Usually your curated list of sports betting tips and analytics, this is the mid-summer, Ed is on vacation list of best recommendations.
Sports betting podcast – Haralabos Voulgaris bought the third division Spanish soccer team CD Castellon and got promoted to the second division in two seasons. On an episode of Spanky’s Be Better Bettors podcast, he talked about the NBA betting career that gave him the funds to make this purchase.
Voulgaris got his start when a futures bet on the Lakers in 2002 hit and gave him a substantial bank roll. He then talks about the transition from a mostly subjective bettor to one who almost exclusively used a quantitative model.
This episode of Be Better Bettors also talks about getting accounts, why closing line value was meaningless in 2012 and a chair throwing incident during his time working with the Dallas Mavericks. While I’ve shared this before, I think it is still the best sports betting podcast episode.
Audio experience – Audiobooks tend to bore me. Even if the content is solid, the production usually entails a single voice with no other music or sound effects.
In contrast, this audio production of the short story I have no mouth, and I must scream employs multiple actors and uses sound effects to enhance the narrative. The author Harlan Ellison plays a convincing AM, the supercomputer that takes over the world and keeps only five humans alive to torture.
I’ve been searching for audio products as inspiration for my own projects. I’m working on an audio football preview that uses humor and music to enhance the listening experience. This podcast episode on the NFL team with the easiest schedule was a practice run for this audio preview due out in August.
Bourbon – I’ve been fortunate to take two trips to Kentucky this past year. After tasting many fine bourbons, Weller has become a favorite. The addition of wheat to the grain mash makes for a smooth final product.
While I find it impossible to buy a bottle in Michigan, there are bars in Ann Arbor that serve Weller Special Reserve. I also enjoyed a pour in Boston with Bill Connelly, so you can make Weller a part of your next Sloan Sports Analytics Conference experience.
Happiness – Max Joseph is either a professional vlogger or quirky documentary filmmaker. His Persistence of Vision is one of the coolest short videos on YouTube, even if its number of views pales compared to his video on bookstores and why you should read books.
More recently, Joseph has been enlisted by the self help folks to do a series on happiness. This video explains the six buckets behind the science of happiness, and the goal of filling all of these buckets makes total sense to me. The video is approaching a million views in the first two months since its release.
Next Floor short film – In 2024, Dennis Villaneuve made headlines for Dune: Part Two, and I highly recommend seeing both of his Dune movies as well as Frank Herbert’s book.
A less well known project is Next Floor, Villaneuve’s searing mockery of the high and mighty. I laugh a little more every time I watch this, which is why it fills the humor nugget slot. Start at :38 and enjoy all nine minutes of the film.
Leave a Reply