My daughter accuses me of having the most eclectic musical taste of anyone she knows.
I think that’s a compliment.
Why?
Well, one of the benefits of working — and, for several years, living — in a casino is that you become an expert on pop music whether you want to or not. After all, music is a big part of the casino experience.
Which is why I am familiar with the work of Charlie Puth, who will sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. In the early days of VSiN, his songs were in heavy rotation at the South Point, where we had our studio.
And that brings us to one of the most popular Big Game “extracurricular” props every year: How long will this rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner last?
Gill Alexander broke down the key factors for handicapping the anthem time. Puth told Ryan Seacrest, “I’m going to put a lot of jazz in it,” and that he’ll be backed by an orchestra and a choir.
That’s all Gill needed to hear.
In fact, the Total was at 1:22 at the beginning of the segment and 1:25 by the end of it.
Adam Burke has some advice before you fire on those Super Bowl props.
I also should point out that the early Opta AI prop projections are available for the Super Bowl. The numbers will change over the next week and a half. They do take into account line moves and do change as Opta does more modeling.
Everything we do on the Super Bowl will be posted here.
P.S. I have to give credit to the musical tastes of Nicole Parthum, wife of Circa owner Derek Stevens. She picks all the songs played at Circa and that populate my Spotify playlist.
On the late night menu for college hoops
We’re starting to call Adam Burke the king of the mid-majors. He lives up to his royal title by previewing the last game of the night: Hawaii at UC-Irvine (11 p.m. ET, ESPNU).
Greg “Hoops” Peterson has an opinion on the same game as part of his Best Bets column.
Adam also files his regular college basketball Best Bets Monday–Saturday, available mid-morning on our college basketball page. You’ll also find Tyler Shoemaker’s picks, based on his men’s and women’s power ratings, Monday–Thursday.
Other college hoops resources
>Matchup page
>Makinen’s daily power ratings
>DraftKings/Circa Betting Splits
>College Basketball Picks Page
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Quick Hits
NBA: Zach Cohen‘s Best Bets and Steve Makinen‘s Analytics Report will hit around mid-morning on our NBA page. Our Opta AI NBA player props projections are here.
Zach also does a podcast Monday-Friday and I’m sure he will weigh in on the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo on Hardwood Handicappers.
NHL: VSiN hockey analyst Jonathan Davis will post his Best Bets around mid-day.
Australian Open: You will be able to get Zach Cohen‘s daily Best Bets here on our special Aussie Open page. Zach and Gill Alexander add their picks to our tennis picks page.
PGA: The Farmers Insurance Open tees off at 12:10 ET, so plenty of time to get Wes Reynolds‘ Best Bets and listen to the Long Shots podcast. with Wes and Matt Brown.
Horse Racing: We have Gulfstream picks from the Daily Racing Form on our horse racing page
