Every caddie has a story: the salty Scot looping for tourists in the birthplace of the game, the congenial old Southerner impart time-earned wisdom on the hallowed fairways of Augusta National, the clean-cut mini-tour player earning quick cash to fund golf dreams of his own, the solitary vagabond, the master of the quick fix, the leveler of hard truths. They travel from port to port, walking and playing the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Nobody gets rich. There is no retirement plan. They only have each other–a brotherhood of crazy, colorful characters. Golf is the language they speak, and in most instances, the only thing they know as well. This is the life of the club caddie.

Loopers: A Caddie’s Twenty-Year Golf Odyssey by longtime caddie, John Dunn, is a stirring, candid and often laugh-out-loud funny narrative that chronicles the decades he spent caddying and playing historic tracks like Augusta, Shinnecock Hills, Olympic Club, Bandon Dunes, and the Old Course at St. Andrews. Dunn never expected that his summer job as a caddie at the local course in Connecticut might turn into something more. The lifers–as in ‘caddies for life’–that plied the link were an ensemble of misfits and degenerates that made the caddie yard look more like an OTB parlor than anything resembling a country club. Dunn’s stories are assuming, honest, and very good!

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The Eastern Conference semifinal series between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers moves to the Hoosier State Saturday with the series tied one game apiece. The NBA odds have the Pacers listed as a 4-point home favorite with the over/under set at 184.

After being upset in Game One of the series, the Knicks responded in a big way Tuesday by blowing out the Pacers, 105-79, as a 5.5-point favorite. Carmelo Anthony, the NBA’s leading scorer in the regular season, exploded for a game-high 32 points while adding nine rebounds to pace the Knicks. The Pacers were led by Paul George’s 20 points, but a rash of second-half turnovers that led to a 36-4 Knicks’ run ultimately proved fatal for the Pacers.

There have been a couple of newsworthy events out of Knicks camp since the Game Two victory. Forward Amare Stoudemire, who has missed more than two months with a knee injury, will be in uniform and is scheduled to play between 10 to 15 minutes, head coach Mike Woodson said. Additionally, Woodson also let it be known in the aftermath of Game Two that the Knicks second-leading scorer—J.R. Smith—could see his playing time reduced if does not remedy his current shooting slump (just 15-for-57  from the field in his last four games).

As for Indiana, the return home could be just what the doctored order. The Pacers have gone an excellent 33-11at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Head coach Frank Vogel has been urging his team to be more physical with the Knicks, a style of play the Pacers had success with in the regular season.

This series has the looks of being a long, drawn-out affair as not much seems to separate these two teams. With that said, Game Three is a “swing” game in any seven-game series and whoever comes out on top in this one will be squarely in the driver’s seat.

The nature of the New York Mets this season has been to ride the right arm of Matt Harvey and hope that everyone else manages to lead this team to .500 ball. Unfortunately, the first part remains true, while the second part remains incredibly suspect. New York won Harvey’s start against the Chicago White Sox this week, a complete game shutout in a 1-0 game, while the rest of the team continues to muddle around.

In games that Harvey has started this year, the Mets are 6-1. They are 8-16 with everyone else on the hill.

This weekend, Harvey will get the start on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates against Jeanmar Gomez in a game that he will once again be expected to win. The questions though, cycle around the games on Friday and Saturday at Citi Field.

It’s going to be tough to make your MLB picks on the Metropolitans in either of these games even though they are at home and will likely be underdogs in a both efforts. Shaun Marcum has only made three appearances thus far this season for the Mets, and he has a 7.20 ERA and a higher WHIP at 2.10 than Harvey has as his ERA. He’ll face off with Wandy Rodriguez on Friday night.

The Pirates have yet to announce who will be starting on Saturday, but regardless of who they throw, they will probably have the edge over Jon Niese. Though Niese has pitched well against Pittsburgh in his career, posting a  2-0 record and a 1.93 ERA, he is coming off of a horrid start against the Atlanta Braves. Niese walked six batters and allowed seven runs in four innings of work. It’s tough to want to back a guy that hasn’t won a game since April 12^th, hasn’t won a game without getting at least seven runs of support this year, and has almost as many walks (19) as strikeouts (20).

The Kansas City Royals have long been one of the whipping boys in baseball. In fact, the last time they were favored in a game against the New York Yankees came back in 2008, and that was the only game in which they were favored in this series since the 2005 season. Now, KC is expected to give the Bronx Bombers fits this weekend when the two meet at Kauffman Stadium, and New York could be in some trouble when you look at the pitching matchups that are on tap.

Friday’s clash pits RHP Phil Hughes against RHP Wade Davis. Davis has had a lousy career against the Yankees, but Hughes doesn’t have a win in his career against Kansas City either. Batters are knocking Hughes around to the tune of a .290 batting average this year, and the Royals have the bats to make him pay for leaving too many balls in the middle of the plate once again.

The best game for MLB picks in this series might be Saturday. The ageless LHP Andy Pettitte will challenge RHP James Shields in a game that the Royals will certainly be expected to win. Shields is only 2-2 on the season, but he is coming off of his best start in a Kansas City uniform when he allowed just two hits in eight scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox.

On Sunday, this series wraps up with the two best pitchers in terms of ERA on these staffs squaring off. RHP Ervin Santana has been a pleasant surprise this year for the Royals with his 2.36 ERA, but he might be in some trouble in this game against New York. The Yankees are going to be throwing RHP Hiroki Kuroda, who has been the best pitcher on their staff with a 4-2 record and a 2.30 ERA to show for his work thus far this year.

The New York Knicks are in a heck of a lot of trouble, and it didn’t take long to find themselves there. They have now lost three of their last four games in the playoffs, and that includes dropping Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Indiana Pacers. Now, the two are set to renew ties for Game 2 at Madison Square Garden in what could ultimately be a pivotal game in this series.

The key for the Knicks is going to be getting Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith going. These two men have been horrid shooters from the field over the course of these playoffs, shooting 37.8 and 36.4 percent respectively. They’re getting their points, as they are averaging 44.4 points per game between them this year, but they also taking away the flow of Head Coach Mike Woodson’s offense.

For the Pacers, the key to winning in NBA betting action is going to be playing stout defense on these two men once again. The Indiana defense was bothered by the Atlanta Hawks at times in the opening round of the playoffs, but for the most part, the team has done the job. The Pacers have allowed just an average of 90.1 points per game here in the second season, and that is right around the 90.7 points per game that they allowed in the regular season. Indiana was ranked first in the Eastern Conference in scoring defense, shooting defense (42.0%), and three-point shooting defense (32.7%) this season.

Not surprisingly, the ‘total’ in NBA betting action in Game 2 of this series is just 183, as the oddsmakers are expecting another one of these low scoring defensive games. The Knicks scored just 19 points in both the second and third quarters of Game 1.

The linesmakers have installed New York as a six-point favorite to level this series.

The Pacers and Knicks are set to tip-off in less than two hours. Here are three keys to the series and my prediction..

Carmelo Anthony’s Decision Making: Anthony has all of the physical tools required to be a superstar. However, his decision making let him down in Round 1. Mike Woodson’s offensive system is predicated on ball movement, finding open shooters, and drives into the paint. Anthony settled for way too many contested, long two-point shots against the Celtics, which kept Boston in the series. Anthony must use his low post game to find easy buckets and dish to open shooters when double teams collapse. The Pacers are a young, impressive defensive team that will bait Anthony into contested two points. Anthony must demonstrate patience and the willingness to give up the ball for the Knicks to advance.

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Baseball and race relations have a long storied history together in America. Tom Dunkel’s new book, Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Line, argues that when we speak of Jackie Robinson, Curt Flood, and other pioneers, we should also include Neil Churchill’s 1935 barnstorming squad from Bismark, North Dakota in the discussion.

During the Great Depression, one of the most improbable teams in baseball history was assembled by one of the sport’s most unlikely champions. A decade before Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues, Churchill signed the best players he could find, regardless of race. Churchill field an integrated squad that took on all comers in spectacular fashion. Church drafted stars from the Negro Leagues, including Quincy Troupe, Hilton Smith, Ted Radcliffe, and the great Satchel Paige. Color Blind enlightens readers on this forgotten team.

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Everyone loves watching his or her favorite athlete shell out outrageous cash for stupidity. Our friends over at SeatCrunch provide this graphic which is very interesting. Enjoy!

The New York Jets entered the 2013 NFL draft with countless needs on both sides of the ball. Coming off one of their most disappointing seasons in recent memory, the Jets traded Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay for the 13th selection. Today, I’ll share my thoughts on each of the Jets’ selections:

Round 1, Pick 9: Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama

Some mock drafts had Milliner as high as third overall, which may indicate value. Milliner was the consensus best corner back in the draft and will attempt to fill the void left by Revis. However, I’m not sure if this pick makes sense for general manager, John Idzik’s long term goals. By trading Revis, Idzik implied that no one corner back can be THAT valuable. Paying $15 million per season for a corner back may seem outlandish to an organization that values depth. The only issue is–the Jets don’t exactly have a ton of depth, so using a Top 10 pick on another corner back makes little sense. The public is not privy to medical reports, so the Jets may know that Revis won’t return to his level of dominance. However, this argument is a tough sell given Tampa Bay’s willingness to offer Revis a $96 million contract extension. Overall, the handling of the corner back position has been flat out odd.

MV Analysis: I’m not a scouting guru, but given Milliner’s track record and the need for a Revis replacement, the Jets seemed to get a good value at Pick 9. 

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Sportsbook Review is an industry leader in the offshore sports betting community and their innovation continues is one of the reasons they are so recognized. An example of that innovation can be seen in their odds tool, which basketball bettors can appreciate as they lay their action on the playoffs.

The tool can be likened to many utilities that a stock market investors on Wall Street might use. SBR’s odds tool provides bettors the live, up-to-the-second NBA odds, while letting them compare them across 32 different sportsbooks. There is a handy color-coding scheme that allows betters to determine which lines have just changed on the fly. The screen shows all of the basketball matchups available, which games have odds and allows the player easily convert the odds from American to decimal. Once the games have commenced, the scores, time and quarter are shown right in the tool.

The importance of this tool can’t be understated. For starters, just the comparison across all of the books is useful as players no longer have to resort to primitive ways. The previous option would be to log into their accounts at different shops and compare. Now this can quickly and efficiently be done from one screen. This helps discern which sportsbook has the best value on an underdog or the cheapest price on the favorite.

Professional bettors will appreciate the history of the line movements, which can uncover trends in the lines. Users can click on the lines at a specific sportsbook and see the details of where the betting line opened and all of the subsequent movements. That’s available for moneylines, spreads and totals. It also shows when the movement occurred, so players can see if the line moved as soon as it opened or if the line moved minutes before game time.

The stats are archived as well, which makes SBR’s odds tool not only state-of-the-art but one of the most important tools for bettors nowadays.