With only a week to go in the regular season, by next Friday, the NBA playoff match-ups will be set and the odds will already be out. Handicappers should be looking to bet on the teams with the best health, depth, experience, coaching, defense and current momentum going into the postseason.
The hottest teams right now are Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Indiana and Houston. Good teams with some health problems that should get better are San Antonio, Miami and Phoenix. Clubs that are in a world of hurt a week before the playoffs start are Seattle and Philadelphia, if the 76ers even make it.
One thing to keep in mind as this week moves on is to be careful not to bet on games involving teams that are locked into their playoff positions and resting their key players.
• You don't have to tell lovers of horse racing what time of year it is, as the Kentucky Derby is set to go off Saturday May 7th. Throughout April, some of the best 3-year-old horses in the world are running in preparation for this year's race. Check out each Saturday's action to get an idea of which horses are the ones to beat.
• Got some interesting feedback from last week's baseball article, and with this being a slow week, I can't help but again talk about the hottest topic in sports today, steroids.
Major League Baseball lovers understandably do not want their sport's history tarnished in any way. But how can they honestly defend the legitimacy of these recent home run records by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, etc. that have clearly been attained with the use of illegal drugs? There is such a thing as integrity in baseball, isn't there? Although steroids were not outlawed by MLB at the time, those players knew what they were doing was wrong. It would be a shame for Hank Aaron and Roger Maris to have their great achievements surpassed record-wise in such an unnatural way.
The common argument from MLB fans that bothers me the most is the one that says steroids do not help your hand-eye coordination, and that's what hitting a baseball is all about. Conversely, someone could have the best hand-eye coordination in the world and not have the strength to consistently hit the ball out of the infield, which would make him a terrible hitter. Strength obviously is a huge factor, especially when you're talking about the act of hitting a home run.
Let's say there was a professional golfer pumped up with steroids who could hit the ball 400 yards every time. Fans shouldn't argue, "Yeah, but he still needs the hand-eye coordination to hit the ball straight and putt the ball into the hole."
If there was a pro bowler jacked up on steroids who rolled a perfect 300 game every time, some would say, "So, he still needs the hand-eye coordination to throw the ball straight."
Again, it's not a matter of whether or not these athletes are guilty of some crime, it's a matter of everyone looking back at great sports accomplishments and knowing that they were authentic.
Steroids give athletes an abnormal ability to build muscle and recoup from injuries and workouts quickly. That's an unfair advantage over clean athletes, not to mention steroids come with numerous side effects that can kill you. For the good of the game, we should send the right message by not acknowledging any of those new home run statistics, and by severely punishing any current and future steroid users.