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- BetOnline reports that the betting public made out like bandits Sunday
- Odds posted on Aaron Rodgers next team if not with Jets and if he doesn't retire.
- Conn artists: Huskies among the biggest early season disappointments in men's college basketball.
- Weekend upsets in the world of soccer.
NFL
A Big Pay Day for the Betting Public Sunday
Gamblers mostly won big in Week 13 of the 2024 NFL season, as reported by Dave Mason of BetOnline.
Just looked at the figures from yesterday -- congrats on the beatdown!
— Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL) December 2, 2024
Looks like we will be big Browns fans tonight ($):
72% DEN -6
67% DEN -275
64% O 42
Go> https://t.co/pEmn8MVYL8
This observation seems to go against common trends.
Not including the Thursday and Friday games, favorites Sunday only went 2-7 Against The Spread. The public, in general, tends to lean more towards on the favorites.
One glaring exception to the "public loving the favorites rule" came on Sunday with the road dog Seahawks embraced by recreational gamblers and winning.
The sharps still seemed to like New York.
David Payne Purdum of ESPN tweeted:
"That seems like the one constant in the NFL this season: The sharp groups bet on the Jets and the Jets lose.”
"That seems like the one constant in the NFL this season: The sharp groups bet on the Jets and the Jets lose.”https://t.co/m3HRrjGfqC
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) December 2, 2024
BetOnline needs the Browns Monday night. Cleveland was sitting on the +6 as of Monday morning.
NFL
Aaron Rodgers Next Team Odds....If Not With Jets Next Season
Speaking of the New York Jets, BetOnline released odds on Aaron Rodgers next team, assuming he is not part of this franchise next season.
Odds include whether he will retire.
Will Aaron Rodgers Retire before the 2025 Regular Season?
Yes +200 (2/1)
No -300 (1/3)
Aaron Rodgers Team in Week 1 2025 (if not Jets)
Las Vegas Raiders
5/2
(+250)
New York Giants
7/2
(+350)
Tennessee Titans
5/1
Cleveland Browns
8/1
Pittsburgh Steeler
9/1
College Basketball
Conn Artists: Huskies Biggest Early Disappointment
The day that the Associated Press revealed its preseason Top 25, UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley described his team’s No. 3 ranking as a show of disrespect.
His argument being that the Huskies come into this season as a two-time reigning national champion that bulldozed through the previous two NCAA tournaments “like no one has in a very long time.”
“We dominate for the [2023] national championship, we lose all the players, and then we're even better,” Hurley told CT Insider in mid-October. “We dominate even more, we lose all the players ... I think we should've been voted first."
Yahoo Sports Jeff Eisenburg notes that, instead, they're among men's college basketball's biggest disappointments so far this season.
They dropped three games in three days to finish dead last at the Maui Invitational.
From Eisenburg: "Those results suggest that, if anything, AP voters afforded excessive deference to UConn’s championship pedigree and didn’t weigh heavily enough the departure of four 2024 NBA Draft picks. No team that beat UConn in Maui is ranked higher than 24th at KenPom. Colorado was projected to finish second-to-last in the Big 12 entering the season."
The oddsmakers have UConn at anywhere from 10-1 to 20-1 odds of winning the 2025 NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship.
Soccer
Don't panic about Barcelona or Bayern Munich yet
We had another shocking Barcelona defeat in LaLiga as Real Madrid close the gap at the top over the weekend.
Harry Kane suffered an injury as Bayern Munich drew with Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker.
ESPN's Gabriele Marcotti writes:
Is it a big deal that little Las Palmas ruined Barcelona's 125th birthday, beating them 2-1 on the road and leaving them just one point clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table, but having played one more game? You bet.
Does it necessarily mean the wheels are coming off for Hansi Flick? I'm not sure.
Saturday's defeat was different from some of the previous lacklustre outings. Barcelona didn't play particularly well, but still put together an xG of 2.30 (to 0.50) while outshooting Las Palmas 27-5. There were two penalty shouts (on Pau Cubarsí and Pau Víctor) that, on a different day, may well have gone Barça,'s way. Both goals were as much a function of the much talked-about "high line" as they were individual errors (yes, you, Hector Fort).
Perhaps most importantly, Hansi Flick's football needs chemistry. He lost Alejandro Balde early, opted for Pablo Torre and Fermín López instead of Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal (with a view towards midweek fixtures, presumably) and started Gavi in a holding midfield position, replacing Marc Casadó. That's a lot of change for a side that played the same people week in, week out for the first two months of the season.
Here are your current odds to win La Liga in 2025:
Barcelona -120
Real Madrid +100
Atletico Madrid +1800
Athletic Bilbao +25000
Villarreal CF +25000
Real Betis +25000
Real Sociedad +25000
Girona FC +40000
RC Celta de Vigo +40000
Osasuna +40000
Mallorca +50000
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