2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Atlanta Hawks

I doubt many fans buy NBA League Pass to watch the Atlanta Hawks games, but they are sneaky good. They won’t ‘wow’ you with flash, but if you like three-point shooting, you loved watching them last season.

Jeff Teague impressed many NBA fans with his play against the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs. He held his own against players with much more playoff experience. I look for him to keep improving and possibly be in play for a spot on the All-Star Game roster.

The major key to Atlanta’s success is Al Horford’s ability to stay healthy. He’s had two torn pectoral muscles derail back-to-back seasons. If he stays healthy, it’s hard to omit Atlanta from the playoff picture.

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Atlanta Hawks.

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2014 NFL Week 5 – Betting Picks Against Spread

Last week was a rough one for us. We went 5-7 and are now 31-29 against the spread on the season.

Value is what you need to see when you’re looking at NFL point spreads. It’s harder to see than in college football betting lines, so sometimes it comes down to a hunch…even if you’ve spent 30 minutes crunching numbers.

I had a decent year betting against the spread in the NFL last season (133-95-10). Any year you hit nearly 60% of the NFL games against the spread is a damn good year. I hope to keep it going in 2014.

We pick every NFL game against the spread and throw out a few upsets in Week 5 of the 2014 NFL season.

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2014 NCAA Football – Week 6 Betting Picks Against Spread

I (once again) went 12-7-1 with last week’s college football picks against the spread. Even though I had a few close misses, I felt like I made smart plays. I am currently 42-35-2 on the season.

You will have some issues picking teams this week. There are a lot of road teams with favorable point spreads. I advise you to tread lightly, since this is part of the season in which weird things happen.

The Pac-12 and the SEC are proving themselves to be the top conferences in college football. On the other side of the coin, the Big Ten is imploding before our eyes. It’s already been an exciting season.

We were 134-79-8 against the spread betting on college football games last season. We hope to keep it going and help you guys out again this season.

We pick against the spread for all the big college football games on Saturday (October 4th, 2014), and picked some smaller conference games as well. Enjoy!

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Sweetbob’s Hipster Music Playlist: October 2014

The first day of October is here and instead of writing my weekly college football and NFL picks against the spread post tonight, I took a break and decided to post this month’s Hipster Music Playlist.

…don’t worry, I’ll have my college football and NFL picks up Thursday afternoon-ish.

I always keep an ear out for new music. I love discovering new bands/songs, it’s a habit from my days as a music journalist. Even though this is mostly a sports blog, I still add quite a bit of music and pop culture content.

I have been called a hipster on more than one occasion. I like indie music more than any other genre of music. Don’t get me wrong, I can rock out to Richard Marx or Ace of Base (depending on the amount of alcohol in my system).

Here are 15 new indie songs I’m currently listening to. All of the songs are fresh and most have only been released within the last two months.

Your ears will thank you for listening!

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How Did We Do?: 2014 MLB Team Win Over/Under

It’s time to pop the champagne, guys!

Before the season began, we wrote a team preview for each MLB team. We broke down all the new players, former players, possible fantasy sleepers and (most importantly) picked an over/under win total.

We’ve always done really well with our MLB Over/Unders in the past and we kicked ass in 2014.

We went 19-11 on the year. We hit on all the sleepers, but missed horribly on the Texas Rangers. Vegas definitely cleaned house on them this year. I don’t know a single person who picked their under win total.

We list all the teams and what their over/under win totals were at the beginning of the 2014 MLB season. See which ones we hit and missed on this year.

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2014 NFL Week 4 – Betting Picks Against Spread

It’s time to bob and weave in the NFL. Teams that have been consistently covering spreads will finally become vulnerable. The value in their spreads will either be non-existent or razor-thin. Yes, even the Jacksonville Jaguars are looking good in Week 4.

Last week, I went 9-7 in my betting picks against the spread. I am now 26-22 on the season.

I had a decent season betting against the spread in the NFL last season (133-95-10). Any year you hit nearly 60% of the NFL games against the spread is a damn good year. I hope to keep it going in 2014.

I’m sorry about posting this weeks’ picks so late, but they didn’t automatically post like I had this article setup to do.

We pick every NFL game against the spread and throw out a few upsets in Week 4 of the 2014 NFL season.

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ESPN Suspends Bill Simmons After Roger Goodell Rant

If you’re a sports fan, you know Bill Simmons. He started as a blogger in Boston as ‘the voice of the common sports fan’ and then somehow morphed into an occasional blowhard and talking head on ESPN. He’s also the creator of the 30 for 30 documentary series and is the editor at Grantland.

Simmons used to write a lot more, but now he’s mostly just does his ‘The B.S. Report’ podcast and is a member of ESPN’s studio team during NBA games. He writes a weekly million-word NFL picks column during NFL season and random NBA articles (his NBA preview with Jalen Rose is about to drop).

Well, on ‘The B.S. Report’ this week, Simmons went off on a tangent and called Roger Goodell a liar (while using a few adult words). He then dared ESPN executives to punish him for his rant. ESPN did just that and suspended Simmons for three weeks.

Here was my reaction when I heard the news: Continue reading →

2014 NCAA Football – Week 5 Betting Picks Against Spread

I went 12-7-1 with last week’s college football picks against the spread. I could have had a historic week if a play went my way late in a few games…but that’s sports betting for you. You always focus on the late-game plays that didn’t go your way.

I love this portion of the college football schedule. Teams start playing conference games and you have less 40-point spreads. I love it. I hope to keep the positive picks going into Week 5. I am currently 30-28-1 on the season.

We were 134-79-8 against the spread betting on college football games last season. We hope to keep it going and help you guys out again this season.

We pick against the spread for all the big college football games on Saturday (September 27th, 2014), and picked some smaller conference games as well. Enjoy!

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 31

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I had a hard time getting into new action figures. I started purchasing the old toys I had as a kid out of nostalgia. Well, the WWE finally figured out a way to suck me into their new products…release quality figures of wrestlers I grew up watching.

As soon as I saw the line-up for Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30, I basically just threw my money at my laptop screen. The lineup for Elite 31 was announced awhile ago and are due to hit retail early October. They have already hit Amazon and eBay.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 31 are Kane, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Dean Ambrose, The Rock (Rock Concert Flashback) and Vader (Flashback).

Here are some pictures and a review of which accessories each figure will come with. Continue reading →

Keith Olbermann: Derek Jeter Not Greatest Player Ever

2014 NFL Week 3 – Betting Picks Against Spread

The first two weeks of football have been marred with off-the-field issues. We have a few surprise teams and two Super Bowl contenders (Indianapolis & New Orleans) that currently sit at 0-2.

I went 8-8 in my betting picks against the spread. I am now 17-15 on the season.

I didn’t overthink my picks this week. I re-ranked each NFL team after last week and feel really confident with my picks this week.

We pick every NFL game against the spread and throw out a few upsets in Week 3 of the 2014 NFL season.

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2014 NCAA Football – Week 4 Betting Picks Against Spread

Last week’s slate of games was full of nailbiters and complete surprises (see: East Carolina). I ended up going 9-11 putting my season record at 18-21-1. I’ve taken some risks so far, but I am putting the reset button my betting strategy this season. I haven’t put much emphasis on home teams and I had to re-evaluate the Big Ten. I valued them higher than I should have the first few weeks.

I went heavy on home teams and I feel great about my betting picks against the spread for Week 4 of the 2014 college football season.

We were 134-79-8 against the spread betting on college football games last season. We hope to keep it going and help you guys out again this season.

We pick against the spread for all the big college football games on Saturday (September 20th, 2014), and picked some smaller conference games as well. Enjoy!

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