[CNOTES]

Daily Sports Roundup

Friday, November 13

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Nets try to get a win in Orlando, the Hawks meet the Celtics, and Cincinnati tries to stay perfect against West Virginia.

Colliding on the gridiron . . .

College football offers up a pair of games on Friday, with Temple at Akron and West Virginia at No. 5 Cincinnati. The unbeaten Bearcats (9-0 SU, 5-3 ATS) got past Connecticut 47-45 last week, with Zach Collaros going 29-of-37 for 480 yards and a touchdown strike in the win. The Mountaineers (7-2 SU, 2-6 ATS) beat Louisville 17-9 in their last contest. Cincinnati is listed as a 9-point home favorite for Friday's contest, and the total for the game has been set at 54 points.

Tipping off on the hardwood . . .

There are nine games on the NBA's schedule for Friday, including Atlanta at Boston. The Hawks (6-2 SU, 7-1 ATS) won 114-101 in New York in their last game, as Al Horford scored a game-high 25 points and Josh Smith picked up 22 points and 12 rebounds. The Celtics (8-1 SU, 5-4 ATS) had no trouble with Utah last time out, cruising to a 105-86 home win. Kevin Garnett led Boston's attack with 18 points in that victory, while Rajon Rondo added 14 points and 11 assists.

Elsewhere around the NBA on Friday it'll be Utah at Philadelphia, Golden State at New York, Portland at New Orleans, Dallas at Minnesota, Houston at Sacramento, the Lakers at Denver, Toronto at the Clippers, and New Jersey at Orlando. The Nets (0-8 SU, 3-4-1 ATS) remain the only winless team in the league. New Jersey lost 82-79 at home to Philadelphia last time out, with Brook Lopez scoring 23 points and adding 14 assists for the team in that losing cause.

As well, No. 1 Kansas hosts Hofstra on a busy night for college basketball on Friday. It'll also be Florida Gulf Coast at No. 2 Michigan State, Morehead State at No. 4 Kentucky, Fairleigh Dickinson at No. 5 Villanova, N.C. Greensboro at No. 9 Duke, Austin Peay at No. 10 Tennessee, and William & Mary at No. 12 UConn.

Taking a trip around the rink . . .

Finally, there are six games in the National Hockey League on Friday, with the Islanders at Carolina, Minnesota at Washington, Anaheim at Columbus, Calgary at Buffalo, Los Angeles at Atlanta, and Toronto at Chicago. The Maple Leafs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Wild on Tuesday night, with Jonas Gustavsson allowing four goals on 30 shots. The Hawks slipped past Colorado 3-2 in a shootout on Wednesday, with Patrick Kane and Cam Barker scoring in regulation.

[CNOTES]

Bettor's best friend: Today's helpful tips

Friday, November 13

Big man will be missed

The 1-8 Minnesota Timberwolves will be without leading scorer Al Jefferson for at least the next two games as he has left the team to be with a family member that has fallen ill.

Although Jefferson has struggled in his return from offseason knee surgery, Minnesota will sorely miss his presence down low as it tries to halt an eight-game losing streak in which it went 3-5 ATS.

They will host Dallas as 11-point underdogs Friday. The total is set at 196.

Jazzing things up?

Deron Williams tweeted that, "We got to change something bc what we doing ain't working right now!" and coach Jerry Sloan might be ready to listen.

Starters Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur were benched in the second half of Utah's 105-86 loss to the Celtics Wednesday after combining for only 19 points and five rebounds.

When asked if there was a chance that Paul Milsap would replace Boozer in the starting lineup, Sloan replied, "I don't know. I don't know who it will be. But I'll have to make that decision when it comes down to it."

Oddsmakers have the Jazz favored by 1-point as they visit the 76ers. The total is set at 199.

Alex the Great on the way

Alexander Ovechkin participated in full practice Thursday and even fired slap shots, proving that his injured shoulder is on the mend. Coach Bruce Boudreau wouldn't rule out the star sniper's return against Minnesota Friday but Ovechkin sounded like it could be longer.

"I'm getting closer," he said. "I still need probably couple days."

The Capitals visit New Jersey Saturday. Oddsmakers have yet to post lines for those games.

Big boost for WVU

The Mountaineers are coming off their worst offensive showing of the season and will need all of their weapons if they are going to beat No. 5 Cincinnati and keep their BCS hopes alive.

Luckily, quarterback Jarrett Brown and running back Noel Devine have recovered from their ankle injuries that forced them to miss part of last week's 17-9 win over Louisville. The injury is still bothering Devine, and coach Bill Stewart will be planning to go to Jock Sanders if Devine struggles.

"He's gotten nicked up a little bit. He'll be OK," Stewart said. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."

Cincinnati is favored by 9.5-points with the total set at 55.5.

Blueline Blues

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without All-star defenseman Mike Komisarek for at least three weeks after he suffered a tear of his quad muscle in a collision with Detroit's Todd Bertuzzi Saturday night.

“You don’t want an injury to somebody like Mike Komisarek,” coach Ron Wilson said.

The prize free agent acquisition was brought in to provide toughness and leadership to a team that is rebuilding around a core of young players.

Oddsmakers have Toronto listed at +178 for Friday's game at Chicago with the total set at 6.

Pike to make appearance

Zach Collaros will start for Cincinnati against West Virginia Friday, but coach Brian Kelly announced that Tony Pike will also see some snaps. Collaros was spectacular in place of Pike last Saturday throwing for 480 yards during a 47-45 win over Connecticut. Regardless of who is under center, Kelly is comfortable with his quarterback.

"The nice part about it is that our football team has absolutely no concerns over who's leading them, if it's Zach or Tony. That's a great thing to have.

The Bearcats are trying to get the injured quarterback some reps before their bye week and Pike's contribution will most likely be limited to handoffs and short passes as he heals from an injury to his non-throwing arm.

Cincinnati is favored by 9.5-points with the total set at 56.

Notable quotable

"I stay in Atlanta during the offseason, so if Mike Smith wants to see me, he can definitely find me."

-- Washington Redskins defensive back DeAngelo Hall, regarding Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith's comment that he would always have his players backs.

[CNOTES]

Six-pack for Friday

Some college football trends, with Week 10 sneaking up on us......

-- Underdog is 15-6 vs spread in last 21 Arizona-Cal games.

-- Underdog covered seven of last ten Kentucky-Vandy games.

-- Visitor covered eight of last nine Clemson-NC State games.

-- Ohio State covered seven of last eight games against Iowa.

-- Boston College failed to cover last five games as an ACC road fave.

-- Visitor covered last seven BYU-New Mexico games.

[CNOTES]

Friday's List of 13: Things I'm looking for this weekend......

13) Which college basketball team will start season by upsetting a top 25 team? Seems to happen every year-- teams are playing only four weeks after the start of practice, so a certain amount of chaos is likely.

12) The early signing period for college basketball recruiting ends next Wednesday; nine of the top 25 recruits in Class of 2010 are unsigned-- will any of them commit before Wednesday? Remember, recruiting may seem boring to some, but games are won and lost by these decisions.

11) Will Cincinnati stay unbeaten and beat dangerous West Virginia in a Friday night ESPN game?

10) Michigan/Florida State are both struggling badly; can either of them go on the road Saturday and post an upset?

9) Can Charlie Weis go on the road and upset Pitt squad that has to be looking ahead to conference games against West Virginia, Cincinnati?

8) Loser of Georgia-Auburn game is going to be in freefall, as both have lost three of last four games against I-A teams. Lot of tense coaches on those two staffs this week. Georgia isn't even bowl eligible yet.

7) Can TCU beat Utah and become a legit national title contender?

6) Will Broncos right their ship and beat Washington? Tough scheduling spot for Denver, travelling cross country on a short week.

5) Will Cowboys go to Lambeau Field and put another nail in struggling Packers' coffin? Aaron Rodgers gas already been sacked 37 times in '09.

4) Can Bengals sweep Pittsburgh, take over first place in AFC North?

3) When will Arizona play as well at home as they do on road? Cards drilled Seahawks 27-3 up in Seattle, but they're 1-3 at home.

2) 9-0 Colts have much tougher game than 9-0 Saints do this weekend; will both teams get to 10-0?

1) Cleveland situation seems so bleak that it is hard to imagine Ravens don't go to Lake Erie and put a hurting on Browns, but home underdogs on Monday night have a long history of success.

[CNOTES]

Len’s Top Five

Friday, November 13

Len's Top 5

TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 13, 2009 from Thats Sports.

1. Quick Hits

That didn't take long. The first NBA coach gets fired, Byron Scott in New Orleans. The Hornets are 3 and 6.

In Thursday night football, The 49ers beat the Bears 10-6.

If you're wondering why in the world Tiger Woods is playing a golf tournament in Australia this week (he leads by 3 shots after 2 rounds), he's getting a $3-million appearance fee.

Tommy can you hear me? Word is The Who will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl.

2. Glimmer of Hope

I was at a sports/business conference yesterday and shared a panel with MSG President Scott O'Neil. The audience didn't care about the business of sports, they wanted to know if the Knicks will sign LeBron James. O'Neill couldn't comment specifically for fear of tampering. But he emphatically said Knick fans are going to be very very happy for the next decade. Take from that, what you will. Here's another tidbit to make Knick fans drool. The other night in Orlando, James wore Nike basketball shoes with "New York" stitched on one, and "27" on the other. To commemorate the Yankees 27th world championship.

3. Helmet Heads

The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article the other day. It suggested one way to cut down on head injuries in football is to do away with helmets. Counter-intuitive eh? The theory is without helmets, the players aren't so reckless. And the helmets don't do much to protect the brain in the first place Phil Esposito once told me, the way to eliminate stick swinging in hockey is to get rid of hockey helmets. Same theory. Players will make nice without all that protective gear. But football without helmets? They wouldn't all appear to be gladiators. We would be able to tell the players apart. They'd actually look human. Is that what we really want?

4. Friday Mailbag

When I suggested by altering the color of his skin, Sammy Sosa, who also doctored his bat and flunked a drug test might have won the "alteration triple crown" B.B. wrote: "I think he actually got a "golden sombrero".... isn't he the same guy who somehow forgot how to speak/understand English during the 2 1/2 hour flight from Miami to D.C. for the congressional hearings on steroids?"

M.P. is really annoyed by the Giants losing streak. She writes " The Giants are so predictable in their play calling it's as if they are telegraphing their plays. I have season tickets to the Giants for over 35 years and the disappointments far outweigh their three Super Bowl
wins."
Editor's Note: Wow M.P. Be glad you're not a Jets fan.

From New York sports fan J.W. "The Giants suck, the Jets suck, the Knicks suck , the Nets suck and I cannot watch hockey."
Editor's Note: I'm guessing you're kinda looking ahead to the next baseball season.

And when I mentioned a certain man on the flying trapeze from 1859, D.P. wrote: "Jules Leotard? What's next, Jacques Strapp?"

5. Line of the Week

The Bonus event the other day was the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. Sportswriter Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times noted the occasion with: "Today's sports column is brought to you by the letters P-E-D (performance enhancing drugs) and the symbol $."

Happy Birthday: Former Yankee pitcher and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre. 68.
Bonus Birthday: Comedian/Actress Whoopi Goldberg. 54.

Today in Sports: Harvard and Yale play the first college football game wearing uniforms. I guess before that they didn't wear anything. 1875.
Bonus Event: A guy named Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter that said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." 1789.

I'll have a book signing tonight in Clinton, New Jersey. Clinton Book Shop. 6:30pm.