Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 7:00 PM
Often the biggest surprises in an NFL season come from teams who have just changed their head coach. Sometimes, the decision was exactly what the doctor ordered…and a team takes a huge leap forward....
Read More
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The Miami Heat are still series favorites in the NBA Finals that will conclude either Tuesday or Thursday in South Beach. Though they trail 3-2, they will have home court advantage in both games if they can...
Read More
Monday, June 17, 2013 at 9:11 AM
Wait a second ... Did the Miami Heat's so-called "Big Three" of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh say they were gonna win "multiple championships" when they were announced at that over-the-top gala back...
Read More
Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 7:00 PM
It’s a short list right now when you’re talking about teams who are more than 10 games over .500 in Major League Baseball. You’ve got Boston and Oakland in the American League…then...
Read More
Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 7:00 PM
The 2013 NBA Finals has been a series of extremes, with fantastic performances from both teams mixed in with absolute duds. San Antonio may never play better than they did in Game Three when a 16 of 32 barrage...
Read More
Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The San Antonio Spurs went from being in the driver’s seat (up 2-1 in the NBA Finals with home court advantage) to being behind the eight-ball (tied 2-2 with only one home game left) very quickly...
Read More
Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 1:00 AM
Take your pick as to what sport turns you on the most this Father's Day weekend ...
Is it the U.S. Open Tournament in Merion (Pa.) where golf "no-names" often come out of the weeds to win?
How about...
Read More
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 7:00 PM
Through the years here in the NOTEBOOK, we’ve encouraged you to focus on “recent form” in Major League Baseball because early season action has a way of polluting your perceptions. If...
Read More
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 9:15 AM
Miami Nice.
No, following the Heat's "get-even" 109-93 win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio, there were no post-game pronouncements by Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra that his team "got...
Read More
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Featured nationally on the MLB Network Friday Night, and then on ESPN Sunday Night, the San Francisco Giants at the Atlanta Braves is clearly this weekend’s showcase series in baseball. You have the...
Read More
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM
It’s been a long time since the classic “zig zag” or bounce back theory of NBA playoff handicapping has worked so universally well for this many games in a row. That doesn’t mean...
Read More
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The media played up how critical Game Three was in the NBA Championship battle between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. But, there’s an air of finality to Game Four right now…because the...
Read More
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 12:10 AM
Now we're about ready to find out if the Miami Heat "get what they deserve"here in a Game 4 of this year's NBA Finals.
Undoubtedly, that post-Game 3 quote by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra immediately...
Read More
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 9:25 AM
In case you didn't hear him the first time, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra repeated himself a couple of more times in his press conference that immediately followed Tuesday night's humbling 113-77 loss...
Read More
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Las Vegas continues to find new ways to make money. A few days ago, the Golden Nugget posted early pointspreads in almost 250 college football games and started taking bets. The games aren’t until...
Read More
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 9:00 PM
ESPN will nationally televise Wednesday Night’s Cleveland Indians/Texas Rangers game…which probably made a lot of sense to TV executives back when the Indians were a contender! A recent slump has...
Read More
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 5:00 PM
A year ago at this time, one of eventual divisional winners in Major League Baseball had a very poor 26-35 record. They were in last place in their division, and it was assumed they would have no chance to...
Read More
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Both the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat have something to hang their hats on as the NBA Championships head to Texas for Games Three, Four, and Five this week. The Spurs broke serve in the first game, and all...
Read More
Monday, June 10, 2013 at 9:40 AM
Now, folks, you didn't really think the San Antonio Spurs were going to escape Miami with a two-games-to-nothing lead in this year's NBA Finals ... did you?
No doubt the first 34-or-so minutes of Sunday...
Read More
Monday, June 10, 2013 at 7:00 AM
It’s always important for handicappers to be cognizant of the influence that home ballparks can have on the statistics of guys who play there. This one factor creates the single biggest difference...
Read More
Sunday, June 09, 2013 at 7:00 PM
We’ve talked about the strength of the AL East a few times in recent days. Monday Night brings a great series featuring the current leaders (the Boston Red Sox) and a contending opponent that’s...
Read More
Saturday, June 08, 2013 at 7:00 PM
For the first 40 minutes of last Thursdays series opener in the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat had trouble shaking each other. Both teams were moving the ball well on offense. Both teams were...
Read More
Saturday, June 08, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Maybe the best thing one can say about the Miami Heat is losing a Game 1 in a playoff series - yes, even an NBA Finals - doesn't seem to rattle 'em all that much.
Last year's Heat team floundered in Game 1...
Read More
Friday, June 07, 2013 at 7:00 PM
We’ve spent a lot of time over the years ragging on the media for spending too much time an energy on the American League East division at the expense of other great teams. For a variety of reasons, that...
Read More
Friday, June 07, 2013 at 4:00 PM
One of the biggest mistakes handicappers make in Major League baseball is that they let full season standings pollute their thinking when it comes to finding “live” underdogs on the nightly...
Read More
Friday, June 07, 2013 at 1:16 PM
Okay, so you watched all the post-game reports following last night's Game 1 of the NBA Finals and you learned that the Miami Heat has lost the series-opening game three other times since 2011 and yet on all...
Read More
Thursday, June 06, 2013 at 7:00 PM
If you’re to believe the statheads and the quants, the National League playoffs are almost already set in stone. There’s such a clear difference between the have’s and the have...
Read More
Thursday, June 06, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The NBA Playoffs are the very toughest of all the major sports postseasons in terms of generating surprising underdog scenarios. Anything can happen in one game in football or college basketball. Baseball is...
Read More
Thursday, June 06, 2013 at 2:00 AM
News flash:
The Miami Heat is a monstrous 2.5-to-1 betting favorite in this year's NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs even though the following is true: San Antonio is 12-2 SU (straight-up) and 10-4...
Read More
Wednesday, June 05, 2013 at 2:00 PM
Handicappers studying this year’s NBA Championship series between the Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs and the Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat have quite a challenge ahead of them....
Read More
Wednesday, June 05, 2013 at 9:20 AM
Let's start off our Jim Sez NBA Finals Preview by putting one thing in particular in perspective here:
The defending champion Miami Heat have played seven games in the past 15 days including a trio of major...
Read More
Wednesday, June 05, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The big TV game Wednesday Night on ESPN is the Texas Rangers at the Boston Red Sox. We already previewed that series in the Tuesday edition of the NOTEBOOK. So, we decided to spend today getting you caught up...
Read More
Tuesday, June 04, 2013 at 3:30 PM
It would be hard to call the underog San Antonio Spurs a “Cinderella” team if they knock off the favored Miami Heat in the NBA Championships that begin Thursday in South Beach. San Antonio is at...
Read More
Tuesday, June 04, 2013 at 7:00 AM
The two best records after this weekend’s action in the American League belonged to the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox, who begin a three-game series Tuesday Night at Fenway Park. That means...
Read More
Monday, June 03, 2013 at 10:48 AM
Okay, so this wasn't exactly in the original script.
The Miami Heat -- who won 66 regular-season games (against only 16 losses) including 27 in a row at one stage -- was supposed to steamroll its way to a...
Read More
Sunday, June 02, 2013 at 7:00 PM
We’re now just hours away from what might be one of the biggest sports stories of the last decade. The Miami Heat…a team so powerful that they stormed through the final weeks of the regular season...
Read More
Sunday, June 02, 2013 at 2:00 PM
The Eastern Conference Finals matching the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat has been a fascinating series from many perspectives. You have great athletes on the floor. You have master chess players making...
Read More
Sunday, June 02, 2013 at 7:00 AM
It’s always a great game when the Boston Red Sox take on the New York Yankees. That storied rivalry will feature a pitcher’s duel Sunday Night when Sox ace Clay Buchholz takes on Hiroki Kuroda of...
Read More
Saturday, June 01, 2013 at 7:00 AM
For a half of basketball this past Thursday Night, it looked like the Indiana Pacers might have solved the riddle of how to contain the beast LeBron James and the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference...
Read More
Saturday, June 01, 2013 at 1:00 AM
Think about this for a moment or two:
The Miami Heat were down 44-40 at halftime in Thursday's Game 5 and appeared a rudderless ship. Worse yet, all the physical shenanigans -- we're talking about Miami...
Read More
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 3:55 PM
The first four parts of this 10-part series on what you need to focus on to get ready for the coming football season has focused primarily on the offensive aspects of the game and today we move to defense,...
Read More
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:58 AM
No wonder folks were calling Thursday night's Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals a "swing game"!
Okay, we know the "true meaning" of the phrase but in a series that's been highlighted -- or not...
Read More
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 7:00 AM
That’s right the Pittsburgh Pirates emerged midweek with one of the three best records in all of Major League Baseball. In fact, the top three were all from the same division…with the St. Louis...
Read More
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 7:00 PM
Some early college football lines went up on the board here in Las Vegas this week. Betting limits are very low for these “game of the year” specials compared to the regular season. But, that...
Read More
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 3:03 PM
In the first three parts of this 10-part series on football handicapping, we have focused on three essentials of building a powerhouse team that can compete at any level and can be functioning at 100%...
Read More
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM
It’s been amazing to watch the NBA Eastern Conference Finals series matching the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat develop. You normally think of a very intense basketball series leading to UNDERS, because...
Read More
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Three of the four games so far in the Eastern Conference Finals have gone right down to the wire. The series opener went overtime. Game Two was nip and tuck before the Pacers sprung an upset. Game Four was nip...
Read More
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM
Maybe there's more than a few folks out there who think along the lines of ESPN's Stephen A. Smith:
Following the post-game hoopla in Game 4 where the Indiana Pacers had knotted up their best-of-seven...
Read More
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 12:17 PM
This just in: Size matters.
Well, it most certainly does in these on-going and rather heated NBA Eastern Conference Finals where the Indiana Pacers knotted up their best-of-seven series against the...
Read More
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Last week we used a day off from the NBA Playoffs to get caught up in the National League…with the promise that we would do the same thing in the American League when the schedule permitted....
Read More
