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Woo hoo! We can bet on football again!
Football is back, baby! Well, sort of. The NFL preseason gets underway on Thursday night with the annual Hall of Fame Game, and although no starters will be suiting up for the Chicago Bears or Houston Texans, we finally have football back in our lives. We'll take anything we can get at this point.
Here's how we're attacking the Hall of Fame Game.
Betting angles for the Hall of Fame Game
First half over 15.5 (-110 Bet365)
Unders normally crush early in the preseason, but we're expecting a quicker start from the Bears and Texans with competent quarterbacks under center.
Houston will be rolling with Davis Mills for possibly the entire first half. Mills started nearly a full season for the Texans in 2022, and he's still an above-average NFL backup. The Bears will start Tyson Bagent, who started four games as a rookie and played well in relief of Justin Fields. Bagent is a dangerous scrambler, which should come in handy while playing with an offensive line and receiving corps made up of backups.
This line should be more than half the game total of 31, so we like the over here.
Bears +1.5 (-105 FanDuel)
Uncertainty can be your friend in the sports betting world. We don't know exactly what head coaches will do in the preseason, but neither do the sportsbooks. The Bears opened as short favorites in the Hall of Fame Game, but the line has flipped to Chicago +1.5 due to the report that Mills was going to play "extensively" in the game. We'll gladly play against that line move in what's essentially a coin-flip game.
In the news ...
Katie Ledecky wins eighth Olympic gold medal — There still isn't anyone who can keep up with Ledecky in long-distance races. On Wednesday, the American cruised to a win in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle to secure her eighth career Olympic gold medal. Ledecky has now won 12 medals in her Olympic career, putting her in a tie with Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most in female swimming history. The 27-year-old will try for history in the 800-meter freestyle on Friday, where she's a massive -470 favorite to win gold.
Joel Embiid doesn't play in Team USA's victory against South Sudan — Embiid's fit with Team USA has been questioned over the last few weeks, and head coach Steve Kerr decided to keep him on the bench for the entirety of Wednesday's 103-86 win against South Sudan. Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton were both held out of the first matchup against Serbia, so Kerr's substitution pattern is clearly going to differ depending on the matchup. Embiid is expected to rejoin the starting lineup for Saturday's bout against Puerto Rico. The Americans are 32.5-point favorites in what should be a lopsided affair.
Hideki Matsuyama sets pace with 8-under 63 at Paris Olympics — The men's golf competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics got underway on Thursday morning, and Matsuyama is in control early on. The Japanese star fired an 8-under 63 in the first round from Le Golf National to take the outright lead. Xander Schauffele (-6), Joaquin Niemann (-5), Scottie Scheffler (-4), Tommy Fleetwood (-4) and Jon Rahm (-4) are all in contention after Round 1. Schauffele is the live betting favorite at +330 to win.
Today's Bark Bets is written by Jack Dougherty
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