Lets take a look at scoring or lack of such. Clutching again you say

Remember the year after the lockout ?  Oh so long ago.  The 2005-06 season was crackdown for sure and that red line disappeared. More wide open hockey, more penalties called.  An offensive fans utopia. 

Well what has happened since.  More wid play, sans red line has  has caused more injuries.  Higher speed inpacts.  But as with all crackdowns in the NHL us long time fans and followers know that things slowly goes back to the norm and this is no different.

Remember those obstruction calls ?  Those tons of PP's we had in every game ?  My many rants about I don't want to watch a game that is a constant PP ?

Things have went back to norm for sure. 

Take a look at this chart.  Our high of 6.17 goals and 5.8 PP's per team per game.  Yes that's per team per game so you can multiply that 5.8 times 2.  Is now down to 5.48 goals a game and 3.4 PP's per team per game.  Times two of course.

Look at the regression here

Divisional Playoffs teaser time (Post yours)

Well last week tanked, although it you are going to lose a teaser losing both sides is the way to do it.

2 team 7pt -120

SF +10.5
Pats -6.5

2 team 6.5pt -110

Ravens -2.5
Pack -1.5

GL

2011 teasers Week 1

On another year of winning teasers here.  Of couse last year was another good year just like every year I post them here.

Rookies save your teasers are for suckers post. I stake my rep saying I make money on them and I will show you how.  It's not what you tease, it's how you tease.

This year I'm using 5Dimes again, but remember they like to play with the lines also I am using Pinny again.  Where most of you won't/ don't know to play Pinny I will also post BetAnySports odds.  They have the best teaser odds behind 5Dimes.

What I play

2 team 6pt Ev
2 team 6.5pt -110
2 team 7pt -120
3 team 6pt +180
3 team 6.5pt +165
3 team 7pt +150
3 team 10pt -115

Starting out tonight with a 2 team 6pt teaser

Holy shit, Dimes actually isn't playing with the lines this week.  Just give them a few weeks.

Taking

Saints +10.5
Cards -2

GL

Belfour, Gilmour, two others elected to Hockey Hall of Fame

Eddie the Eagle is a Hall of Famer.

Former All-Star goalie Ed Belfour was elected Tuesday to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, joining Doug Gilmour, Mark Howe and Joe Nieuwendyk as the newest class of inductees.

The four former NHL stars were chosen by the hall's 18-member selection committee. The induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 14.

Belfour, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner as the league's top goalie, posted 484 wins -- third on the NHL career list -- and 76 shutouts during a 17-year career during which he played for Chicago, San Jose, Dallas, Toronto and Florida.

"It is hard to put into words what this means to me," Belfour said in a statement issued by the Stars. "I would like to thank all of my teammates and people along the way who helped me achieve my hockey dreams."

Belfour, whose distinctively decorated facemask earned him the nickname "Eddie the Eagle," won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999. He also was the Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1991 as the NHL's top rookie.

Gilmour played 20 years in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup in 1989. He finished with more than 1,400 career points.

Howe, the son of Hall of Famer Gordie Howe, retired in 1995. He switched from forward to defense early in his career and was a runner up for the Norris Trophy three times. He also had three 20-goal seasons in the NHL.

"I was elated to have this dream come true," Howe said. "To actually hav... [More]

What does history tell us about that magic game 7

Ahhhh.....what the sports world loves so much......game 7's.  I imaging most think the home team wins most of them and is juiced for that fact....well let's see

Ignoring win order; considering site order: The team tied 3-games-all with Games 1-2 at home, Games 3-4 on the road, Game 5 at home, and Game 6 on the road (Boston) has the following best-of-7 playoff series and games record through the 2011 NBA and NHL Quarterfinals rounds:

Game 7 record, NHL only, all rounds: 80-53 (.602)
Game 7 record, NHL only, Semis round: 18-8 (.692)

So we are looking at a line of -145 for the game right now and you need a win % of 59.18 to break even for that lay.

So you are getting a very slight bonus by laying the -143 and a nice bounus if you go by the semis round record.

It's hard to go against a home team in game 7.  But considering there have been no OT games in the series, taking the regulation line of the B's +115 I think that is the way to go.

GL

Guy Boucher is a fool if he doesn't start Smith for game 7

Roloson has allowed 15 goals in his last 176 minutes played for a whopping 5.11 GAA, with a .843 SV% 

Now it makes great soundbytes when you say we are going with the guy that got us there.  A 41 year old goaltender that got you there in the regular season, but is breaking down in the post season.

Mike Smith on the other hand has allowed  2 goals in the series with Boston. 120 minutes over 3 games played for a very small GAA of 1.00 and an incredible .958 SV%

Doesn't take a huge thought process here.

Does Boucher want to be loyal or the best chance for TB to return to the Cup Finals.

So what does history tell us about tonights games

Vancouver 3-0 at Chicago.

Teams that won the first game at home and are up 3-0, have a winning % of 64% for game 4 and a series win % of 98.1. 

In the 2010-11 regular season, Vancouver finished 20 points ahead of Chicago. From 1939 through the 2010 NHL Finals, when NHL teams led their best-of-7 playoff series opponents by 20 regular-season points, they have posted a 5-1 (.833) best-of-7 series record in those series against those opponents.

MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series 1126 is the 71st best-of-7 playoff series for Chicago, and the 29th for Vancouver. In best-of-7 playoff series, Chicago has a 32-38 series record, a 7-7 Prelim-round series record, and a 26-44 Game 1 record, while Vancouver has a 12-16 series record, an 8-6 Prelim-round record, and a 17-11 Game 1 record. Series 1126 is the fifth best-of-7 meeting between Chicago and Vancouver; Chicago won three of the previous four.

The 2011 NHL Chicago Blackhawks thus become the 288th MLB/NBA/NHL team to face a 3-games-nil deficit, and hope to become the fifth team to surmount that deficit (with the Philadelphia Flyers' having accomplished that feat as recently as Spring 2010). The 2011 Phoenix Coyotes are 289th in the same queue.

San Jose at LA. Series tied 1-1

The NHL San Jose Sharks find themselves tied 1-game-all after Games 1-2 of their 2011 NHL Preliminary-round best-of-7 series. In best-of-7 NHL Preliminary-round action from 1987 through 2010 inclusiv... [More]

What usually happens in Game 3 with a 2-0 start

Sooooo....what historically has happened when a team has won both game at home and then hit the road for game 3 ?

Well.....it's it's a slight advantage when they hit the visitors ice. For all series they have a .538 win % for game 3 and almost 90% chance of winning the series.  So as you see the line it's almost right on at pretty much a pickem.

But lets dig a bit deeper with the stats.  Here with the Caps and Rangers info.

In the 2010-11 regular season, Washington finished 14 points ahead of the New York Rangers. From 1939 through the 2010 NHL Finals, when NHL teams led their best-of-7 playoff series opponents by 14 regular-season points, they have posted an 11-7 (.611) best-of-7 series record in those series against those opponents.

MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series 1122 is the 59th best-of-7 playoff series for the New York Rangers, and the 29th for Washington. In best-of-7 playoff series, the New York Rangers have a 24-34 series record, an 8-5 Prelim-round series record, and a 26-32 Game 1 record, while Washington has a 9-19 series record, a 6-11 Prelim-round record, and a 17-11 Game 1 record.

Series 1122 is the sixth best-of-7 meeting between the New York Rangers and Washington; Washington won three of the previous five best-of-7 series between the two.

How about the Nucks and Hawks.

Vancouver finished 20 points ahead of Chicago. From 1939 through the 2010 NHL Finals, when NHL teams led their best... [More]

Week 12 teasers, Thanksgiving edition...14-9 +1.1 YTD (Post yours)

Another week of winning teasers.   Got one on Turkey day for ya.

A special 3 team 7pt teaser.  Going for the nice payout. +150.

Dallas +10.5
Jets -2
Ravens -2

If one of the first two lose I will put the Ravens in another 7pt teaser. Probably with Cleveland if they go down to -9.5 or the Bears if I can't get the line move.

GL

Atlantic City casino revenue declines 11.3 percent in August

The casino industry's summer slump continued in August, with gaming revenue plunging by double digits amid the sluggish economy and even tougher competition from Pennsylvania.

Altogether, Atlantic City's 11 casino hotels took in $347.5 million from the slot machines and table games, an 11.3 percent decline from the $391.7 million in August 2009, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported Friday.

August's results reinforced just how challenging the summer season has been in the resort town. Gaming revenue tumbled 11.1 percent in June and fell 5 percent in July. Atlantic City's string of revenue declines has now stretched to 24 straight months, reflecting the weak economy and the growth of gambling in Pennsylvania.

Although Pennsylvania has been surging, the formerly recession-resistant gambling industry has suffered in other jurisdictions. Nevada, a month behind Atlantic City in reporting its casino revenue, was down nearly 5 percent in July. Slot revenue at Delaware's three racetrack casinos fell almost 5 percent in August, while slot winnings at the two Indian-owned casinos in Connecticut were up just 1.5 percent in July.

A lighter entertainment schedule in August was one factor contributing to Atlantic City's lower revenue, according to the Gaming Industry Observer newsletter. The newsletter said there were 50 entertainment events at the casinos this August compared to 57 during the same month last year.

On top of everything else, ... [More]

Trump Marina casino in Atlantic City back on sale with help of commercial realty firm

They will be lucky to get $200 Million for that thing.  Been there a few times...it's just too far away from the other casinos.

Two Atlantic City casinos fined for using decks with missing playing cards

Two casinos agreed to pay fines today after it was discovered they were not playing with a full deck.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission slapped Bally's Atlantic City with an $18,000 fine and Showboat Casino Hotel had to pay a $10,000 penalty. Neither casino contested the fines.

In Bally's case, a missing 7 of diamonds during games of blackjack left the casino short of a 52-card deck for nearly eight hours on April 29, 2009. Bally's staff ignored a warning light on an automatic shuffling machine that indicated a card was missing, believing there was a full deck instead.

At Showboat, a 3 of hearts got stuck in a shuffling machine at a poker table for Texas Hold ‘Em, but the missing card went undetected for about four hours on Sept. 24, 2008.

Although both casinos were fined, the commission said neither knew that a card was missing and that both have since taken steps to prevent the problem from happening again.

LED TVs compared: Local dimming, edge-lit, and full array

More info on LCD's.

URL typos earn Google $497 million per year, study says

Google could be earning some $497 million a year from the registered owners of website addresses that mimic typographical errors in existing sites, according to a new study.

Harvard University researchers Tyler Moore and Benjamin Edelman estimate that Google could be making millions from the practice, known as “typosquatting,” because its network of display ads — from which it receives a cut of the profits — run on the typo’d sites.

If it’s a frequently misspelled site address — for example, zddnet.com instead of yours truly –the tactic could pay off handsomely.

Moore and Edelman used a list of common spelling mistakes to generate another list of possible typo domains for the 3,264 most popular “.com” websites, as determined by Alexa.com rankings.

With help from software, the researchers crawled 285,000 of some 900,000 “misspelled” sites to estimate what revenue the domains are generating.

Scale those results, and you’re looking at some serious coin:

Expanding to the top 100,000 sites, retaining the 0.7% estimated ratio of typosquatting site, we estimate that typo domains collectively receive at least 68.2 million daily visitors. If these typo domains were treated as a single website, that site would be ranked by Alexa as t... [More]

US Goalies Ordered to Remove Slogans From Helmets

U.S. goaltenders Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick have to cover or remove some words from their helmets that are in violation of International Olympic Comittee rules.

Miller had "Miller Time'' on the back of his helmet on Monday during practice and Jonathan Quick's helmet has "Support Our Troops'' adorned on his mask.

Szymon Szemberg, spokesman for the International Ice Hockey Federation, confirmed both players will be told to take those messages off their equipment because it's the governing bodies' task to enforce IOC rule No. 51 that bars advertising, demonstrations and propaganda.

"We're going to meet with USA Hockey tonight to see what their thoughts are,'' said Bob Condron, spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee. "We don't know if it's a federation or a USOC situation.''

The Americans will play their first game of the Olympics on Tuesday against Switzerland.

Earlier Monday, Miller acknowledged knowing about the rules that prohibit corporate sponsorships at the Olympics, but went ahead and had ``Miller Time'' painted on the mask he designed for the Vancouver Games. Miller said he had been informed to get rid of the tag line because it's a slogan for a beer maker,

"Just having fun,'' Miller said with a wink.

But he's upset officials are also taking ... [More]

Dec 26th hockey thread, picks, stats and info

I hope everyone had a great holiday !!! 

Give the 1st period unders a very close look today.

Polar_Bear 2-0
LuckyGuy 1-0
Euler 1-0
phat03 1-0 (Won last 2 games)
Jab38 1-0 (Hit a 3 team parlay !!)

zipnjaz 4-1 (7-1 run)
myrkur15 3-1 (Hit a parlay)

Columbus  at  Detroit (7:00 PM)
N.Y. Islanders  at  N.Y. Rangers (7:00 PM)
Montreal  at  Toronto (7:00 PM)
Philadelphia  at  Carolina (7:00 PM)
New Jersey  at  Washington (7:00 PM)
Ottawa  at  Buffalo (7:00 PM)
Atlanta  at  Tampa Bay (7:30 PM)
Chicago  at  Nashville (8:00 PM)
St. Louis  at  Minnesota (8:00 PM)
Dallas  at  Colorado (9:00 PM)
Los Angeles  at  Phoenix (9:00 PM)
Edmonton  at  Vancouver (10:00 PM)
Anaheim  at  San Jose (10:30 PM)

Goaltending Injury Transactions ... [More]

Oct 12th Hockey Thread...Picks, info, stats, trends (Early games)

Looks like the Ducks minds were already on the plane before the game started. Just 18 shots the whole game. The Stars stole a point in Vancouver, but Turco turns in his usual performance in the SO. Floppy, floppy, floppy.    5 for Fighting 3-0 (That includes a huge PL dog and he's on a 10-0 run now !!!!!)
Donovan39 3-0
Wookie 1-0
scamallama 1-0 (Welcome to the board over here)
bracks 1-0 (Won last 2 games)
bear 1-0
Szejtan 1-0
K4ngur13 1-0
  Colorado  at  Boston (1:05 PM)
Los Angeles  at  N.Y. Islanders (2:05 PM)
Toronto  at  N.Y. Rangers (7:00 PM)
New Jersey  at  Washington (7:05 PM)
Florida  at  Tampa Bay (7:35 PM)
Pittsburgh  at  Ottawa (7:35 PM)
Calgary  at  Chicago (8:05 PM)
Edmonton  at  Nashville (8:05 PM)
Phoenix  at  San Jose (10:35 PM)   Goaltending Injury Transactions ... [More]

Video game sales in free fall

In a stark reversal of the trend on display just a few short months ago--when general retail sales were plummeting even as the video games industry was still showing growth--cautious optimism in retail is now being offset by many losing months in video games.  

In July, according to industry analyst the NPD Group, video game sales fell for the fifth straight month, and the year-over-year numbers are striking: In July, the video games business posted sales of $848.9 million, down 29 percent from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Year-to-date sales, reported NPD, were at $8.16 billion, down 14 percent from the same time period a year ago.

And things are only getting worse. While the industry's June numbers were down a full 31 percent from a year earlier, they still topped nine figures, coming in at $1.17 billion in June. But that means that in July, sales were down 27.4 percent from just a month earlier.

It wasn't that long ago that many people were making the argument that video games--because of their relatively low cost and many hours of entertainment value--were seen as close to recession-proof. But now, it would be hard for anyone to make that case.

Indeed, NPD analyst Anita Frazier wrote in a report Thursday that, "In order for the industry to come in flat or slightly up for the total year, the bac... [More]

Card counters hit Trump in AC now

Fox Decides Not to Air 'Family Guy' Abortion Episode

Long term deals for Hossa and Pronger raises red flags for NHL

Because of growing concerns over the manner in which teams are locking up top players to front-loaded, long-term contracts, the National Hockey League has launched an investigation into the recent signings of Marian Hossa and Chris Pronger, sources told ESPN.com.

The NHL will hire an outside firm to determine whether the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers discussed a time line for Hossa's or Pronger's potential retirement before the long-term contracts were signed.

At the end of the investigation the NHL will decide whether to pursue charges against the the teams for circumventing the collective bargaining agreement. The teams could face fines, the loss of draft picks or both.

Hossa signed a 12-year deal with the Blackhawks that begins with payments of $7.9 million for the first seven years and finishes with four years at $1 million annually. The overall the cap hit for the Blackhawks is a completely manageable $5.275 million a year.

Hossa will turn 42 if he plays to the end of the contract, which raised red flags for the NHL and was one factor in calling for a probe of the deal.

The NHL is also concerned ab... [More]

Fedorov sues for $43 million loss

Hurricanes sign Ruutu, Leafs hire Poulin

NHL, NBC announce multiyear extension

The National Hockey League and NBC Sports today announced an extension through the 2010-11 season of their successful revenue-sharing partnership -- one that has achieved viewership milestones, programming and production innovations, awards and critical acclaim. The joint announcement was made by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Ken Schanzer, President, NBC Sports.

"The NHL/NBC partnership has been terrific. Our association has led to such technical innovations as the 'Inside the Glass' reporting and to such programming advancements as the extremely popular Winter Classic," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was broadcast television's most-watched hockey game in 36 years, which makes clear the NHL and NBC are building an audience, are building momentum and are perfectly positioned to continue growing the game."

Schanzer said: "We're thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with the NHL and build on all the positive momentum on and off the ice. Together, we have attained viewership milestones not seen in more than three decades. And the Winter Classic, in just two years, has become one of the highlights of the sports calendar. We strongly believe this is a league that is poised for continued growth."

RECORD VIEWERSHIP: NBC Sports has achieved a number of ratings milestones including broadcasting the most-watched regular season game in 34 years (2009 Winter Classic) and the most-viewed NHL game overall in 36 yea... [More]

I'll give you the holy grail of gambling...

But 99% of you will not be able to follow it.

 

No offense to anyone, but it takes patience and more patience. You can't get into the thrill of making big bucks on every play.  I can honestly say that since I've used internet accounts, I've never tapped out.  I've taken money out at the end of the season.  But that was me just getting the cash. Not tapping out.

We had this discussion last year.  Very good info.  I will actually have people argue that this is not the way to go.  Well, I have math on my side.  Also I have the proof of not putting any money in my internet accounts by tapping since 1996.

First of all.  Lay off the parlays.  UNLESS........You are parlaying two big favs.  That will make them into an even wager or a dog. I see so many people trying to score the huge hit by parlaying 4 or more teams. 

Second.  Just because it's a big fav, doesn't mean they are going to win. There are plenty of upsets in hockey. 

Third. It kind of goes with the first two.  Stay away from the juice. It will just kill ya.  You will notice I will play -1 lines quite a bit.  This gets the big juice plays down to low or no juice.  Also it turns big favs to nice dogs.  You can turn that -150 into a +137.  That's a huge difference.  Yes, you will get some ties.  But that's part of the game.[More]