A Famous Victory for Leeds!

Wow! What a great way to start a frigid Sunday in early January. I woke up early to to stream the Leeds United/Manchester United 3rd round FA Cup match and Leeds ended up pulling off the incredible upset. This is what the FA Cup is all about. Teams from lower leagues can rise up and slay giants. I threw 1 unit on both the tie and an outright Leeds victory which hit me at 11-1. It's so sweet because it was a bit of a passion bet, but I also figured Leeds could win at a rate of better than 1 for every 11 played vs MU. Plus I covered myself a bit by taking all ties too.

As for this weekends North American sports betting, I laid out a plan as I was watching the soccer football match. I have 16.5 units in play and I am looking at a possible return of 55 units although 20 of those potential units are hinging on a half-unit parlay play I made. More on that later.

Here's where the money is laid:

CHI -3.5 (1U)
JAX +1.5 (2U)
NE +7 (3U)
NYG +9 (2U)
ARI/GB Under 44 (1U)
TEN -6 (1U)
OAK +10.5 (1U)
KC +10 (2U)
PHI +3 (1U)
CIN +9.5 & Under 34 (1U)
NE Moneyline (1U)

I don't really have time before kickoff to go into my thought processes. Week 17 is always tough though considering that individual teams are playing (or not playing) for different reasons. That being said, I think this info can be used to some advantage and I certainly feel better about my reads this week than I do every Week 1.

The half unit teaser/parlay I played was this:
JAX, NE, NYG, KC & CIN all getting points with SD -3 over WAS. Pays at 43.29:1 over at Sports Interaction.

The Lions wrap up their regular season today and by the end of it all we will know the draft order at the top. Then the speculation can begin. Obviously the Lions are a pretty crappy team. I believe there is a big difference between a crappy team on their way down (think Seattle) and a crappy team on their way up. 5 of last year's draft picks have made a regular contribution to the starting line-up when healthy and that is something that is absolutely huge for this team. A team's ability to plug its own holes is how it can move up the food chain. The Lions have a top 3 pick guaranteed and they will should get a great player with the pick. It is the Lions though. We can totally fuck this up.

I'm off to watch football and play a little poker. Happy New Year everyone!