Line of Scrimmage: Cushing saga leaves too much unsaid

Football Betting Lines

05/13/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Cushing finally met the media on Thursday, one day after the Houston Texans linebacker was permitted to keep his AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honor following a much-publicized re-vote.

Cushing, who tested positive last September for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a non-steroidal banned substance commonly used to chase the evidence of steroids from the body, finally emerged from behind the curtain to face questions about the situation.

Surprisingly, Cushing argued that his positive test for a banned substance was flat-out false. He offered no apology or contrition, though he did trot out some bizarre nonsense about thinking he had tumors. Cushing also put up an easily-predicted front of defiance behind which the former first-rounder will now have to prove to the world he can be a great player without cheating.

Maybe, unlike Shawne Merriman before him, he'll emerge from his cloud of steroid suspicion as the same, high-level player. And maybe he'll be great without putting any performance-enhancing substances into his body, though I wouldn't bet on it. Because what Cushing couldn't say in that press conference is that if he really started replacing laboratory-produced substances with a Rocky-like diet of raw eggs and protein shakes, he'd be way cleaner than a good portion of the people he has to compete against every Sunday.

Not that the league, the union, or many of the fans seem to give a flip, but a sizeable portion of NFL players is on something. Ex-Redskins and Lions tackle Jon Jansen told HBO Real Sports last year that he thought 15-20 percent of players were using Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Former NFL lineman Dana Stubblefield pegged the number as closer to 30 percent, and Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham said he thought it was more like one-third of the league.

Jansen and Graham have reason to be conservative with their numbers - they're current players who don't want to incite the ire of the teammates that would rather keep this situation as their, and the league's, dirty little secret. So anyone who can apply logic to situations, looking at how the speed and especially the size of players has escalated in the past two decades, could surmise that the number is really closer to 50 percent.

The obvious proliferation of performance-enhancers in the NFL has to be making Cushing feel unfairly singled out in this case. What he couldn't have said before the assembled media at Reliant Stadium is that what he did is hardly unique in the NFL circa 2010, and that he just happened to get caught for it. He couldn't say that those AP voters who re-cast their ballots for someone else the other day just might have made their re-vote for another guy who was taking something else.

Of course, apart from John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, none of the voters who made their new ballots public said anything to the effect of, "They're all on something, why should we hold it against just Cushing?" Some banged their fist on the podium and voted for another player, not that they could ever say conclusively that Jairus Byrd, Brian Orakpo, Clay Matthews, or anyone else had a great 2009 due only to their time spent in the weight room and watching game film. Those who changed their vote from Cushing to someone else - and I accept that there are some really talented people in this group - either switched their vote because of the embarrassment Cushing caused them and the process, because Cushing was stupid enough to get caught and they wanted to penalize him, or because they're naive enough to think that Cushing's case really is an isolated one.

Even those who voted for Cushing the second time around, like Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (who did not vote for Cushing originally), failed to acknowledge the elephant in the room. They instead focused on defending the voting process, worrying about whether this situation would lead to other re- votes if past winners had their viability questioned. The process-defenders used Bill Belichick's 2007 Coach of the Year honor, won in the vast shadow of Spygate, as an example of one that could be revisited if we were to start really studying such honors.

In citing "the process," as if a bunch of writers and broadcasters taking all of 30 seconds to devise an email with their vote attached is akin to some kind of ultra-important government procedure, these voters have missed an opportunity.

What not nearly enough people are saying is that Cushing is being offered up as an exception when it's quite likely what he did was much closer to the rule. The league won't say it, the union won't say it, and sadly, most of the media members who played a major role in this tale haven't said it either.

And you have to believe that Brian Cushing, a 23-year-old young man who stared down a firing squad in Houston on Thursday, wishes someone else was willing to acknowledge the real truth.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

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Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

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Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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