You are looking live . . . at football
Brent Musburger, the Godfather of VSiN, is in Canton to receive the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, so I figured he might have an opinion on tonight’s game (8 ET, NBC).
“I’m trying to pronounce Uiagalelei!” he wrote back. “Can’t bet on a QB when I can’t even pronounce his name.”
Well, I hope he figures it out because Chargers fourth-stringer DJ Uiagalelei is expected to play most of the second half when Brent will join NBC’s Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth in the broadcast booth.
The Hall of Fame Game line is Lions -2 at Circa and most other books here in Las Vegas.
As VSiN’s Steve Makinen pointed out in his Hall of Fame historical analysis, the team that led at halftime is just 2-4-1 in the last six games.
So Uiagalelei, who will take over from Trey Lance, is likely to play a role in the result. Hendon Hooker will start for the Lions with Kyle Allen as his backup.
Backup QBs are central to Matt Youmans‘ advice on handicapping the NFL preseason games and he provides a handy QB depth chart.
Burke rates MLB trades
VSiN.com managing editor Adam Burke sizes up a busy Wednesday for MLB deal-makers:
The relief pitcher market was the big story. I love the acquisitions by both NL East contenders, with Jhoan Duran to the Phillies and Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers to the Mets. As we know, starters don’t work as deep into playoff games, so the more bullpen arms, the better, especially in a best-of-five or best-of-three format. Neither team paid all that big of a price and took no hits to the MLB roster.
Obviously the late Eugenio Suarez deal will get some headlines with his return to the Mariners, but the deal I low-key loved from Wednesday was the Cubs acquiring Mike Soroka. Among pitchers with at least 80 IP, he’s in the top 25 in K%, but has been hurt by a 68.4% LOB% that should be on the rise. His expected ERA (xERA) is over 1.5 runs lower than his actual ERA. The Cubs are one of the league’s best defensive teams and the Nationals are one of the worst, so a team strapped for starting pitching help picked up a good one with a lot of positive signs moving forward.
With the trading deadline at 6 p.m., there are only three games today, but Greg Peterson has recommendations on two of them.
Adam, Steve Makinen and Josh Appelbaum will file their daily contributions later this morning.
Contest update
As you can see from the promo above, Circa Survivor: The Quest for $14.2 million will debut on VSiN next week.
But Circa V(I)P Mike Palm had some insights into this year’s football contests while making his regular Wednesday appearance on Follow The Money with Mitch Moss and Pauly Howard.
Entries for Circa Survivor, with a guarantee of $15 million, are pacing 44 percent ahead vs. last year. There were 3,559 entries ($1,000 per) as of Wednesday night. Mike is revising his original estimate of $18 million to north of $20 million for the winner-take-all prize.
The inaugural Circa Grandissimo, a high-stakes survivor contest with a $100,000 entry fee, will have 11 entries by Friday, Mike says.
The Circa Million, the undervalued pick’em contest with $6 million in guaranteed prizes and more than 100 ways to win, has 1,126 entries.
Besides his newsy tidbits, I have to say Mike did one of his best “You Cannot Be Serious” segments in the 5 p.m. ET hour.
>>Every hour of every show is available on the VSiN Best Bets podcast, but you can listen to Mike’s diatribe here at the 37:50 mark.
Want in on Circa Million VII — for free? VSiN and Winners Circle Proxy are giving away 2 Grand Prize Packages: contest entry + full season proxy service + a VSiN studio tour. Enter here by Aug. 17.
Quick Hits
Golf: The last event of the PGA’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship, tees off at 6:50 a.m. ET today in Greensboro. If you are up early, there is still time to read Wes Reynolds’ Best Bets and check the VSiN Pro golf picks page.
Tennis: Zach Cohen has picks for today’s action in Toronto and Montreal. VSiN Pro subscribers should check the tennis picks page for late additions.
Horse racing: “Mr. Ed” Sehon and 1/ST Bet’s Jeremy Plonk have picks for today’s Saratoga card. Horse racing coverage is sponsored by 1/ST BET. Get your $200 sign-up bonus.
