Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

I watched three NFL games on Sunday, and I saw three examples that the NFL simply doesn’t know what a catch is. They have over complicated the definition of a catch to the point of absurdity.  It’s so bad that I would argue that they should stop using replay to review the calls or non-calls of officials. There’s one overriding reason that I say that – they suck at it. The whole point of using replay is to correct erroneous calls. That’s simply not happening. So, just live with the human error of officials making calls live. Full disclosure – I only bet on one of three games mentioned below (Baltimore -3), and the call in question was beneficial to my bet. I’m also a Steelers fan. (They won despite the call in question.) Also, these are also obviously not my videos; I’m sharing them via YouTube’s embedding tools, which users can turn off. I ’m just using them to show the play. Bills vs. Eagles: AJ Brown catches the ball up by his face, brings it down as he’s running, has full c

It’s amazing how one loss can put a damper on things even when all of your bets are for the same dollar amount. I was looking at a big week with three $50 bets last week, sitting at 2-0 for +$89.50 with Kansas City up 10 at halftime. But as fast as the Chiefs receivers can drop a pass, I dropped to 2-1 for +39.50. I’ll take my first consecutive winning weeks of the football season,  nonetheless. By the way, my brother mentioned to me that he feels strange telling people what to bet in the comments. I completely understand, and just want to reiterate that I’m not telling anybody what to bet. (Yet, I still feel worse losing a bet I’ve posted than losing a bet I didn’t post.) My thought with posting picks is “let’s beat the books together . . . or have fun trying!” This is just bouncing ideas off each other. If I haven’t proven it already, I’m certainly not an expert. I have my thoughts, I try to compare to what other people are saying, and I take my shots. I was tempted to start this

After 6 straight losing weeks, I finally got of the schneid with a 1-1 week at +$66. I’m starting early this week, taking the Ravens -3.5 versus the Bengals for $50 to win $45. I might have more picks in the comments this weekend. So far, I’m thinking about Kansas City -3 over the Eagles on Monday night.

The week I take Michigan +215 to win the NCAAF title, the media starts talking about the Wolverines getting shutdown for the season in the sign stealing scandal. That would pretty much sum up my 2023. I’ve been watching two spreads all week. Michigan and the Ravens both started at -5. One went up and one went down. On Thursday, I grabbed the Ravens at -6.5 versus the Browns for $25.00 to win $23.25. Michigan actually went down to -4.5 and seems to have leveled off. To be honest, I don’t understand that spread at all. I understand Michigan hasn’t played anybody, and I was on the Penn State bandwagon for a good while. But PSU has only really played one good team, Ohio State, and lost. It’s 2 o’clock as I write, and there’s still talk of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh getting suspended for this game. I don’t think it matters, but I am going to wait to make the pick. I think they roll Penn State either way. The way I’ve been picking, Cleveland and Happy Valley should be ecstatic.

I can only hope a flip of the calendar can flip my luck. October was horrible, capped with a 0-4 for -$61.60. I’m down -$200 for the season – technically $199.85 – at 18-30-2. I’ve made 8 bets that I didn’t post and ended up with a 15-cent  difference. I don’t know what that says, but I’m pretty sure it’s not good. Obviously, I’m no expert on gambling. Let’s beat the books together . . . or have some fun trying. Here are my thoughts on the weekend so far: Dallas +3 (-110) @ Eagles – I’m just going on a gut feeling here. The Cowboys seem like they might be getting hot, I heard Jalen Hurts is a little banged up, and the Eagles are going into their bye maybe looking for a break. Notre Dame -3 (-108) @ Clemson – This just seems low. Michigan +215 to win the NCAAF title – I have to reload anyway, so I might throw something on the Wolverines winning the title. My biggest fear is FSU takes it from them (and injury). Fade me if you must, but  put it in the comments!

The Sixers finally got rid of James Harden. As far as I can tell, that was the point of trading him to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. The Sixers received a handful of players to make the trade work under NBA salary cap rules. PJ Tucker, who never did much in a Sixers uniform, and Filip Petrusev were shipped to LA with Harden as part of the deal that also brought several draft picks to Philadelphia. Robert Covington is the only player coming to the Sixers that I’m familiar with because he previously played for the team. Nic Batum and Marcus Morris are each 34 years old and playing minimal minutes or no minutes. Morris is listed as “out” by ESPN. Kenyon Martin, Jr., statistically had his best year last season with Houston and is the only guy in the trade coming from L.A. under 30 years of age at 22. Covington was a solid player for several years with the Sixers, but he last played for them in the 2018-19 season. He’s now in his 10 th NBA season, and his numbers suggest he’s now