YES! Forget the Pacquiao vs Hatton odds. I don’t care if Kobe and Lebron go head to head in the basketball betting finals. I’m a hockey betting man, and I know anyone reading this blog is too, so the Penguins vs Capitals odds are a gift from the man upstairs.

OH, the drama! Crosby vs Ovechkin. Ovechkin vs. Malkin. Finally the best young players on the planet go head-to-head and I (not to mention American TV networks) couldn’t be more excited. According to most hockey fans who place sporting bets, the Malkin-Ovechkin feud is over. I heard Ilya Kovalchuk took them out to dinner during the All-Star weekend and smoothed things over. Still — nothing reignites bad blood like the Stanley Cup odds, and I’m betting that we haven’t seen the end of this tension.

Then there’s the Crosby factor! The legions of Ovechkin NHL betting fans finally get to face off against the Crosby supporters in a battle to see who is truly the best right now. You can bet at the offshore sportsbook that both guys will fuel each other’s fire and push each other to play at a level we may have never seen them reach before. This is Jordan vs Bird revisited. Even Gretzky and Mario never got to meet in the playoffs!

Thank you for this gift, hockey betting Gods. May the sports wagering force be with you.

It’s strangely fitting that a Kentucky Derby odds favorite, Quality Road, went down to injury and pulled out of the race today just after the San Jose Sharks, a top Stanley Cup odds favorite, bowed out of the NHL betting playoffs with a whimper last night.

Watching the Sharks fade into the ocean of eliminated teams, I was at a loss last night. If you’re the Sharks, you just won the Presidents’ Trophy with a team-record 117 wins. There’s no carrot, no motivation to be better in the regular season when NHL betting starts up again next fall. It’s just one more loooonnnng wait until the hockey betting playoffs start again. And it begs the question: how can you improve a team that’s perfect in the regular season? What pieces do you add to it?

The only thing that comes to mind is to cut out a losing attitude — one that reminds me of the mentality constantly stymieing the Ottawa Senators in the early 2000s as team after team failed to win it all after dominant regular seasons. And to me, no one on the Sharks embodies that mentality more than Joe Thornton.

There’s no denying Thornton is an elite player — in the regular season. He’s a perennial 90-plus point guy with great vision who can guide a last-place team to the top of the standings. But he consistently disappears from sportsbook success when the playoffs arrive, shying away from contact and playing on the perimeter despite being 6’4″ and 230 pounds. Little Pavel Datsyuk shows more courage than this guy.

Why not move Thornton for a really nice return? Some people might call it foolish to dismantle a first-place team, but it’s clear this team is incapable of winning the Stanley Cup as is. Trading Joe could net multiple valuable players. Another idea is to swap him for a guy who has similar big-game struggles — Dany Heatley. Just something to talk about the next time you and your hockey buddies are betting online.

I’m not saying the Kentucky Derby odds are tempting me or anything, but it is a light Friday in NHL playoff betting compared to what we’ve gotten used to, no? Just the Rangers vs Capitals odds on the sked tonight. The two “humans” pictured above are amped up, but what do we do with no late game tonight? Why not take today, which is a lovely Friday, and call it a distraction day? I don’t know about you, but I could really go for a video of bad things happening to news reporters.

This is a classic but a doozie, online betting fans. Kick back and enjoy something you can’t find when you’re at the sportsbook making basketball betting picks or hockey picks or whatever you do. This just just good, trashy fun.

The Kentucky Derby odds are probably more exciting than than the Canadiens vs Bruins odds right now, so let’s flash back to last night’s Canucks game. I’m discussing Alex Burrows’ ability with my friend as he kills penalties like a mad man (Burrows, not my friend) before nettting the NHL betting series winner in overtime (again, Burrows scored the winner, not my friend. He was with me, remember?). We start digging through his stats (28 goals this year…not too shabby for an “agitator”) and we’re wondering where he came from, so we look at his sportsbook past…and see this:

Um, what? The GREENVILLE GRRROWL?!? With three R’s? It almost makes the Columbia Inferno seem forgivable. One thing lead to another, I dug around and I came up with the hockey betting Minor Pro-All-Ridiculous-Nickname-Team.

(Some of these are so absurd that the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage didn’t make the cut…can you believe it?)

Many of these franchises are defunct, but the main trends to notice are:

1. All were founded in the New Age, “Xtreme” era, between around 1994 and 2005.

2. Almost every one takes two objects and throws them together to form some sort of predatory hockey betting team name.

Here we go…I’ll bet at the sportsbook you haven’t heard of most of these.

10. TACOMA SABERCATS – this makes the list because it’s the epitome of trashy team names. Swords and cats? Thrown together?

9. AUSTIN ICEBATS — What? A bat…made of ice? Or a bat that flies through ice? Ugh. Just burn your Icebats tickets and go watch your NASCAR odds, Texas.

8. MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES — And you thought sharks were the true lions of the sea.

7. BLOOMINGTON PRAIRIETHUNDER — It’s not regular thunder. It’s Prairie thunder, and that’s the worst kind.

6. BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT MUD BUGS — “Oh, what do I do on ma weekends? Well, I gots to say, I’m a die hard Mudbugs fan if there ever was one in this here damn town.”

5. ST. PETE/WINSTON-SALEM PARROTS – My pick for the most awkward nickname in the history of sports betting team names. How about you pick one town, guys?

4. GREENVILLE GRRRROWL — Out of respect for the Canucks odds, let’s not discuss this further.

3. CAPE FEAR FIRE ANTZ — With a “Z.” That’s what draws the Cape Fear hockey fans to the gynasium in droves.

2. TUPELO T-REX — How much would you bet at the sportsbook that this team was named right after Jurassic Park came out? It’s almost as absurd as naming your hoops betting team the Raptors.

1. ATLANTIC CITY BOARDWALK BULLIES — Way to stay classy, A.C. It’s not a question of if a prostitute is their mascot — just how many prostitutes.

Honourable mentions:
Danbury Mad Hatters

Florida Everblades

Corpus Christi Icerays

Amarillo Gorillas

Sid the Kid got plenty of hockey betting love last week, so I don’t feel bad for back-to-back days of Ovechkin talk.

The troll in Ovie’s arms is his mom, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball. Yep, his genes are better than Levi’s. Ahem, uh…moving on.

Something special happened in the Capitals vs Rangers line last night, when Washington beat the Rangers 4-0 to make the series 2-1 and stay in the hunt. It wasn’t just that the Caps forwards who really clicked, moving the puck beautifully. The defensive side of the game was a huge plus, and sportsbook watchers took notice. Not only did rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov stand on his head again, but Ovechkin was a force on defense, twice breaking up quality scoring chances with sliding plays.

The crown jewel in last night’s online betting tilt came when Ovechkin turned over the puck to Lauri Korpikoski, then chased him the length the ice like he was a receiver in the backfield and stopped a breakaway with a clean, sliding stick check.

The Capitals odds are back, folks, and Washington looks confident again. Something tells me this NHL betting series is far from over.

Side note: Lauri Korpikoski? Don’t you think someone with that name should look more like this…

Than this:

Could Thales Leites win in the UFC 97 odds? If the Blue Jackets can make the playoffs, you just never know.

After overcoming Pascal Leclaire’s injury, Ken Hitchcock’s face and death threats to Steve Mason at various points in the season, Columbus is finally going to Stanley Cup betting. Good on those kookie lads. Also, congrats to their fans; they’ve hung in with a decade’s worth of crappy teams. For all we know, they’re crazy playoff maniacs in NHL betting. It’ll be interesting to see what the fans can do.

it’ll also be interesting to see if (a) Rick Nash takes his game to a new level and (b) Steve Mason steals a series. You just never know in these playoffs; the parity is so good than anything can happen. Stanley Cup betting is shaping up to be the most exciting postseason since, in my opinion, 1993-94. Can’t wait.

I’m taking a break tomorrow for Easter but I’ll be back in full force with NHL betting playoff sportsbook picks on Monday…

If Tiger pulls ahead in the Masters odds on Sunday, he won’t look back. As for the Habs, they sure looked safe a week ago but they’re practically breaking their necks looking over their shoulders now.

They currently sit seventh in the East at 92 points, three points up on the Rangers and Panthers. They travel to Madison Square Garden for a crucial battle with the Rangers tonight.

Looking at the online betting roller coaster that has been their 2009 season, I can’t decide whether everything is their fault or not. Was there too much pressure from the centennial season? Alex Tanguay has missed most of NHL betting. Now, it looks as though the Habs — if they make it — will open the playoffs without Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider.

Still, if I had to guess what the main cause of the Habs’ struggles has been this year, I would pick “off-ice distraction.” From the Kostitsyns’ mob connections (not to mention the feud with Mikhail Grabovski) to the teams’ alleged excessive partying to Alex Kovalev being sent home, something has been seriously wrong with that dressing room all year. How else can you explain what’s happened given that the Habs retained almost everyone from their first-place 2007-08 team?

Would you still pick the Habs at the sportsbook to make the Big Dance right now? Tonight will be crucial.

25 years ago, Masters odds favorite Tiger Woods was a media-hype sensation as a child appearing on various American sports programs to show off his insane child skills. I think the show was the Mike Douglas Show. Actually, I know so, as I just found it…

Back then, the prodigies appeared on TV. Now, online betting fans can peak at the next great ones via YouTube, of course. Swedish sniper Linus Omark is no child — he’s 22, though he is about the size of a 15-year-old — but he’s making a name for himself through online videos. In fact, he’s been dubbed the Swedish YouTube Sensation. Have a look at the moves of this possible future NHL betting star, who is an Oilers draft pick:

After watching him on YouTube, an unnamed KHL team is apparently offering him a contract for next season. Pretty cool stuff. It’s not that we online betting fans have never seen a phenom on YouTube, but this is one of the first instancesI can think of in which a team specifically used YouTube as a recruiting tool.

Could this be the way of the future (at least until the Robot Apocalypse comes)? Maybe players will even start posting their own “demo reels” featuring their best highlights. You never know…

Happy NHL betting this week! Last week of the regular season…

Well, well, well. The Masters odds loom and the New Jersey Devils are playing like they’d rather be at home watching golf than playing playoff hockey. Luckily for them, they built a big enough division lead that they’ll still be very active in the Stanley Cup odds. But you have to wonder if Scott Clemmensen is smiling in his AHL prison right now.

Martin Brodeur returned about a month ago with flair and NHL betting fans were rejoicing. But some people — myself included — wondered what the shakeup, not to mention Scott Clemmensen’s unceremonious demotion, would do to the Devils’ chemistry.

Now, they’ve lost six in a row — included an embarrassing 6-1 drubbing against Pittsburgh last night — and there’s no sign that the bleeding will stop. It’s only natural to wonder if Brodeur’s return made the team sit back a bit to admire the work they did in his absence.

In the end, I say New Jersey bounces back. Brent Sutter is a great coach and Marty will find a way to recover. But Devils fans’ have to worry about their Stanley Cup betting hopes right now. A lot will depend on whom they face in the first round.

In the Final Four odds, Villanova and Michigan State have sneaked (sorry, “snuck” isn’t a word) their way to success. In NHL betting, Tim Thomas keeps doing the same.

The stumpy late bloomer with a hideous, beer-league style keeps on chugging for the mighty Boston Bruins. His stats this year: 32-11-7 with a 2.13 GAA, .931 save percentage and four shutouts. Wow. That’s not just a sportsbook hot streak. That’s Dominik Hasek territory.

Before you call Timmy a total fluke, remember that he was an All-Star last season too, posting a line of 28-19-6/2.44/.921 with three shutouts. Online betting fans have to wonder if he’ll steal the Vezina Trophy from Steve Mason. I wouldn’t give it to Thomas — Mason has way less defensive support, as Columbus doesn’t have a Chara or even a Wideman — but he sure has established himself as a premiere netminder in NHL betting.

Thomas’ last hurdle: playoff performance. He hasn’t won a series yet, thoug he’s only had one opportunity. For the Bruins to avoid being upset in the first round of Stanley Cup betting, he’ll have to bet at his best .