A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
I remember watching the Andy Roddick-Roger Federer 2009 Wimbledon Finals match and staring in awe at the granduer of how top American Andy Roddick played against Federer, a man who who was aiming to beat Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam record and who seemed unstoppable at the time.
Even though Roddick lost in a heart-breaking five-set match, things looked as if things were finally going to go the American’s way after constantly being called overrated and a one-hit wonder.
Fast forward to today.
Fuggedaboutit!
It says something about the sport of tennis when Joey Pedevill becomes a bigger name at the U.S. Tennis Open than third-seeded Novak Djokovic.
Pedevill is the name identified as the fouled-mouth fan who was involved in a fight with 49-year old mother of six Tracey Falco, along with her 75-year old dad Lawrence Burnett in the upper reaches of the Arthur Ashe Stadium during Djokovic’s otherwise routine straight-set win Thursday night.
A busy morning awaits with work duties and consulting appointments at the SBDC, so I figured a quick morning roundup was in order to get you caught up on the latest and greatest stories in the sports world.
First up? The U.S. Open. I really wish I could take today off from work to watch final round action, which has stretched into Monday because of torrential rain in New York this past weekend. The fourth round should be completed today, assuming there is no more rain, and resumes at 9:00 ET.
Taking a quick glance at the leaderboard, Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover are tied at -7 (with Barnes in trouble after his tee shot #2 found trouble last night before play was suspended) with Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, David Duval (David Duval!!??) and Ross Fisher sitting at -1. Mike Weir is in 7th place at -1 and then Tiger Woods is lurking at even par.
I have a feeling that Phil or Tiger is winning this thing. I know they have a lot of ground to make up, but I just have that feeling. Not sure the young guys ahead of them will be able to deal with the pressure. Either way, it’s been a fascinating championship, and would anything really surprise you at this point?
By the way, if you’re at work and catch watch the U.S. Open live, a great place to track it is Jason Sobel’s blog on ESPN.com.
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ProFootballTalk has a report via Terry Pluto of the Plain-Dealer that the Browns never seriously got close to trading Braylon Edwards because no one came close to offering what the Browns considered fair value (namely, a first round pick.)
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Scotty Pods has been outstanding this season in his return to the South Side. Is his success creating a problem for the White Sox? (If so, it’s definitely a good problem to have.)
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Albert Pujols jacked two home runs last night to help Tony LaRussa get win 2,500.
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Because it’s Monday, you should all read Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback. I haven’t read it yet, nor will I probably have time to until this evening, but you should. It’ll be good. It almost always is.
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A great breakdown of fathers and sons in baseball by Josh Q. Public.
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Bob Costas use the greatest sportscaster catchphrase ever. And yes, it starts with “Boom” and ends with “dynamite.”
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From Friday, but because it’s so awesome it deserves more attention, a great video showing us all how to make golf more exciting. And yes, it involves Gus Johnson.
On one hand, it’s not a surprise to see Tiger Woods as a favorite on the US Open odds. After all, Woods would be the favorite if he showed up at your local watering hole to play Golden Tee. He’s a favorite at every event all the time. But is he worth the low price tag?
It’s kind of a surprise to the golf betting crowd to see Woods posted as such a heavy favorite. Woods is a +140 favorite and there is no one even close to him on the odds.
Obviously, Woods has a good pedigree not only at the US Open but also at the Bethpage State Park, where the 2009 US Open will take place.
Woods already has three US Open victories on his resume including a win at Bethpage Black all the way back in 2002. He also has a pretty good history at the US Open even when he doesn’t win.
Woods won last year on one leg, which may have been his most memorable win at the US Open, and previously finished in the top 20 or better in 11 of the last 12 US Opens. It’s pretty clear that he’ll be near or among the leaders when Sunday approaches.
But we all know that betting management is important and one has to question when +140 is good enough value to take Woods.
After Woods, the next closest favorite is Phil Mickelson, who isn’t even within 10-to-1. Beyond Mickelson, who is 12-to-1, there are only two other golfers in the entire field who are within 25-to-1 and that would be Geoff Ogilvy (18-to-1) and Jim Furyk (18-to-1).
Woods has three US Open victories in the last 14 years and the +140 is simply a poor correlation of value to the amount of times that he wins. Going by his history, he wins once every four to five years but the odds are paying out as if he wins once every two to three years.
Since his odds are astronomically low, it means that there is plenty of value with a number of other golfers in this field. Take a shot with someone else as Woods just isn’t offering a big enough payday.
