We interviewed the best ‘cappers and books here at the Dish, so we’d be delivered if we didn’t weigh in on this whole Wayne Gretzky thing. So here it goes:
For an older girl, Janet Jones is hot.
There.
Look, we’re not interested in attacking the Great One yet, because he’s kind of our hero. Instead, we’ll spend this week’s energies on Gretz’s old mission for the next two weeks: Olympic ice hockey. While this tournament doesn’t have the sex appeal that Salt Lake did in 2002, compared to the World Baseball Classic, it is Heidi Klum. There will be so many stars on so many different teams that it will be hard not to find a great match from the quarter-finals. Let’s take a brief tour of our favorite squads:
Canada: Sure. The 2002 champions have a fourth line that would make the Pittsburgh Penguins cry. And we heard that the Brodeur guy could be something someday.
Sweden: If Peter Forsberg really is out, the Swedes are probably gone, although Daniel Alfredsson and Mats Sundin aren’t too bad (along with a guy named Nicklas Lidstrom). Forsberg can sit out the prelims to try to get him back to health for the medal round.
Czech Republic: If Dominik Hasek turns on his head like he did in Nagano, they’ll have a chance, and Jaromir Jagr is having a great year for Rangers. Also, this team won the world championship in 2005. However, there is not as much strength in the back line for the Czechs as usual, so you can control them.
Slovakia: Oh, the strikers. They will score goals. Marian Hossa is one of the best-kept secrets in the NHL, and Pavol Demitra and Marek Svatos are also very good. Their problems come down to stopping the other team.
Russia: It’s hard to know what to expect from a team that didn’t have a GM until early last year. Alexander The Great (Mr. Ovechkin to you) is a stud, and to see him and Ilya Kovalchuk patrolling the left wing is incredible. Alex Kovalev, Pavel Datsyuk… wow, they’re going to fly. Goal Evgeni Nabokov is having a sub-.900 save percentage season for the Sharks.
USA: The big problem here is not that guys like Brian Leetch won’t come, it’s that guys like Bill Guerin will come. As indifferent as Nabokov has been on the net, Rick DiPietro has been worse. Brian Gionta (and his 33 goals) is our favorite player on this team.
Finland: Teemu Selanne has 26 goals and is +20 for the Ducks, and Saku Koivu remains one of the best combinations of value and skill in the NHL, but who plays in the net? A guy named Antero Nittymaki.
In the end, it’s hard not to like Canada taking the gold, but it sure will be fun to watch the rest of the world try to take out these prohibitive favorites. We’ll take Russia for silver (because Forsberg’s groin scares us), and Czech for bronze. But really, just about everyone we listed above will be competing. Have fun!
Last impressions of Super Bowl XL?
Greg Jorssen, BoDog.com: It definitely wasn’t an exciting game, and some of the calls were brutal and most likely took the life of the Seahawks. The offensive pass interference call on Jackson was weak, and the revised Roethlisberger touchdown should have been overturned due to the ball clearly not crossing the line. Even Hasselback’s penalty for blocking below the waist after the interception had me scratching my head. All of that being said, the Seahawks lost the game due to really poor performance on the field. Stevens dropped easy catches throughout the game and Seattle punter Tom Rouen seems to have completely forgotten about the coffin corner. I think he had six punts in the game, most of which went to the end zone for touchbacks. This game was his, as I don’t think the Steelers’ performance was that great either. Just look at Roethlisberger’s numbers. His QB rating of him was 135.7 points lower than Randle El’s! A disappointing 22.6 rating on the biggest day of his life! And don’t get me started on the Rolling Stones. It’s time to put a fork in them, I think. Aretha, however, gave me chills during the anthem, I must admit.
In hindsight, what was the overall handicap picture like for the big game? Did the books do well? Were there any particular bets you saw that made a few select bettors extremely happy?
GJ, BoDog.com: I think all of the books did pretty well, mainly due to the total falling out of the teaser range, as well as the spread taking down most of the teasers. The spread itself made us big Seattle fans, however we were big Steelers fans on the money line. The perfect outcome would have been a last-second Seattle touchdown and two-point conversion, but in the end it was a nice end to a rollercoaster NFL season. Our book managers in the South did a masterful job of balancing the action in this game, ensuring that the day’s losses were minimal. The punters who bet on the Steelers were obviously the happy ones, so the number of late bets coming into Seattle helped balance the action out pretty nicely.
What happens now that football is over? What do stoppers and books devote their attention to?
GJ, BoDog.com: One thing, and one thing only: March Madness. The last three games of the Tournament match the Super Bowl in terms of hype and handling, so there is no rest for sportsbooks after the Super Bowl. We do our best to convince football bettors to keep a little in their accounts and put some money towards college basketball action.
Do you have any interest (betting or otherwise) in the Winter Olympics?
GJ, BoDog.com: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Other than hockey, I can’t think of anything that will generate interest with me or our punters. We’ll have some lineups, particularly on some of the American athletes, but other than that, this shouldn’t be an event.