Olympics

I have been ignoring the college basketball world the last several days on the blog in deference to the Olympics. I promise a basketball post later today, even if its just a picks post. To that end, today’s Olympic roundup will be brief.

We’ve been bracing for a German charge the last couple of days and yesterday it finally happened. The Germans picked up four combined medals in Biathlon, Speedskating and Luge, with golds in the Luge and Biathlon. Conversely, the Americans were shutout of the medals for the first time during the Olympiad, in large part to Linsedy Jacobellis’ fall in the snowboarding cross semifnals. As a result, the Germans have moved into the overall medal count lead with nine pieces of hardware to Team USA’s 8. With three overall gold medals, the Germans are now in a three-way tie for the lead in that chase with Switzerland and South Korea.

Today, the Americans need to make a statement if they’re serious about contending for the medal count lead. Luckily, three of their biggest Winter Olympic stars will be competing today with medals on the line. We have Lindsey Vonn going in the downhill, Shanni Davis in the 1,000 speedskate and Shaun White in snowboarding. All three are not only medal contenders, but heavy chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win.  to take gold.

Vonn is the betting chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. in the downhill at -125 odds. Her main challengers are expected to be Anja Parsons at 2/1 and Marie Rausch at 4/1. Everybody else in the field is higher than 10/1 odds. There are a lot of potential big paydays out there. You just need to pick the correct one. Considering ski events have been postponed in three of four days during the Olypmics–including yesterday’s Men’s Combined–perhaps the Books should just let us bet on whether or not there will indeed be racing today. If it goes off, the first skier goes down the hill at 2pm eastern standard time, so we will be on no spoiler alert most of the afternoon.

Shaun White is about as an overwhelming favorite to win his event as anyone else has been in the Olympics. He is a shockingly expensive 1/5 favorite to take gold at BoDog. That’s five bucks wagered for every buck to win. Yikes, talk about sticker shock. If you want to bet White, check out sportsbook.com, where at -400 the rate is a little cheaper to win $100. We’ve seen 2 events already this Olympics where one person was such odds-on chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win.. Sven Kramer won his speedskating event for the Netherlands. But, last night Jenny Wolf found just silver, and not gold, in her speed skating event as heavy chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win.. So, anything can happen. If the Swiss want to follow through and win the most golds for those folks with 50/1 tickets on the country, they could use an upset here tonight. They’re boarder Iouri Padladtchikov is the next favorite, but all the way down at 7/1 odds. Americans Scot Lago, Louis Vito and Gregory Betz are 10/1, 16/1 and 20/1 respectively, but despite those odds are still expected to contend for podium spots. A Team USA sweep in this event is possible anbd might be necessary to put a charge back into their hunt for the overall medal count lead. This entire event pretty much takes place live during NBC’s primetime coverage, so expect heavy doses of coverage.

NBC will also lean heavily this evening on both speed skating disciplnes, long and short track. One of Team USA’s top guns Shanni Davis finally gets to skate in one of nhis specialties, the 1,000 meters on the long track. He’s already warmed up with the 5,000 and 500 just to get his bearings, but this is one of the events he focuses on and expects to earn a medal. And, the betting public loves him tonight. Davis is -200 pretty much across the board at various online books. His top competition, at least according to the betting action, is Korean Lee Kyoo Huk and Canadien Jeremy Wotherspoon, both who check in at 11/2 odds. Canadien Danny Morrison is 9/1 and Korean Mo Tae-Bum is 12/1. Basically, Davis is the odds on favorite and he must hold off upstarts from the host country Canada and the budding skating power South Korean. Team USA teammates Trevor Marsiciano is 18/1 and Chad Hendricks is 20/1. This event begins at 7pm est and NBC will basically kickoff its primetime coverage tonight with a live report from the Oval. Read more »

So did you have a 22/1 ticket on Didier Defago to win the Men’s Downhill yesterday? To quote the sage Texan philosopher Wooderson, ‘it would be a lot cooler if you did.’ 

I missed the boat too, but it was still a killer race as Swiss won gold for the first time in an Alpine event in over 20 years with Defago winning the closest Olympic downhill race ever. His longshot victory boosts the candidacy of another longshot play. With the Gold, Switzerland moved into the lead for most gold medals with 3, one ahead of Team USA and France. The Swiss were a 50/1 shot in pre-Olympic betting to take hom the most gold medals, but sit atop that leaderboard after three full days of competition. I wouldnt go off spending that money just yet Swiss backers. There is a lot of Olympics yet to skate, ski and sled. This could be like a 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament taking a lead after the first media timeout only to be run off the court from that point forward. Despite that, you never know in sports. If Defago’s ski to the gold was any indication, we could be undergoing a Swiss Apline Renaissance this February.  The Swiss are contenders in just about every other downhill skiing disciplne, with a deep team, evidenced by DeFago, the third best Swiss skier in the downhill going into yesterday nabbing gold. If they win enough Alpine events and spring a couple of upsets at other Olympic venues, who knows that 50/1 shot may come in after all.

That next Swiss gold could come as soon as today in the Men’s Combined race. The race combines the times of a Giant Slalom and Slalom with the fastest total being the winner. The GS will be skiied first and, after a break, they’ll wrap the day up with the slalom. Yesterday’s downhill was the closest in history and if the betting odds for today’s combined are any indication, we could have another nailbiting final. The Swiss bring in one of the favorites Carlo Janka at 5/1 odds, but he’s joined  on the 5/1 chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. line by Austrian Banjamin Rauch and Croatian Ivica Kostelic. American Bode Miller, after winning Bronze yesterday, checks in at 7/1 and Norway’s Askul Lund Svindal, the silver winner yesterday, is 8/1. Defending Olympic Champ and American Ted Ligety is a decided darkhorse at 25/1. DeFago is also on the board at 16/1 odds.

TEAM USA STRETCHES OUT OVERALL MEDAL LEAD; BRACES  FOR GERMAN CHARGE

Where is ESPN’s research arm when you need it. Team USA continues to lead the overall medal count, and I”m interested in knowing what’s the deepest the Americans have gone into the Winter Olympics still atop the leaderboard. Their lead could last for awhile. Their 8 combined medals is three more than Germany and at least twice as much as everyone else. Americans have picked up a surprise medal every day so far. Today, the medals should keep coming.

In women’s snowboarding cross,  Team USA brings to the table the favorite in Lindsey Jacobellis. She is 7/4 chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. to redeem herself and win the gold medal she spilled away four years with a wipeout on a needless trick move down the stretch drive. But, she’s no lock to stand atop the podium. Canada’s Maelle Ricker at 5/2 and Norway’s Helene Olafsen is 11/2.. Everyone else in the field faces long odds of at least 20/1, so it would be a stunner if anyone else makes the podium, let alone boards to the gold medal. Miller and Ligety are medal threats in the Alpine event discussed above. While there wont be medals handed out until tomorrow night for men’s figure skating, the competition begins this evening with the short porgram. American Evan Lysacek, expected to medal per SI and USA Today predictions, is a 7.5/1 shot to take home gold. Russian Evegny Plushenko is the -140 chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. to take gold. Four other skaters are in the 6/1 to 8/1 range, so the American Lysacek has to be in top form to find the podium. Read more »

 This biggest winner on Day One of the Vancouver Winter Olympics might have been the brave, patriotic bettors who outlayed capital on Team USA winning the most golds and overall medals. The Gold bet is 4.5 to 1, while the odds on winning the most medals was slightly less at 4/1. In the run-up to the Games, both seemed like sucker bets since the Americans have neither won most golds nor the most overall medals in any Winter Olympics in the modern era.  Then Day One happened and Team USA had the best day of any country, hauling in the most medals of anyone and making a strong statement. Suddenly, those future bets are in play.

I say that because by most pre-Olympic projections, the Americans picked up twice as many medals yesterday as they should have. Both Sports Illustrated and USA Today predicted a South Korean sweep in the 1,500 short track. But when two of them wiped each other out around the last turn of the skate, it opened the door for not one, but two Americans to get onto the podium. Apollo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski won silver and bronze. There was expected to be  some Red, White and Blue on the podium after the Women’s Moguls. Indeed, SI picked two American medals. But USA Today called for just one, and neither gave gold to an American skier. Both projected this be Canadian Gold on the skis of Jennifer Heil. But Hannah Kearney beat her on the last run for the top spot and was joined by countrymate Shannon ,who won bronze, on the medal stand. Instead of the one or two expected medals, the Americans took home four, including a surprise gold, and have a 2-medal lead in the overall standings after one day.

Now that kind of screams like leading your division in baseball after a couple of weeks in April, but I think yesterday may prove more significant as the chase for medals are concerned. Dont forget, the Americans have come close to winning this sucker the last two Olympics. They were two behind the top spot for overall medals in Salt Lake in 2002 and four off in Torino in 2006. In the Gold Department, they were second in 2006 with nine, two less than Germans. In 2002, they scored 10 golds, good for third behind winner Norway, 13 and runner-up Germany, 12.  Knowing how close they’ve been the last two Olympiads, to pick up a few unexpected medals on Day One bodes well for their chances to finish.

Yeah, but didnt Team USA just pick up medals in events they typically rake in anyway? That would be the perception because both moguls and short track are those newer, fancier sports that Olympic haters mock as add-ins only to boost the American count. Whatever. But, lets not hide the fact that Kearney’s Gold last night was the first for the Americans since the sport debuted in the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Team USA only has three mogul medals all time and have been shutout of the podium all together in two of the last three Olympics. After just one women’s mogul medal over the last three Olympiads, Americans scored two last night, including a gold they hadnt won in 18 years. Team USA has had more recent Gold success on the short track skate. Ohno took home gold in the event’s debut to the short track docket in 2002. But, four years ago the Americans couldnt crack the top-3.

Bottomline, both results last night were better than usual in these events and its given Team USA a leg up. Only a handful of countries can reasonably expect to have enough math fall their way to win the gold and overall medal count. Team USA is one of them and last night they snatched a widely-assumed Gold directly away from one of the other contenders. Throw in the fact that most gold favorite Germany failed to snare gold in the women’s biathalon sprint despite having the deepest field and the favorite Kati Wilhelm in the race and all the math on the the first day of the Olympics fell in favor of Team USA.

That’s music to the ears of those who backed the Americans at the window in the medal count races. Their chances have increased dramatically to win those bets. If Books were to release fresh odds, I doubt you would find anything better than 2/1 odds on them. Unfortuneatly, this blogger is not one of the patriotic bettors. Nope, I took the German chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. at even odds and went out on a limb with the Norwegians at 12/1. Why? Well it just seemed implausible that Team USA would win. There are just still too many events that they dont compete in. And it seems in all those events that the Germans and Norwegians excell.  It also, along with Canada, seemed a lot like betting with your heart and eventually you would lose as biathalon and sledding piled up one after another without any North American medals. Read more »

Some of the buzz of the first day of competition at the Olympics has been drowned by the postponement of the men’s downhill. It’s one of the premier evenst of the Games, but slush and fog have pushed the race to Monday afternoon. It’s shaping up to be a war between the Swiss and Canadiens for that one, but since its not going off today, we’ll postpone our own discussion on the race until then.

The hockey tournaments do start today. Are you interested in laying chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. on a hockey game? Well today is your lucky day. The Canadien Women’s team is -11.5 over the Slovakians today. Canada could win 13-2 and you wouldnt win that bet. What’s amazing is the total for the game is over/under 12. Does that mean a shutout is likely? If you bet Canada, you might as well bet the over since you cant win one and not the other. I feel like the oddsmakers are telling us something here, I just dont know what. We have four hours to unravel this mystery and unlock our inner degenerate before the puck drops.

Otherwise, five gold medals will be awarded today. Here is a snapshot of the field and odds for each:

MENS 5,000 SPEED SKATING

A long skate this afternoon for the Gold Medal. And, it would be a major upset if Netherlands Sven Kramer doesnt stand on the top podium when its all said and done. He was a silver and bronze medalist in Torino in 2006 and since then has become the dominant figure in the distance races in world competition. He is the three-time world champion in this event and in the 10,000 meters. He holds the world record in both events. The betting odds reflect his dominance. Kramer was -300 earlier the week, meaning to win $100, one would have to risk $300. On race day, however, those odds have become more expensive. A quick tour of Books this morning reveals the going rate at -400. On one hand, he sure does look like a sure thing, going with the dominant World Champ appears to be an easy way to win money. On the other hand, I have never laid that kind of juice to win a bet before. Do I really want to start on a sport I watch once every four years? Havard Booke of Norway is 3/1 and  Bob de Jong of the Netherlands is 4/1.  Everybody else is a longshot with Americans Chad Hendrick, 12-1, and Shani Davis at 22/1. Actually, Hendrick’s odds are a bit all over the map. He’s 12/1 at sportsbook.com, 10/1 at BetUs and 16/1 at BoDog. Davis is only listed at BoDog.

What I find pretty cool about Olympic odds is just how creative some of the games are. This race is expected to be a blowout, but at BoDog, they’ve attempted to sweeten the betting pot by putting some head to head matchups on the board. That book offers a Booke vs de Jong head-to-head bet at even odds, so in a roundabout way you’re predicting pretty much who will win the Silver Medal. They’ve also pitted American Hendrick and Davis against one another, making Hendrick the -150 chalkChalk is another name for the favorite team to win. and Davis at +110. I couldnt find any odds on the over/under on subtle and hidden insults these rivals, who are for from friends, will throw at one another in the post skate pressers. Read more »