Purdue’s Carsen Edwards reacts during the second half of a first round men’s college basketball game against Old Dominion on March 21, 2019.
Purdue’s Carsen Edwards reacts during the second half of a first round men’s college basketball game against Old Dominion on March 21, 2019.Jessica Hill | Associated Press

Newsletter: Bettors Insider, Vol. 1, No. 32 (March 26, 2019)

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An ode to TedSilary.com from Bob (Boop) Vetrone

The Internet, at the beginning, was at its best with the accumulation, organization and distribution of information. Then someone posted a cat video and all Hell broke loose.

But through all the GIFs and MEMEs and WHATNOTs and WHATFORs there remain a few websites that have stuck to the premise, have never failed to deliver and have been able to inform and entertain and retain the sanctity of factual well-being. One of those was TedSilary.com.

(If you have never seen nor heard of it then you have absolutely no connection to nor interest in high school sports in the city of Philadelphia and you are hereby allowed to jump to the next item.)

Ted, with whom I have worked at two (count ‘em, 2!) newspapers, posted on his site Sunday that he would no longer be updating it. Oh, he may have a few annual updates here and there, we guess, but more importantly it appears he will not be taking down the site.

Born out of his passion for thoroughness, accuracy and, especially, the athletes he covered -- as well as a stray Microsoft FrontPage software disc laying around one afternoon in 1999 – Ted transformed his cartons and desk drawers and mail carriers and manila envelopes filled with years and years of statistics and research into the single greatest website of this or any other century.

If there was an important Philadelphia high school basketball or football stat that was to be researched or a fun list to be compiled, there was only one place to find it. And if it wasn’t on there, often a mere suggestion and a few days of down time were enough to get it found, checked and posted.

And although it wasn’t always easy to track down something you knew was there, the journey in finding it more often than not led to three or four other files just as interesting you did not know existed.

And the peripherals that popped up on the site (promoting games and tournaments and events and especially people) were almost as impressive as the main courses (the stats and lists and past articles, mostly by Ted but also by others). And for that information to go from the paper-and-pen stuffed-in-countless-folders format to the brand-spanking new World Wide Web, well, let’s just say that’s a transition unlike any other.

The bar has been set. We hope and pray that one day our website can grow up to be as informative and entertaining and addicting as TedSilary.com.

Now, Ted, can I finally have that disc back?

Heavy Thoughts

If UCF’s Tacko Fall and Duke’s Zion Williamson were to join the NBA tomorrow, they would the heaviest and third heaviest players in the league at 310 and 285 pounds very, VERY respectively. The Sixers’ Boban Marjonovic would be right in the middle of them (and isn’t that a nice visual to start your day?) at 290 pounds.

(I would let you know where I might fall on that mini-list, but my cardiologist often reads the newsletter and she thinks I am down to my high school drinking weight.)

Many thanks to  @NBADraftWass for leading us down that fairly uncomfortable road…

NCAA Bettor Bits

We know it’s one more whole weekend away, but you can get some pretty good prices on who might be the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player if you could smoke him out right now. The odds below are from the folks at   www.SportsBettingDime.com.

I’m down with Purdue’s Carsen Edwards at 28-1, but that may just be because of the sunburn I got watching him torch Villanova Saturday night.

  • Zion Williamson (Duke): 10/1
  • Cassius Winston (MSU): 19/1
  • Brandon Clarke (Gonzaga): 23/1
  • RJ Barrett (Duke): 27/1
  • Carsen Edwards (Purdue): 28/1
  • Luke Maye (UNC): 28/1
  • Jarrett Culver (Texas Tech): 29/1
  • Coby White (UNC): 28/1
  • Grant Williams (Tennessee): 30/1
  • Ty Jerome (UVA): 35/1
  • Kyle Guy (UVA): 36/1
  • Deandre Hunter (UVA): 38/1
  • Rui Hachimura (Gonzaga): 45/1

With respect to Dr. Seuss

Speaking of Villanova, we knew another National Championship was going to be a long shot, but it would have been real nice for them to have at least reached Thursday’s Regional Semifinal to have another Phillies Opener/Local Team in NCAA Tournament doubleheader like we had in 2016 when the Phillies dropped their first game of the season just hours before the Wildcats won college basketball’s last game of its season . . . Oh, the parlays we would have bet!!!!

That's not right...

So, they scheduled Gonzaga for the 7:09 p.m. game on Thursday, huh? That is 4:09 p.m. Pacific Time, which is not only the time zone that houses the top-seeded school (Spokane, Wash.), but also the city where the game is being played (Anaheim, Calif.). Yeah, I get ratings and commercial dollars and ad buys and all that crap, but that shows so little respect for the players, coaches and the many peripheral people involved with the schools and the game itself -- as well as for the local fans with tickets who probably wanted to have actually worked a full day to be able to pay for the damn ticket. Not right.

The Real Slim Shady on the AAF

@Eminem on Twitter

Today's Schedule

Monday Results

A very good day across the board! Sean Miller went 13-2 with his Soccer pics, Greg Frank went 2-0 on his NBA picks, Craig Dietel went 2-0 in the NHL, Neal Abrams went 10-6 with his Tennis picks, Mick McMudder had 2 more winners at Parx and Alan Mitchell had 2 winners at Yonkers Raceway.

Today we'll try to find you even more winners.

Good luck at the tables, windows, kiosks and apps.

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