Friday Four-Pack 4.28.23

Pats get an A! Celtics/76ers! I made a dumb mistake.

Update - still unemployed. Still listening to sports radio.

Kirk gave me shit for admitting that on his show Wednesday. I think his exact quote was “You’re a loser” or something along those lines.

And in the aftermath of picking thru the bludgeoning The Sports Hub gave WEEI in the ratings this winter, got a few messages here thru MutStack along the the lines of “WELL WHAT WOULD YOU DO YOU UNEMPLOYED MORON?”

Listening this week I’ll give you one simple thing I would do at WEEI tomorrow - dump the “trending now” sports updates.

Most of them are recycled old news or scores that just delay the inevitable promotion of what time the Red Sox game is on that day.

There is no value to the listener in that.

They know when the Sox game is on. The have a phone so they know the latest sports news.

If the response is “well they’re sponsored” … find a better way to promote or appease the sponsor.

And if the next response is “well it’s only once an hour,” … that’s once an hour you’re giving the audience not a chance but a signal to flip over to 98.5.

I’d give The Sports Hub the same advice but honestly there’s no reason to change anything - they’re dominating.

I guess there’s an argument to keeping them in the mornings? But after 10AM what’s the point other than giving a sponsor “added value.”

Would this flip the ratings? No. But it would show you’re trying to complete with a station that’s doubling and tripling you up across the board.

Lot of ground to cover in today’s Stack.

On the Pats Draft Thursday Night….

WEAPONZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Yep. That’s that I wanted for Mac Jones and the Pats in the first round of the draft last night. As the rest of the division league pushes for more offense and vertical passing attacks, the Pats are lacking that same firepower.

We wrote here a few weeks ago about uber-athlete Jahmyr Gibbs and how the Pats could trade back in the first round to get him. Maybe even trade up in the second round.

Well the Lions shocked the world by taking him No. 12 overall. When they already have D’Andre Swift and David Montgomery.

Okay.

But at No. 14 where the Pats were scheduled to pick, you still had your choice of any of the WR on the board.

So of course they traded out to draft a cornerback.

And to be fair, the world loves the pick. Draft grades of A and A+ as far as the eye can see.

Based on dozens of mock drafts - along with the betting markets - no one expected Christian Gonzalez to still be there at No. 14 let alone No. 17.

Good cover corner. Elite athlete. Rave reviews.

With the reports that Jalen Mills was going to play safety next year, we probably should have been expecting this. Just didn’t see anyone say he’d still be there for the Pats.

I get it. AFC East loaded with passing talent. Cornerback was a need. A guy everyone loves fell to you. And by trading back from No. 14 to No. 17 you not only picked up an extra pick you also blocked the Jets from getting a OL.

Sure, give Bill and the front office an “A.”

But with ELEVEN picks still to work with, here’s hoping the Pats are active tonight and go add some offensive talent for Mac. Trade up Friday night and get Michael Mayer the TE from Notre Dame.

More WEAPONZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

On the Celtics/76ers…

The Celtics were always going to beat the Hawks. Even with head coach forgetting he had Malcolm Brogdon on his bench in the later stages of Game 5.

Now we get Celtics/76ers. Now the playoffs begin.

And the Celtics are supposed to win. They’re a -310 favorite to win the series with Philadelphia. That’s implied odds of over 75%. A -177 favorite to come out of the East now with the Bucks out. Implied odds there over 66%. And a very strong +160 favorite to win the title at Barstool Sportsbook this morning. That’s 8/5 in horse racing odds and still almost 40% implied odds.

It will be seen as a massive choke if they don’t win it all at this point. And it will probably be fair.

If they don’t it will be because of one of two things. Maybe both.

1. Joe Mazzulla blows it.

2. Jayson Tatum shoots under 40% from the floor and under 27% from three. Like he did in games 3 thru 5 against the Hawks.

It’s boring but that’s sort of it. They’re deep. Talented. Embiid is banged up. If he were healthy I’d give the 76ers a shot - Embiid torched the C’s a few times this year.

But he’s hurt. The Celtics should beat the 76ers. And it should be a far more entertaining series than Celtics/Hawks.

On Massachusetts drawing in gamblers to bet on sports…

As part of my years-long push (#letusbet) for legal sports betting in Massachusetts, I tried to point out the hundreds of bettors and thousands (millions?) of dollars leaving the state everyday to go place legal bets in NH, CT, RI and even NY.

That has certainly changed.

GeoComply, a leading geolocation security and compliance company, released data this week on where people are betting on sports across Massachusetts and New England.

Instead of losing that money across state lines, MA is now getting bettors to bet here.

A lot of them.

An exclusive report at PlayMA.com has the all the details. The most interesting to me-

In total, GeoComply found 3,441 bettors who crossed into Massachusetts territory to place a sports bet.

Broken down by state:

• Rhode Island – 1,761 bettors

• New Hampshire – 1,266 bettors

• Connecticut – 334 bettors

• Vermont – 33 bettors

• Maine – 28 bettors

• New York – 19 bettors

These users first attempted to access a MA legal betting app from a neighboring state, then traveled to MA and successfully logged in to their accounts.

In Rhode Island and New Hampshire, bettors are limited to one or two sportsbooks based on the deals those respective states made.

So what are they doing? Bettors in those states are driving into Massachusetts to take advantage of the six different mobile options. More bets. More options. Better prices. Probably all of the above. Competition is great for the sports bettor.

New Hampshire reported $103.4 million in handle for March - a new record in the Granite State. So they haven’t really seen the effects of this yet. But my guess is all these states see decreases in the coming months as they lose those MA bettors who have been going out of state - in addition to those now coming into MA to take advantage of the six different mobile options.

Soon to be seven mobile options as Betr is set to launch in the next few weeks. And an eighth, Fanatics, is scheduled for launch in June.

More options for New England bettors to fire off on here in Massachusetts.

On being a moron….

Despite some folks on social media insisting they’ve never lost a bet in their lives, betting on sports and winning is hard.

Case in point - one sportsbook does not want to pay out a bet on the 30th pick in the draft last night being a linebacker. The odds on that we’re 20-1. The Eagles drafted a linebacker in Nolan Smith at No. 30. Seems like a winner, right?

Nope. Since NFL.com lists him as an “edge” player, not a LB, they’re reportedly not paying out the bet as of Friday morning.

Rough scene.

I cost myself money be being very lazy Thursday. I’ll explain.

Bad beat story? NFL Draft thoughts? Comments are open below.

Go Stephen Jaeger.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Good weekend.