A Fool And His $$$$$

Anybody who has ever been in Las Vegas knows you see all sorts of sights and what I found at the Orleans Sportsbook certainly deserves mention because my friend Dan Steinberg has made a small cottage industry over "ranking" the College Football teams by the odds in the Vegas Sportsbooks.

Well, I couldn't help but notice the 2007 Stanley Cup odds posted at the Orleans and when I saw that the Caps were 40-1 I thought that it was a somewhat fair set of odds. I've said all along don't think the Caps are even going to make the playoffs this season and that type of odds would certainly go along with that notion. But then I noticed some things that made me gag.

The Penguin Scum (whom forget owning, nobody even wants in Pittsburgh anymore) are 10-1. The worst team in the NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers, are 15-1.

Guess who has the best odds of winning the Cup according to the Orleans Sportsbook? The Buffaslugs? Nope, they and the other sexy preseason pick for the Cup, Anaheim, are 3-1. Old (and I do mean old...) standby Detroit? They're even worse, they're 6-1 along with Ottawa and San Jose. You're oddsmaker favorites are the Toronto Maple Leafs at 9-2.

Now before somebody somewhere in the blogsphere shoots off a post ranting about how I don't understand bookmaking, let me say, yes I do understand how this works. I understand that people are placing a ton of money on teams like the Make-Me-Laughs which is why they've driven the odds down on themselves just like Penguin Scum and Flyer and fans have.

But to think that the Phoenix Coyotes can generate more money on themselves than the Caps (27-1) and that the team in dead last in our division, Florida, can do the same (35-1) shows just how divorced from reality these odds really are. It makes these odds a popularity contest as much as they are about actual chances of winning the Cup and the Caps don't seem to be a very popular team in Las Vegas. Atlanta, who can't be considered a popular team (though I have run into a couple of Thrasher fans from Atlanta out here) but a decent Cup contender right now, is 10-1. But the Los Angeles Kings (L.A. dominates this town on the weekends) are 8-1 and are hanging around Columbus and Phoenix in the standings out west. Go figure...

So just for entertainment value only, I will post the list that I picked up from the Orleans Sportsbook earlier this morning (Vegas time of course) and note that the odds on this list are dated as of December 12 (I found that most of them haven't changed significantly).

Toronto Maple Leafs 9-2
Buffaslugs 3-1
Anaheim (Not Mighty anymore even though Orleans says they are) Ducks 3-1
Minnesota Wild 4-1
Detroit Red Wings 6-1
Ottawa Senators 6-1
San Jose Sharks 6-1
Boston Bruins 7-1
Calgary Flames 8-1
Carolina Hurricanes 8-1
Los Angeles Kings 8-1
New Jersey Devils 9-1
Vancouver Canucks 9-1
Atlanta Thrashers 10-1
Pittsburgh Penguin Scum 10-1
Dallas Stars 11-1
Edmonton Oilers 12-1
New York Rangers 12-1
Nashville Predators 15-1
Philadelphia Flyers 15-1
Colorado Avalanche 17-1
Montreal Canadiens 17-1
Tampa Bay Lightning 20-1
Chicago Blackhawks 25-1
Phoenix Coyotes 27-1
Columbus Blue Jackets 30-1
Florida Panthers 35-1
Washington Capitals 40-1
New York Islanders 45-1
St. Louis Blues 55-1

Now go discuss amongst yourselves...