The Dish: Speeding Bonds
As the great Captain Renault said near the end of Casablanca: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” whereupon a croupier hands him a wad of cash and says, “Your winnings, sir.”
Barry Bonds (to bury the lead) reportedly tested positive for amphetamine use during the 2006 season. After his weasel, err, agent Jeff Borris has made a cottage industry out of insisting that Bonds has never failed any kind of drug test, ever, in his entire life, this must come as quite a blow. Apparently, now that he’s off the BALCO special sauce, ol′ Barry needed a little pick-me-up to hit .270. Under baseball′s ever-so-generous new drug policy, a player is suspended for nearly two months for his first positive steroid test, but only gets a warning, and a few additional opportunities to pee in a cup, when he first tests positive for greenies.
To make things even more delicious, the New York Daily News reports that Bonds has blamed his positive test during the ‘06 season on something teammate Mark Sweeney gave him. Apparently, player-rep toady Gene Orza was so concerned about the allegation, he phoned Sweeney and told him he’d better clean out his locker, and remove whatever controversial substances he might have therein. But Sweeney maintains he has no idea what Orza was talking about, and he didn’t have any amphetamines in his locker. Which means, if Sweeney’s to be believed, Bonds was lying.
Shocking!
While the schadenfreude contact high we′re getting off this incident is truly a mellow buzz, I’m sad about one thing. Now that the alleged positive amphetamine test has been made public, Bonds is probably less likely to test positive for speed again (he hates us media types that much), which means he probably won’t get suspended for 25 games, the duration of purgatory players who test positive for greenies a second time have to serve. Ah, well. I guess we′ll just have to hope those names of players who tested positive for steroids a few years ago that MLB leaked to the media includes Bonds. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Barry? I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Wow. Didn’t see a Florida blowout over Ohio State coming. What did that unexpected result mean for the books?
BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws : Actually, we had lots of SEC bettors. Even though the action was about 3-to-2 in favor of Ohio State on the Spread, we had a lot of bettors take the Florida moneyline, which opened at 245 and was 230 by game time.
Meanwhile, the chalk held up in the AFC and NFC Wild Card games. For you, what were the biggest stories of the Wild Card weekend?
BDB, BoDog.ws : The first is obviously Tony Romo’s butterfingers, and the subsequent controversy over the “K” balls. Did the Seattle ballboys give the Cowboys the slickest ball for the final play? Second-biggest story: home teams going four-for-four straight up. Thirdly, the emergence of Joseph Addai, who rushed for 122 yards and helped Peyton Manning overcome his typical lackluster playoff performance. And finally, the great story in Philly. Everyone had written the Eagles off after Donovan McNabb went down, but the team has rallied behind Jeff Garcia and new team leader Brian Westbrook, who I hear is taking on a bigger role in the locker room.
In the AFC Divisional games, we’ll see San Diego favored by 4.5 hosting New England, and Baltimore favored by 4 hosting Indianapolis. Where do you expect to see the public come down in those two games? And which visitor do you think has the better chance of pulling off an upset?
BDB, BoDog.ws : In both games, you have two people that have huge playoff monkeys on their backs. Peyton has to prove he can win more than one game in the playoffs. On the west coast, Marty Schottenheimer has to prove he won′t cost his team the game by being too conservative. I believe the public will be behind Peyton this game. This could be the year he answers his critics and wins it all. Meanwhile, it’s very hard for anyone to bet against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in a playoff game. They always find a way to get it done. If you combine that with Martyball, I don′t see this year being much different. The public knows this, and I believe they will be strongly behind the Pats.
In the NFC Divisional round, it’ll be Chicago favored by 8.5 over Seattle, and New Orleans favored by 6 over Philadelphia. Same questions here: do you expect the public to back the home or away teams in these two games? And again, which visitor do you think has the better chance of springing the surprise?
BDB, BoDog.ws : I think the betting public will support one of each. In Chicago, the Bears have given up an average of 26.25 points over the last four games, and the Seahawks are on an upswing. If you remember back before Alexander and Hasselbeck were injured, this match-up was supposed to be for the NFC title. Give the Seahawks 8.5 points and I think the public will take that. The Seahawks are playing the Bears at the right time. In the Saints/Eagles match-up, it’s one of those games where you want both sides to win. Both have overcome so much adversity to get to where they are, but the Saints have been America’s team all year. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that this will be the first playoff game in the rebuilt Superdome. The public should be strongly behind Drew, Reggie and the rest of the Saints.
Christopher Harris is a featured writer for the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at procappers.com/ procappers.com