5-at-10: Sports big betting day, Warriors, Braves, True or false Tuesday, Rushmore of NFL running backs of the last 30 years

Monmouth Park racetrack is seen in Oceanport, N.J., Monday, May 14, 2018. The Supreme Court on Monday gave its go-ahead for states to allow gambling on sports across the nation, striking down a federal law that barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Monmouth Park racetrack is seen in Oceanport, N.J., Monday, May 14, 2018. The Supreme Court on Monday gave its go-ahead for states to allow gambling on sports across the nation, striking down a federal law that barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Gambling decision

With the possible exception of April 15, 1947, Monday was the biggest day in U.S. sports history.

And, with the Supreme Court decision that federal laws forbidding sports betting are unconstitutional, Monday's legal ruling may not have the social impact of Jackie Robinson's MLB debut that broke the color barrier and truly jumpstarted the civil rights movement. But it may have ripples that reach wider.

Let's review:

This will increase the interest in sports;

This will help the folks in the business who cover sports;

This will increase revenue for everyone - owners, leagues, players, et al. - and will eventually reach the NCAA as well; (And the argument against paying the college athletes will continue to be assailed.)

And that's just the for sure ramifications. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told CNBC on Monday that every owner in one of the big-four leagues in the U.S. "saw the value of their team double" with the decision.

It's hard to overstate them since, according to the American Gaming Association, there was $4.9 billion bet on sports in Nevada alone in 2017. Yes the NBA has been out front of the leagues' in terms of positive views on legalized sports betting, and Adam Silver has floated the idea of a 1-percent cut of every bet made on the NBA comes to the NBA. The reasoning, according to Silver and his cohorts, centers on maintaining the leagues' integrity with more security measures and the discussions of intellectual property. It's doubtful Silver and the other league bigwigs will get the full 1 percent, but if he gets half that, imagine the windfall. If we estimate that 80 percent of the sports gambling in Nevada was on the big four sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) and each league gets 0.5 percent that's a $20 million kitty and that's just from Nevada.

And that does not even take into account the increased TV numbers, which s a monster win for the leagues considering the TV numbers in recent years for everything that is not Tiger or LeBron have been rather flat if not flat-out declining. Studies show that gamblers watch more sports and watch sports for longer. That's something that will be very attractive to advertisers, especially since sports watchers in general and gamblers in particular rarely are part of the DVR crowd.

How big of a TV bump will legalized sports betting deliver? The AGA predicts it will increase sports TV viewing numbers by 50 percent. (And if you don't want to believe the AGA numbers, the recent decision by Fox to pay the NFL $3 billion for 11 Thursday night NFL games in each of the next five years. Thursday night numbers have been down, the match-ups have been bad and the action is general viewed as inferior because of short rest weeks, but Fox ponied up an increase of 33 percent per game from the previous Thursday night deals.)

The immediate details are not as clear or as predictable. The SCOTUS ruling now passes the ball to Congress. If Congress does not put overarching regulations and restrictions in place, it will be decided on a state-by-state basis, similar to how the lottery has been instituted in 44 of the 50 U.S. states.

It will start in current casinos and horse and dog racing tracks. It will expand soon, especially on the inter web, and then beyond that to the point we could within the next three-to-five years see betting shops and/or kiosks and wagering booths at stadiums and arenas where the teams play the games.

Here's betting watching, consuming, covering, sports will never be the same.

photo Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) drives to the basket past Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) during the first half of Game 1 of the NBA basketball Western Conference Finals, Monday, May 14, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)


How the West was won

Wow, we watched a large part of the Golden State-Houston game to open the Western Conference Finals.

A list of thoughts and notes from the action:

First, kudos to Chuck Barkley's halftime analysis in which he said the Rockets were having to work so much harder for baskets in the first half than the Warriors had to. The second-half unfolded exactly as Barkley suggested.

Second, for any and all of those folks out there that watched a majority of the game - like this sleepy-eyed knucklehead - did it look like the Western Conference opener was like an ACC game and the Eastern Conference opener was a SoCon game? The divide looked clear. And wide.

Third, the Rockets are in a heap of trouble. They had a monster home-court crowd going nuts. James Harden could not play much better (41 points on 14-of-24 shooting and seven assists) and they still loss by double digits.

Four and possibly the most important, the Warriors are too good. And too deep.

To expound on that, know this:

The Warriors handled everything the Rockets could muster and won going away with a) Draymond Green scoring five points on five shots; b) Steph Curry looking pedestrian for most of the evening; and c) only getting three offensive rebounds all night.

How, you may ask did the defending champ drop the regular-season champ? Well, Kevin Durant looked like the best scorer the game has since MJ's prime and the Warriors were amazingly efficient and equally unselfish.

Golden State shot 52.5 percent from the floor and better than 39 percent from deep. Plus, the 24 assists-to-nine turnovers stat line can not be overstated.

So, we have played one game in each conference finals, and the Cavs need a win tonight in Game 2 in the worst way. And Houston? Well, if they do not win Game 2 on Wednesday, this will be a sweep.

photo Atlanta Braves' Jose Bautista celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a three-run home run off Chicago Cubs' Jose Quintana during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 14, 2018, in Chicago. Braves' Nick Markakis and Tyler Flowers scored on the play. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)


Braves at the quarter pole

Your Atlanta Braves are 40 games into the 2018 season.

That's right at 25 percent of the schedule, and a quarter of the way through, it's impossible to not give these Braves anything short of an A++.

Atlanta is 25-15 and has the best record in the National League. They have done that despite playing more road games than any other NL team.

And they have achieved those impressive feats by swinging productive bats and getting much better pitching from a rotation that this guy still believes to be short of a top-of-the-line guy.

That said, here are the three biggest surprises on a roster that has become the biggest surprise in baseball. (Well, the Dodgers being dreck may count as a surprise as big as the Braves' success, but Atlanta's .625 winning percentage is only behind the juggernauts known as the Yankees and the Red Sox.

No. 3 - Ozzie Albies. Yes, we knew he was going to be a contributor and be a top of the order kind of dude. But if you had the youngest player on the MLB opening rosters having 13 homers and 31 RBIs in 177 at-bats, well, you need to buy some lottery tickets. He's tied for the league lead in homers (with some dude named Bryce Harper) and tied with Freddie Freeman for fourth in the NL in

No. 2 - Sean Newcomb. The biggest hole on this Braves club is atop the rotation. Regular 5-at-10 readers are not seeing that sentence for the first time. But Newcomb has delivered like a true No. 1. In his eight starts, the young Atlanta lefty has more wins than Jon Lester, a better ERA than Clayton Kershaw and more strikeouts than Jake Arieta. He has not allowed a run in his last there starts (19 innings). Yes, control has still been spotty at times - he's walked three or more in six of his eight starts - but the 24-year-old has been rock solid.

No. 1 - Nick Markakis. Lots of folks questioned the Braves decision to add Markakis - an Atlanta-area native - in free agency a few years ago as the club was facing an obvious rebuild. Well, his professionalism and his work ethic paid immediate dividends for the younger Braves. (Freeman gives Markakis as much credit as anyone this side of Chipper for helping him become an all-star-caliber player.) Now in the final year of that four-year, $44-million deal, Markakis has been one of the better values in all of baseball through 40 games. He's second in the NL in hitting at .346, he's in the top 10 in the NL in RBIs with 30 and leads the NL among position players in WAR. Friends those are beyond surprising stats.

Those are MVP-level stats.

This and that

- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will handle broadcast duties for Fox Thursday night football.

- The NBA lottery is tonight. Phoenix has the most ping-pong balls and has a 25-percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall selection. Some details to watch: If the Lakers pick (which ranks as the 10th most likely to get the No. 1 spot) is either No. 1 or Nos. 6-14, it goes to Philadelphia. If that pick lands between Nos. 2-5 it goes to Boston. (Yeah, just what the Celtics need, another young athletic lottery player.)

- Here's TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer saying so long to Stump Martin.

Today's question

You know the drill. Answer some T or Fs; leave some T or Fs. Good times.

True or false, you will be more likely to make a bet on sports if it's legal in your state.

True or false, now that sports betting is legal, Pete Rose should be put into the Hall of Fame.

True or false, the Warriors win the West in five games or fewer.

True or false, the West winner sweeps the East winner.

True or false, the Braves make the playoffs this year.

As for today, on this day in 1940, McDonald's opened its first restaurant.

In 1862, the first enclosed baseball stadium was built - Union Grounds - in Brooklyn.

Five bona fide current or future Hall of Famers celebrate birthdays today: George Brett (65), John Smoltz (51), Emmitt Smith (49), Ray Lewis (43) and Andy Murray (31).

In honor of ol' Emmitt Smith, let's do the Rushmore of the nest NFL running backs of the last 30 years.

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