There was some animosity between Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre and head coach Brad Childress last week in the team’s 26-7 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Will those troubles boil over to Minnesota’s Monday night matchup against the Chicago Bears?

The Vikes are 7.5-point road faves with an Over/Under of 41.5.

In Minnesota’s last eight visits to Soldier Field, it is 1-7 SU and 2-5-1 against the spread and in its last eight road games in the month of December, it has taken the Under six times.

In Chicago’s last 20 December home games, it has taken the Under 14 times and in its last 10 games when an underdog of 8-points or less, it has gone 1-9 SU and ATS with eight Unders.

The Texas A&M Aggies and the Georgia Bulldogs do battle in Shreveport with the latter favored by a TD and the Total set at 66.5.

In the Aggies’ last 11 games, they have taken the Over eight times and in their last 13 when underdogs of 8-points or less, they have gone Over nine times.

In Georgia’s last eight games when favored by 8-points or less, it has taken the Over five times, the Under twice and Pushed once.

Here are the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl Betting Odds

After a lot of time and hard work, we are proud to announce that the new version of BetUknow is up and running, offering a new experience to our members. This new version, BetUknow 3.0, introduces a number of new features and upgrades:

These improvements are just the tip of the iceberg and we urge you to take a deeper look and experience the brand new BetUknow. 

The BetUknow Team

Det är väldigt sällan man ser en mållös halvlek följas av målfest efter paus. Kom ihåg en match ifjol med Bayern, där det tog runt 55 minuter innan första målet föll. Ketchup sedan – 5 mål i matchen.

Det toppades igår i den bulgariska ligan mellan Plovdiv och Minyor. Fortfarande mållöst i den 61:a. Matchen slutade 3-3…

Kollade i Soccer Mystic och kunde konstatera att chansen att det skulle bil 3-3 efter mållösa 61 minuter var ungefär 1 på 12.000…

The very first OVER/UNDER on Wheelhouse! Friday is starring “Future Hall-of-famer” (his words, not ours) VINCE YOUNG and the 0-6 TENNESSEE TITANS! Give us YOUR responses all weekend long by sending us an e-mail at wheelhouseradio@gmail.com

OVER/UNDER:

Interceptions thrown by Vince Young: 2 INTs

Total Turnovers by Tennessee: 3 1/2 Turnovers

Total Pass Yards by Vince Young: 110 yards

Points for Tennessee aganist Jacksonville: 17 points

Points for Jacksonville aganist Tennessee: 24 points

SEND YOUR OVER/UNDER’S ALL WEEKEND LONG NOW BY GOING TO wheelhouseradio@gmail.com

Join Bower & “The Sweet Nasty” Chris Cause LIVE tonight @ 8pm ET/5pm PT! On tonight’s edition of The Wheelhouse we are joined by ABE WAGNER from this season of UFC’s ULTIMATE FIGHTER! We will talk with Abe about what it’s like being coached by QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON, stuff we don’t see on the ULTIMATE FIGHTER and more! After speaking with Abe we will then recap everything that happened in WEEK 8 of the NFL! Join us LIVE @ 8pm ET/5pm PT by CLICKING HERE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse/2009/11/02/The-Wheelhouse

I Champions League brukar det inte vara lätt att förutse hur en match kommer att gestalta sig. I kvällens omgång hittar jag ett odds som sticker ut och som jag tänker försöka profitera på. Porto-Apoel under 4.5 mål. Vad tycker du själv är ett rimligt odds här? Apoel är målsnåla både framåt och bakåt. 0-1 och 0-0 i de två första matcherna. I övrigt har jag ingen koll på hur de funkar i den cypriotiska ligan. Porto då? Ja, deras vanligaste resultat är 2-0. Och inte på hela säsongen ifjol orkade de med att göra 4 mål i någon hemmamatch ( 2 gånger blev det 3 hemmamål). Är det rimligt att matchen slutar 4-1 eller 5-0? Inte direkt. Jag skulle inte ge 5+ mål mer än högst 10 % chans.

Vad tycker marknaden? 17,4 %, dvs odds 1,21 på u4,5. Alldeles för högt.

I was thinking of having today’s post as a monthly round up, but i’ll put that instead under the Profit / Loss Stats page. Makes it easier for to review each month that way.

So yesterday’s action, and my first profitable Champion’s League evening on the fourth time of asking! I started off with some AFC CL early on in the day and this got me off to a good steady start..Then on to CSKA Moscow who as i had suspected, got the first goal and i greened up £16 from a stake of £50.

Even though the half time bet with Arsenal burnt me somewhat, i still like the odds for Chelsea to be winning by the interval. So i dropped my stake size to £30 instead of £50 and placed the bet at 1.89, and once Anelka scored i layed off at 1.09 – which is a return of more or less 60% of my stake! I had also backed Chelsea to win the match, and i also traded out there.

I had looked at the Bayern Munich game and had singled it out as a decent shout to lay the draw. Obviously the 1st half was goalless and i took a loss, but Bayern were dominating and i backed them, along with Man Utd and Real Madrid who were all 0-0 at half time. All the bets came good bar the Germans, who remained at 0-0, but i traded out of that by the 70th minute. To top it all of i saw a spot in the 88th minute of the United game, where the current scoreline was trading at 1.35 – got a few cheeky ticks there which was a nice end to a modest but successful evening.

I’ll be busy all weekend except for Sunday evening so i’ll be trying ot fit in as much tonight as possible. Let’s hope October goes as well as September. Good luck all

Just a quick preview on this afternoon’s games. I’ll have a full day trading today i think and my 2 main picks are Portsmouth v Everton and Tottenham v Burnely.

Everton are hitting some serious form of late, with Saha returning to great goal scoring habbits. Added to this they dispatched Hull 4-0 away mideweek, albeit to a weak team, and Pompey are in shocking form. Moyes’ team are great value at 1.98 as they’re away and i’ll be trading out after the first goal, let’s hope it goes to the Toffees!

Spurs are up against a flailing Burnley team which crashed out to Barnsley midweek! Spurs will be eager to get back to winning ways after defeats by United and Chelsea in their last 2 games, and will want to prove their critics wrong. Another false dawn? Possibly, but i strongly feel this will be an easy 3 points. Same strategy as with Everton, back then trade out after first goal.

I’ll be trading other games as the day progresses, just not really sure what tactics i’ll be using. I’ve had some luck trading the unders markets using a strategy Scott Ferguson suggested in his comments on a previous post. I’ll be approaching it carefully with small stakes for now, but it yields good results.

Good luck everyone, i’ll update later tonight with results.

Bower – Falcons (Sorry Cause)

Cause – Patriots (God I hate that game)

Peck – Falcons

Bower – Jets

Cause – Titans

Peck – Jets

Bower – Ravens

Cause – Ravens

Peck – Ravens

Bower – Lions (Praying)

Cause – Lions

Peck – Lions

Bower – Packers

Cause – Packers

Peck – Packers

Bower – Eagles

Cause – Eagles

Peck – Eagles

Bower – Giants

Cause – Giants

Peck – Giants

Bower – 49ers

Cause – Vikings

Peck – 49ers

Bower – Texans

Cause – Texans

Peck – Texans

Bower – Bears

Cause – Bears

Peck – Bears

Bower – Saints

Cause – Saints

Peck – Saints

Bower – Steelers

Cause – Steelers

Peck – Steelers

Bower – Chargers

Cause – Chargers

Peck – Dolphins

Bower – Raiders

Cause – Broncos

Peck – Raiders

Bower – Colts

Cause – Colts

Peck – Cardinals

Bower – Cowboys

Cause – Cowboys

Peck – Cowboys

The boys will be back LIVE on Sunday September 27th @ 8pm ET/5pm PT to stripdown the weekend, talk all the happenings from NFL Week 3 and so much more! Be there LIVE @ 8pm ET/5pm PT by clicking RIGHT HERE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse/2009/09/28/The-Wheelhouse

Yetserday I spoke about how incentivising it is having short term goals and targets to build towards. i mentioned that my new goal would be to hit 40% profit for the month, and i started the day on 26.48%. Last night was my most profitbale so far in this little project, and i managed to just reach that target.

Most of it went very swimmingly and all teams expected to score goals duely obliged.

Looking back on some results in my records, i notice that my biggest losses come from chasing goals. For example a team scores a brace of quick goals and ill stick £100 on over 2.5 which never ends up coming. I noticed this and i have begun imposing stop losses, but i need to avoid getting into the situation alltogether. Don’t get me wrong the overs markets startegy i employ is still in profit, but it could be much more. There have been some very helpful comments regarding trading the unders instead and taking small pieces of green out consistently, but i don’t seem to have the nerve for it. i’ll keep at it maybe it comes with experience!

As for now, I need a new target! My bank is currently 81.52% in profit which i am extatic about, and i’ve reached my projected 40% for September – lets hope i dont throw it away in the final days of the month. I think the only significant milestone ahead now is the 100% mark. I’m £92.42 away from that point, and with careful trading i can be up there by Sunday evening. Good luck all

For a while now i have been flaoting around the 60% profit mark, with silly mistakes and discipline problems costing me. It became a bit of a sticking point and started to play on my mind a bit, but some good has come from it.

In my last post i spoke of discipline, and i feel i’ve advanced in this area. Last night there was a host of games going on and i made my selections carefully and stuck to them. It did help that i was closing in on a milestone of sorts, so maybe a good idea would be to set targets as seen in many other blogs – but possibly mine would be more short term to provide immediate added incentive. For now it will be to reach the 40% profit mark for September.

So last night I picked 3 La Liga matches, the most profitbale being Xerez v Deportivo. Depor looked great value at 2.48 and they came good in the first half. Atheltico went 1-0 down and i was about to red up when they equalized immediately! I exited there for a small loss. Backed over 2,5 in the Real game and Ronnie greened me up within 2 minutes!

There’s a couple of late night South American cup games there too, the River Plate game suspended as BF lost the feed and this cost me £25. ho hum.

So i look forward to the weekend’s action (possibly some today also!) with my bank sat on £819.89. That’s a 63.98% and hopefully this figure will bring with it confidence as well as the old solo high five!

Good luck everyone

I’ll keep this one short as its late and im pretty drained from the ups and downs!

Needless to say i need to curb my enthusiasm concerning trading on any game going! I have a firm belief that there is a way to trade any game going on, but where im mistepping is trading on games i cant watch live.

Carling Cup games went ok except the Leeds v Liverpool game which didnt yield as many goals as expected, Leeds gave a good account of themselves and in my opinion shouldve had a goal in the fist half allowed.

My main saving grace over the last 2 days has been free scoring Barcelona, i backed them and the over 2,5 and 3,5 markets which i greened up nicely on.

55% up now overall and hopefully with some careful trading on Wednesday’s action i’ll be over that illusive 60% mark!

Good luck everyone and here’s to tomorrow!

As i said in my post on Friday I had some things to do this weekend which meant i couldnt trade any of the PL games like normal, and what a set of games to miss! besides the west ham v liverpool game which had 5 goals in it, every game on Sunday had a minimum of 3 goals, and the main event at Manchester was faced paced and perfectly suited to my style of trading in the overs markets. nevermind.

i did return as expected in time for some trading on the late Italian and Spanish games, and here’s how it worked out:

Roma v Fiorentina: just missed out on the first goal, and thought Roma looked good for a back bet of £50. They scored a minute or two later, and i managed to green up for £11 odd. My timing pretty lucky here! I also tried trading the unders market here but realised my live feed on tv was a good 10 seconds delayed so no good for this.

Valencia v Gijon: This was a decent game and i switched to it once i was out of the Roma game. I backed Valencia when they were 1-0 down, and once again they equalize and im in profit. I didnt get out as Valencia were dominting the game and soon after their goal, Gijon’s captain gets a 2nd yellow and im then able to green up nicely. Also got a bit out of the overs markets here once Valencia took the lead with a stunnign goal from Villa, and the game ended with a determined Gijon side taking a share of the spoils very near the death.

So considering i traded for all of 90 minutes this weekend i’m pretty happy with the return. Between the game on Friday nigth and these two ive recouped my losses from the Champions League midweek, which i’ll be approaching with much more caution come gameweek 2 of the tournament.

So almost 19% up on the month so far, and still hoping to break the 30% mark as planned! Maybe the Carling Cup will throw up some decent opportunites what with the big boys playing their youngsters….GL all

Another pretty damn dull evening for the Champions League and this time along with it a monster hit to my bank.

The problem for me is that i tend to trad eon games in which i believe there will be many goals, or at least one early goal (1st half).

So far this season, it has just so happened, that whenever i lay the draw on a game, the underdog scores first, which doesn’t matter massively as i pick games where i’ll green up either way, but it does mean i make much less. The game i picked yesterday was the Dinamo Kiev game, and wouldn’t you just know it, the visitors scored first. I managed to get out at the price i got in at, securing a whopping £0.00!!

The other game which looked like a good one on which to lay the draw was the clash between Inter and Barca, but i felt it would either be a goal fest or extremely tight, so i backed the 4 big ht/ft bets pre match for £2 each, and was rewarded with a 0-0 match!

The bulk of my loss though came from the Liverpool game. Looking at this game, with Liverpool playing a full strength team, at home, where in the league they average 2.5 goals a game, you’d think it would be goal central. I backed over 1.5 and over 2.5 before KO, and as the uninspiring first half stumbled along, i exited the 2.5 market for a loss.

Kuyt’s goal put me in a position to green up and even up on the game, but my thinking was they’d come out strong and secure the win. Of course the trend this week has been for the world’s biggest clubs to struggle against minnows, and Liverpool continued to play a standard of football which would see them lose week in week out in the PL. I redded up on the 70th minute and packed it in.

So what have i learnt from this? Firstly i think i’ll leave out trading on the over and unders markets. This is now the only losing facet of my trading, and i think it is imperative to get the feel of a game before jumping in. I think it needs a little mroe refining and a bit more discipline like having a definite stop point set, because like i’ve said myself before, it’s too easy to think a goal’s coming ‘any minute now’.

Right, so nealry all profit slashed for the month, and i’m sure this won’t be the last time this happens, so i’d better get used to it. On the plus side, laying the draw is going very well, and that’s with the fact that the dogs seem to score first in the games i pick, so with a slight turn of luck i should be back on my way.

Hope everyone else had a better time of it than me, and well done to anyone brave enough to back Arsenal at 2-0 down!

On this episode of The Wheelhouse: Bower and “The Sweet Nasty” Chris Cause kickoff the 2009 NFL SEASON in style! We start off the show by bringing back “Mr. Download” Comedian JIMMY FAILLA to discuss the over/under’s for the 2009 NFL Season! If that isn’t enough football for you we then give you the debut of STUMP THE SALLY with Bower’s gay friend from High School…COPERNICUS! Copernicus gives us his picks for WEEK 1 of the NFL SEASON and then goes head-to-head (wait, what?) with SPORTSGENIUS as he gives his picks in hopes of beating (wait, what?) “the fairy of football”!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

Brukar vara lönande att köra underspel i Sveriges VM-kvalgrupp. Igår fick man hela 1.42 på Under 4.5 mål i matchen Malta-Sverige. Bra betalt!

Tonight…Thursday September 10th @ 8pm ET/5pm PT the one and only “MR. DOWNLOAD” himself, comedian JIMMY FAILLA returns to THE WHEELHOUSE LIVE! Jimmy Failla will be discussing the over/under’s for the 2009 NFL Football Season. If you enjoy betting and we know you do, this is the show for you!

To add more to an ACTION PACKED show for your Thursday Night; Bower has invited his gay friend that he has known since high school…COPERNICUS to call in and go toe-to-toe, mano y mano with one of our listeners in the very first STUMP THE SALLY! Now what is STUMP THE SALLY? Call in TONIGHT to the LIVE show @ (347)-237-5203 and see if you can beat Copernicus in an NFL Pick Em’ game! If you win you get a PRIZE PACK courtesy of The Wheelhouse, if you lose you must kiss the ass of gay man who knows nothing about Football LIVE on the air NEXT WEEK!

Do you think you got what it takes? Bring it on and CALL IN…don’t be a SALLY!

Don’t miss the return of MR. DOWNLOAD & THE VERY FIRST STUMP THE SALLY WITH COPERNICUS tonight LIVE (Thursday September 10th @ 8pm ET/5pm PT) by clicking RIGHT HERE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse/2009/09/11/The-Wheelhouse

First, let me say, I wasn’t going to write this blog until Tuesday, but for the sake of my girlfriend’s sanity and the future of our relationship, I needed to get out my snide comments and sarcastic witticisms before I do any more irreversible damage. Let’s just say she was not amused when I called her a “borderline midget” even though she is 5’2” and a whole one-third of a foot away from being a legal dwarf. I was clearly joking. Why she puts up with me, I have no clue. Let’s move on.

Brett Favre – According to ESPN, Brett Favre can do no wrong. He helps old ladies cross the street, adopts lost kittens from the pound, and if they had to venture a guess for who would find the cure for cancer, I’m pretty sure they would pick Brett Favre. Who cares if he’s only a mediocre NFL quarterback anymore? I mean, the man was just in a Super Bowl in 1997. Wait, that was 12 years ago, already? Somebody go get John Madden’s inhaler.

And then, of course, they would go on to force meaningless Brett Favre stories down our throats for the next week, making sure to get all their top analysts to line up and kiss Favre’s butt for 30 second clips. I can just picture Merrill Hoge, Ron Jaworski, Chris Mortenson and Trent Dilfer all sitting together in the make-up room, competing to see who has can squeeze the most superlatives into a 300-word speech. I set the over/under at 20, bet my life savings on the over, and then put my future children’s college education money on Jaws. It’s a stone cold lock.

Eli Manning – Continuing with overpaid, underperforming quarterbacks, I pose a simple question: where would Eli Manning be without his last name? A store manager at Sports Authority? The UFL? if he was lucky, a back-up quarterback in the NFL? Seriously, the dude was good college, but I never watched him and thought, “Man, this guy sure has what it takes to be a legit NFL quarterback.”

And then to force a trade so he could be in a major market? If that doesn’t scream douchebag, I don’t know what does. Anyone with an IQ over 75 could tell he would crumple under the pressure in New York. And I know there are some of you out there that will say, “how can he be overrated, he won a Super Bowl MVP.” It’s not that simple. First of all, he didn’t even play that well. 19 for 34 and a QB rating of 87.3 hardly screams MVP. Second, the pass that won him the award was complete luck and never should have left his hand. How he wasn’t sacked is beyond me. And if you re-did that jump ball match-up of Rodney Harrison and 18^th-string wide receiver David Tyree 5 million times, do you see Tyree ever winning again? I don’t.

So let’s recap. He’s good in college, get’s drafted #1 overall because of the hope he will turn out to be half of what his brother is, sucks for four years, rides the best defensive line in the history of the NFL to a magical playoff run, receives the good fortune of the luckiest play in Super Bowl history, has his first decent season in his contract year but loses Plax and then instantly turns in four straight sub-200 yard games, dupes the Giants into one of the biggest (and worst) contracts in NFL history, and now will rely on Domenik Hixon and Hakeem Nicks as his top receivers this year. I am not bitter at all.

Steroids – The only thing I care less about than Brett Favre. The only players I would care about if they tested positive would be Jeter and Pujols, but until then, I’d rather watch highlights of the WNBA pre-season.

Boston fans – I used to like them, I really did. All the history, Fenway Park, Ted Williams, Larry Bird, Bill Russell. There was just something likeable about them. Maybe it was being able to empathize with a team who had encountered so much epically bad luck, or maybe it was how passionate Bostonians were about their sports no matter what happened year in and year out. But then 2004 hit and all hell broke loose. The curse was over, and Boston’s collective sports personality went from cynical to cocky after a routine Ruben Sierra ground out to Pokey Reese. There wasn’t even a need to play the Cardinals after that. The ensuing 4-game sweep was inevitable.

The one time lovable losers quickly forgot their storied past and took on a whole new identity, more annoying than those Guido, work out three hours a day, wear shirts one size too small, collar popping Mets fans from New Jersey. You could say the success got to their heads. The Patriots become the best team in the NFL, the Red Sox break the curse, and the Celtics are given the Big Three in an act of collusion between ESPN and David Stern. Hell, even the Bruins are a playoff team, Matt Ryan leads Boston College to a spectacular year, and Boston University has one of the greatest comebacks in the history of college hockey. The altogether success was mind-boggling.

But this is where it get’s annoying. That isn’t enough for them. Now they have to win every year. I came in contact with this first-hand this past year in the dorms at Oregon where I met Alon. We were talking baseball, one by one going through the Red Sox roster: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Bay, Ortiz, Lowell, Drew, Beckett, (Mo) Lester, Wakefield, the bullpen, etc. ESPN, SI, everybody has them pegged as a playoff team and a legitimate World Series candidate, yet Alon complains to me, knowing I am an A’s fan, “I don’t really like our team this year. We need a better second lefty out of the pen.” Wow.

The San Francisco Giants – It’s already 1:30 and I have to wake up in 6 hours. Unless I want to go to work tomorrow with bags under my eyes bigger than the size of Greg Anderson’s prison cell, I am going to save this for an entirely new post. Goodnight.

flickr.com/Steve Paluch

In this periodic series, I’ll take a look at one dominant team at a time, and we’ll set an over/under baseline on the amount of hall of famers that team will have from the era.

Today’s team is the 90’s era Braves, they of 15 consecutive division championship fame.  The over/under: 4 1/2 hall of famers.

We’ll start with the locks from this era.  Greg Maddux: lock.  Tom Glavine: lock.  Chipper Jones: lock.  That’s three hall of famers from the 15 year era.  Then there’s John Smoltz, who might not be a first ballot guy, but despite the recent hit his reputation has taken for poor performance, his body of work is almost certain to make him the fourth Brave into the hall from this era.

So if you’ll give me Smoltz, this question boils down to all the remaining players who helped the Braves to 15 consecutive division titles: is there another hall of famer anywhere?  Or were the Braves simply a revolving door of good and great players matched up with three hall bound pitchers and one of the greatest hitters of the generation?

Well, let’s just say that I’m not putting my money 0n Vinny Castilla.  Let’s go back to the pre-strike days, and throw out some names who just might one day go into Cooperstown with the rest of the great Braves of this dominant era.

*Jermaine Dye and Kenny Lofton are not under consideration because they only had one year each with the Braves, nor are Gary Sheffield or Andres Galarraga who both had two years with the Braves, but at the end of their respective careers.  It is not otherwise a requirement that a player had his best years with the Braves.

Terry Pendleton

Won the MVP in 1991, which has gotten his name thrown around in HOF discussions.  Accrued 303 total bases in consecutive seasons.  He’s assisted by the fact that his best years came from just before the strike and hall of fame era, but he’s not going to get any serious Hall pull.  His career was remarkably mediocre.  He was a solid defensive player who was above average every season range factor, and he won three gold gloves, but he was a 91 OPS+ guy, and that pretty much means he’s not going in under any circumstances.

David Justice

Justice was a legitimately great hitter, posting a career 129 OPS+, but as a corner outfielder, he was somewhat undistinguished.  Jim Rice posted a career 128 OPS+, and he only went in on his last year of eligibility with the sportswriters.  He might have had a shot, but then he was linked to PED’s, and that takes a borderline hall of famer and makes him a very, very easy exclusion.  Not to mention that Justice’s best year was his first year with Cleveland after he left Atlanta, and that was in the height of the steroid era.

Mark Wohlers

Even in his peak, he was a tier below Eckersley in terms of reliever quality, but Mark Wohlers was very, very good for a very long time.  Where he gets hurt is that he didn’t become the Braves closer until the 1995 world series year (he was already the team’s ace reliever since 1992), and only got one all star appearance when he started to accrue saves.  Then, he imploded so spectacularly in 1998 that it really hurt his reputation.  He returned in 2000 and offered two more years as a strong relief pitcher for the Reds and Yankees.  He was out of the game by age 33.  His hall candidacy is about what Eric Gagne’s would be if Gagne wasn’t a known PED user: visible, but not all that strong.

Charlie Leibrandt

Charlie Leibrandt is a hall of famer in no ones mind, but you know, he’s better than some pitchers who are hall of famers in some minds.  He was a very valuable player for a long time, first with Kansas City and then he threw together three front of rotation seasons with the Braves in their upstart years, and got replaced by Greg Maddux in 1993.  He provided about as much total value to the Braves as Steve Avery did, but Avery did it at the beginning of his career, which puts him above Leibrandt in the minds of the masses.  It was a better career than most realize, but not hall worthy.

Javy Lopez

Up until this point, we’ve looked at a bunch of Braves who won’t make the hall of fame, for various reasons.  Lopez is the first guy on this list that I think might be able to get in.  The guy was a truly excellent hitter for a catcher, and perhaps one of the best breaking ball hitters in the history of the game.  His 112 OPS+ compares favorably to Ivan Rodriguez (108), and though he was never regarded as a great defensive player like Pudge was, he was a much better one than Mike Piazza.  To this date, Lopez has not been linked to PEDs, though it’s pretty clear that his other two contemporaries used.  I think, that although he’s going to have to wait, if Lopez’ name is never linked to performance enhancers, he will eventually get the call to Cooperstown.

Ron Gant

He was an annual MVP candidate with the Braves, but never put together a single dominant season, and overall, his career numbers were hurt after he left Atlanta.  His 112 OPS+ is significantly less than his outfield-mate Justice, and Ron Gant is not really a hall of fame candidate, although it certainly at one point during his career looked like the sky was the limit.

Fred McGriff

I think so.  I know he only played a few years with the Braves, and was generally a journeyman which hurts his overall case, but McGriff was a great power hitter who slugged over .500 in nearly 9,oo0 ABs, numbers not adjusted for age decline.  He was a remarkably consistent hitter: as effective at age 38 as he was as a rookie.  Interestingly, the worst year of the relevant portion of his career came with the Braves.  I ultimately think that McGriff will be a hall of famer, and when he does, it will count towards the hall of famers who helped the 90’s Braves.

Andruw Jones

Jones is a 10 time gold glove winner and perhaps the greatest defensive outfielder in the last 25 years.  He’s still going as well, though the Rangers have moved him out of center field, he’s one of the best defensive corner outfielders in the majors this year, according to UZR.   Historically though, Jones has been viewed as a bit of an underachiever, and his best chance to make the hall of fame is to do something great with his bat in the last part of his career.  Jones is only 32.  He’s got 388 homers.  If he hits 500, he’s a sure fire hall of famer given his defensive value.  I mean, heck, shortstop may be a glorified defensive position, but Omar Vizquel is going to get some hall of fame support and he has almost no offensive value.  I think, and we’ll know a lot more at the end of next year, that Andruw Jones is a hall of famer.

Rafael Furcal

Furcal has been maybe the best NL shortstop in the league over the last five years or so, and as a Brave product who helped to extend the string of division titles past where it perhaps deserved to be based on the peak of players like Jones, Maddux, Glavine, et al.  But he’s not going into the hall.  He’s a middling hitter in a historical context, and though he has tools, he’s not as good defensively according to UZR as he sometimes gets compared to.

Brian McCann

McCann is only 25, is currently the leagues best hitting catcher, but didn’t play that much as a rookie in the 14th consecutive division championship, so putting him on this list might be out of context in the spirit of the list.  His 122 OPS+ is excellent for a young catcher, and while it way too early to make a hall of fame case, he’s on the right track.

The interesting thing is that not one of these players fits nicely into the era in question, save Andruw Jones perhaps.  But after looking at a lot of the fringe hall of famers from this era, I think I’m going to have to side with the over.  I feel like the Braves should have about 6 hall of famers from the era, so 5 seems incredibly reasonable.  I’m sold on the hall cases of Fred McGriff and Andruw Jones, and when you add them to a list that includes John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, and Tom Glavine, I’d say that this era of Braves dominance will be well represented in Cooperstown one day.

Ok, well here is my “podcasting”/”audioblogging” debut.  I’m interested in how it played for you guys and if there were any audio or visual issues.  I do realize that there was a typo in my footer, but I realized after it was too late!  I had a good, mistake free run through and didn’t want to jinx myself and have to re-record.

Over/Under: Team Wins in 2009

While we are on vacation this week & counting down the Top 5 shows of ALL-TIME as we approach EPISODE #100 we give you the #2 show of ALL-TIME VOTED BY YOU! On this Wheelhouse that YOU voted #2…Bower and “The Sweet Nasty” Chris Cause welcome in comedian JIMMY FAILLA (from the Jim & Dean Show). Jimmy talks to us about his stand-up routine he did for CARLOS BELTRAN’S BIRTHDAY and the entire NEW YORK METS! Where you will be able to see KEYSHAWN JOHNSON during the “off-season” (you won’t believe this.) The reason why the YANKEES will never reach the “glory days” of the late-90s (much to the delight of Cause) and the CURSE OF A-ROD! Cause then puts Jimmy’s former ODDS-MAKING SKILLS to the test and as a favor to all of you, Jimmy gives us a “How To” for the “ol RUB-N-TUG. BUT THATS NOT ALL…EA SPORTS Eric Gray makes his third appearance into the TOP 5 with his self-proclaimed “RADIO GOLD” moment!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

It’s a new week, and you know what that means: a new set of Over/Unders for all you fegos out there.