[CNOTES]

Daily Sports Roundup

Thursday, October 29

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Nuggets play the Blazers, Virginia Tech hosts North Carolina, and Game 2 of the World Series takes place in the Bronx.

Colliding on the gridiron . . .

Thursday's college football matchup has North Carolina at No. 14 Virginia Tech this week, with the Hokies (5-2 SU, 3-4 ATS) looking to bounce back from a 28-23 loss to Georgia Tech in their last contest. Virginia Tech QB Tyrod Taylor threw for just 159 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions in that loss. The Tar Heels (4-3 SU, 1-4 ATS) are coming off a 30-27 loss to Florida State last time out. Oddsmakers have the Hokies pegged as 16.5-point faves for Thursday.

Meeting up on the diamond . . .

The Phillies will go with veteran starter Pedro Martinez on Thursday night as they play on the road again against the Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series. Righthander Martinez has pitched just once so far in the playoffs, holding the Dodgers scoreless on two hits over seven innings of work in the NLCS (while fanning three) in a no-decision. The Yankees counter with righthander A.J. Burnett, who has three no-decisions and a 4.42 ERA through three playoff starts.

Tipping off on the hardwood . . .

The NBA offers up just two games on Thursday night, with San Antonio at Chicago and Denver at Portland. The Trail Blazers will be looking to pick up a victory for the second straight contest, as they got past Houston 96-87 in their season opener on Tuesday night. Travis Outlaw poured in a team-high 23 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers against the Rockets, while Brandon Roy was good for 20 points and five assists. Greg Oden grabbed 12 rebounds in the win.

Taking a trip around the rink . . .

Finally, there are seven games on the NHL's schedule for Thursday, with New Jersey at Boston, Ottawa at Tampa Bay, Phoenix at St. Louis, Chicago at Nashville, Detroit at Edmonton, Vancouver at Los Angeles, and Washington at Atlanta. The Thrashers fell to 4-3-1 on the season last time out, losing 4-3 to the Sharks at home. Even worse, though, was that Atlanta lost star forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a broken foot; Kovalchuk is expected to be out three to five weeks.

[CNOTES]

Bettor's best friend: Today's helpful tips

Thursday, October 29

QB or not QB, Part I

The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have a bye this week, are going to their third quarterback of the season. Coach Raheem Morris announced Wednesday that Josh Freeman will replace Josh Johnson, who replaced Byron Leftwich. None of the changes have been prompted by injury. Freeman was 2-of-4 for 16 yards with two sacks and a fumble in last week's loss to New England. Tampa Bay is 1-6 against the spread and hosts Green Bay on Nov. 8.

QB or not QB, Part II

Turnover-prone Jake Delhomme will be the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday vs. Arizona, coach John Fox announced Wednesday. Delhomme threw three interceptions in last week's loss to Buffalo, running his league-leading total to 13. A.J. Feeley and Matt Moore are the backups for the Panthers, who are 10-point underdogs with a total of 41.

QB or not QB, Part III

Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher will not decide on his quarterback until after Thursday's practice. Fisher has been loyal to Kerry Collins, who has five TDs, eight interceptions and a rating of 62.0. Vince Young has played only at the tail end of blowouts and is 0-of-5 with a pick. However, owner Bud Adams said recently that he would like to see Young play more. The winless Titans are giving three points to the Jacksonville Jaguars with a total of 45.

Take out the Thrash

The Atlanta Thrashers already are without top goal-scorer Ilya Kovalchuk (foot) and may be without top playmaker Nik Antropov (groin) in Thursday's home match vs. the Washington Capitals. Antropov, who has seven assists, has missed three straight practices. Atlanta's fifth-ranked offense may have trouble generating scoring opportunities against fourth-ranked Washington, which is -166 with a total of 6.0.

Rosy outlook

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, who has been nursing a sore ankle, will start Thursday vs. the San Antonio Spurs. Rose said he feels about 80 percent and is missing explosion. The Bulls may limit his minutes but have capable backup ballhandlers in Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons. Playing its season opener, Chicago is getting 3.5 points with a total of 193.

How low can you go?

A trio of under trends are coming together for Thursday's North Carolina-Virginia Tech matchup. The under is 10-1 in Tech's last 11 Thursday games. The under is 15-5 in Tech's last 20 home games. And the under is 4-1 in the last five meetings between the schools, all won by the Hokies. Virginia Tech is giving 16.5 points with a total of 43.

Notable quotable

"(Brett) Favre is still a good quarterback, but he was unbelievable in the day. When we played back then, teams feared us. I don't know if teams fear the Minnesota Vikings today. We knew no one could beat us at home, absolutely nobody."

-- former Green Bay Packers tight end Mark Chmura, speaking to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and refuting Favre's claim that the Vikings are the best team he has ever been on.

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Six-pack for Thursday

NFL trends with Week 8 creeping up on us.....

-- Colts covered seven of their last eight games.

-- Browns covered two of their last seven road contests.

-- Packers are 7-1-1 vs spread in last nine divisional games.

-- Broncos covered seven of last nine as the underdog.

-- Giants covered 15 of their last 20 road games.

-- Raiders are 4-9 vs spread as a double digit road underdog

[CNOTES]

Thursday's List of 13: Random thoughts on a soggy night.......

13) Seriously, if you're the guy who owns the Indians, and you opt not to pay either Sabathia or Lee, why bother owning a team?

12) Prior to Game 1 of the World Series, Bronx/Philly had each played nine games in 23 days; baseball is a game of daily rhythms, playing so few games in a three-week span is ridiculous.

11) According to Mapquest, NY and Philly are 94.2 miles apart, but we still have two travel days in the World Series. In 2000, when Mets and Bronx played, they had a travel day, even though the two stadiums are only eight miles apart. Anything television wants, television gets.

10) Underdogs are 6-0 vs spread in Florida State's games this season.

9) Shaquille O'Neal looks odd in a Cavaliers' uniform; it still bothers me that he can't make a foul shot. No one who makes as much money as he does to play hoops should be worse at foul shooting than I am.

8) Speaking of the Cavs, George Karl's son Coby, who played at Boise State, made the Cleveland roster. Young Karl had a run-in with cancer, but is now healthy. Good for him.

7) Rockets lost by nine in Portland Tuesday, but Aaron Brooks was +7 in his 41:41 on the court, which means in the 6:19 Brooks was out of the game, Houston got outscored by 16 points. They're very thin because of the injuries to their star players.

6) Lakers are something like 33-9 against the Clippers in Staples Center, an arena both teams call home.

5) Someone needs to explain to me why Notre Dame and Washington State are playing in San Antonio this weekend. Get a map; find Texas, then find Pullman and South Bend. None of the three are close.

4) Former NBA ref Tim Donaghy wrote a book about his experience in the NBA; the league got wind of it, tw, and now the publishing company pulled the plug on the project. Donaghy got fired and sent to jail; now he's trying to sell his story for cash. Terrific.

3) Chase Utley is the first lefty hitter since 1928 to hit two homers off a lefty pitcher in a World Series game.

2) Awkward moment of the week: ESPN was running news of Andre Agassi's admitting in his new book he tried crystal meth on bottom of the screen; my father is reading all this and he asks me, "What is crystal meth?" Not even sure why Agassi's book is news, but I guess it is.

1) Not to beat a dead horse here, but Time-Warner doesn't have the NFL Network yet-- what are we waiting for? Lose a couple of C-Spans and soccer channels and give us something we want to watch.

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Len’s Top Five

Thursday, October 29

Len's Top 5

Happy Thursday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 29, 2009 from Len Berman Sports.

1. Quick Hits

The Phillies win game 1 of the World Series beating the Yankees 6 to 1.

Game 2 of the World Series is tonight, Phillies @ Yankees 7:57pm ET FOX Pedro Martinez vs A.J. Burnett.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell refused to acknowledge to Congress that there's a link between playing in the NFL and developing brain diseases later in life.

Goodbye waiting lists. Step right up and buy your Jets tickets. Anyone can buy them for the new stadium. And the most expensive priced tickets are being slashed. I guess demand didn't quite meet supply. (I was an economics major in college.)

New season, same Knicks. They drop their opener in Miami 115-93.

2. Game 1

Was that Cliff Lee or Sandy Koufax on the mound for the Phillies last night? He was dominant as big names CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A-Rod all came up empty in their World Series debuts. (Of course Derek Jeter had three hits.) And now the franchise pins its hopes on AJ Burnett in game 2. He has never appeared in a World Series either.
By the way, I guess the umps got the message. They finally huddled to sort out a Phillies doubleplay. This came after an awful strike call against Robinson Cano. But hey, it wouldn't be postseason baseball without the umps getting noticed.
And another note thanks to subscriber K.V. An amazing streak came to an end last night. The last World Series game without Bob Sheppard at the PA microphone in Yankee Stadium was in 1950. Also Yankees/Phillies.

3. Legalese

A Pennsylvania woman put an ad on Craigslist looking for World Series tickets. "Diehard Phillies fan--gorgeous tall buxom blond--in desperate need of two World Series Tickets. Price negotiable--- I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!" Her lawyer claims her offer to do "anything for tickets" is a colloquial phrase and doesn't represent criminal activity. The lawyer didn't address the fact she offered sex to an undercover cop in return for tickets. It turns out a Philly car dealer with the help of a radio station is giving her tickets to game 3..... without any quid pro quo.

4. High Expectorations

Some high level soccer players in England have come down with the swine flu and now doctors are urging the soccer guys to stop spitting during games. It could spread the disease. A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said "Footballers, like the rest of us, wouldn't spit indoors, so they shouldn't do it on the football pitch." They also warn, if kids see the soccer players spit, they'll do it too. Gives new meaning to "spitting image."

5. Commercial Tie-ins

Nice job by Hebrew National Hot Dogs. After Mark Sanchez of the Jets scarfed down a dog during the Raiders game, Hebrew National is offering a free pack of hot dogs to anyone with a ticket stub from that game. Fans attending this weeks Jets game in the Meadowlands are hoping Sanchez drives a Mercedes on the sideline during the game.

Happy Birthday: "Potvin Sucks." The New York Islander who gave birth to the infamous Madison Square Garden chant which still lives today, Denis Potvin. 56.
Bonus Birthday: Charlie's Angel Kate Jackson. 61.

Today in Sports: Cassius Clay's 1st pro fight. He beats Tunney Hunsaker in a 6 round decision. 1960.
Bonus Event: Black Tuesday. The New York stock market crashes triggering the Great Depression. 1929.