So, the online betting season for NBA fans tipped off on Tuesday with a massive matchup between two of the title contenders, Boston and Cleveland. How did these two fare in Game No.1?

The Cavs got off to a quick start in the first quarter before the Celtics’ veteran experience kicked in, and they outscored Cleveland 30-17 in the second quarter. The Boston reserves outscored their counterparts 26-10, thanks in large part to Rasheed Wallace, who notched 12 in his debut. The pickup of Wallace is seen to be a boost to the Celtics’ NBA odds, as he can spell Kevin Garnett, who had 13 points and 10 boards. Paul Pierce has 23 and 11 boards to lead the way for the Celtics.

How about the Cavs, one of the trendy sportsbook picks this year? It was similar to last year. LeBron James had 38 and eight assists, but the next highest Cav was Mo Williams with 12, and he was only 3-of-8 from the field. Shaquille O’Neal had 10 and 10 in his Cleveland debut, and that’s all they really need from him. But they need secondary scoring, preferably from Williams and Anthony Parker.

So, what can we take away from this game? Not much. It’s the first game in a long, long season. All we know is, these two will be there at the end of the season, and this is just a prelude to a rivalry that’s gone from budding to full-on.

PS: I’m going to throw in World Series picks as much as I can. Take the Yankees in Game 1. Sabathia edges Lee in a pitcher’s duel, while Cleveland Indians fans slit their wrists.

All kinds of things going on in the online betting industry this weekend, so check out:

UFC 103 Fight Card

For whatever reason, I’m looking forward to seeing Josh Koscheck and Frank Trigg fight the most. Probably because I hate both of their guts. And because I’ve been watching this:

NFL Week 2 Odds

With the look on his face, did he know he was going to play that terribly against Green Bay? Will he throw four more picks against the Steelers this week?

Mayweather-Marquez odds

Seriously, this fight isn’t going to be easy. Marquez drew with Manny Pacquaio and lost a controversial split decision to Pac-Man, who Mayweather wants badly. This could be the event of the weekend.

While going over my NFL Week 2 betting odds, I ran across a report that said Golden State coach Don Nelson is keeping Stephen Jackson as captain of the Warriors, despite Jackson’s request to be traded to a contender.

Now, I love Stephen Jackson. I think he’s a great pickup for a team than needs a veteran presence already intact. He’s won a championship with San Antonio, and he’s proven that he’s still productive. But this is one year after he signed a contract extension for three years, worth $28 million. What’s the market like for a 31-year-old (who will be 32 in April) who is earning $7.7 million, and his salary goes up each year? Probably not that good considering that most teams are waiting to next summer’s free-agent blowout. Teams feel if they’re planning to spend that kind of money, they’ll do it on a younger player, which in all likelihood raises their online betting chances (unless you’re Boston).

I hope the Warriors do something to improve, because I think Jackson and the Warriors deserve each other. They should have never let go of Baron Davis, but that’s neither here nor there. Those two made paying and watching Golden State games worth the price per head, and I think he just misses having Davis there to share the leadership role. I didn’t plan on it in the first place, but when stuff like this comes up, it’s best to avoid putting these kind of teams in your sports picks.

Online betting players know that Blake Griffin, the first overall pick in the NBA draft, went to Oklahoma. The Sooners are more known for their football program, but in recent years, they’ve earned the title of “Chokehoma”, due to their play in big games. How did the Sooners fare in Week 1?

Despite being a 22-point favorite at a neutral-site that favored them (Dallas), the Sooners were beaten 14-13 by BYU, and more importantly, Heisman winner Sam Bradford was hurt and could miss 2-4 weeks of action. The Sooners’ NCAA football betting odds have definitely dropped, and now, even running the table may not get them back to a BCS bowl. However, that may be for the best, as the Sooners have lost their last five BCS games, including last year’s loss to Georgia in the championship game.

Last year, Oklahoma’s offense was worth the price per head to watch the Sooners set records, but it won’t be a smooth ride this year. We’re betting management at the University of Texas are licking their chops for October 17’s edition of the “Red River Rivalry”, where a comprehensive beatdown of the Sooners would allow some room for a loss. Meanwhile, the Sooners have a lot of work to do to shed their status as chokers.

Real online betting players know just how important Bruce Bowen was to San Antonio’s chances each and every year, until recently when coach Gregg Popovich said that Kobe Bryant was basically unguardable, and sent Bowen to Milwaukee for Richard Jefferson.

Brown came into the NBA in 1997 after playing in Europe, but settled in with San Antonio in 2001 and turned out to be one of the biggest pests in the league, ending up with three NBA titles, eight All-Defensive team honors, and a boatload of enemies. See, Bowen was a borderline dirty player, and he can deny it all he wants, but too many players have landed on his foot for it to be solely coincidental. He’s been accused by everyone from Vince Carter to Steve Nash of foul play, and they’re not really wrong. But the thing is, they were thinking about Bowen, and not on the game, which gave San Antonio the edge in your offshore sportsbook.

So, love him or hate him, we’re betting management all across the league is happy to see him finally bow out at age 38. So here’s to you, Bruce Bowen. I don’t like you one little bit, but you get respect from this sports betting blog.

Not like they’ll have great online betting odds anyway, but Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio saga is over (we think), and much like the last couple of years, it didn’t work out in their favor.

Rubio decided to sign with FC Barcelona (yes, they have a basketball program to go with their Champions League-winning soccer team), and won’t be over in the United States for at least two years, when he can buy out of his contract for a much-smaller fee than the one he had with his old club, DKV Joventut. He says that he didn’t wawnt to complicate his life, and the 19-year-old may have a point. Would YOU want to leave Spain for Minnesota? Shoot, I’d love to be in his position for soccer tickets alone, much less the weather. He still has to fill out a bit, and remember, when he gets over here, he’ll be at the ripe old age of 21.

Now, the flip side is, we’re betting management of the Timberwolves aren’t holding the point-guard spot open for Rubio, and they proved that by drafting Jonny Flynn with the very next pick in the draft. He could become a valuable trading chip for the Timberwolves. Also, the hype for Rubio was over-the-top before the draft. Now that all of this has gone down, if he’s not the second coming of Magic Johnson and Pistol Pete Maravich, there’s gonna be a lot of “I told you so” from his critics. Still, all signs point to him being improved in two years, and it should be a much-needed shot to some team’s offshore sportsbook odds.

Since all is quiet on the online betting front in terms of basketball, let’s turn to the baseball diamond, where the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will meet once again in another edition of baseball’s best rivalry.

I expect the Yankees to continue their solid play by taking two of three at Fenway Park, where they were swept earlier this year. The Yankees lost their first eight meetings of the season against the Red Sox, but gained some revenge with a sweep at Yankees Stadium at the beginning of August. Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett should be your MLB picks on Friday and Saturday, but the best matchup of the weekend comes on Sunday, when 14-game winners C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett square off. Beckett is coming off a rough outing in Toronto, while Sabathia has given up only three runs in his last 23.2 innings of work. But Beckett gets up for the Yankees every time, going 2-0 in four outings against them in 2009, and there is no way he’ll let the Red Sox get swept at home, especially by their bitter rivals. He’ll save them from an offshore sportsbook sweep.

Perhaps in an effort to increase Orlando’s betting chances, it’s been reported that Rashard Lewis has been suspended for the first 10 games of the season for using DHEA, a multi-functional steroid which has been banned by many leagues, including the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Well, at least we know that NBA players do, in fact, do other drugs outside of smoking weed. The surprise here is that it’s Lewis, who’s never really got in any trouble and would probably be the last person you’d think of if this was an offshore sportsbook prop. It’s supposed to buld muscle, but, um…..have you seen Rashard Lewis lately? Dude’s not exactly Arnold Schwarznegger. He must not be using it right.

We’re betting management of the Magic must be THRILLED over this.

While I know it’s not as exciting as the UFC 101 fight card coming this week (picks coming later in the week), the NBA has released its schedule for the year. Things to watch out for:

October 27 - Shaq makes his Cleveland debut when the Cavaliers host Boston. Some LeBron James guy may show up, and the Celtics will be out to prove they’re not that old yet.

November 11 - Remembrance Day will be easy to remember for NBA fans: Shaq and Cleveland hit Orlando, and it’ll be interesting to see if he has anything to say about Dwight Howard or the “Master of Panic”, Stan Van Gundy, who was busy coaching the Finals while Shaq was off doing something non-basketball related.

December 25 - Five games, but all eyes will be Los Angeles when the Cavs meet the Lakers in a possible betting preview of the NBA Finals. If anyone can remember the last time that a Christmas Day game that didn’t feature either Kobe or Shaq, that would be awesome.

February 18 - Celtics/Lakers…do I even need to talk this up?

March 7 - Lakers/Magic….second meeting of the season between last year’s Finalists, and sportsbook software puts the over/under for amount of “Kobe reflects on the Finals win” segments at five, down from 37 in the first meeting of the year.

April 11 - Magic/Cavs, Trailblazers/Lakers…..good luck making sports picks on this day.

If you bet horses, you know that the Lakers are a thoroughbred that will be near the top of the sportsbook betting list at the beginning of the season, with or without Lamar Odom. That said, things would be a lot easier with him in the fold.

The Lakers apparently pulled their three-year, $27 million offer off the table, and it seems that Odom wants a longer contract, as he knows this is his last chance at a big contract. Odom’s skillset makes him crucial to the Lakers’ chances, as he’s a 6′10″ forward who can score inside and out, can dribble and pass like a guard, and when he wants to, he can take over games. He even accepted his bench role and ran with it, becoming a major player in the Lakers’ title run. Also, with Ron Artest on the team, the Lakers would love to keep Odom around as he’s good friends with Artest (both are from New York), and he could step in if/when things get out of hand between Artest and Kobe Bryant (it’ll happen, go to your handicapping software and book it). Honestly, the Lakers might as well just give it to him, it’s not like he’s asking to get paid more that Mehmet Okur, who got over $10 million from Utah.

Seriously though, Lakers, do it. If you do, I’ll make the Nationals one of my baseball picks next year.