Rise & Grind: Thursday, May 28th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
GPP Roundup – Without any notable industry news, let’s kick things off with some big winners. Notorious and Dinkpiece tied in the DraftKings King of Boston qualifier and will play a H2H to determine who wins the seat. Jnoboa took down the FanDuel Monster, rayofhope won the FD WFBC qualifier, dleepi01 took down the KOTH qualifier, and FlyEaglesFly took down the Payoff Pitch. for the rest of yesterday’s links, or to dive into the details, check out this forum thread.
FIFA Corruption – The international soccer community was rocked yesterday as the United States handed down corruption indictments against 14 different officials. Originally, I was going to make a joke about how the officials who were arrested flopped to the ground and pretended to be hurt. That joke has already been played out on Twitter though. Instead, I set out to learn what caused the corruption. I found this excellent fivethirtyeight article on, How FIFA’s Structure Lends Itself to Corruption. The article explains that every member of FIFA gets one vote and they all count the same. There is no multi-voting here. A country like Brazil has the same amount of say in deciding World Cup host nations as the country of Montserrat. I have to say, I found this system strange. A country with 5,000 people has the same vote as a country with 1.36 Billion. It’s almost like the article is saying that entities with a larger stake in an industry should have more say in the direction it takes. Maybe I’m just reading too far into this. There is probably no lesson to be learned here.
Maxdalury – Okay, you got me. That previous paragraph was an attempt to explain that life isn’t fair. If you are Montserrat, FIFA will allow you to join, but you probably shouldn’t have the same amount of power as Brazil. Yes, Brazil has a massive population advantage in Soccer and Maxdalury has a massive bankroll advantage in DFS. If you are interested in how Maxdalury leveraged that advantage to a $100K payday, check out baseballs’ $1M Payoff Pitch Breakdown.
NBA Playoffs – Speaking of dominance, let’s check in on the NBA Playoffs. On Tuesday, the Cavaliers swept the Hawks out of the Playoffs. Last night, the Warriors eliminated the Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals and advanced to the NBA Finals. After the game, I caught up with Steph Curry Riley Curry to ask how the Warriors did it.
Me: Riley, I gotta be honest, I was really hoping to get Steph’s thoughts. Then you burst into the press conference.
Riley: (giggles)
Me: Whatever, this is fine. Riley, do you have any thoughts on James Harden’s playoff record 13 turnovers?
Riley: Blessed.
Me: What? That has nothing to do with what I asked. This feels like one of those internet arguments where both sides just say whatever they want and ignore the other person. Where have I seen that before?
Checking in With The NFL – With NBA and NHL DFS over, things could get a little slow around here. In order to combat that, let’s check in with the sport that never goes away. What is the NFL up to these days? On Monday, police in California arrested Bears defensive lineman Ray McDonald for the second time in a year on domestic violence charges. The Bears promptly cut McDonald on Tuesday, and he responded by getting arrested again on Wednesday for violating a restraining order. Sounds like he is learning.
In positive news, the NFL has selected the Houston Texans to be featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks series. This obviously means as much J.J. Watt as we can handle, but Watt himself thinks that teammate Ben Jones and his bug-eating antics will steal the show. Personally, I’m more interested in Watt’s take on the hypocrisy of calling out Zach Mettenberger for taking a pregame selfie last year, then spending the entire preseason filming a documentary.
Rankings Update – Before we move on to today’s slate, I need to highlight the status of FanDuel and DraftKings results. Yesterday, SBK posted a thread to let everyone know FD and DK results are caught up. If you are still missing results you can send an email to support@rotogrinders.com but please make sure to read the FAQ first.
On The Menu
MLB Today – NBA ended last night, NHL is over, PGA locked this morning, and the sites stubbornly refuse to add Tennis. That leaves us with just MLB if we want to get our DFS fix in today. If you haven’t looked, today’s MLB slate is also less than satisfying. There are a total of eight games but two of them are a doubleheader between the White Sox and Orioles. Make sure to be very careful when setting your lineups. To determine which game your site has included, you need to look at the listed start time. For example, FanDuel is offering four slates today. If you play the 1:05 ET All-Day slate, you are using players from the 1:05 ET CHW/BAL game between Chris Sale and Tyler Wilson. If you play the 4:05 ET you are using players from the 4:05 ET CHW/BAL game between Beck and Wright. There is also an 8:05 ET slate with six games and then a 10:05 ET slate with five games.
If you are someone who has a specific routine, today may not be the best day for you. GrindersLive will still air at 4:30 ET and 5:30 ET and you can still expect the MLB Grind Down. If you are a “glass half-fulI” type of person, tonight offers an interesting twist. If you are on the West Coast, you get to see what it is like getting ready for the main slate at 7PM local time. If you are on the East Coast, you get to build lineups in peace after putting your two year old and eight month old to bed. Okay, maybe that second one is just me.
Bottom Line – As I said above, your DFS routine is going to get knocked out of whack today. If you find yourself with some extra time, go ahead and get started on NASCAR research. There is an interesting forum discussion already taking place. Last but not least, to commemorate the end of NBA DFS, I leave you with this GIF. Joey Crawford gracefully falling down from Monday’s Warriors/Rockets game. Have a good day everyone, See you tomorrow!