Canada's Medal Hopes are everything but a Slam Dunk.

 If Canada would go on to lose all three games in Men's basketball in this years Olympics, things will have come full circle for Kamloops native Kelly Olynk. When Canada emerged on to the scene at the 2010 World Championships in Turkey Canada entered the tournament with an outside shot at advancing out of the group stage. 

Now Canada has emerged on the Olympic stage with medal aspirations. The golden generation keeps getting brighter but that could be said for the majority of the world. Canada  has the household names to win every game by 30 but as the journey has taught us every game is like a March Madness type game where the team that shoots the best and plays more fundamentally should come away with the win. 

We have a tendency to be shocked when we lose games in 2015 to Venezuela and last year to Brazil. In a short tournament medal hopes can dash instantly. 

I think what it comes down to is that the gap between a bottom ten NBA team and a really good European team with a 40 minute FIBA rules game is next to nothing. One player can take over a game or have an off night at any given time. 

We also might be headed into uncharted territory. More NBA players are wanting to play in the Olympics. With a few countries experiencing a golden generation this should be the best Olympic basketball tournament ever.

 I totally remember when people thought Levon Kendal playing Big East basketball at Pitt was the biggest deal to Canadian basketball.

Right now Canada has 100 Levon Kendal's that wouldn't even make the E team. The Nash effect produced players like Olynk, Sacre, and Kendall. An amazing High School basketball era in British Columbia from 2003-2010.

The Carter effect is almost all what you will see tomorrow at 12pm on CBC.

Big question will be will their be a Kawhi Leonard effect in the next 6 years that makes Canada on paper better than USA.

I feel this is USA's last dance so to speak. In four years Durant, James, Curry et al will all be too old. You will never see USA the gold medal favorite again or at least not by this much.

France is having a golden generation right now that makes Argentina's golden generation look small. In seven years the Top 5 NBA players might not even be American. I would say in 20 years basketball might rival soccer and the push will be their eventually from NBA PA to have a week off international break.

Tip of the iceberg would be an understatement.  

Dayily Thoughts July 16th 2024

 Finally feeling like I have some traction in my life. I'll be setting up a sports calendar for myself to follow and will see how many days my life will be consumed with sports watching. 

I don't know how many days I'll focus on sports but I only plan to work 2-3 days a week on average in the first little bit. 

The UEFA Champions League, World Cup Qualifiers, tennis majors, golf majors and Olympics are prime events that I prioritize before work. 

I'm trying to also be self employed along with trying to write my own book about the fun and challenging things about being someone with Cerebal Palsy. 

This will be an interesting chapter of my life. I'm really looking forward to the adventure and seeing where it takes me. Will have more in coming days to break down a few key sporting events coming up. 

Not Bet Today Still

 Thursday night's Montreal vs Toronto game didn't go as planned. I was confident that the Montreal's offense was the real deal but after their QB went out with a hamstring injury the bet was on life support. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't do any posts before today as I got too busy during the weekend. No real sports on tonight, WNBA all day tomorrow and MLS Wednesday. Memo to the CFL, it wouldn't hurt to schedule a Monday night football game tonight as you would be the only sporting event on TV. 

As for my stats, I am 250 points below after that dreadful loss Thursday. Friday was hard. I spent most of the day trying to navigate how to play the sports betting weekend but didn't see many locks. 

Will share a few of my open parlay's tomorrow. Will give you a good gage of where I first look for money line bets. 

The 0-1 in -300 section be interesting to follow over the course of time.  

Bet of the day July 11th

England Netherlands Semi Final was outstanding! England scored the goal to propel me to a 2-0 start on this new bet of the day blog. 

Today I'm going to a different sport for the third day in a row. The Montreal Alouettes host the Toronto Argonots as Montreal aims to for a 6-0 start. 

With Chad Kelly suspended Toronto has had a rocky start to the year at 2-2. Their QB position is in shambles right now and Montreal's defense is elite. 

I got the odds at -340. 

So far, I'm 1-0 at the -100 level and 1-0 at the -200 level and going up to the 300 level today. 

All bets are capped at +100 points for easy math sake. Therefore I'm +200 points so far.

Bet of the Day - July 10th

 Well, the Houston Astros nudged past the struggling Miami Marlins and I'm 1-0 in my bets of the day. It was a bit more stressful than I would have liked. 

My bet today is England to advance over Holland at the Euro Semis. England hasn't been at their best this tournament but are more of a favorite than -132 to advance to the final on Sunday. 

When you place a bet "to qualify" the bet will be a winner if the game goes to Penalty kicks. A huge mistake by some bettors is to put a large bet on a team to win in a game that could need extra time. Even if the team wins in extra time the bet will be graded as a loss. 

Will be keeping track of my record on here as well as my record with similar odds.Will try to update this on a regular basis.

Sports Betting Bet of the Day July 9th 2024

 Is sports betting a bad thing? Is it any worse than alcohol or other addictions? I have had a lot of luck from betting on various sports. 

I find the addictive part about it seems to be when you get the negative feeling that takes over after a hard loss that is a heartbreaker and emotions start to take over. If you are impulsive enough, the bets can add up fast. 

There are a few things I try to do to avoid major losses consecutively. 

1. Go to a coffee shop after a big win or loss. By the time you walk there and order something the chances are the emotions have died a bit. When you sit down for coffee, count all the good things that you have going for you. Revaluate where you've been, where you are and where you want to go. 

2. Mix in heavy favorites along with some huge underdogs. This is a bit controversial. I have heard that you should never bet anything -140 or below. However, if -700 odds for a team to win the odds are they are going to win. You can't do this all the time. A bettor needs to bet on some underdogs at some point to give a mix. 

3. Parlays. They help decrease the amount of money that you will wager. It tempers expectations and can add significant gains. 

4. Futures. A future bet is when you place a bet on who will win the Stanley Cup. This bet is high reward low risk because you can get plus odds on the favorite and there is enough time for your equity to increase which means there is a higher risk of not missing the money if it loses. 

5. Other forms of passive income. When I'm in a losing streak I turn my mind to other forms of passive income like my stock portfolio until my emotions are back to where I need them to be in order to bet confidently again. 

My bet for tomorrow: 

Houston Astros to beat Miami Marlins at home -225.      

Is Elias Pettersson the right Poster Boy for Vancouver Canucks?

 Last night was hard. As much as I know this is a learning curve year, It would still be super awesome to send McDavid golfing.

You never want to anticipate a long run way of success. Better to be in the present and worry about the future when the time comes. As we all know Championship windows end sooner than it seems. There is always going to be the next exciting up and coming team. 

However, the Vancouver Canucks seem to have awaken from a bleak and dark nine year stretch and the fan base seems alive and well. 

Winning the Cup is the ultimate prize but the amount of luck it takes is immense that it is important to have reasonable expectations. Just so we don't bang our heads on the wall too hard and call our team overachievers. 

At, 25, Elias Pettersson is the Canucks long term first line centre. It's interesting to note that the Canucks last first line centre was Hendrik Sedin and when he was Pettersson's age the entire NHL was lockout in 2005 and the twins were hardly generational players at the time. 

If the EP 40 is able to match what the Canucks did in the eight years after the lockout, the Canucks should have a future that looks like this: 

 

2025	Miss   playoffs
2026	2nd Round
2027	Miss playoffs
2028	2nd Round
2029	2nd Round
2030	SCF loss
2031	1st round
2032	1st round
2033	Miss playoffs
2034	1st round
2035	Miss playoffs

    In the next decade, if the Canucks made the playoffs 7 out of 10 times, is that something that you would sign up for or are you willing to think the Canucks are poised for something better. 

Curious to what people would do.