Five truly Canadian bets to make this Canada Day
By JASON LOGAN
I’ve had possibly the most Canadian week ever leading into the July 1 holiday, better known as “Canada Day”.
After subduing the football shakes with a couple bets on Week 1 of the CFL season (underdogs are now a perfect 8-0 ATS the last two opening weeks), I proceeded to injure my ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee and needed a trip to the hospital - a trip that didn’t cost me jack squat since we have kick-ass health care in Canada.
Once my foot felt better, I spent an evening mowing my lawn. And, after finishing up and briefly heading inside to grab an ice-cold Moosehead, I returned to my freshly-coiffed backyard to find a big-ass wild turkey confidently strutting about like Mike Reno, the lead singer for “Loverboy”.
My first instinct, since I’m a red-blooded Canuck, was to find out if it was turkey hunting season. It is not. And my second instinct, since I’m a red-blood Canuck, was to politely ask the turkey to leave – for which I’d immediately apologize for. Sorry.
But my third instinct, and one that speaks to the sports bettor in all of us, was to get that turkey something to eat. I grabbed whatever I thought a turkey would care to snack on and threw it at the big dumb bird. If I feed this turkey all summer long and keep him coming back for more, by the time the fall rolls around (AKA turkey season), he’ll be fatter than a garbage bag full of Tim Horton’s day-olds.
You see: risk a little to get a lot. That’s a gambler’s Holy Grail.
So, after being served a big slice of Canadiana this week, it only seems fitting to return the favor to my fellow sports bettors in the Great White North, and even those of you outside our vast borders. With Canada Day kicking off the weekend Friday, here are my favorite Canadian inspired bets for July 1:
Toronto Blue Jays
When the Red Sox are winning, Boston is buzzing. When the Cubs are cruising, Chicago is jumping. But when the Blue Jays are rolling, the entire nation is losing their frickin’ minds.
Take last season’s incredible second-half run and postseason appearance by Toronto. Jose Bautista’s infamous bat flip against the Rangers actually made Canadian sports fans forget about hockey for a few minutes. If you had immediately lobbied for the silhouette of Bautista barbarically discarding his bat to replace the maple leaf in the middle of the Canadian flag, it would have passed with a unanimous vote.
This Canada Day, the Jays are home to the red-hot Cleveland Indians. Toronto will be sporting their special red attire for the nation’s birthday, giving the nod to Marcus Stroman for the matinee start. The Blue Jays, who are currently -118 favorites, have won the last three July 1 outings and have outscored opponents 23-6 in those games.
CFL
It just doesn’t feel like Canada Day without some three-down football, am I right? It's like seeing Tom Cochrane without a jean jacket on. Last year, July 1 was void of any CFL action but the schedule makers have more than made up for that with a “double double” of Canadian pigskin Friday.
The BC Lions are visiting the Hamilton Ti-Cats, moving from touchdown dogs to 5.5-point pups in the early game. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are on the road facing the Calgary Stampeders later in the day, with Calgary moving from -8.5 to -10.5 – a rare double-digit CFL favorite.
Parity is the name of the game in the Canadian Football League. Last season, there were only five double-digit spreads all year, with those big faves going 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS. The Stamps were responsible for two of those double-digit covers.
Wimbledon tennis
Both Canadian tennis stars, Milos Raonic on the men’s side and Eugenie Bouchard on the women’s, have advanced to the third round at the All England Club.
Bouchard, seeded 16th, faces 19th-seed Dominika Cibulkova next, with oddsmakers setting Genie as a +133 underdog despite defeating Cibulkova in both of their career meetings, including earlier this year at the Hobart Open. You can be sure that Covers' own Andrew “Taco” Caley will have a ticket on Bouchard, to go with his creepy shrine to Canada’s resident tennis goddess.
Raonic, who has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon, takes on American Jack Sock in the third round. Books have the Thornhill, Ontario native priced at -720 to advance. If swallowing that amount of juice feels like chugging a warm can of Labatt Maximum Ice (or even an ice-cold Maximum Ice... yuck), then perhaps you can cool down the vig by taking Milos at -103 to win in three straight sets.
MLS soccer
Is the quality of the Euro Cup just too good for you to wager on? Do you need a watered-down version of the beautiful game in which you know none of the players, nor did you realize half of the teams in the league even existed? Major League Soccer is begging you to bet on it. No, really. It is. On both knees.
There are three Canadian clubs in the MLS: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. And according to our standings, none of them are really great – and none of them actually play on the Canada Day holiday.
However, Montreal hosts New England Saturday, as a +117 favorite in the three-way betting, and Toronto takes on visiting Seattle as a -139 three-way fave to win. Say what you want about the quality of the play, but I’ve heard it’s quite the party in the stands for a MLS game. Throw a long-weekend rager in the middle of those wagers, and I’m sold!
NHL futures
Hockey fans from East to West were extremely pissed off Wednesday when two massive trades by Canadian NHL clubs left puck faithful scratching their heads in Montreal and Edmonton. You would have thought they were outlawing the use of Muskoka chairs at the end of lake-view docks with the way Canadians (and Canadiens) were losing their shit.
Montreal dealt face of the franchise P.K. Subban to Nashville for fellow blueliner Shea Weber, while Edmonton packed up leading scorer Taylor Hall and sent him to New Jersey for defenseman Adam Larsson.
I have friends in both camps and let me tell you, Facebook was not a pretty place once those guys vented their frustrations. If anything fellas, you can get the Habs and Oilers at juicy odds to win the Stanley Cup next year with Montreal going off at +2,500 and Edmonton at +5,500.
