NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon Day 57: Well, I Don't Like to Brag But...

I just became what is known in the sports betting world as A Very Good Guesser. That's right, it looks like Christmas came early last night when - on a whim - I decided to apply my counseling psychology background to the Stanley Cup Finals. I can't remember exactly what I said, but it went a little something like "This game will end in regulation but it will have some defensive carryover from the OT battle - a low scoring 2-1 affair. Take Boston and the Under." The result, Boston Bruins in OT 2-1. Unless ending in regulation is a real prop bet that somebody followed my genuinely blind advice on, I'm calling that an eerily accurate 2-0 which now makes my total worth including in our ever-expanding stats section. I hope Kyle takes over again so I can retire at 75%. 

NBA POST-SEASON RECORD TO DATE: 51-30 ATS 

NBA FINALS: 3-1 ATS

VINNY'S STANLEY CUP FINALS PICKS: 3-1

KYLE'S NHL PICKS TO DATE: 51-39-1

KYLE'S MLB PICKS TO DATE: 166-136-7

KYLE'S UFC PICKS: 11-6*

KYLE'S TENNIS PICKS: 2-0

*Stats do not include last night's results. I'll update this when I hear from Kyle.

Let me begin by wishing any dads, granddads, step-dads, and even sugar dads a very Happy Father's Day. I don't know what any of you were doing with your life before children came along, but for me it was nothing noteworthy. Sure, I covered the basics - college, work, early life crisis, failed relationships, one good relationship, slightly later in life crisis, grad school, more crises, marriage, more work, and so on, but until my daughter came along I always felt as though no matter what the job or the relationship or the life circumstances, I was eventually going to get exposed for being a fraud. It was like writing a gambling blog with absolutely no background in sports handicapping.

     

When I became a dad, however, it felt intuitive; it felt like it might be the only reason I was put on this planet at all - to help this perfect little being become a confident, capable, and hopefully passionate person. I had a portable sense of purpose that was all mine, and for the first time in my life I felt like I knew what I was doing. It was liberating. It created a whole new depths of emotion, selflessness, compassion, empathy, and inspiration. It was also the first time I blogged - writing relentlessly about the journey of becoming a father. Snooze. What I learned two and a half years later was that way more people are interested in reading about sports and gambling than the sappy musings of a happy father. When The Spread Zone arrived on the scene, my daughter's blog was retired forever.

                 

And anyone reading the last few paragraph's likely muttered something like, "Thank freakin' god. Can we get to the good stuff already?" Yes, we can. But whether you love it or hate it, tolerate it or thrive in it, or even if you just plain hold on for dear life and ride the roller coaster of fatherhood, this day is yours, you've probably earned it somewhere along the way, so enjoy the hell out of it. Happy Father's Day.

Now let's talk basketball.

               

SAN ANTONIO SPURS (+1.5) over Miami Heat: Much like the Miami Heat were on Thursday with the prospect of going down 3-1 in the best of seven series, the San Antonio Spurs are now the teams with their backs against the wall facing the grim possibility of heading back to South Beach down 3-2 and needing to win both games. That's not going to happen. Although all the talk has been about the Heat not losing back-to-back games in the post-season, the fact is the Spurs haven't either, and they've lost fewer games en route to this moment.

                

Since the beginning of this season, the Miami Heat are 4-7 ATS as a favorite of three points or less. They are, however, 9-4 SU and ATS when tied in a playoff series since the beginning of last year's title run. The Spurs, on the other hand, are an impressive 17-3 SU and 16-4 ATS when avenging a home loss with the OVER going 12-8. Thank you Jeff Grant. The secret stat nobody is talking about is that Gregg Popavich has a perfect, unblemished record on Father's Day going 2-0 SU and ATS en route to NBA titles in '03 and '05. Did I just make that up? Nope, it's called research. Pretty good right? Take that to your bookie, wish him a Happy Dad's Day, and put your money on a guy named Pop (hello!) to win this one without question.

How was that for tying it all together?

Vinny and Marco

DAILY REMINDERS: 

1. SHOP AT AMAZON! But only if you do it here. Seriously - if you do shop at any of these stores: Amazon.com.,ebay.com, Oldnavy.com, 1800flowers.com, or 32redpoker.com,  please help us out and do it through our site. We may or may not get some kind of commission several weeks from now. It's worth a shot - to us. 

2. Please feel free to e-mail us at vinnyandmarco@gmail.com anytime with any questions. If we don't know the answers we'll find someone (Google) who does. 

3. Donations are always welcome but this is truly a labor of love, so most importantly we hope you're enjoying your visits to TSZ.