A Numbers Game | February 23, 2026 | Hour 2

0:00The numbers told the story always do one of those idiots who believe in analytics. This is a numbers game with Gill I like Xander gone be sent our number two of a numbers game in face of these sports that he never beats a calm game plus I hard radio YouTube TV and of course series X of channel 158 Gill Alexander Kelly Melon. I'm going to give you Kelly his his his flowers yet for something that happened this weekend which we will momentarily still to come Adam Burke West Reynolds standing by. I want to talk some MLB awards love is blind. I have some to say America's next hot model cover it all in this show is all edible well not all of it. Some of it is we get tweaked speed in the book Jamie Leyva my birthday and gills back on with Kelly what a fantastic day thank you Jamie shout out again Matt Brown can we do this every hour can I shout out Matt Brown every hour sure he's phenomenal happy birthday to Jamie Leyva happy birthday Jamie how old are you that proper to ask what was he was complaining about with wind totals again what was he what was it him who was complaining

1:01about wind total MLB wind totals when you were going over and he was getting all the tweets well I don't remember I don't know that Kelly and I talking about that we should talk it off here Mike Mike this third says jazz rockets tonight no I know that but there's no there's no natural thing to pair it with so again these are all brain dead money on Barley's we want to do in the NBA tankathon but nothing to pair the rockets with tonight I don't want to pair it with a game even though I have different categories on the couple of those teams I don't want to touch tanking teams versus tanking teams just for the record I'm not doing much of that either you could you could by the time that game tips off there could there's probably going to be a lines posted for tomorrow you could theoretically politically right Richard Ang welcome back hope you had a fantastic vacation we missed you thank you Richard I miss y'all too best listeners in the game and then ice goo good to see guilt back on Vison here are some events that took place and he was last on Abe Lincoln was assassinated Alaska Hawaii admitted to the union Boston Tea Party George Washington crossing the Potomac and Kelly Bidland burn me posted a golf winner you were here for

2:05that here's got her oh I thought she posted one this week I was sitting here wondering when you're like Kelly flowers I don't know what I did this weekend so I misunderstood Jacob Ridgeman your winner at the Genesis one stroke lead one stroke winner I should say over Kurt Kiteyama and Rory who I couldn't quite get there West Reynolds joins us now speaking of golf he of course part of the the great podcast long shots which he does with Kelly and Matt Brown and of course part of the glue that holds this whole operation together you can follow him on Twitter at West Reynolds one West good morning to you. Good morning yeah if you want runner ups by the way in golf tournaments I'm your guy you're the guy you're a guy I am I am the the men among men for runners up having Rory Mako Roy yesterday who couldn't quite make a putt on the weekend I believe he was 45th out of 51 players that made the cut in terms of puts and then he makes the bomb on 18 it's like too little too late what do you make of the whole Scotty trend this year of stinking

3:08it up in the first round and then making the charge late is this a is this I mean what do you make of something like that is that is that a matter of concern is it just random I want to say it's a little bit more of an aberration that you know just when you've been playing so well for so long sometimes you just hit a little bit of a rut you hit a little bit of a dry spell and he's gotten off do I think maybe three kind of porous starts you shall we say and then eventually almost gotten the top 10 until Cam Young knocked him out with a birdie at 18 but I don't know if it's that much of a cause for concern I just think it's it's golf it's what happens you have a guy that you know it's no different than if you're a better you know where you win a bunch of tournament so you pick the winner and then you go through a dry spell like I'm kind of going through right now so I think I think it's no different so I don't have a lot of long term concern necessarily for Scotty because what it tells you that even in his big game if you want to call it his big game he's

4:10still you know it's never like he finishes t 35 t 49 or something like his worst is like a top 15 so if that's your baseline I think he's just fine yes he finished a horrific t 12 this one you'll second most entertaining thing going on the sports world the sports betting world to me okay it's there in Peterson of the NBA draft and taking number one this is number two because like Wes said I there's I can't make any sense of it and it's a thing it's clearly a thing now that we've seen this in three tournaments I understand why anybody who bets golf lightly or not at all would be asking that question every week as they should be and this was this was a guy who last year was the best on tour in first round scoring and was his best round of any round that he played I said it after the first time it happened I like this is proof that he's still the best player in the world it's crazy making or may it would he finish one stroke back in a few weeks back yeah hold the Darren Peterson thought because I want to ask west about that too have you made any masters bets yet west just a couple that I that I've had in the portfolio that you're just

5:16grabbing numbers victor hoblin was one now he's not playing great right now but it was just you kind of trying to anticipate over the winter okay which number is going to get shorter or so he is somebody that I have in the account but I don't have like a lot yet you know I kind of wait till we go along now that we're getting to the floor to swing I think maybe that's going to be a little bit more indicative of how a guy could play it a gust to come April over this next month when we got bay hill and you have the players championships so don't have a ton yet in terms of masters out right but we'll be adding I think throughout the next several weeks is that I'm curious is that typical for you did you used to have a lot of masters bets that you acume a mast over the winter and then as you as you became more veteran in this you sort of slough that off over time or is this always kind of your thing a little bit a little bit a little bit the ladder where you know I don't have a ton because I know that probably masters week I'm gonna at least add a couple so it's kind of like a little gradual bill this isn't like okay I'm

6:20gonna take six or seven over November December when they first put these prices out pretty much market wide and then see where we go because what you end up doing you end up kind of overexposing yourself and then you know then you have 12 guys or something and that's not something I want to do all right long shots every Wednesday Tuesday Tuesday yep my Wednesday I meant Tuesday every Tuesday available where you get your podcast Kelly brought up the Darren Peterson thing I want to transition because you we were actually talking off air that you were watching this ABA doc which you can you can talk about called soul power which you recommend um you're an Indiana Pacers fan obviously the Pacers were flagship in the ABA uh and they have a shot we just went through our tanking tears or my tanking tears and people can agree or disagree with who's trustworthy who's not among the worst teams of the NBA but clearly the Pacers have a shot right at the number one pick I'm just curious Darren Peterson would you if you're the Indiana Pacers GM right now would you feel entirely comfortable drafting him at number one probably not to be honest with you and

7:24I'm sure Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan in the brain trust they're obviously doing their due diligence and there's a reason why in that Zubach trade that they put that provision in there that okay five through ten you get the first round pick if it's top four that we keep it so they clearly know I think who the pecking order is going to be at the top and they clearly believe that they're going to be one at the top four teams however the ping pong balls go but the Pacers are a little bit different than other teams because I think they're quote-own quote tanking with integrity if that makes sense like they're not like totally resting their starters in the fourth quarter like some other teams but they're reducing minutes for some of these guys like Pascal Siacum's not going to continue this career high minute pace of 36 minutes and I you know now you're going to see him play 28 or 30 a night but back to your question about Peterson I don't know because I don't know if a ball dominant guard really fits for the Pacers because the Pacers happen pretty good ball dominant guard right who's going to be back next year and Tyree Sullivan it's like okay well who's

8:25going to do for that offense with Tyree Sullivan does nobody so I got to tell you Gil what I watched on Saturday night and it was the late night game Iowa State at BYU the Cougars get the win upset Iowa State of small dogs I was real impressed with AJ DeBonza he didn't leave the floor the entire game played the entire 40 minutes which is of course as a contrast to what we've been seeing with Darren Peterson and kind of the load management I guess come to college but DeBonza is a guy that I think fits the Pacers more but I have that feeling that they have a target of who they like there in Indiana I would be maybe a little bit gunshot even though I think Peterson probably from a talent standpoint is certainly the number one pick he is absolutely the best three level score in the draft yeah maybe the proper way to ask it wasn't through the lens of the Pacers because that's obviously not maybe the greatest fit but just in general I wonder if if teams are starting to get a little I don't know about Darren Peterson and you're right you bring up another point there about the because I in talking about the Pacers I talked about how they really must love

9:27zoo bots to to allow five through nine to be unprotected but you're probably right the converse of that is one through four the inverse of that I should say is that they probably only want Booster Peterson to sponsor a Wilson right like they've focused on those they're like we're comfortable with any of those four guys anybody else we don't really care about that might be the other side of that by the way real quick the the parenthetical aside what about this documentary what would you give us your review of soul power yeah I thought I was I thought it was great soul power the story of the ABA it's a four part so it is a little bit of a time commitment we were talking about before he came on the air here but it chronicles the history because I think it's forgotten about with the ABA you know even though the league only lasted several years it bore Dr. J and and so many different superstars and changed the game because they invented the three-point shot they brought in the slam dunk contest originally in I think 74 or 75 with David Thompson and Dr. J and it's just a history of those teams and there are four existing

10:29franchises by the way from that league the nuggets the nets at the Indiana Pacers and the spurs who came in to the NBA after the merger and then didn't get their full TV money for several years so it chronicles I think the culture too at the time you know the dress of the 70s Darnell Hillman talking about Dr. J had teaching Dr. J had to grow out his afro is was worth an episode watch for that so you know is great because the Pacers you know where I grew up they were an ABA franchise and you know have always been kind of the flagship of the ABA so it was cool to see at the time you know the conflict between the two leagues and the fact that they would play each other and the ABA would win a fair amount of those exhibition games so it's worth it just kind of lived that time in the early to mid 70s and then you know I thought was a very entertaining documentary so I think that's well worth to watch I will totally watch it based on your recommendation available on Amazon Prime correct Amazon Prime yes for a sole power um

11:31Dr. J Rick Barry obviously George Gervant one thing he could do Kelly was finger roll mm-hmm George Gervant the Iceman all that I'm old enough to remember when those two leagues merged for God's sake uh west on college hoops is placed today and how he feels about the teams that qualify in the formula next on a numbers game right here at Visa these sports betting number you're here because you want an edge that's what separates listeners from winners but let's be real mindset alone doesn't get bets home pros win because they've got the tools the data and the discipline and now so can you visa programs you access to the same real time insights the sharps use no secrets no fluff just actionable info that moves markets tap the link and see why serious betters are turning knowledge into profit with visa and pro a numbers game on visa these sports betting network don't forget about the sharp plays on match transparency with records updated daily AI betting analysis real time global betting info alerts directly from the pros sharp plays dot com scan the QR code for more on the screen

12:36check about sharp plays dot com just want to read this one tweet from dr van no strat sign felt reference welcome back gill hope you enjoyed uh vacation question did you think Cooper flag was going to be this good and also beard wise is this a new look or should I expect the normal dapper 72 hour shadow returning what am I doing with the beard what's different I don't know either I mean gun to my head it's I would say it looks a little longer than usual really yeah but like I don't know I'm not I'm not doing anything I'm not often looking this deep this detail you'll speak for God I was back from vacation I should probably shave sorry I didn't no change I didn't notice anything don't let me know was anything West Reynolds kind enough to join us for a second segment here once again you can follow west on Twitter West Reynolds one long shots podcasts comes out tomorrow West obviously key cog in that wheel I want West to adjudicate a few things that we talked about earlier on the show one started the show obviously West talking about the United States electric win over Canada and the gold medal game yesterday and we can get

13:37in a big argument about it but I am I am anti three on three to decide this to decide the gold metal Kelly I think I don't want to put words in your mouth but you are pro three on three it's the two no no no it's the two thoughts thing you say all the time I don't think we should decide any big game with a different format okay however I kind of like three on three I like so he likes he likes it a little where do you stand on this yeah I'm probably in the middle maybe I'm a little bit more toward your side deal because I'm a traditionalist where you know in the NHL we don't decide on a shootout you know you go until you go like when you're in the Stanley Cup playoffs on the other hand that was team USA I felt there only chance to win yesterday hold on and get lucky and get to overtime and get to three on three and and that that was their only chance because I thought they got outplayed I think I made the comment on Twitter that this is a one-to-one butt weapon because it really was over the over the last two periods it I thought Canada dominated the action they controlled the puck they had it in the zone more dominated the shots and I thought

14:42USA look you got to hold on and hope you get like kind of one of those breakaways a little bit and you know you get a little bit of puck lock and that's what you needed and fortunately for team USA first time since 1980 swept the hockey goals I thought and I said best winner olympics ever it certainly was I think for the Americans based on the fact they broke the record for gold medals and you know they were competitive they never win the medal count because Norway always wins it right because they dominate the scheme the Eiklebu I think one six gold medals like he's like the Michael Phelps of skiing but I thought team USA I thought I was a great winner olympics though I thought that they were very competitive in the sweet the hockey goals at the end was fantastic it was awesome and then the whole thing we talked about on the run up to the Super Bowl with MVP how you know when we have two weeks talk about the Super Bowl we try to uncover every little angle every detail we're talking about I'll remember they vote on MVP in the Super Bowl before the two minute warning yeah they can change their vote of something heroic happens but who knows if they'll do that really came into play in the USA's win for the goal medal which is if they let this go through

15:46and then have the vote at the end halibut probably wins MVP right and they don't and yeah yeah I would think so I thought he was he was absolutely terrific uh you know uh but but team USA look per persevering and halibut I thought was was really great throughout and and I think that that's good for USA hockey I think that's good that they got even though it was very early on a Sunday morning especially on the west coast that they kind of got their shine a little bit where it's like hey we've got this great league here uh you might want to follow and maybe they did get some new fans that are going to check it out after what we saw yesterday absolutely the other thing we did earlier not the other thing but one of the other things we did earlier was we did the second iteration of the college basketball formula which revealed six teams um that have a chance to win the national title when all is said and done I'm curious because there's a couple teams just on the outside looking in west and those two teams just on the outside or three teams will say Gonzaga Yukon and Purdue just on the outside looking in but the six that qualify Michigan

16:51Arizona Duke Iowa State Houston Florida does that look right to you or or or or there's a formula missing somebody here no I think that those six are probably right when you combine that offensive and defensive rating for both teams uh and there's certainly a few on the outside looking in look I think you got to look at Illinois even though they're defense a little bit low but number one offense uh Purdue you know two in the offensive rating 25th in defense of rating and I'm still not willing to discount Purdue I know everybody is but I still think when you got senior guards you got a chance uh and I would say Gonzaga I'd say Connecticut Connecticut is kind of want that team that's maybe in contention for that fourth number one seed because I think there are three clear ones Michigan Duke and Arizona I think are locks number one seeds and then who's going to get the fourth is it Houston is it Iowa State is it Yukon is it Illinois I think it's kind of those four teams and then Florida is looking really strong right now they had some real struggles early on in the

17:54season like in November December but they're starting to come along where it's like hey they're a bona fide contender even though they're not going to be a one seed they're probably going to be a two at best but that's the that's I think one of the elite teams that maybe isn't getting a lot of run nationally right now I'm with you on Yukon I before I went on vacation I remember thinking I was like oh I got to get an 18 to one on Yukon and then I forgot to do it and here we are two weeks later same same number after Yukon got upset along the way a 22 to one I'm being told by Danny in my ear at circa so 22 to one here on the Huskies you can be like Miguel I bet cans is 20 to one a few weeks ago 25 to one I get now all right well speaking of Kansas and speaking of Houston who we just mentioned as one of the teams that qualify I mentioned when when we first did this earlier on the show Houston is the one that is going to have I think I'm just guessing a lot of college basketball fans of the teams that qualify maybe the one that makes them recoil the most because I know I'll just our buddy Todd Wischneff who follows this nightly he's not a Houston guy he does not buy into them being a true contender for a national title and

18:56Houston runs into the the home Kansas Monday night buzz saw for anybody who follows that trend um tonight where Houston is a slight slight favorite over the J Hawks who again not not your mom and dad's best J Hawks iteration either this year where do you stand on this game tonight the best of what's out there in college hoops it's a little bit tough because this is the first time I think Houston's really had to face a lot of adversity this year they've lost their last two they lost it Iowa state lost at home on Saturday against Arizona and for all the things that they do well like they're one of the toughest teams in the country they're one of the best defensive teams in the country they don't turn the ball over you know there are grown men team like they were last year but you worry that they're going to have that offensive drought a little bit and it's not that they're a bad shooting team but I don't think offense and maybe it's because of the pace of play I don't think offense comes as naturally to them as some of these other elite teams like the

19:57Michigan's and the dukes and and the Yukon so there is a little bit of concern I'm not down on I'm like I think that they're definitely in contention for a number one C but you feel like looking at their profile even though they have good wins you feel like they need one more big win I think to convince people because there are some doubters as you mentioned out there so tonight would go a long way I think that the numbers right though if Houston as a small favorite here because Kansas they get beat at home on Saturday by Cincinnati and Cincinnati is a team that's better in its record that just had some rotten luck but you didn't expect them to get run by 16 at the fog when they were laying 10 10 and a half points and despite the fact Peterson played 32 minutes I think this him being in and out of the lineup is really kind of affecting Kansas to be honest with you because he's a ball dominant guy so he's a ball stopper right so so he's going to stop the ball because he's a three level score and I think the offense has seemingly flowed better for Kansas without him on the floor anything about Louisville North Carolina tonight well with UNC they did get Vsar back the big

21:05guy on Saturday as they go and beat Syracuse Caleb Wilson of course still out Louisville's getting the money right now probably the way I would play this is the over and that's a big over at 162 I know there's trepidation in a college basketball game but that probably be the way I would look here tonight I think the numbers about right Louisville being a small favorite at three or more it's probably getting a little bit high but that's the way I'm going to look for the Tar Heels tonight. We just mentioned over 20% of the college basketball games that exist tonight only three NBA games only nine college basketball games did you end up on anything in college groups with that short slide tonight? I have not yet I may talk myself into that over that I just mentioned but you know haven't combed through the Southland tonight I believe that's the conference and the swag that's what we usually get we usually get these really slow Monday Slates so unfortunately not much action bring the Olympics back. Bring the Olympus Valley already miss him West Reynolds everybody West appreciated very much man thanks for the time this morning. You bad guys thanks for having me. West

22:08Reynolds everybody again West Reynolds won the number one on Twitter for that you wanted to mention something about the the taking discussion we had specifically about the Mavericks you mentioned. No, I need way longer than a minute. Okay, we'll go to the next segment of the segment after the the Olympics though. It's just having something during the day. I know West feel that's really West's main point. I am so so with like yesterday was so nice. You had like hockey early and then golf and NBA going on the afternoon. The sport that this is the most egregious about though is baseball. Why there is not day baseball every single day. I have no idea. They they they're in their quest to make Wednesdays of all days Saturdays and Sundays special. We can't do Monday Tuesday Thursday every every week Friday. I'm a believer that NBA and NH Ocean have one early game every single day hit for baseball. It should be a no brainer. 162 games can't spread it out that way. I will come back more on the tanky stuff. Kelly has a couple more words to say about that and we'll talk NBA awards and a little baseball awards. Oh, with a big three-part baseball handicap

23:09and special coming up on a numbers game this weekend next we'll get into that. A numbers game on FISA. These sports betting network. Back in the numbers game, live from Circa Resort Casino downtown Las Vegas. Gill Alexander, Kelly Benlin, producer number nine so much more than a producer. Hey, how you doing, man? You good? Yeah, I'm good. This tweet is direct that you, Kelly, but you know, again, I may I may have mischaracterized your your take on all this. We said, welcome back, Gill. Kelly and Matt filled in admirable on your absence. Kelly, if you want a fitting example, one traditional overtime rules require a modern update, even in big moments. Look up. John is nervous as Nicholas Mahoot whimmeled in 2010. Now what he's referring to for those that don't know is this is the match that tennis finally said enough is enough. We got to we got to make these tie breaker rules uniform across the slams. Isn't her best American for from from much of his career, but 2010 first round of Whimmelden, he plays as guy Nicholas Mahoot this French guy first round. They start on a Tuesday at like six

24:10pm. They play like three hours lights, you know, light ordinance there. They don't have nightlights there. So they they go into the next day. The next day they play, I don't know what time they get on like mid afternoon. They got into the fifth. They got into a fifth set basically, right? And so the second day, we got into a fifth set. Oh, this is a little end, right? It's just a fifth set. You have to win by two in those days. You didn't go to a tie breaker at 59 59. It was darkness again. They had to play a Thursday. Final score of the fifth set. Isn't her 70 Mahoot 68. This is not tie breaker points. These are games. Not talking about points. We're talking about games. Nice. Nice. And that was the end of it. Well done. That was it. It's like we've seen enough. I remember watching multiple days of that. You're 11 hours and five minutes. The did you ever see the Andy Sandberg little movie they did about it? No. Oh my god. It's called in hell. It was Andy Sandberg and one of the guys from Game of Thrones. They basically just

25:13mused an excuse to dress up like 90s tennis like Andre Agassi like dress up like him basically and kind of recreate this. The fifth set alone was eight hours and 11 minutes longer than any of their tennis match history. Anyway, that was that back to the NBA tanking. We love a good tank. And again, this will produce brain dead NBA parlay's here moving forward. We'll track them. We will track them. You want to add something about the Mavericks who were in my extremely trustworthy category. Well, well, it's so I think there are a couple things that this conversation leads to in other markets, other just NBA conversations and awards. Yes. It's a big one. Awards are affected by this. And we brought this up. We'll get to this eventually. Bit like Kianta George on the jazz. Okay. You're going to mess around and start sitting him all these games. It's affected his most improved player price. Is it going to completely bring him out of the race if you thought he was in it, but more importantly, and I guess I've become to

26:14start butt heads with people on this are the Mavericks really going to bench Cooper flag in tank away his rookie of the year season because Gil. Okay, one or two things. Do you think he's done enough? You don't have to play a minimum games requirement for rookie of the year, right? Has he done enough now to win rookie of the year in your mind? Um, I think con Knapple could flirt with it, but probably the answer to your question is yes. If Cooper flag stopped playing today and con Knapple played out the rest of the season, it may be not yet, but I think we're probably a week away or two weeks away from that. Okay, I'll give that second answer a little bit more. I just think con Knapple on a winning Charlotte Hornets team putting up the stats. It's too close right now for me to think about them thinking about mentioned and then there's another element to this that I don't think enough people are talking about. We talk about how petty these voters are all the time petty people. The first chance you get as a voter to make a statement on the record

27:20against tanking is if you say I'm not going to consider Cooper flag for rookie of the year because of what they did with him towards the end of the season, and I will give it to con Knapple for a guy who played on a team that made it in the Eastern Conference playoffs. What business is it of these awards voters to make a commentary on tanking? But they always do. Do they? Okay, I shouldn't say they always do. How many times do we set up here? We talk about whole fame stuff. We talk about these guys trying to make a statement of their own when it does not belong. I mean, I'm the king of that. I talk about baseball and football all the time. Right. Yeah. I'm just saying in an awards race that I think is closer than most people do and minus 450 right now betting odds three to one on con Knapple. I think this is like 60 40 Cooper flag right now. If you're going to mess around benching this kid a bunch of games down the stretch, I think some voters will look at that and say con Knapple contributed more for a team that is in the Eastern Conference playoffs and deserves to win this war. It's it's it's good of you because it's worth bringing up. I think you're a hundred percent right. That's a fascinating thing. That would be

28:23a first. We have no evidence of any voters and anything for awards making commentaries about the broader state of the game through their vote. Totally. I'm just saying it can happen. That's actually drew brought this up a couple weeks ago. You were said you were still here for it when you first brought this up, right? Like three weeks ago about watch out for what they do with Cooper flag down the stretch and he was talking about grabbing Knapple five to one. Then I thought he was crazy. I might have sat here with a smile on my face. I said, there's no way they're going to bench this kid and make it make him have a chance for him to lose out on rookie of the year. And maybe I maybe I'm just not an island. I know you're not on an island. I'll tell you why because it is still regardless of when we're in the moment talking about these awards, it is still a big feather in your resume career. Why thank you to have been known as the rookie. We talked about Paul Skins, right? Paul Skins and okay, Si Young last year, but first year he didn't get the Si Young, but he was the rookie of the year, right? Like it's it's a thing. It should be a thing and it always should be a thing. So yeah, I don't think you arbitrarily should just dismiss that if you're the team. I'm sure.

29:29I said, thank you so loudly here because I've lightly made the LeBronk like career comparisons. Like if we all think Cooper flag is going to turn into that type of player and a couple things here, like if Cooper flag does get benched in a or is sitting on the bench for multiple games down the stretch, one of two things is going on, right? He's talked to the team and they're in he's okay with this, which means I've lost all respect for you as a competitor. If that's if that's the thing, right? Or Dallas Maverick fans, I know you've been through a lot or he's not on board with this and will forever hold it against this team if they cost him a rookie of the year award because I'm with you guys. I think there's a lot of people like I brought up the LeBron case and a lot of people were like, LeBron doesn't care about a rookie of the year at the end of the career. He's going to set all these records and all these MVPs. You're telling me if Cleveland had robbed him of like chance to win the rookie of the year award. He wouldn't think back to that all the time. When you made this Cooper flag LeBronk comparison to Chris Faucer. Chris actually had exploded on the window and I'm not the guy watching Cooper flag into those

30:32conversations, but the the counter I'm getting a lot is that Cooper flag's not going to care about something like this in 10 years. I think they care about every single little thing. Also it gets lost. It gets washed away in history, right? 10 years from now, some Schmendrick is going to have an argument against Cooper. Well, you didn't win rookie of the year. You'd be like, yeah, well, this thing happened. I think it's fascinating. Yeah. Well, just to ask the question, though, I feel to be thorough. Yeah. If it's not Cooper flag, is it only Conk Neppel? Does anybody else have a chance? Only person. No, but I think he's live. I think he's live at three to one. Well, but it's all going to depend on how they handle Cooper flag and we can look, we can translate this over to most improved player, right? This Kianti George. This is a brand new market starting today. Most improved player brand new market. We talked about this for the past month or two. I don't want to say two months month, month and a half right where we were. What did we keep saying? We're about to bet, Danny. Watch out for this back thing, though, because he keeps kind of

31:32missing a game here and there. I never ended up betting me either. I can't believe we've been either one of us have a Danny. And I'm the guy who like, I cannot have this guy win this award and me and me not be a part of it. So as long as I've been talking about him, now we're at a situation after last night. First of all, he looked terrible over the weekend. Denver just rolled through the trail. So then last night he suits up. He's questionable all the way up till game time. Suites up plays a minute. I think it was out of the game. And these, these odds drastically flip last night. Jalen Johnson, now your favorite minus one, 15. We talked about this, right? It was hand. Should we hop in on Jalen? Should we hop in on Jalen? If this back thing's real, it's a great price on Jalen. Never did that either. Can we throw up by MVP one second here? Do you remember that morning? I came in here and I did my whole Shake Gilders, Alexander. When people were talking about they're going to win 74 games. They go with 70 games. And I came in here and I said, you know, shake Gilders, Alexander has been playing basketball straight since 2021. And I hate to say it, but kind of manifesting this year, right? In terms of just his ability to be on the court all the time, you can't play that much basketball and not like

32:38have it affect you at some point. Um, yeah, man, however fair that is SGA still minus 140. Nicole, you know, could just three to one. Kate Cunningham, supposed 550. Wimbledon Yama sitting there at 25 to one. Just better this weekend. Victor. Yeah, I think this completely depends on, Matt and I talked about this end of last week completely depends on how your MVP, and I'll use the word here kill because I have multiple MVP, bending profile looks like, right? But I, a portfolio looks like, I mean, I had Yoke from early in the season at plus 550 heavy. I have a very small bet on Kate Cunningham from early in the season at 100 to one. I took Wembee on Friday at 27 to one. I thought I'm playing it. I'm playing SGA versus the field now, basically, right? I don't, I think it's those three guys. We got a bond temp straw poll come came out on Friday. This is kind of I love you. They still love Shay, but they talked about how a lot of this could swing. He also, they also noted how they think the 65 rule, 65 game rules really messing with voters heads on this at this point in the year, right? Because you can't tell.

33:41We can't tell. And it makes it with voters, right? Like I bet on a guy who can only miss two more games to an MVP, Victor Wembee. Yeah, right. Yo, yo, yo, could you can only miss one more? Shay can miss how many more approximately? Yeah, let me confirm. But that, even that's starting to creep into people's heads. Oh, it's, yeah, it's a thing for sure. Yeah. And who knows? Well, OK, see, even beat their season win total when all is said and done. Coming back with baseball next on a numbers game right here at Visa, these sports betting network. Numbers game on fee said these sports betting network numbers game. Lot from soccer resort casino downtown Las Vegas, kill Kelly back in the fold. So let's clarify some stuff. So shake gildish Alexander as missed eight basketball games so far. He can afford to miss eight more. But if he misses a ninth, then he's disqualified. Also, he'll have less than 65. As missed. Yeah. As missed nine. Yeah. Excuse me. He's missed nine. Can afford to lose.

34:44I think I've got all my own eight more. Yeah. But can't miss a ninth. And he's scheduled to miss a couple more games right here moving forward. Yeah, well, you don't we don't know at the time. Right. So yeah. So that so he's becoming a thing with this also. Although I was I was feeling that way a lot more before that game yesterday. He was, you know, when they see those guys hopping around on the bench like a lot, you're like, man, if you were, if you were more injured, I'd be telling you not to jump around like that. Uh, Chris Felica texting. He says, I'm team Kelly here. Voters are so petty. Is it or not? I think I have to talk about all of aim voters being so petty every year. I'm just saying that with a war and awards. I'm just saying that would be this would be new. That awards voters would allow team strategy to affect their individual votes. Oh, they totally shouldn't. Yeah. That would be a new thing. Right. That's all I'm saying about that. This is from, uh, let's see, this is from Kyle D. Then I thought Gil was coming in hot earlier today with that new glow, but Kelly spicy that absolutely spot on with his NBA rookie, the year take. I just, I think it's a fascinating

35:46situation to watch develop it. And I wish I wish I could be a fly on the on these balls. Right. Of just like, again, is Cooper flaggo K with this? I also think you have to rank petty-ness of individual sport voters baseball, petty, petty supreme, right? Yeah. Baseball is petty supreme. Where does the NBA voter rank in that? I don't know. I don't know either. But like, you know, I just feel like there's so many guys who can be like, uh, nobody knows who I am. If I can be the guy who makes it very clear that I am anti-tanking and always has been, this is the way I can do it. Somebody who writes for the, yeah, the New Orleans blank pick a you and there's something like that at the time. Yeah. Time pick the Oregonian. Just a three Jack age, three one, three one. Welcome back, Gil. Kate is rightful MVP winner with Detroit's breakout season SGA overrated Joker on the third best team in the West. Wemby once sticking the bike spokes away from an injury. Wow. When once sticking the, uh, in the spike spokes on that one, give me Kate. Let me cash my 60 to one. Oh, he's got to take it. What a surprise.

36:49It's a lot easier. What a surprise. Um, no, I understand your, I understand your reasoning there. For sure. And there would be a case of, oh, the team performance actually matters. Oh, totally. I mean, that's his, that's his with all due respect to Kate. That's the biggest thing. Carrying the, the, the persons have the best record in the NBA. No longer the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are the, they have the best record in the NBA. It's, which is incredible. They, because if we had to shot back two months and said that to ourselves, we'd be like, come on. What happened? SGA must have gotten hurt for the season. I brought, uh, maybe we'd have lost our mind. I brought it up with Matt. We really need the video from my prime time action five years ago. When, when Gil was laughing, it'd be about to be like, watch out for this piston steam. You fear you use from now. Well, no, let's be clear. Let's be clear. It was six years ago. And they're like, within two years, they could make the playoffs. I don't, congratulations. I don't think they had Kate Cunningham. Yeah, we said that. They didn't, uh, making me look bad. Uh, for those of you who are baseball nerds, we have a treat for you. At least I think we have a treat for you. Yes, we do. Uh, I know we have a treat for you,

37:51but I'll, I'll let you be the judge. Joe Pita, my buddy and, uh, just one of the great baseball minds there is, uh, he is going to come on the show, not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the next week. Um, and we'll do this in three parts. I believe part one will be tomorrow tomorrow. Yes. Um, what we're going to do is, because for those who are interested in handicapping baseball and doing it from like, you know, ground level building blocks. Tomorrow, we're going to do a, uh, saber metric sort of data building blocks with some cool insights segment or two with Joe. Uh, and then, uh, the second day, we're going to do a 2025 case study and a 26 preview on the New York Metz complete with a pick. And then day three, uh, all other over under picks and Kelly, you and me will do a dealer's choice. We can just toss other teams at him and we'll give him a 30 second clock and he can give his thoughts on teams. All right, cool. There's just a whole baseball thing. San Diego potteries still still a game and a half back of the Dodgers still still still two and a half back. Still two and a half back. That was

38:55incredible. Yeah. Uh, things I read of things. I will remember most from the 2025 baseball season. How many times Gil would talk about, we talked about the NOS and me just sitting here in my head being like, this has to be the 13th time. We've heard them, heard someone say they're two and a half back to a half back worth a look in the West. I kept saying I'm like, look, right, because I had the, I had the pod raise for two of those months, right? For best record. Of course, I picked the two months where they stunk up the joint, right? But they were just, oh, it's just a matter of time, right? And the Dodgers just coasted on in and just coast and then the post season happened. All right. So we were inspired by this question earlier from, uh, I want to give proper credit here. This was a great question earlier on the show, uh, asking about, hey, what's your pick race to 10 home runs, which I guess is available. I think this looks like Caesars. Yeah, I think that was Caesars. Yeah, looks like Caesars, uh, a sort of, uh, check on right now. They're, they're sort of formatting. I said, Nick Kurtz of the athletics at 10 to one,

39:58only Aaron Judd, shorter race to 10 home runs at plus five, five, 75, Shohei's 11 to one, Jordan Alvarez 12 to one, Cal Raleigh 20 to one. And the reason I said, Kurtz is because if you are looking at, uh, at bats per home run, he's about fourth or fifth last year. But the race to 10, you got to look at the schedule and he's got really home run friendly ball parks to play and including New York and Toronto and Sacramento. So that would be my play in that market. If one wants to play that, Kurtz at 10 to one. Now that brings us to American League MVP where Aaron Judge is plus 225. He is the short shot. And once again, with MVP in, uh, in baseball, well, Aaron Judge is one three out of the last four in the American League, uh, including 2022. If you remember Shohei is one four out of the last five MVPs, but remember Shohei did two in the American League, two in the nationally with the Angels and the Dodgers. So the one year where Shohei didn't win it, if you will, in the AL is one year where Judge

41:00won it in 2022. Anyway, point is judges won three out of the last four. Um, he's plus two 25 Bobby Whit Jr. All was a popular choice. Great baseball player. Just doesn't all in Kansas City plus five 50 Cal Raleigh who just missed last year at plus eight 50. So there's that. And then there's Vlad Jr. at 13 to one. Julio Rodriguez at 13 to one. And the aforementioned Kurtz at 15 to one not to mention Jose Ramirez at 15 to one. Perhaps we will ask Adam Burke about this next. That's his guy. Jose Ramirez at 15 to one. Um, Gunner Henderson, Roman Anthony, Orioles Red Sox following suit there. Also Pete Alonzo over the O's. Jr. Come and narrow. There's your none. Anyway, a whole bunch of great candidates. Who would I play? Who am I considering playing here, Kelly Bidley? Who do you think? Oh, man, who do I think you are considering two guys in the middle here? Really? Okay. Uh, Cory Seager. No, I'm have had my fill of that.

42:00Trying to think of team. How many years to Jason? I'm going to go in a little short. I'm going J. Rod and Nick Kurtz. Okay. Uh, I just feel like Julio Rodriguez can play for another good, solid Seattle team, even though I really like Texas and, uh, and Sacramento. Can't really call him Sacramento and the athletics in the West. Um, I expect Seattle to be good. I just Julio Rodriguez is 25 years old still. He's in the prime of the prime. This is, I just, he puts up stats every year. I just feel like he has slow starts. And that prevents him from really being in the discussion and earnest many of these years. This is the year where I'm saying he's going to start quick. This is the year where I think that 13 to one will crash. So J. Rod for me, not our listener J. Rod, but J. Rod Julio Rodriguez, uh, Seattle Mariners, uh, J. Rod, our listener and friend, not him. But Julio Rodriguez are the Mariners at 13 to one. And then the aforementioned Kurtz of the athletics at 15 to one. This dude was ridiculous last year. And he plays in that ballpark

43:02where again, in, you know, it's suitor health park in Sacramento. There's very little foul ground, which means a lot of run production there, uh, because a lot of balls don't get turned into outs. And then there's the, it's a minor league ballpark. So there isn't a second tier of stands. So there's no wind blockage. Right. And so oftentimes that width is headed out. So he's going to have homestats. He was great on the road too. No, don't, though, don't get me wrong. So for me, Kurtz at 15 to one, I think that number crashes as well. So I'm betting any of these two preflop. It's, it's Julio and it's Nick Kurtz. I think I, can we expect Cal Raleigh to do what he did last year, two years in a row. I don't believe we can. That's not a play for me. Um, yeah, I feel like I feel like I've heard that a lot. I'm if you, if you wanted to bet, you know, Vlad Jr. or some of these other guys, I mean, I wouldn't hate on you. Aaron Judge, it'd be plus two 25. Are you really going to bet it at that number? I don't, you know, I don't think you can't even though he's won three out of the last four. But to me, it's J round and it's Nick Kurtz

44:04right in the middle there. Yeah, you remember what number Flika was on Friday. He had a Nick Kurtz 50 to one. Sorry, sorry, 50 plus home runs. I forget what I like it. I like it. That's a good way to play it. The best week. I think the best week we got while you were out was the, when we were talking about these MVPs and because Matt made a similar point about I don't, it's don't know you can wrap up money and judge and show Hey, this long, that sort of thing. Why don't we have winter without Scotty Shelf or markets? We don't have MVP without these top two guys markets. You know, you can figure out who got second, second place without judging show Hey, yeah, yeah, it's get it man. That'd be fun. Listen, Si Young is getting there too, right? Scoobles won the last two. Scheme's raining. Got to be the favorite right again, Brennell. It's very chalky in baseball for sure. We'll come back at him Burke. Let him chime in on this and more. Next, good college basketball. Numbers, Game Beast and these sports betting network.