Friday Four Pack 4.7.23

Mac Jones Trade Talk! UConn! Boston Marathon betting!

Hope if you’re reading this you’re enjoying the start of a long Easter Weekend. I forgot the kids we’re going to home today.

Whoops.

Three quick Easter/Masters weekend items before we get into it.

1. Peeps are disgusting. Only one thing they’re good for.

2. The Reese’s Egg is the GOAT Easter candy thanks to the peanut butter/chocolate ratio being so much better than the usual Reese’s Cup. Same goes for the Reese’s Pumpkin and Reese’s Christmas Tree. I used to suggest hoarding the Reese’s Eggs this time of year but they make enough of the specialty ones you can get them year-round. Close second are Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

3. Masters Weekend. If you’re betting on the golf you should be aware that the Masters App lets you set up a group (“My Groups”) and you can watch every shot of every golfer you want. The Masters also loaded YouTube videos for a few golfers yesterday where you can watch every shot they hit in about 10 minutes.

It’s not for everyone but if you’re looking for an edge there is probably one to be had in being able to watch every shot and make notes on bad golf vs. bad breaks. Big difference when you go to bet a guy the next day if you know he sucked on a hole vs got a few bad bounces.

Hopefully you’re alive in your Masters Pools. If Sam Burns or Cam Young want to win, I’d be okay with that.

Let’s get to the Four-Pack.

On the Mac Jones Trade “rumors”…

That’s my football take on the Mac stuff. Feels good to rant.

I mentioned Alex’s column on the media part. You should read that here. We are Team Reim here at The MutStack.

On MY UConn Huskies….

U-C-O-N-N

UCONN UCONN UCONN

Great run from New England’s College Basketball Leader.

Talking about sports every day for 20 years will make you numb to the results over time. Speaking for myself at least.

The wins and losses can take a back seat to what the biggest stories are. What do people want to talk about? What do people want to listen to?

And the reality is people react more to losses than wins around here.

So that can skew your view of games and results. Again, speaking for myself.

So having UConn to live and die with this season was pretty cool. And profitable if you bet them at anywhere from say 16-1 to 24-1 to win the whole thing. Just sayin.’

Really fun team to watch once they got their post-January shit together. A coach in Dan Hurley who is easy to rally around. And a program back at the adult’s table in college basketball - where they belong.

If you’re waiting for some big Ted Sarandis rant about how college basketball should mean more in Boston and UConn should get more attention blah blah blah - nope. No soapbox for me.

Stinks they don’t have real rival in Boston College or UMass. Sad that BC blocked them from the ACC years ago. But it all worked out. The Big East is back baby!

An especially good result for one young Mutnansky Boy who picked UConn to win it all and took down the family bracket.

Go Huskies.

On the guy the Pats need to draft….

NFL Draft season!

In his Mac Jones/Bill Belichick piece on Wednesday, the Athletic’s Jeff Howe had this nugget:

The personnel has turned over, too. They opted for more explosion in the slot with JuJu Smith-Schuster over Jakobi Meyers, and they traded tight end Jonnu Smith before adding Mike Gesicki. They’re building the running game around Rhamondre Stevenson and have quietly shown interest in adding another blue-chip back in the draft.

Oh baby.

Bring me Jahmyr Gibbs.

All the talk has been about Bijan Robinson as the darling of the RB class.

He’s not going to be there at No. 14 so forget him.

But what about finding a way to get Gibbs late first/early second.

He’s small.

Who cares he’s a freak athlete and elite receiving back.

He’s not going to play every down.

Great you have Stevenson as the workhorse. Gibbs is the receiving back you need to compliment him and use in all sorts of different ways.

Look at they way they utilize Austin Eckler in LA. That’s the mold for Gibbs.

You want to make like easier for Mac and the offense? Draft a guy who can score anytime he touches the ball. Just ask Bill O’Brien - who featured Gibbs more and more as the season went on at Alabama.

Running backs … I know I know. Not that important in the 2023 NFL. But Gibbs feels more like a versatile offensive chess piece you can utilize anywhere than he does the typical college running back.

I’d have done multiple segments pining for Gibbs on the radio at this point - so I wanted to mention him here after Howe’s note.

We are Team Gibbs at #mutstack.

On betting on the Boston Marathon…

I have gambled on a lot of things in my life.

Sports. Horses. Exact time a sporting event will end. How long it will take my kids to clean their room. I have bet on it all.

I have never bet on the Boston Marathon. And that streak continues into 2023.

Thursday the Mass Gaming Commission denied Draftkings’ request to offer wagering on this year’s Marathon.

Basically the B.A.A said there was not enough time to make sure…well here’s the quote from the CFO.

“At this moment, there is not sufficient time for the Boston Athletic Association, nor its many partners and agencies to coordinate and fully ensure proper protocols are in place to support such a proposal for wagering on our event,” the letter, which was presented at the gaming commission’s Thursday meeting, reads.

I get it. Proper timing issues - make sure those are set? Maybe the B.A.A wants to get paid for letting DraftKings offer the wager? The race is in a week, probably a little late in the game. So the MGC voted 4-0 to deny the Draftkings request. Totally get it.

But how about this quote from Commissioner Eileen O’Brien

“With any request, my expectation would be that an operator would reach out to the governing body, the Boston Marathon in particular, what it means to the city and, in particular, on this year, 10 years out from the tragedy, I am disappointed, to say the least, that a local operator did not, in fact, do that. I am absolutely inclined to listen to the organizers of the event, who have said even needing to respond to this is a distraction for them in getting ready for something that’s going to be happening in a matter of days.”

Turns out O’Brien does not save her finger-wagging just for Barstool/Penn.

“Dissapointed, to say the least…” It just struck me as an unnecessary swipe at DK for trying to offer betting on the professional runners in the Marathon. Trust me if they posted it people would be betting on the Marathon. You’ve been able to bet marathons in the Olympics and those took action.

I’m probably being overly sensitive here. But the Commission and their actions towards their own operators is worth watching as we move past the mobile launch date. The MGC has a lot of power here going forward.

Expecting March handle numbers from the State to be released next week. And they’re going to be HUGE.

And a huge day on the Kentucky Derby Trail tomorrow. Three big preps. We went 2 for 2 picking winners last week for the preps and have had a good run this spring.

We’ll handicap and pick all three races after lunch here Saturday.

Thanks for reading. Good weekend.