2014 NFL Week 1 – Betting Picks Against Spread

The preseason is (finally) over and we can now bet on real NFL games!

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.

Going into Week 1, you should take what you learned in the preseason with a grain of salt. The players who played the most, probably won’t be huge factors this week. There is a reason they felt comfortable having them play a lot in meaningless games. Just look at the stats in the first and second quarter when looking at preseason box scores.

We pick every NFL game against the spread and throw out a few upsets in Week 1 of the 2014 NFL season.

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2014 College Football: All-Name Team

The college football season kicks off tonight…but it doesn’t officially start until we post our yearly all-name team.

We went through all the teams in the top two divisions in the NCAA. We read every name and picked out the ones that were funny and names we just wish we had.

My name is Bobby Roberts, so of all the people who can write a post poking fun at names, it’s me. I’m always asked if my real name is Robert Roberts (it’s not) or if my name is fake.

Here is the 2014-15 college football All-Name team.

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Sweetbob’s Hipster Music Playlist: August 2014

Sorry about putting this month’s Hipster Music Playlist up late. I’ve been dealing with some medical issues and a case of the ‘it hurts to sit up to type words’.

August is hit or miss for for great, new music. Bands are preparing their Fall/Winter releases, so bands often wait until after August to release new material.

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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Which Top MLB Prospects Will Be Called Up This Season?

The All-Star Game is over and pennant races are heating up (for many teams). On the other side of the coin, there are a handful of teams that are playing for next season and beyond. Those teams usually have a stockpile of prospects on the verge of making their MLB debuts.

This post features the game’s top prospects and their estimated time of arrival.

Kris Bryant, Byron Buxton, Javier Baez and others have their team’s fans drooling. Fans are usually impatient when it comes to prospects…especially if their team is near the bottom of the standings.

Which top prospects are expected to be called up this season? Which prospects will need a little more seasoning in the Minors?

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2014 Fantasy Football Sleepers – Training Camp Edition

The lull of the Summer has ended. NFL Players are reporting to training camp and I’m drooling all over my keyboard.

I know you guys are waiting for me to write my yearly over/under post, but I’m waiting a few more weeks before I feel comfortable making my final predictions. In the mean time, head over to SportsBettingInfo.com and glance over the lines.

This post is all about fantasy football sleepers. I’ve sorted them by position to make it easier to look through. I’ve mixed in the deep sleepers with ‘these players aren’t properly ranked’ sleepers. I’ve been pretty successful with my sleepers in the past and I hope to keep my hot streak intact.

Here are my early sleepers for the 2014 fantasy football season.

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2014 MLB Un-All-Star Team

It has become a yearly tradition that we look at all the former MLB All-Stars that aren’t having stellar years.

The season is a little more than half over and it’s not too late for some of these players to bounce back and turn their seasons around.

Since I’m an active fantasy baseball owner, it didn’t take me long to make this list. A few of these guys were on my teams early this season, but were quickly dropped after a few weeks of bad numbers. I spent most of my time just baffled that some of these guys were actually All-Stars at one point.

The old benchmark for an All-Star was thrown out with the bathwater when Bud Selig decided each team must have one representative in the All-Star Game.

I omitted all the former All-Star pitchers that are currently out recovering from Tommy John surgery. I tried not to add position players who suffered a major injury, but decided to include them if they had over 100 at-bats this season (sorry, Prince Fielder).

Here is our 2014 MLB Un-All-Star team.

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Sports Crush: Erin Coscarelli

We’ve written a handful of ‘Sports Crush‘ posts since we launched America’s White Boy. We’ve spotlighted female MMA fighters, WWE Divas and female sports reporters like MLB Network’s Heidi Watney. We decided to profile another female on a league-owned network, NFL Network’s Erin Coscarelli.

She was recently hired at NFL Network and co-hosts NFL AM with Rhett Lewis. She previously worked at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

During her first broadcast, she showed her toughness by taking a wiffle ball bat to her side and won me over further by admitting she loves the WWE, specifically the Undertaker. She seems like one of the guys on the set and knows her football. She’s also a great follow on Twitter.

We are crushing on Erin Coscarelli and once you look at our photo gallery, you will understand why.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30

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. I’m a sucker for the Legion of Doom (otherwise known as The Road Warriors) and the Lex Express-era patriotic Lex Luger is just icing on the cake.

I let you know when these will hit the shelves, and which accessories come with each figure in Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30.

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Cubs trade Samardzija & Hammel to Oakland for Prospects

The Chicago Cubs FINALLY made the trade fans knew was coming for a long time.

Cubs’ fans assumed it would take two separate deals to trade both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, but they found their trade partner in the Oakland A’s.

The Cubs need young pitching, so you would expect the deal would surround some young arms. Right? Not exactly.

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Sweetbob’s Hipster Music Playlist: July 2014

I guess if I keep ‘super-sizing’ these playlists to fifteen songs, it will soon become the norm. Well, it’s official. We will always include at least fifteen songs in every hipster music playlist going forward!

July is an awesome month for new music. You can’t have an eventful Summer without a soundtrack that goes along with all the tomfoolery.

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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20 Pictures of Nicolas Cage’s Face Photoshopped on People

I had a difficult time trying to think of a title that best suits this post. I went bland and just said what this actually post is…twenty pictures of Nicholas Cage’s Face Photoshopped on other people’s faces.

I first ran into the photo on the right while looking up some pictures of Andre the Giant to use on a different post. When I found that bad boy, I was both amazed and frightened. I would love to know whomever did that Photoshop (and the others), so I could properly give them credit.

After seeing the Andre the Giant picture, I went on a Google Image rampage to find others. It didn’t take me long to find a treasure trove of great photos of Nicholas Cage’s face in famous photos.

Here are the 20 best (funniest/odd) pictures of Nicolas Cage’s face Photoshopped on other people’s faces.

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Dallas Cowboys ‘Mean Tweets’ Video…Featuring My Tweet!

As I’m currently focused on the World Cup and baseball, I rarely go to DallasCowboys.com and watch videos (I’m also a Colts fan). A friend of mine gave me the head’s up that one of my tweets was featured in a video they posted on their website. They did a Jimmy Kimmel-esque ‘Mean Tweets’ video in which players like Tony Romo and Jason Witten read mean tweets about them.

Here is a screencap of Anthony Spencer reading my tweet.

If you want to watch the entire video, click here.

…and if you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m @sweetbob.