There are three sets of statistics from which to choose for the purpose of handicapping a Bowl game being played on a truly neutral field: 1. Neutral field statistics when they are available. 2. Away statistics for both teams 3. Overall statistics including Home, Away, and Neutral field games. Many handicappers make the mistake of assuming that because both teams are playing on the road, that the most accurate... Read more

There’s no crying in baseball, and there are no wussies in football. At least, there didn’t used to be any wussies in football. Football players are supposed to be super tough guys, and their fans are supposed to be super- tough-guy wannabes. Football players used to wear leather helmets, and be bare-armed in sub-zero weather. Concussions didn’t exist. If a player got knocked out, the coach revived him with smelling... Read more

HILTON CONTEST – MORE OBSERVATIONS Coming into this week, after 50 selections, all of the contestants have fallen under 70%. None of the top 5 contestants could do any better than 3-2 this week, and all are now below 69%. This season is no different from every other season in that regard. Remember that the next time some tout claims to have been 74% last season. If he passes the lie detector test on that question,... Read more

Boo hoo! Week One started with a 2-3. The worst part was I was 3-2 at the Crowne Club on late picks. My Contest Points +2. Here are the results of my picks: Detroit Lions +6.5 Won Indianapolis Colts -2 ½ Lost San Francisco 49ers -3 Lost San Diego Chargers -4 ½ Lost Washington Redskins +3 ½ Won Adding the Washington pick didn't change the results that would have occurred anyway. The play that was forgotten... Read more

Normal 0 HILTON NFL CONTEST - A BAD BET © Robert Crowne & Assoc., Sept. 10, 2010 Note: The Las Vegas Hilton Supercontest is a trademark of the Las Vegas Hilton. The Hilton Supercontest has been peopled, in the main, by existing sports services trying to make a reputation for themselves, entrants seeking to launch a sports service career based on the publicity... Read more

Unlike the regular season, won-lost records are one of the most important handicapping tools in the preseason. In some cases, SU won-lost trends are the only handicapping tool available for a preseason game. They must, however, be used properly and with the exercise of common sense. The handicapper uses won-lost records as an indication of coaching attitude. When attempting to discern coaching attitudes, some analysts... Read more

Preseason football is one of the only places in which trends across several seasons can be meaningfully used. The reason is that the winner of any game in the NFL Preseason is controlled almost entirely by which team is playing to win. Which team wants to depends on just three things: 1. The desire of the coach. 2. The desire of the owner. 3. The desire of the players when there is a battle for the starting or second... Read more

What follows has nothing to do with sports, but, there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are contained in the nightly scoreboard, and it is the 4th of July afterall. I was recently reminded of the song made famous by Frank Sinatra and Neal Diamond, among others, called “The House I Live In.” It is sometimes known by its refrain, “That’s America to Me.” The particular stanza I thought of was: The "howdy... Read more

Favorite Phobia is a form of psychosis that afflicts otherwise reasonable and rational bettors during baseball season. Victims of the dread Favorite Phobia are filled with fear and loathing at the mere thought of a money line set at 2-1 or higher. As the line on a favorite rises above –160, sufferers begin to shake. The closer the line gets to 2-1 the worse the shaking becomes. At –200, the Favorite Phobic hits the wall... Read more

I'm not sure what happened, but I posted this hours ago, and when I came back to look at it, only three people had managed to view it and the rest were apparently getting a 404 Error Page. I could not get the original post to show up no matter what I did. I had to delete the first article, then wash the text in Notepad, and then repost the whole thing. Hopefully it will now show up properly. I blame this all on Bill Gates... Read more