Jimmy “The Sheep” Battista pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transmit wagering information for his role in the Tim Donaghy NBA betting scandal. The Sheep’s partner in crime, Tim Donaghy, was recently released from jail and attempting to sell a tell-all book about the NBA referee gambling and game fixing culture. The Sheep has a book of his own he’d like to sell.

A source close to Battista says he had a Big 5 of refs he could count on to swing games in his favor. There will always be the issue of trusting information that comes from a shady source but David Stern needs to address all of the allegations and put the issue to the bed. If he doesn’t say anything while people claim to have proof of game fixing and one of the main refs believed to be involved (Dick Bavetta) suddenly announces he’ll retire, Stern is making a big mistake. The problem, true or not, will ruin the league.

Source: Gambler claims 13 referees involved in NBA betting scandal [7Sports Boston]

Everybody knows that Charles Barkley likes to get out on the town, and now thanks to YouTube we can all see Sir Charles pounding Patron. The Chuckster is partying at the Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe with Ray Allen, Jerry Rice, and others, gettin’ his mack on, and showing he can still drink like a youngster.

I know what you’re thinking. Charles is out having a good time in a city that allows gambling when he’s said he’s not gonna gamble anymore. Don’t worry. Chuck says he’s sticking to it.

Charles Barkley, Lake Tahoe, Patron, video, youtube

It looks like Jose Canseco is turning to the poker tables in hopes of turning around his recent financial troubles. Knowing Jose, and knowing the way Jose plays poker, I’m willing to bet that Canseco has a better chance of pounding out 10 more books than making any money playing cards. The oddsmakers agree.

The folks at BoDog, who will set a line on anything, have posted odds on which celebrity will win the most money at the July 3, 2008 WSOP event.

Shannon Elizabeth 5/1
Yevgeny Kafelnikov 5/1
Jennifer Tilly 5/1
James Woods 5/1
Montel Williams 13/2
Ben Affleck 9/1
Boris Becker 9/1
Don Cheadle 9/1
Norm MacDonald 9/1
Jason Alexander 14/1
Sully Erna 14/1
Brad Garrett 14/1
Tobey Maguire 14/1
Ray Romano 14/1
Hank Azaria 30/1
Jose Canseco 30/1
Penn Gillette 30/1
Lennox Lewis 30/1

Every person on this list should be banned from poker for life if they can’t last longer than Jose Canseco.. Although with all the ticks and twitches, picking out Jose’s tells has to be impossible.

Jose Canseco, poker, WSOP, odds

Somewhere between Chris Paul manhandling the Dallas Mavericks’ defense and Avery Johnson being fired, people overreacted to Josh Howard admitting to smoking marijuana in the offseason. There was no outrage when Henry Abbott of True Hoop broke this story LAST YEAR (4th question from the bottom), and the flap is extremely overblown when you consider that 80 million Americans have admitted to smoking marijuana with 11 million claiming they do so on a regular basis.

Never ones to miss out on an opportunity, sportsbooks are setting odds on who will be the next NBA player to cop to smoking pot.

Odds for the next NBA player to admit smoking marijuana:
Rasheed Wallace: 2/1
Allen Iverson: 4/1
Josh Childress: 4/1
Carmelo Anthony: 10/1
LeBron James: 40/1
Shaquille O’Neal: 100/1
Dirk Nowitzki: 250/1

I don’t wanna tell the bookies how to run their business, but not having Ricky Davis, Damon Stoudamire, and Chris Anderson on the board is stupid.. Unless those guys were considered locks and there was no way to set the odds high enough.

If the wiseguys know what they’re talking about, and they usually do, Josh Howard has a fine coming from the league in his near future.

Odds on what’s next for Howard:
Fined by league: 1/2
Banned from league: 5/2
Arrest: 5/1
Rehab: 20/1
Starts company with Ricky Williams: 100/1

BoDog has one Josh Howard related prop and a ton of other NBA bets:

Will Josh Howard get traded prior to the start of the 08-09 Season?
Yes +125
No -165

Where will Mike D’Antoni be coaching at the start of the 08-09 Season?
Phoenix Suns 2/1
Toronto Raptors 2/1
New York Knicks 4/1
Other 3/1
Not Coaching 2/1

Will Carmelo Anthony be traded prior to the start of the 08-09 Season?
Yes +125
No -175

Josh Howard, marijuana, NBA, betting

Baseball is called America’s past time but the NFL is what drives the country. The football season is over but you can barely tell. The NFL combine and schedule release get treated like playoff games. The NFL Draft is a holy weekend for millions.

Not to be left out, NFL betting is available year round too. Most of the prop bets I found can’t be decided until the season’s in progress, but they’re still fun to go over. Forget about the same ole same ole odds to win it all next season, let your money ride on something more exciting.

Bodoglife.com is offering action on these two items,

Will Gene Upshaw be fired or resign from the Executive Director Position of the NFLPA before the start of the 2009-2010 Season?

Will Brett Favre play again in the 2008-2009 Season?

but they don’t offer the odds. I’m going with yes and yes.

These next props are in the NFL Draft section, but none of them have anything to do with the draft.

1. Will the winner of the November 2nd, 2008 game featuring the New England Patriots at the Indianapolis Colts have AFC home field advantage throughout the playoffs?
Yes -160
No +130

2. When will the New England Patriots lose their first regular season game? (I’m not listing all 16 games)
Week 2 @ New York Jets 17/4
Week 5 @ San Francisco 49ers 9/2
Week 6 @ San Diego Chargers 2/1
Week 9 @ Indianapolis Colts 4/1

3. How many Sunday Night games will the NFL change between weeks 11-16 using the flex scheduling option?
No games changed 5/4
1 game changed 2/3
2 games changed 2/1
3 games changed 7/2
4 or more games changed 6/1

4. Who will replace Bryant Gumbel as the new lead announcer for the NFL Network?
Tom Hammond 1/2
Rich Eisen 5/2
Gus Johnson 3/1
Joe Buck 7/1
Deion Sanders 10/1
Bob Costas 12/1
Other 5/4

Deion Sanders has a better shot at being the lead man than Bob Costas? Hmmm. I’m pulling for GGuuUUUUUSS JOOOOhnnnssonnn, but Tom Hammond is the favorite at BoDog and The Big Lead.

5. Will the Democratic or Republican Presidential Nominee be in attendance for the Washington Redskins vs New York Giants game on Sept. 4, 2008?
Yes +200

6. Which 2008 Monday Night Football game will have the lowest Neilson rating?
Cleveland Browns @ Buffalo Bills – Nov. 17, 2008 7/2
San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals – Nov. 19, 2008 13/10
Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints – Oct. 6, 2008 9/2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Carolina Panthers – Dec. 8, 2008 9/2
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans – Dec. 1, 2008 7/1
Field – Any other Monday Night Football game 5/2

The NFL changes so much from year to year so there’s no telling which team will be good and which will be garbage.. Although, if I was a betting man, that Bucs-Panthers game would be looking pretty good.. Or bad.. You know what I mean.

NFL Prop Bets. Courtesy of BoDogLife.com

Tags: NFL, Betting, Prop Bets

The Phoenix Suns’ Shawn Marion played his college ball at UNLV so he probably learned a little about gambling. As you can tell from this video, Marion is caught up in the poker Matrix. He plays everyday whether it’s video games, with friends, with teammates, or whatever.. He even plays at Super Bowl parties for charity. I doubt he’s playing online poker during halftime of games, but a quick hand in the parking lot doesn’t seem out of the question.

Tags: Shawn Marion, NBA, Poker, youtube

Team Jessica Simpson has been successful at revitalizing Nick Lachey’s ex-wife’s image. Jessica chillin at Texas Stadium and hanging out en México con Tony Romo have made her national news.. Again. But Jessica Simpson’s dad isn’t the only one cashing in on her resurgence. The oddsmakers are getting a piece of Jessica too.

Online sportsbook, Sportsbook.com, has set a line on whether or not Jessica Simpson will be in attendance at the New York Giants/ Dallas Cowboys game. Now we’re wagering on Jessica Simpson public appearances..? I’d say we’re about 3 or 4 weeks into the Apocalypse.

Yes (Must be shown on TV) -120

No (Any wagers placed after the result is public knowledge will be no action) -120

I know that this would probably be all kinds of illegal, but couldn’t Romo and Jessica make a quick 10gs? If I was Romo, I’d have every 5th cousin I could dig up opening online betting accounts. Tony should think about it. He’d have some walking around money for next week’s trip to Hawaii.

Jessica Simpson Will be a “No Show” at Dallas Cowboys New York Giants Game Says Bookmaker. (Gambling 911)

Tags: Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo, Giants Cowboys, NFL

Now, before I get to my picks.. Why does a woman take your number or give you her number, with no actual intent of ever speaking to you? Fellas, it’s happened to all of us. You meet a PYT, you’re choppin’ it up, things are going good. The numbers get exchanged, and you never hold a meaningful conversation with her again. You might talk to her for about 20 seconds a couple of times, but you’ll always be calling at a bad time… Or you just get her voicemail, leave a couple of non-Swingers style messages, and she’s still not calling back.. I hate that. It’s like having money on a team that’s favored by 3 and kicks a late field goal to win by 1 or 2. If you’re not gonna cover, why bother winning? If you don’t wanna talk, why bother with the number thing?

All right.. Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Arizona, Baltimore, and Seattle have bye weeks. Remember, I don’t pick for or against the Philadelphia Eagles.. But they sure as hell better find a way to beat the Vikings if they have any hope of saving their season.

The home team is in bold type.

Indianapolis -7 over Carolina: This has all the makings of a trap game for the Colts. Road game, on grass, against a team coming off a bye, and the week before the showdown with New England. I think Indy stays focused.

Detroit +5 over Chicago: The Bears pulled out a miracle win last week, but they don’t look like a team that’s ready to string victories together. This seems like a field goal game to me.

Pittsburgh -3.5 over Cincinnati: The Bengals whooping up on the Jets does not mean that they’re ready to turn things around. The positive for Cincy, the Steelers are 1-2 on the road. The negative for Cincy, they’re still the Bengals.

NYG -9.5 over Miami: The game’s being played in London, but Miami’s considered the home team.. I have no idea what playing in England is gonna do to each team so I’m going with the Giants being able to handle the change better.

Cleveland -3 over St. Louis: The Browns aren’t that good, but the Rams are that bad. Cleveland could win this game by double digits.. Of course with my recent pick history, the Rams will probably pick up their first win.

Tennessee -7 over Oakland: Wow, a home team. I remember when Eddie George useta go off against the Raiders.. Eddie’s not walking through that door, but they won’t need him as long as they have Rob Bironas.

Buffalo +3 over NYJ: This game was literally a coin flip for me. I can make an argument either way, but the quarter landed on heads.

Houston + 9.5 over San Diego: The wildfires in San Diego will unfortunately have an effect on the Chargers. It’s only human nature. The Bolts should still win the game, but don’t be surprised if they look disjointed.

Tampa Bay -4 over Jacksonville: If this is Donovan McNabb’s last season in Philly, I see three places he could easily end up. In Minnesota with Brad Childress, In Chicago, or in Jacksonville. Why Jacksonville? Because, if a team can cut a black quarterback and replace him with a black quarterback, and then the new quarterback gets hurt and is replaced by another black quarterback, that team has a thing for black quarterbacks. How about this slogan “The Jacksonville Jaguars, the Kim Kardashian of the NFL”?

New England -16 over Washington: I went against the Patriots last week like an idiot. I instilled the always take the Patriots rule and broke it. I’m dumb. I highly doubt the Patriots will look past the Redskins to the Colts. The Pats are on a mission to crush the league, and they look like they will.

San Francisco +2.5 over New Orleans: For some reason I see the Saints coming out and laying an egg this game. They’ve been in a fog for most of the season, and don’t look right.

Green Bay +3 over Denver: I have zero faith in Green Bay’s ability to suddenly discover a running game, but I’m taking them anyways. The weather might be in the 40s on Monday night, which is fine with the Packers.

Tags: NFL, NFL Week 8 Picks, Sports, Free Picks

Little did I know that Bill Parcells’ quarterbacking commandments would bring quite a bit of traffic to YBB.. If you stopped by for yesterday morning, and the site was down, thank Mr. Parcells. I have to say, there are either a lot of aspiring quarterbacks out there, or Bill Parcells is the E.F. Hutton of the NFL studio. Either way, everything’s running smoothly now..As far as last week, wow what a week it was. Dallas pulled out a miracle, Leinart’s season is over, the Steelers stomped the Seahawks, and the Colts and Patriots played like the elite teams that they are. As for me.. I was under .500 (5-8-1, 34-31-7 on the season), and now fun time’s over. It’s time to right this ship.Buffalo, Denver, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Detroit have the bye week. And, as always, I don’t pick for or against my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type.

Cincinnati -3 over Kansas City: Time for the Bengals to start their run to respectability. It won’t look like it at first, but the Chiefs will send their fans home disappointed.

Houston +6.5 over Jacksonville: Don’t ask me how the Jaguars do it but they win… And it’s usually ugly.. So the Jags win but they don’t cover.

Cleveland -4.5 over Miami: Trent Green got knocked out last week, and Joey Porter’s trashing Kellen Winslow jr… Doesn’t sound like a team headed in the right direction. Back to back road games will leave Miami drained in the second half.

Chicago -5 over Minnesota: The Bears pulled out the victory over the Pack last week, but I’m not willing to say that they’re back. They don’t have to be “back” to take down the Vikings. In a scheduling quirk, Minnesota is playing it’s 3rd of 4 road games in a row. They had a bye week last week to break up the monotony.

Baltimore -9.5 over St. Louis: The Rams are 0-5 and have lost their 2 road games this season by a combined score of 59-10. Even the unimpressive Ravens should beat them by 2 touchdowns.

Tennessee +3 over Tampa Bay: This is an interesting game. Both of these times are fighting for respect, and a victory over the other would go along ways to establishing some. Both teams stomped the Saints, and lost to the Colts.. If I had to pick a game that was most likely to push, it would be this one.

Green Bay -3 over Washington: The Redskins have been a nice story for the first quarter of the season. Jason Campbell’s played well, and the defense is quietly shutting people down. I still like the Packers this weekend. Under 40.5 anyone?

Arizona -4.5 over Carolina: If David Carr can’t go, the Panthers are gonna start 43 year old Vinny Testaverde. Carolina is 3-0 on the road, but that was before they ran into Kurt Warner.

New England -4.5 over Dallas: This game features great names and matchups. Brady vs. Romo, T.O. vs. Moss, the Patriots D vs. the Cowboys D. Bill Belichick vs. Wade Phillips. Wait. What? Yeah, I’m rollin’ with New England.

Oakland +10 over San Diego: I feel like I’m taking a chance here. Not because it’s the big bad Chargers against the lowly Raiders, but because Oak-town might be without Warren Sapp and Derrick Burgess.

Seattle -6.5 over New Orleans: The Saints are bad this year. I know, that’s a major news flash. But what I’m saying is, it’s time for me to quit holding out hope that they’ll get it turned around… Especially up in the Pacific Northwest.

NYG -3 over Atlanta: This is gonna be the Monday Night game? This is a joke… Funny how this season can not escape Michael Vick.

Tags: NFL, Week 6 Picks, Football, Sports, Point Spread

If gambling was abolished, do you know who would suffer the most? The NFL and the NBA referees. Regardless of the NFL’s official stance on wagering, the reason the league is so popular is because of the violence, gambling, and video games. But I’m not here to call the NFL a bunch of hypocrites, I’m here to salute the gridiron gladiators. I am entertained and hopefully my picks do likewise.

I’m superstitious, so I never pick for or against my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type.

Houston -3 over Kansas City: I didn’t see a lot of the Texans in preseason but I saw all of Hard Knocks.

Buffalo +3 over Denver: The Broncos are gonna have a nice season but it’ll get off to a slow start in upstate New York. Under 37 is tempting.

Pittsburgh -4.5 over Cleveland: The Browns aren’t gonna put it together over 1 summer.

Tennessee +6.5 over Jacksonville: The rule of thumb is to decide which team you think is going to win outright, and then bet on that team. I’m breaking the rule. The Jaguars win a close game.

St. Louis -1 over Carolina: If the Rams are gonna be who I think they are, they have to win this game.

Minnesota -3 over Atlanta: Joey Harrington is 1-4 lifetime vs. Minnesota. 0-4 at the Dome. The lone win came last year at home in Miami.

Miami +3 over Washington: I’m not expecting a lot from either of these teams this season but I like Miami a little more.

NYJ +6.5 over New England. I can make an argument for both teams in this game. That makes me think the game will be close.

Seattle -6 over Tampa Bay: Holmgren vs. Gruden. Hasselbeck vs. Garcia. I like the Seahawks in those matchups and the game.

San Diego -6 over Chicago: One of these teams will be almost as good as last year and the other’s qb is gonna end up costing them.

Detroit +1.5 over Oakland: It wouldn’t be Oakland if they didn’t start the season with a quarterback controversy.. Which should start about midway through the 2nd quarter.

Dallas -5.5 over NYG: The Cowboys offense gets all of the attention but that defense is gonna be really tough up front.

Cincinnati -2.5 over Baltimore: If the game was in Baltimore, I would pick the Ravens.

San Francisco -3 over Arizona: Every year is the year that the Cardinals are gonna turn it around. This might really be their time, but not this week.