Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/2/2022

The final stretch, really the last 100m of the 2022 Major League Baseball playoff horse race unfolded before us and the defending World Series Champions showed us they are ready to defend their title.  The Atlanta Braves entered the week just behind the rival National League East New York Mets, and left it front with a magic number of one to clinch.  Led by key offseason acquisition Matt Olson, the Braves won 5 out of 6, including a sweep against the Mets to take a two-game lead.  Olson pounded the Nationals and Mets at a 9-18 clip with an astounding 5 HR and 9 RBI.  Including 3 HR and 5 RBI in what is probalby the deciding series in the NL East.  Olson has been a star for the underpublicized A's but now may get his chance in the postseason to show his star ability.  Matt Olson is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/24/2021

What a week of baseball playoffs, culminating in two very successful franchises punching their ticket to the 2021 World Series.  The Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves.  Both of them slayed tough Wild Card competition who were red hot, but it's a Braves slugger that was the big difference.  OF Eddie Rosario made big hit after big hit to guide the Braves past the Los Angeles Dodgers to advance them to their first World Series this millennium (okay 22 years).  Rosario bludgeoned the Dodgers in the NLCS  at a 14-25 clip, 3 HR, 9 RBI, and threw in a double and a triple.  His hits were clutch, including a walk off single in Game 2, 2 HR in Game 4, then a momentum changing 3-run HR in the decisive Game 6 to stand up a 4-2 win.  Whenever clutch was needed, Rosario answered.  And on to the World Series for our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/19/2018

Young players with unlimited potential are what sports fans dream about. And our Sportsman of the Week fits that bill.  The Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuna has come of age.  Fast.  On a Braves team that has lost 90 or more games the last 3 seasons looks like it is most likely to win 90 this year.  And the NL East.  Acuna wasn't on the Braves roster out of camp, but got here as fast as he could.  By April 25.  In 284 AB he's hit 19 HR for the season.  That's 73 games.  Less than half a season.  Easily 40 for a season.  And we haven't mentioned yet that he's only 20.  But this week, he hit .484 with 4 HR, 9 RBI, and even 3 SB this week (I mean he's young).  Going back to the week before, he homered in 5 straight games, and 7 out of 8.  The Braves are a surprise N.L. East leaders, with the Mets/Nationals fading away, look out for Acuna.  This Venezuelan could be Mr. October 21st Century.  But he's our Sportsman of the Week for sure!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 12/25/2016

A number of key NFL contests went down over Christmas weekend, but it was a stealthy MVP candidate that delivered his team to a potential first round bye.  Matt Ryan had a very crisp and clean performance in dismantling the favored Carolina Panthers in Charlotte to put the final dagger in their playoff hopes, while positioning the Falcons (with a surprising Seahawks loss) for they key bye.  Overall, Ryan was 27/33 for 277 yards and 3 TD.  His 27 throws targeted 10 different receivers which kept the Panthers defense off balance.  He's the only QB in the NFL to rate in the top 3 of passing yards, passing TD, and QB rating.  His 7 INT are among the lowest for regular QB as well.  The Falcons are a dark horse team to unseat the seemingly invincible Dallas Cowboys and if they do, it will be because Matt Ryan slays them.  He is our Sportsman of the Week!

This is Matt Ryan's second nod as Sportsman of the Week (9/7/2014)

Sportsman of the Week Ending 10/2/2016

Once again, we turn to the NFL for an amazing performance that is in the Top 6 all time for a single game.  Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons cracked triple digits in receiving yards.  Not just 100, but triple 100.  Jones torched the Carolina Panthers for 12 catches and 300 yards.  The defending NFC South and NFC Champions had no answer for him.  His biggest catch came after the Panthers erased a 21 point deficit to pull within 8.  One 75 yard touchdown answer, it became apparent that Carolina could not stop Jones if the game went on indefinitely.  Jones has established himself as one of the Top 5 if not Top 2 or 3 receivers in the league, and he's our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/7/2014

The sports world celebrated the return of NFL football on Sunday.  The Atlanta Falcons pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the week, knocking off what many consider a Super Bowl favorite New Orleans Saints.  But it took veteran QB Matt Ryan's 448 yards on a 31/44 through overtime to beat their division rival 37-34, out-dueling Drew Brees.  Throw in three TDs and no INTs and we have a player of the week.  From 13-3 in 2012 and NFC runners up to 4-12 in 2013, not many experts had the Falcons as a contender in the NFC South.  Those experts better look at game film.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/29/2013

Playing catch up with Sportsman of the Week Blogs written but not published.  This week's winner put his team on his back, albeit in a losing effort.  Atlanta Falcons almost retired TE Tony Gonzalez had a career day, that being 149 yards (career high), 2 TD on 12 catches.  He singlehandedly almost brought the Falcons back against the New England Patriots, but fell just short (an unfortunate theme for the Falcons this season).  However, the greatest TE of all time is this week's Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/28/2013

Another week, another pitcher as Anibal Sanchez put on an amazing display of missing bats and set the tone for his team to win a key weekend series.  Sanchez struck out Tigers record
17 Atlanta Braves on Friday night in only 8 innings, technically having a chance to tie Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood's single game record had he come out for the 9th. In the process, lowering his ERA to a microscopic 1.34.  He didn't, but he nearly single-handedly turned around a team that had lost 5 of their last 6, into a team that has now won 4 straight and is on the rise for a presumable AL Central title. For now, Anibal Sanchez will have to settle for Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

2012 NFL Week Three Playoff Preview

If Week 1 didn't go well, then Week 2 was nothing short of a disaster. Day 1, I went 0-6 on bets including the painful Denver straight up at a high cost (-$4,200).  Day 2, I almost broke even going 3-3.  Overall losses = -$9,900.  Combine with the -6,600 from week one and it's -$16,500.  Wow.  Good thing I'm a rich oilman.

I'm almost proud of the fact that I'm 0-8 ATS this postseason, you have to try to be THAT bad!  So take that into account when analyzing the below!

Betting information courtesy of 5dimes.com at the time of post (this blog has no affiliation with that site).

January 20, 2013: 15:00 EST
San Francisco 49ers (-4, -190) vs. Atlanta Falcons (+4, +175) O/U 48.5
Reigning Sportsman of the Week Colin Kaepernick answered all questions last week and has set the standard for dual threat quarterbacks.  The Falcons pushed to a big lead, then coasted the 2nd half, almost like they didn't know how to turn it on, until the furious finish.  I'm going to lean toward the home team, here, despite their inexperience in this role.  Matt Ryan looks the part of a big game QB, the Falcons are balanced and with new tape on Kaepernick, perhaps they'll have a scheme to slow him down.  Final Prediction: Falcons 31, 49ers 30.


January 20, 2013: 18:30 EST
Baltimore Ravens (+8, +325) vs. New England Patriots (-8, -360) O/U 51.5
This is a case of the unstoppable offense (New England) and the immovable linebacker (Ray Lewis, who just won't retire).  Vegas and fans seem to think the Patriots can simply repeat what they did last week in terms of offensive production, but without injured Gronkowski and Woodhead, the Ravens should be able to match up much better.  It will be close, but the Patriots still have too many weapons.  Final Prediction: Patriots 33, Ravens 28.

For fake gambling purposes, I assume $1,000 on underdog S/U, minus amount on favorite S/U, $1,100 on ATS + O/U on the above bets (3 per game, 6 total).

If I had to pick the three "best bets" it would be:

Both Games Over

Falcons S/U

Recapping the first two week's Titanic level disaster, I'm now 0/8 ATS, 3/8 S/U and 3/8 for Over/Under.  By my calculations, -$16,500 as stated above.  Just trying to stem losses at this point!