Viva Las Vegas?

With my father, a few of his friends, and myself on our way to get John Kruk bobbleheads here in a little bit I'd thought I'd throw out there this bit of "lost" news earlier this week about a new Las Vegas Arena.

The universal opinion of course is that the NBA isn't going to touch Las Vegas with a ten foot pole in the aftermath of the Tim Donaghy scandal. However don't lose sight of the fact that the proposed Las Vegas Arena is being built by AEG, the same group that built, owns, and operates the Sprint Center in Kansas City and currently owns the L.A. Kings. They too are looking for any possible tenant from the NBA or NHL to come in, though the only NBA franchise seriously looking to move is the Seattle SuperSonics and they're looking hard at Oklahoma City.

But the groundwork for NHL expansion is quietly being laid and that should concern all NHL fans.

And speaking of the NHL, we all remember the indignity that the NHL suffered this past May when the Buffaslugs-Ottawa Game 5 was bumped from NBC to Versus in favor of the Preakness pre-race coverage. Well, as I said at the time, at least you had a chance to continue watching the game if you wanted to unlike viewers of the Edmonton-Saskatchewan CFL game this past Saturday night. That game was delayed for over 55 minutes in the fourth quarter because of a power outage at Mosaic Stadium in Saskatchewan caused by thunderstorms. Once power was restored and play resumed CBC did not return to the game broadcast, opting instead to stay with a showing of the Nick Nolte classic The Good Thief.

At least the NHL got bumped for a Triple Crown Horse Race...

Looking through the various sports books, I can't find print outs of the odds for the 2008 Stanley Cup Championship. I did find it oddly amusing that the sports book at South Point has the Eagles (10-1) only slightly better favored over the Redskins (11-1) to appear in Super Bowl XLII. I say that because the last time I saw the World Wide Leader in Schlock, their "experts" told us that the Eagles are the team to beat in the NFC East and the Redskins will be lucky to improve upon their 5-11 record of a year ago. The bettors believe that Chicago (6-1) and New England (6-5) will go to Glendale Arizona next year. Detroit is still the longest shot in the field to make Super Bowl LXII at 30-1.

To win Super Bowl LXII, the Redskins are 30-1 after opening at 55-1. The favorites to win it all is New England at 2-1 after opening at 9-1. The long shot is Houston at 90-1 after opening at 100-1 though the Oakland Raiders opened as the longest shot of 150-1 but has fallen to 50-1.

Finally, yes I noticed that 30-3 pasting the Rangers laid on the B.O.'s Wednesday night and even watched some of it in horror. While I have no love for the B.O.'s and this is a very good moment for Schadenfreude, I personally think the score is just as embarrassing for the Rangers as it was the B.O.'s. 16 of the 30 runs were scored in the last two innings when the game was well in hand. There was no reason for the Rangers to continue to swing the bat the way they did against the B.O.'s. This ranks right up there with High School basketball teams that win games 150-2. There's no excuse for running up the score, especially in the major leagues. While it would be even more embarrassing for the batters to either intentionally step on home plate while bunting or walking to first base on a ground ball (commonly done in High School and youth leagues to end a monster inning), there's no rule that says they must swing the bat while at the plate. The Rangers could have gone to the plate and looked at every pitch the B.O.'s threw and I doubt that anybody would have really noticed or been upset that they did. The game was over, there was no need to continue the slaughter, especially when you still had the double-header night cap to come which is why the B.O.'s hung their relievers out to dry despite pitching batting practice to the Rangers.

(Now that I've defended the B.O.'s, I need to delouse...)

However, the funniest line referencing that game came from the Houston Astro's announcing crew during last night's Nats-Astros game after the B.O.'s had lost their third game in a row, "give some managers an extension and they just stop managing."

What Are The Odds?

No, I won't be spending the next week and a half posting the various odds from the various Sportsbooks in Vegas. I did however feel that this was a worthy update because after paying a visit to the Excalibur Sportsbook last night, they not only had a printout of the current odds (as of this past Monday) but what the opening odds were on June 19th, 2006.

The Caps, the Penguin Scum, and Blackhawks all opened at 75-1. One team has dropped their odds significantly, while another is the same, and the one other increased their odds. It should be obvious that the Penguin Scum have dropped, their odds are now inexplicably 30-1. But if you thought that the Blackhawks odds increased, you would be wrong. Nope, they're still 75-1 it is the Caps who have seen their odds increase, the Caps are now 85-1 at the Excalibur.

(I almost asked the guy behind the counter if they had a line on the Penguin Scum moving and where to, but considering my experience with the employees behind the counter at Sportsbooks, I knew it wouldn't produce much in the way of a result.)

The Flyers who opened at 12-1 are now giving new meaning to the term "sunk cost" for thier early bettors by dropping to 60-1. Phoenix who somehow opened at 40-1 can thank Jeremey Roenick for leading them to 100-1. The Kings have dropped big time as well, they opened at 25-1 and are now 99-1. (So much for the local pride...) What makes this so interesting though is the wild differences in odds at the Excalibur compared to the Orleans.

For the informational purposes of Dan Steinberg and his Local College Hoops poll voters, the Georgetown Whats? opened up at 18-1 and have increased to 25-1. The Terps opened at 70-1 and have dropped to 40-1. Virginia opened at 150-1 and has dropped to 80-1. George Washington is at their opening line of 200-1. You could say that George Mason is 12-1 but that would be only because Mason is lumped into the field with all the other teams from outside the Power Conferences. The favorite right now is Ohio State at 7-2.

And there was also a printout of the World Series odds. The Nats opened at 200-1 on October 25th, 2006 and are still there. They're 100-1 to win the NLCS. The interesting thing of note on that sheet is that nobody has improved their odds so far as the Chicago Cubs have. The Cubs opened at 75-1 to reverse their curse and are now 8-1. They were 25-1 to win the NLCS and are now 4-1. I guess you could call it the Soriano effect...

Anyway, just like yesterday, here's a complete rundown of the current (as of December 18th, 2006) Stanley Cup odds from the Excalibur Sportsbook. This of course is for entertainment and comparative purposes only and the opening odds (June 19th, 2006) are in the parentheses.

Anaheim Ducks 5-1 (15-1)
Buffaslugs 5-1 (12-1)
San Jose 5-1 (10-1)
Detroit Red Wings 6-1 (6-1)
Ottawa Senators 6-1 (5-1)
Carolina Hurricanes 8-1 (8-1)
Dallas Stars 8-1 (10-1)
Calgary Flames 10-1 (12-1)
New Jersey Devils 11-1 (8-1)
Montreal Canadiens 15-1 (20-1)
Nashville Predators 15-1 (18-1)
New York Rangers 15-1 (15-1)
Edmonton Oilers 18-1 (15-1)
Atlanta Thrashers 22-1 (30-1)
Colorado Avalanche 25-1 (18-1)
Minnesota Wild 25-1 (50-1)
Tampa Bay Lightning 25-1 (20-1)
Toronto Maple Leafs 25-1 (25-1)
Penguin Scum 30-1 (75-1)
New York Islanders 35-1 (50-1)
Vancouver Canucks 45-1 (20-1)
Boston Bruins 50-1 (50-1)
Columbus Blue Jackets 50-1 (50-1)
Chicago Blackhawks 75-1 (75-1)
Florida Panthers 80-1 (40-1) (The Todd Bertuzzi effect)
Washington Capitals 85-1 (75-1)
Los Angeles Kings 99-1 (25-1)
Phoenix Coyotes 100-1 (40-1)
St. Louis Blues 100-1 (100-1)

Now go discuss amongst yourselves...

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...