Tuesday Tempter: Sport’s Multi

December 30, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks, Shumpty's Punt Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Here is a 5 leg multi of American sport today that might be of interest (and value) to punters:

Leg 1: Chicago Bulls to defeat the Indiana Pacers in the NBA

Leg 2: Pittsburgh Penguins to defat the New Jersey Devils in the NHL

Leg 3: Miami Heat to cover the line (-6 points) against the Orlando Magic in the NBA

Leg 4: Ottawa Senators to cover the line (-1.5 goals) against the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL

Leg 5: Washington Wizards to cover the line (+3.5 points) against the Houston Rockets in the NBA

 

This multi will pay $22 for each dollar invested.

As always:

  1. Please gamble responsibly.
  2. All care is taken with tips posts on this blog however no responsibility vests for any losses incurred.
Good luck and good punting whatever you are betting on today.

Steve Smith v George Bailey: who should deputise for Clarke in WC2015?

December 28, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Let’s face reality: as confident as Michael Clarke is that he will be fit for the World Cup in March 2015 there is a more than even money chance it would seem that he will not be available for selection in all fixtures (if any). This, of course, raises the question of who ought deputise for him. The incumbent in this role is George Bailey however the sharp rise of Steve Smith to the captainancy in test match cricket means there is a conversation to be had about who should take the roll in 3 months time.

Bailey has done little wrong in the role of captain. Unfortunately his batting in 2014 in one day fixtures has not been up to standard; viz, in 17 matches played he has averaged 25 whilst scoring 405 runs with 3 fifties and no hundreds.

I am a firm believer in picking the best eleven players available for selection in the team and then selecting the captain. Steve Smith is firmly entrenched in the best eleven cricketers available for selection but I am not sure that George Bailey is similarly entrenched given his form and:

  • Warner, Finch, Clarke (if fit), Smith, Maxwell and Watson (if bowling) pick themselves and are in the best available eleven in this form of the game.
  • White, Ferguson, Burns and Dunk, to name just 4 batters, all performed very well in Matador BBQs Cup which should be a form of selection trial for the World Cup.

Had Steve Smith not performed so well as captain in the test matches (I know it is a small sample but early signs are good) I have no doubt that there would be less of a question about Bailey’s captaincy: he would have been carried despite his bad form. This approach would have been detrimental to Australia’s chances of winning in my view. Smith’s elevation to test captaincy makes this issue significantly easier to deal with and now the NSP can select the best eleven players available without worrying about the captaincy.

Interestingly, I know wonder if Steve Smith will unite the captaincies of Australian cricket teams across all three forms of the game? He is a solid T20 player who has not had much of a run in the side of late. Maybe Aaron Finch’s time as captain in that form of the game is also in danger of running out given the rise of Steve Smith. Only time will tell.

Saying thank you and being thankful: something I have not done enough of this year!

December 27, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

The festive season and holidays present an excellent time to reflect on the year that has passed and consider the good and the bad things that have occured as well as the good and bad personal conduct in the way one has acted.

 

My reflections on 2014 whilst on holiday have had a common thread through them: I have not been thankful enough this year nor have I said thank you enough. That realization has left me pondering why and the answer has been fairly easy to see: at times in 2014 I have become so mired in negativity born both of myself and the conduct of others that I have been unable to recognize times when I should have been more thankful.

 

An easy example of this revolves around my change in roll during the year. I will no go into the details but it would be fair to say that I have been hung up on the circumstances of the move too much at stages this year to be thankful for:

  • having a job when thousands in the community do not;
  • having a job, now, that I really enjoy and that mentally stretches me; and
  • having a job where the people I work for are: at the top of their fields and are wonderful people to work for.
My circumstantial negativity had lead me to not be thankful for the opportunity I have had, at stages, which appalls me.

Negativity and, by extension, depression has lead me to this lack of thankfulness. I am not going to apologize for that. Rather I am going to commit to 2015 being the year of the “Thankful Shumpty”. I will be negative and my depression will, at times, effect me at stages during the year but when I am going through those periods I am going to work hard on finding things in my life to, at the same time, be thankful for.

 

I will start now by saying again: thank you reading my writing. I have said before and I will say again that writing on this blog is a very large part of my strategy for working on my mental health. At times I have not been thankful enough for that.