimore. The line is still more than a touchdown, but it’s definitely moving.
It’s turkey day, and that of course means plenty of NFL football to go along with turkey and family gatherings. Check out our NFL Lines pages for all the odds for this weekend’s football action. In today’s games, the Detroit Lions try to break a long turkey day losing streak as the Houston Texans travel north. Houston is favored by three on the road.
RG3 is coming off a monster game and he leads the Washington Redskins into Dallas to face a Cowboys team that barely beat the Browns last week at home. Dallas is favored at home by three so this is basically a toss-up.
Finally, the New England Patriots travel to New Jersey tonight to take on the New York Jets. The Pats are favored by seven on the road even without Rob Gronkowski.
