Examining How The Euro2016 Betting Odds Have Shifted

I first looked at Bovada's odds for winning, advancing, and scoring goals a week ago yesterday. After lots of research (maybe not "lots" but you know how I do things), here is the bet slip I decided on as of May 31st:

• France to win the tournament +325
• Parlay France and Germany to win their groups -135
• Top tournament goalscorer:
• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal +800
• Graziano Pelle, Italy +3300
• Danny Welbeck, England +5000
• Thomas Muller, Germany +700
• Paco Alcacer, Spain +2500

As the tournament kickoff date approaches, I wanted to see how the betting landscape had shifted based on the bets people were placing. Here's the biggest changes:

To Win The Tournament

Biggest winner: France (+325 to +300)

The French had been tied with the Germans at +325 co-favorites, but they've taken enough action to push the lines to +300/+450. I don't think my blog analysis had anything to do with the lines moving that much, but I do think my logic was the cause of the shift. 

Biggest loser: Italy (+1400 to +1600)

Not only did Italy's odds become a little longer, but Portugal moving from +2000 to +1600 means the Italians and Portugese are now tied. My analysis of that: neither of these teams has a chance of winning. 

Top Tournament Goal Scorer

Biggest winners: 

• Alvaro Morata, Spain (+2000 to +1800)
• Mario Gomez, Germany (+3300 to +2500)
• Jamie Vardy, England (+3300 to +2800)
• Mario Mandzukic, Croatia (+3300 to +2800)

There isn't a clear-cut winner, because the board is still topped by Muller, Ronaldo, Griezmann, and then the Giroud/Lewandoski/Kane trio. But Morata and Gomez made fairly significant moves, and those two are certainly worth a look if you're betting France and looking to hedge with the Top Goalscorer prop. 

Biggest losers: 

• Daniel Sturridge, England (+4000 to +5000)
• Andre Schurrle, Germany (+5000 to +8000)
• David Silva, Spain (+5000 to +8000)
• Christian Benteke, Belgium (+5000 to +8000)
• Pedro, Spain (+5000 to +10000)
• People who bet on players who are not actually going to play like Paco Alcacer and Danny Welbeck

Nobody was a bigger loser than the idiot who told people to bet on Alcacer and Welbeck as decent long shots before we got confirmation that they were participating in the tournament. But Pedro was close, because for some reason he took the standard 5000-to-8000 drop and decided to fall even further down the board to 100/1. 

To Win Groups A and C

France and Germany were the runaway favorites in their groups, at -325 and -300 respectively, so we parlayed them at -135. 

Those three figures are now -350, -300, and -141. 

The Revised Bet Slip

France to win the tournament +300

Parlay France and Germany to win their groups -141

Top tournament goalscorer

• Ronaldo, Portugal +800
• Pelle, Italy +3300
• Gomez, Germany +2500
• Morata, Spain +1800

RIP Kimbo Slice

If you're out of high school but not yet old enough to be a parent, chances are you grew up - at least a little bit - with Kimbo Slice's street fight videos. For a sheltered suburban kid, these videos were almost surreal. This actually happened in someone's backyard (try not to fall down the rabbit hole on Youtube):



And, of course, here's my favorite of his videos:


Last night, sadly, we learned that complications from a heart condition ended his life at age 42. Though I'm sure the public response won't be quite as glowing as it was for Muhammad Ali, I imagine there will be more than a few old Kimbo stories that get told over the next few days.

I wanted to learn about how this whole Street Fight/Money Talks thing developed. So I headed over to Wikipedia, and I'll give you the summary in bullet form:

• Kimbo Slice's real name is Kevin Ferguson
• He was born in the Bahamas (on February 8, 1974) but grew up in Florida
• His childhood house was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and his family lived in their car for a month until it was rebuilt
• He sort of played football for Bethune-Cookman and the University of Miami
• He also sort of tried out for the Dolphins in 1997
• Kimbo bounced at a strip club, then was a bodyguard/driver for the guys behind Reality Kings
• He was arrested and charged for carrying a concealed weapon in 2002
• In 2003, the first street fight video was released
• By 2005, he was training for mixed martial arts fights
• He had a 7-0 record in his boxing career, and a 5-2-1 record in his MMA career
• His two most important IMDb entries are "Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh" and "The Scorpion King 3"
• He is survived by three daughters, three sons, and his fiancee

At the risk of being insensitive, here are pictures of Kimbo's two big acting roles:

Flyers Offseason Wish List: Tyson Barrie

If we can learn anything from the teams that made deep runs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, you NEED a legit, Norris candidate, minute munching, two-way, number one defenseman. Burns, Letang, Hedman, and Pietrangelo were largely the reason their four teams made it to the conference finals.

The Flyers, currently, do not have anyone of that caliber. Gostisbehere, as much as we love him, still requires some shelter to properly succeed. Streit is very old. Del Zotto is probably as close as we can currently get to a "number one" - but he's certainly a step below The Elite.

Perhaps Ivan Provorov or Travis Sanheim will develop an excellent well-rounded game and fill that need in 3-5 years. But it's tough to say that they will for sure, and I think we should start looking at other potential number one defenders just to be safe.

Enter Tyson Barrie.

The 24-year old (he turns 25 next month) right-hander is a restricted free agent this summer, and is surely due a raise from his old 2 year/$5.2 million contract. He scored 13 goals and 36 assists this season in Colorado, bringing his NHL career totals to 40 goals and 113 assists for 153 points in 264 games.

And, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie, he's going to be on the move this summer. "I think he’s going to be looking for a sum of money that Colorado doesn’t feel comfortable in giving him. Therefore I think they’re looking for somebody who – looking for a different type of defenseman maybe, or one that’s not going to cost them as much money."

Obviously, there isn't going to be a shortage of suitors for Barrie, and the Avs will probably reel in a haul that surpasses what the Bruins got for Dougie Hamilton last summer. That was picks 15, 45, and 52. 

If I'm Patrick Roy, I'm looking for an old first round pick that's close in age to the Duchene/Landeskog/MacKinnon core (they're 20-25) and maybe just needs a change of scenery, plus a second round pick, plus a roster player that can fill a role on defense. We'll have to see what he ends up fetching, but we can dream. 

Let's look at some possibilities:

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are the hot team in basically every trade rumor this summer because they stink and they have a lot of assets. They're looking for a defenseman, and Barrie would fit into that team well (on paper, in July, and then the whole team will stink during the actual season because Oilers). How could Roy turn down a package centered around Former First Overall Pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins And The Fourth Overall Pick In This Year's Draft?

Well, here's how. The Avs have both of their top-six centers (Duchene and MacKinnon), and paying $6 million for a third offensive center is a recipe for mediocrity in the NHL. They'd be giving up a crucial piece of any competitive NHL team (that elusive number one d-man) for a redundant piece. Essentially, they'd turn themselves into the Oilers. 

Buffalo Sabres

Another team that's rebuilding and looking to add young talent is the Sabres, who could put together a package that might entire Roy more than "let's turn the Avs into the Oilers." However, it's going to require a major decision to be made in Buffalo. 

If, and this is a humongous if, the Sabres decide that now is the time to turn their core into a competitive one, they should dump a bunch of draft picks and add Barrie into the mix. That'd leave Buffalo with an under-26 core of:

• Forwards: Tyler Ennis (26), Ryan O'Reilly (25), Evander Kane (24), Sam Reinhart (20), Hudson Fasching (20), and Jack Eichel (19)
• Defensemen: Zach Bogosian (25), Tyson Barrie (24), Rasmus Ristolainen (21)
• Goalies: Robin Lehner (24), Linus Ullmark (22)

Buffalo has the 8th and 38th picks in this year's draft, plus four third round picks and six picks in the final four rounds.  

Philadelphia Flyers

And now, let's get to the whole reason I posted this blog. The Flyers could certainly use Barrie, but I don't know if they could return enough to be competitive in the trade market. Here's the assets they could stand to lose for a player like Barrie:

• The 18th overall pick in the draft
• Two 2nd round picks, two 3rd round picks, one 4th round pick, one 5th round pick, two 6th round picks, one 7th round pick
• Forwards: Scott Laughton, Matt Read, Petr Straka, Jordan Weal
• Defensemen: Mark Streit, Nick Schultz, Andrew MacDonald
• LOL
• Actual Defensemen: Radko Gudas, Robert Hagg, Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim

I'm hesitant to include Sanheim but his potential is probably Barrie, and I always like to space out the top-end talent so they aren't all the same age. The Flyers could end up with this group:

• Older Forwards (age 26-29): Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Raffl, Read, White
• Older Defensemen (age 24-26): Gudas, Del Zotto, Barrie, Manning
• Younger Forwards (20-24): Schenn, Couturier, Laughton, Cousins, Konecny, Leier, Aube-Kubel
• Younger Defensemen (age 19-23): Gostisbehere, Provorov, Sanheim, Hagg, Morin, Myers

Of course, that would require losing some pieces from the end of the some of the groups, but that's a hell of a core to build around. 

Let's get into it and figure out how we can make Barrie-to-Philly happen. Please excuse me while I put on my best pair on Ron Hextall Glasses.

Philadelphia receives: D Tyson Barrie

Colorado receives: D Radko Gudas, pick #18 in this year's draft, Robert Hagg

The Flyers get their guy and upgrade on defense. The Avs return "a different type of defensemen, or one that's not going to cost them as much money" plus they get to add a first-round pick and a prospect who is in desperate need of a change of scenery. They'll also get to use their own first round pick (#10) to add another big-name blueline prospect. 

Can We Get Him?

If Buffalo opens up their treasure trove of picks or Edmonton puts RNH on the table, then no. The Flyers would have to give up too much to match an offer like that. Even losing Gudas might be too much, because Barrie is going to command a contract that pays him about twice what Gudas makes. 

My final verdict: I don't think Ron Hextall, as wizardly as he is, can make this work for the Flyers. I want the Sabres to snatch him up. 

NBA Finals Game One Player Props

Series Prices: Cavaliers +170, Warriors -200

Cavs road to the Finals:

• Beat Detroit 4-0 (average score 103.5 to 95.0)
• Beat Atlanta 4-0 (average score 112.0 to 99.5)
• Beat Toronto 4-2 (average 113.0 to 84.5 in wins, 91.5 to 102.0 in losses)
• Overall average margin of victory: +16.5 in wins, +12.5 overall

Lebron is averaging 24.6 points in the postseason and has pretty much been solid in every game. His primary supporting cast (Kyrie, Love, and JR Smith) have supported him in some combination every night. That trio is averaging 24.3, 17.3, and 12.0 points per game.

If three of the four have good nights, the Cavs haven't had a problem at all. The issue arose in games 3 and 4 against Toronto, which are currently their only two playoff losses. Two of the Cav's three primary support guys were cold, at least by their standards (Love and Kyrie in Game 3, then Love and Smith in Game 4).

Warriors road to the Finals:

• Beat Houston 4-1 (average 113.5 to 89.8 in wins, lost 97-96)
• Beat Portland 4-1 (average 121.3 to 112.8 in wins, lost 120-108)
• Beat Oklahoma City 4-3 (average 110.5 to 97.8 in wins and 100.3 to 119.7 in losses)
• Overall margin of victory: +15,0 in wins, +6.4 overall

Steph and Klay are averaging 26.7 and 26.2 points each. Obviously, the best-shooting backcourt in history isn't having a problem filling up the scoresheet. 

If they have an easy weakness to spot, it's that their leading rebounder (Draymond Green) is 6'7" and the only other big man who plays more than ten minutes a night is Andrew Bogut, who averages 6.5 rebounds in just 18 minutes per game. 

The Cavs frontcourt, of course, is made up of Love (6'10", 9.6 rebounds per game), James (6'8", 8.6 rpg), Tristan Thompson (6'9", 8.4 rpg). For me, the Finals boils down to one question: can the Warriors hit enough shots to overcome Cleveland's presumed advantage on the boards? Vegas seems to think they can, and they seem to think that pretty aggressively. 

Game One, Tonight at 9:00, at Golden State

Point Spread: Warriors -6

For the Warriors to cover, they'd have to dominate this game like they have dominated almost all of their wins in the playoffs.

The -6 confuses me though, because the Dubs have pretty much been winning by double digits and losing by getting their doors blown off. Does -6 mean Vegas is swaying toward a doube-digit victory or toward the Cavs winning game one? I'm having a hard time reading it.

Over/Under 211 Total Points

From the Golden State side, this isn't helpful. Either the Warriors will win big and the game will go over, or they will lose big and the game will go over. To be fair, games 6 and 7 against the Thunder both would have stayed under.

The average Cavs game, however, is way below that 211 number. Their only games all postseason that would have gone over were games 2 and 3 against the Hawks. To piggyback on what we mentioned before, they've been controlling the glass and controlling the pace.

So, in my mind, the O/U being set this high favors Golden State.

The Bet: Tease Golden State -1.5 & Over 206.5

Teasers are the best, and this gives us a little bit of breathing room on the Warriors and the over. I think I would feel confident betting both/either of the normal lines, but teasing always kind of seems to just draw me in.

(Editor's note: I will try to update this with some player props when they are released this afternoon.)

Let's Fix MTV's The Challenge

Following last night's episode of The Challenge (and, really, the majority of the first five episodes this season), it's clear that we need to fix something with our favorite reality TV show.

A competition that once relied on displays of brute force and steroids has turned into a bunch of girls acting like your girlfriend when she's too drunk and starts fights for no reason.

Barstool's The Challenge podcast that was taped after last night's episode laid out some ways for MTV to fix things:

For the night owlshttps://t.co/1RadidYk5n

— No Quitters Podcast (@NoQuittersPod) June 2, 2016

Step 1: The Format Of The Next Season

Real World vs. Are You The One is the easy choice. It's been laid out already this season via several fights (on the show and on Twitter), and there's no reason to not grab this low-hanging fruit.

There is a team made up of people who initially came into the mix via The Real World, and another team made up of people from the first four seasons of Are You The One. Rivals III, like the seasons before it, has 14 guys and 14 girls competing. That means we need 7 guys and 7 girls from each feeder show.

Each episode of our new Challenge, there is a team challenge to decide who is going into elimination. As per Challenge guidelines, we will alternate weekly between male and female eliminations. The losing team has to vote in one of its members to face off in The Jungle/The Desert/The Dungeon/Whatever, and the winning team will vote in another member from the losing team. Whoever loses goes home, and whoever wins returns to their team.

At some point, like every Survivor season ever, we'll have to combine the teams and/or turn it into a single-player competition. We'll figure that out later; let's keep it big picture for now.

Step 2: The Real World Pre-Show Web Series

I'm not going to take any sort of credit for this at all because it's taken word-for-word from Jack in the podcast above.

We're going to follow Johnny Bananas around the country as he recruits 13 of America's favorite challenge competitors to build a super team of meatheads and drunk girls.

Off the top of my head, if I had to pick 7 guys I would go with Bananas, CT, Wes, Kenny, Jordan, Johnny Reilly, and Tony. Feel free to disagree with any of them, but those seven are the correct answer.

Step 3: The Are You The One Team

This is where I can actively contribute to the discussion. I've watched the first three season of AYTO, and I will be watching the fourth when it premieres on Monday June 13th.

There are dozens of guys to choose from to fill out the 7-man Real World roster, but through three seasons we have a pretty limited pool for Team AYTO. The big issue is the lack of meatheads - instead of the classic roided-up guys from the old Challenges, we get goddamn millennials like Nate and Devin.

Here's who I'd consider for a good throwback Challenge competition:

Season One

• Adam - You might remember him from The Challenge: Battle Of The Exes II, when he and Brittany made some noise as rookies. He's big and athletic enough to handle his own, and his already-created semi-romance with Brittany can fill up an episode of drama for the producers. For what it's worth, even though I'm not putting together any of the girls for this show, Brittany would 100% make my team. 

If I remember correctly, Adam & Brittany won a date here and then fought the whole time

Season Two

• Anthony - Sorry to add a new face into the mix, but Anthony was enjoyable to watch on AYTO. He also shows signs of being the guy that gets angry and that's always a good contribution to any Challenge. 
• Dario - Everyone's favorite meathead-but-not-really-a-meathead twin is obviously getting the invite. 
• Garland - I'm not a racist, we need at least one brother on this team. 
• Layton - I really have no idea why they didn't pay Layton whatever he wanted to be on Rivals with either Anthony or Dario. There was one episode where I legitimately thought the producers were going to need restraints to keep him from committing a murder. Layton is a huge dude, played baseball at Ole Miss, and is the only AYTO cast member that I wouldn't hesitate to put head-to-head against The Old Heads of The Challenge. 

Everyone say hello to Layton (and Anthony, who's getting berated)

Season Three

• Connor - He's like half a step below Layton, but only because he is a much more relaxed person. I can't remember him ever snapping or going into a fit of rage, but all the physical tools are there (by that I mean he's huge and he lifts weights). 
• Hunter - The token good old southern boy who grew up on a farm throwing bales of hay into his truck. He might be a little too nice for the Challenge, and he's definitely going to get his mind turned into a pretzel by Wes and Bananas. 
• Mike - The big issue with including Mike is you know the producers would find a way to include Amanda on this RW-AYTO season. They were together throughout their season of AYTO, and she got under his skin so much that he did what everyone who watches her wants to do and pushed her on her ass. Amanda, of course, immediately went from Aggressor Mode to Victim Mode and ruined Mike's whole day. I can't imagine Mike would say yes if he knew Amanda was going to be around, which is sad because he's probably a solid competitor. 
• Kiki - I know I said we weren't doing girls, but I need more Kiki on my television. 

For a discount on your @TeaMiBlends use code KIKI10 ❤️🤑 pic.twitter.com/X92Ulp98qj

— Kiki Cooper (@KikiMTV) May 18, 2016

Keeping my @TeaMiBlends skinny tea by my side so I look good in Cancun on Friday! For a discount use code KIKI10 👙☕️ pic.twitter.com/yQ2upNeK2s

— Kiki Cooper (@KikiMTV) April 19, 2016

Today I participated in the @Hooters Valentine's Day promotion #ShredYourEx Sorry @MTVbigD 😘 pic.twitter.com/rxnbwvCW09

— Kiki Cooper (@KikiMTV) February 14, 2016

For TODAY ONLY use code KIKI20 for 20% off any purchase! #teatox #teamiblends #thankyouteami #teami @TeaMiBlends pic.twitter.com/dvy8ysyTSu

— Kiki Cooper (@KikiMTV) November 11, 2015

@MTVbigD #nevergiveuponlove #ayto #bigdandkiki pic.twitter.com/hshzawsIfX

— Kiki Cooper (@KikiMTV) September 2, 2015

Season Four

This is obviously a little tough to predict because we haven't actually seen anything with these people yet but here's who I think might fall into our Challenge pool based on their bios on MTV.com:

• Asaf - I think he's a cologne model because the dude is (1) shredded (2) from Israel and (3) wearing a bathing suit that is smaller than any underwear that I own. 
• Cam - They describe him as a 6'8" cowboy, but I'm not sold on him having the edge we're looking for to Make The Challenge Great Again. 
• John (or John Connor, or JCH) - The first seven words of his bio are "A true alpha male to the core" and they describe him and "tough and intense." That should work. 
• Sam - Flowing blonde hair on a former college football player is a welcome addition to any team of any kind. Sam is also #TeamPonytail which is pretty cool in my opinion. 

Step 4: The Challenge Season 29: RW vs. AYTO

And now, everything is fixed.

ESPN Released The "World Fame 100"

Source "5.31.2016 - It started off with a simple question: Who's the most famous athlete in the world? Ben Alamar, ESPN's director of sports analytics, devised a formula that combines salary and endorsements with social media following and Google search popularity to create the ESPN World Fame 100 rankings."

That's the whole premise; that's what makes athletes famous nowadays:

• Salary
• Endorsements
• Social media following
• Google search popularity

That just about sums it up. And, when we look at the entire global athletic population, the guys we talk about the most in our corner (for me, that's Philadelphia and Hockey) seem pretty insignificant. 

Group 1: Soccer Players

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

3. Lionel Messi

4. Neymar

9. James Rodriguez

12. Gareth Bale

17. Wayne Rooney

19. Mesut Ozil

21. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

22. Luis Suarez

24. Sergio Aguero

27. Radamel Falcao

28. Cesc Fabregas

42. Eden Hazard

62. Frank Lampard

86. Yaya Toure

96. Tim Howard

It's a soccer-heavy day for me here at the Bullets Blog, so let's jump right into the list with the jogo bonito. And boy, it really is the world's sport. Three of the top four. Six of the top twenty. Eleven of the top thirty. And we even got an American! (We might have even gotten two, depending on what you want to make of Frank Lampard.)

If soccer has an issue, it's that the Continental tournament match (Euros, Copa America, etc.) separates this group into two tournaments and then doesn't combine them all. I'd love to see the Euro winner and runner-up play a round robin against their American counterparts. 

Group 1a: Female Soccer Players

55. Alex Morgan

It's time to ask the difficult question: is ESPN's Ben Alamar a sexist? I mean he included SIXTEEN men on this list and only one beautiful, perfect, amazing woman. So what if the men all make more money and have more athletic ability? This is America, and we demand equal treatment for our inferior groups of people! 

Group 2: People I Have Never Heard Of

This is what I was really excited to look into. There are so many sports that are followed by millions (or billions?) of people that I just don't care about at all. These guys and gals all make more money than anyone I will ever meet in my life, and I just learned about them because of this dickhead formula that ESPN posted in between NBA Finals previews. 

8. Virat Kohli

Age: 27
Gender: Male 

Nationality: Indian

Sport: Cricket

Earnings: $7.1 million last year, $20 million net worth

Fun Fact: He is the partial owner of a chain of gyms and fitness centers named Chisel. That's not a joke. His gyms are named Chisel. 

14. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Age: 34
Gender: Male

Nationality: Indian

Sport: Cricket

Earnings: $31 million last year, $30 million net worth*

(*Note: obviously this makes no sense, but this is what happens when you read an internet blog about the marketability of Indian cricket players.)

Fun Fact: He is the captain of the Indian national cricket team, which basically means he's India's Sidney Crosby or America's Tom Brady if we had an American national football team. 

41. Sania Mirza

Age: 29
Gender: Female

Nationality: Indian

Sport: Tennis

Earnings: $3 million last year, $25 million net worth

Fun Facts: She was ranked as high as #27 in the world in Singles, then hurt her wrist (no word on how she did that) and now she's ranked #1 in the world in Doubles. Isis hates her on-court attire because it's too slutty for their religious extremist beliefs. Her first wedding was called off altogether, and he second happened under protest from a woman who claimed she was already married to the man that Sania was attempting to marry. India, man. 

47. Kei Nishikori

Age: 26
Gender: Male

Nationality: Japanese

Sport: Tennis

Earnings: $10.5 million last year, $32 million net worth

Fun Fact: He is the only male Japanese tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10 in ATP Singles Ranking. he has never won any of the four Grand Slams. He faced some controversy for saying he used one racket, even though some experts thought it was a different racket with a special paint job used to make it look like the first racket. 

59. Lewis Hamilton

Age: 31
Gender: Male

Nationality: British

Sport: Formula One

Earnings: $39 million last year, $200 million net worth

Fun Fact: I actually had heard of him before because I just watched him win the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. And I heard the announcer say that he just recently signed a 3 year, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLAR contract to drive a car as fast as he possibly can and party his nuts off. He might be a fair way below the big names on this ESPN list, but make no mistake: Lewis Hamilton absolutely lives the life that everyone wants to live. 

75. Fernando Alonso

Age: 34
Gender: Male

Nationality: Spanish

Sport: Forumla One

Earnings: $35.5 million last year, $40 million net worth

Fun Fact: He's like the slightly less cool Lewis Hamilton. He's a little older, a little less good at driving cars, and a little less filthy rich. When he moved from Switzerland back to Spain to be closer to his family, his tax bill shot up by £50 million. 

81. Lydia Ko

Age: 19
Gender: Female

Nationality: South Korean/New Zealander

Sport: Golf

Earnings: $1.1 million this year, $6 million career, $7.5 million net worth

Fun Fact: Move over, Michelle Wie! There is another Asian chick on the golf circuit! 

97. Kimi "The Ice Man" Raikkonen

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Nationality: Finnish

Sport: Formula One

Earnings: $27 million last year, $180 million net worth

Fun Fact: I mean if "The Ice Man" isn't fun enough for you then I don't know what else could possibly push it over the top. 

I hope you learned some new fun facts today. I'm off to go learn how to become a Formula One driver because Holy Fucking Christ those guys make a lot of money. 

Euro 2016: Get To Know Team France

The bet is in. We are on France +325 to win the Euro Cup this year.

That came after a lot of analysis that basically boils down to two points:

1. France and Germany are the co-favorites, and Germany's probably inflated a bit because of their recent success.
2. The French squad has the most players with 50/1 odds or less to lead the tournament in goals scored.

Bang, that's a recipe for a good bet. The big issue is we don't really know anyone on Team France. So let's change that and make our Euro-watching experience even more enjoyable. 

Best Odds To Lead The Tournament In Goals

We briefly mentioned these four yesterday in our tournament preview post, but we'll go a little more in detail so that we feel like we know them all personally. Because they all play up top, obviously they won't all be contributing significantly. But I'd imagine that at least two of these four forwards will be toward the top of the tournament leaderboard in goals.

Antoine Greizmann, Forward (+900)
Age: 25
Club: Atletico Madrid
Fun Facts: He won the public vote to be on the cover of FIFA 16 in France with Lionel Messi. He has a daughter named Mia, who may or may not be named after the Fast & Furious character.

Olivier Giroud, Striker (+1400)
Age: 29
Club: Arsenal
Fun Facts: He did not play any matches with the France junior national teams but has been regularly selected for the senior team since 2011. He has a tattoo with a verse from Psalm 23 on his arm, but he also cheated on his wife with an Instagram model.

Anthony Martial, Forward (+2000)
Age: 20
Club: Manchester United
Fun Facts: He just moved to the Premier League this past September, in a move that fetched a transfer fee of  £36 million. He scored four goals in his first four matches for ManU and finished with 17 goals in 49 matches in all competitions.

Andre-Pierre Gignac, Striker (+3300)
Age: 30
Club: Los Tigres UANL
Fun Facts: He goes by the nickname Dede, which I believe is pronounced day-day (but might also be dee-dee). He played 11 seasons in France before retiring to Mexico, where he led the league in goals this year and earned $45 million (Mexican).

Old Heads - Midfielders & Defenders

You know and love (or hate) all of these guys already. Every one of them has been playing professionally for 10+ years, and nearly all of them played at some point in the Premier League. They don't need much introduction, but here they are anyway.

Yohan Cabaye, Midfielder
Age: 30
Club: Crystal Palace
Fun Fact: He is of Vietnamese descent and has stated he would like to continue to grow the game of futbol in Vietnam. Last year, he signed a contract to play for £65,000 per week with Palace, who are not located in Vietnam.

Blaise Matuidi, Midfielder
Age: 29
Club: PSG
Fun Fact: Bleacher Report called him a "fierce and strong tackler" three years ago, so expect some highlight-reel hit-stickery from him.

Dimitri Payet, Attacking Midfielder
Age: 29
Club: West Ham
Fun Fact: In 2007, the British license plate WE57 HAM sold for £57,000.

Patrice Evra, Left Back
Age: 35
Club: Juventus
Fun Facts: He was born in Senegal but plays for France. He played his first professional match in 1998, when Anthony Martial was two years old.

Laurent Koscienly, Center Back
Age: 30
Club: Arsenal
Fun Fact: He could have opted to play for Poland instead of France, but he did not because - common theme here - France is better than Poland.

Adil Rami, Center Back
Age: 30
Club: Sevilla
Fun Facts: He is nicknamed "Shrek". His parents are actually Moroccan but he plays internationally for France because they are better than Morocco.

Bacary Sagna, Right Back
Age: 33
Club: Manchester City
Fun Fact: He has the coolest hair on the whole team, as long as you think "cool" means "bleached dreadlocks" instead of actual cool hair styles.

The Oldest Of The Heads

Hugo Lloris, Goalkeeper
Age: 29
Club: Tottenham Hotspur
Fun Fact: ESPN once said that he "commands his box well" which is just an incredible quote. From 1997 to 2008, he played for Nice, which may or may not be related to the box comment.

Young Bucks - Midfielders & Defenders

The younger generation of French football - led by Martial and a few of the players to follow - are not as well-known as the guys we've been watching for a decade. But there is a lot of talent that should come off the bench for Coach Didier Deschamps; let's get to know them.

Paul Pogba, Midfielder
Age: 23
Club: Juventus
Fun Fact: He's not really a young buck, because he's established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world (he led Serie A in assists last year).

N'Golo Kante, Midfielder
Age: 25
Club: Leicester City
Fun Facts: Sort of the opposite of Pogba, he's a young buck in that this is his first selection for the French national team. Also, if you didn't hear, Leicester were a very heavy underdog to win the Premier League this year AND THEY WON IT.

Samuel Umtiti, Left Back/Center Back
Age: 22
Club: Lyon
Fun Fact: Since 2001, the only teams he's played for are Lyon and France, which seems rare for players of this caliber.

Lucas Digne, Left Back/Left Midfielder
Age: 22
Club: PSG/Roma
Fun Fact: He shares a birthday with the chick who plays Alicia Clark on Fear The Walking Dead. Sorry, fun facts were scarce for him.

Kingsley Coman, Winger
Age: 19
Club: Juventus/Bayern Munich
Fun Fact: He won Serie A and the Coppa Italia in his first professional season, and then won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in his second season. The kid is a winner, plain and simple. Except for the goddamn rat tail, that's a big time loser move.