Yo, sportsbetting fans. So I disappear for a few days and, of course, when I finally return it’s on the absolute SLOWEST day of the entire year. So what are we going to talk about?

How about the lovely Erin Andrews, pictured above. Why? What do you mean, why? Look at that picture!

Is that a bit of a copout? Yes. But I don’t want to talk about the All-Star Game (boring), don’t want to talk about Roy Halladay trade speculation (frustrating) and I don’t want to talk about British Open odds (lazy). Instead, you get hottie Erin Andrews. You’re welcome.

At this point, of course, it’s pretty much baseball through the rest of the year besides a few majors and grand slams, so maybe we’ll start tackling some NFL odds tomorrow. Until then.

Friday, baby! It’s been a big week of MMA odds, so I figure we might as well close things out in style with a little clip starring Rampage Jackson. No, Jackson won’t be making an appearance in MMA betting this weekend, but I think you’ll forgive me thanks to the sheer hilarity/awkwardness he lays on a cute reporting in this video.

Enjoy the weekend.

We’ve covered enough MMA betting and UFC 100 odds over the last few days, so I suppose I’ll move onto something else although, quite frankly, there isn’t much to talk about right now.

I guess there was news in Raptors land, which I’ve sort of been avoiding. Yeah, Hedo Turkoglu is coming to Toronto to the tune of five yeras, 50-plus million. Can’t say I’m entirely pleased. I’ve never been a big Turkoglu fan; I think he’s a bit of a sloth and, given his age and the length of his contract, I personally think sportsbook odds are pretty safe this is going to come back to haunt us.

At least Colangelo seemingly pulled a rabbit out of his hat today when he swung a four-team trade that added some depth to the team. Marion, Jawai and Hump are out, Devean George and Antoine Wright are in. It also means the Raps save some cap room to bring back another body, like Carlos Delfino or Anthony Parker.

The new starting five looks pretty solid, but it’s FAR from spectacular. Bargnani, Bosh, Turkoglu, Jose and… DeRozan, I guess. Does that really look like a contending starting five? This team should have playoff legs, but can they really pass Boston, Orlando or Cleveland? Not to mention Washington, Chicago or Detroit being in the same neighbourhood talent-wise. Bestcase scenario this is a fifth-place team, right? If you’re a sportsbetting fan, I wouldn’t be too excited about the Raptors despite the changes.

Ok. UFC 100 odds. St-Pierre. Alves. How does it go down?

I’m a big GSP fan and, honestly, I haven’t seen much of Alves. He’s coming off a pretty big win over Josh Koscheck at UFC 90, where he completely dominated. Koscheck was expected to get Alves down on the ground and use his wrestling, but the former showed marked improvement in take-down defense, allowing him to stand up and kick box. That makes it seven straight wins for Alves, including five via TKO.

GSP, on the other hand, came out on top of MMA odds at UFC 94, defeating BJ Penn to win his fifth straight fight. His victories have come in a variety of ways and St-Pierre is as well-rounded as any fighter in UFC. He’s now an impressive 18-2 all time and few prepare, and focus, as well as “Rush.” A victory could mean a bout with current middleweight champ Anderson Silva, a fight just about everyone has to be pining for.

One thing to keep an eye on if you’re MMA betting: as of today, there were rumors circultating that Alves might not make weight. He’s 13 pounds away from where he needs to be, though the fighter said he’s actually ahead of schedule in terms of how much/how fast he drops weight before a bout. If he doesn’t make weight, the fight becomes a non-title match. Apparently, the advantage in these situations tends to swing in the other fighter’s corner, as fatty gets dejected by the circumstances.

That said, I like GSP on all fronts in this one. Alves shouldn’t be underestimated, but that’s a trap St-Pierre won’t fall into. He might be the best pound-for-pound fighter around right now and, with a win here, we might finally see that debate settled when St-Pierre and Silva square off.

Must. Kill. Everything.

Interesting rumors blowing in MLB odds that Doc Halladay could be traded. Doc “could” be had for the right price, says GM Ricciardi. Not really sure if that’s new news, exactly. I’ll deal with those rumors when a little more info comes out, as right now there doesn’t seem to be anything substantive. Also, Burkey signs the Monster, Swedish goalie Jonas Gusstavson. Fuckin’ eh. At tihs point, I’m not sure how you can grade the new GMs offseason as anything but an “A”. He’s likely not done either, as there’s so much depth on the blueline he almost HAS to ship Kaberle out of town for a top-six forward (which would be nice since, right now, the Leafs are counting on the likes of Jason Blake and–ugh–Matt Stajan to put the puck in the net).

Ok, as promised let’s get to some UFC 100 odds today. First up, the heavyweight championship fight between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar. This is actually a title unification and a rematch from a fight last year, when Mir submitted Lesnar with a knee bar. That was, in fact, Lesnar’s only career loss in four MMA bouts. To be quite frank, I don’t see it happening again.

Mir is an accomplished fighter, much more so than Lesnar. He’s a great submission guy and he caught an inexperienced Lesnar the first time around and made him pay for it. At 12-3, Mir obviously has the chops. Of course, most MMA betting fans probably remember Lesnar dominating the early stages of that fight before Mir managed to secure his leg.

Brock Lesnar, in fact, might be the most impressive physical specimen in all of UFC, if not all of sport. That sounds like hyperbole of the highest order, I know, but bear in mind this: he’s been an NCAA wrestling champion, made the NFL and was a WWE superstar. Now he’s transitioned to mixed martial arts with barely a hiccup. He’s shown an incredible rate of improvement and shown some vicious power along the way. The “Silverback” is a size-speed combination unlike anything we’ve seen. Considering he’s got a (real) wrestling background and continues improving, who knows what the future holds?

For starters, UFC odds fans, the future holds a victory over Frank Mir. Bet on Brock Lesnar to defend his heavyweight title. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at the GSP-Alves fight and maybe some more of the UFC 100 fight card.

So many things I could talk about today, but there’s a lot going on so some stuff will have to get bumped. I really wanted to dive into UFC 100 odds with the card taking place Saturday, but I figure I can leave that for tomorrow and Wednesday; I’ll make some picks, at least for the two title fights.

The Leafs also made another signing today, picking up Francois Beauchemin for three years at $3.8-million per. I really like the big blueliner and he makes the top-four downright terrifying at the moment (Kaberle, Schenn, Komaserek and Beauchemin), though I have to admit I was a little surprised and disappointed by his pricetag. I suppose it shows the value Toronto got in Kamaserek, but I figured Beauchemin could have been brought in for three mil or less. Either way, he helps Toronto’s sportsbook odds, so I can’t complain too much–keep it up, Burkey.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about NFL odds and this positively insane Steve McNair story. Sad, tragic, all of the above–whatever you want to call it fits. McNair was a lot of fun to watch during his career, a real hardnosed guy that played through pain and simply got the job done, even though his statistics rarely held up against some of his peers. His toughness was particularly admirable, especially considering many people believe today’s quarterbacks are babied. Then again, to resort to a tired cliche, he wasn’t really a “quarterback”–he was a football player. Regardless of his personal indiscretions, I can’t imagine anyone deserves to go out like that. Steve, you were a pleasure to watch play.

Ok, we’ll perk up on a happier note tomorrow and talk about the UFC 100 fight card a little bit.

Judging by TSN’s coverage of NHL free agency yesterday, you’d be hard-pressed to believe MLB odds and UFC odds even exist. It was all hockey yesterday–and I mean ALL hockey–which I suppose is fitting given it was Canada Day. Despite the overkill, I figured I might as well jump on the pile and go on the record regarding the Leafs’ moves (sidenote: I should give TSN some credit, though, for showing Wimbledon odds on TSN1… I really wasn’t expecting that, and it was a nice surprise to see HOCKEYMANIA 2009 relegated to TSN2).

Many people, myself included, were expecting a big splash; the Sedins, Camalleri and so forth. None of those headline deals materialized, instead being replaced with scrapper Colton Orr and rock-solid defender Mike Komisarek, plus a trade of Pavel Kubina for Garnett Exelby. It doesn’t look particularly significant on the surface, but I think the Leafs took a big, big step foward–and more importantly, away from its past–but being willing to settle for the smaller moves and not doing something stupid.

Think about it. In the past, if (when) JFJ had missed out on the Sedins or Camalleri, he would have immediately hit the panic button, i.e. signing an aging veteran name for a ridiculous price tag. Think something like Bill Guerin and a three-year, $12-million deal (or better yet, think Jason Blake, which ACTUALLY HAPPENED).

So Burke didn’t get the guys he wanted (and, by the way, not getting the Sedins isn’t a “screw up”–they were signed before free agency, thus Burke never even had a chance) as far as starpower is concerned, but he did add a few nice pieces that will help while shedding a few million bucks off the books. He’s likely not done, either, as another free agent (Francois Beauchemin?) could join the fold, Kaberle is still on the block (perhaps the Kessel deal will be revived), and Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson might be signed at any moment (Burke is meeting with him in Sweden today).

Overall, I’m very satisfied with how the day went down. No, the Leafs won’t be killers on sportsbook odds next year. But at least they took some steps forward (and, more importantly, didn’t regress). And considering what a nightmare day the Habs had (committing $20-million a year to three second liners? Not good), it turned out to be a rather solid Canada Day.