How have the betting odds shifted for the Carolina Hurricanes?

This is the Adam Gold Show. So, in halftime entertainment, Dennis brought to our attention that Kirstie Alley passed away.

That happened yesterday. Earlier today, long time legendary fight referee Mills Lane passed away at age 85. One of the greatest fight referees of all time.

I don't even know how you would rank them, but I do know somebody who knows more about it than anybody I know. Bill Clancy himself, a fight referee, joins us on the Adam Gold Show at my go-to for anything boxing. And I appreciate your time. I know this is a tough time, I think, for anybody in this business because I'm sure Mills Lane touched everybody. So just real quick, your memories of Mills Lane before we get into some other things about his career. Well, great man, hell of a referee. I was lucky enough to take two referee seminars from him over the years.

That's known very, very well. And what you saw in the ring is exactly the way he was in person. No nonsense, didn't take any crap from anybody. Little 5'7", 147-pound rocket, man. It didn't matter how big the guys were, they respected him. A lot of people missing this guy, man. He's a good guy.

I think he had a stroke probably around 20 years ago and basically had to stop refereeing. What makes a great referee? There's a couple different things. Good judgment is the biggest thing. You've got to have great judgment. That's a pretty broad statement, but you either have good judgment in the ring or you don't. It's something you can't teach, that's for sure. Good judgment, that's the key. That's what's always preached in seminars. It's what I was brought up on.

Like I said, you either got it or you don't. Bill Clancy is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Other than the seminars you took from Mills Lane, how else did your paths cross and what made him a great man? I know he did some other things. He had a goofy TV show, like he was Judge Judy, but what made Mills Lane such a great man?

He was fair. Not too many people know. Some people do know, but he was a circuit court judge in Reno, Nevada. He had a nickname, Maximum Mills.

The reason he got that nickname, if you went in front of him and you were a criminal and you were found guilty, he was going to give you the max sentence every time. I remember him telling me this story. I asked him because you're supposed to dress a certain way in the ring. He's teaching a seminar and he's telling us how to dress. I didn't want to say anything in front of anybody. I waited until we were on break and I said, Mills, can I ask you a question?

He said, you can ask me anything. I said, I understand how we're supposed to dress. I said, you're not supposed to wear a belt in the ring if you can't help it. I said, but you always wear a belt and you wear a brown belt, which is totally contrast to what we're taught to wear.

I said, why do you wear that brown leather belt with the big leather buckle? He said, let me tell you a story. He tells me this story about how this guy came in front of him for a triple murder. He came in front of Mills and the evidence was overwhelming that he did it. He expressed remorse for his crime and Mills said, I really appreciated him accepting responsibility for taking the lives of three people.

He said, I sentenced him to three concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole. That's a great story. I said, what the hell has that got to do with your belt? He said, while he was in prison, the guy had obviously too much time on his hands and he took up leather working and he made that belt for Mills. He sent it to Mills and he said, you were more than fair to me in the courtroom. I accept responsibility.

I'll never get out of this jail. Would you do me the honor of wearing this belt during one of your fights? He said, he was so taken back by that, that he wore that belt and he always wore it from that point on.

I thought that was a pretty cool story and especially how it came about. He was fair in the courtroom. He was fair in the ring. He didn't put up with any nonsense in his courtroom nor did he put up with any nonsense in the ring. He treated everybody fair.

It didn't matter who you were, what background you came from. I know when I was an up and coming referee, he was my mentor. He and Arthur Mercanti Sr. were my mentors. I was fortunate enough, they both gave me their telephone numbers and told me to call them anytime. I can't even tell you how many times that I used to call him. His secretary would answer and say, Mills is on the bench right now. I'll have him call you back when he gets a break.

I'll tell you right now, he called me back every single time. We talked boxing all the time. He was just a great guy.

Down to earth. He was originally from Georgia. He was born into a pretty affluent family. They hated the fact that he became a boxer, an amateur boxer in the service. Then he went on to fight pro and then the legendary refereeing career that he had.

His family was dead set against it. They wanted him to go into the banking business and he decided to pursue a law degree. He became a lawyer and then ultimately a circuit court judge and then on to stardom in the ring. Just a great guy. Talk about great stories. Cuts like a sailor. He had a tongue on him. He told the greatest stories.

We just got along famously and I'm going to miss him. Let me ask you this. This is a stupid sports radio question. Where does he go among the great fight referees of all time? You mentioned Arthur Marcanie who I believe did the first Ali Frazier fight.

Correct. Carlos Padilla, another legendary fight referee. I remember he grew up obviously with Mills Lane and Richard Steele. Bill Clancy of course is on that list.

Where does Mills Lane slot? I'll tell you, I'm very biased because I literally stole a lot of stuff from him in my style of refereeing. But he's, without a doubt, he's in the top five.

There's no doubt about it. Now where in that top five, you can argue, this is like arguing where Michael Jordan would be in terms of the best basketball player. But Mills, people don't really realize, he started refereeing in 1963. He was still fighting as a professional in 1963. His last professional fight that he participated in was in 67. He had a 35 year refereeing career. But if you look at his body of work, he had less than 300 fights that he refereed.

261 to be honest with you. And most of those were world championship fights obviously because he lived in the mecca of boxing. He lived in Reno but most of his refereeing in Las Vegas. So most of his fights over that 261 fights, 35 year career, were major world title fights. And he's just, I mean, he was steady Eddie man. Every fighter that got in that ring with him, they knew they were going to get a fair shake from him. He showed no partiality, contrary to what we just found out about Carlos Padilla. Who just got inducted into the Hall of Fame, which I think needs to be revisited as a result of what he just shared.

I think that's criminal what he did. And if Mills were alive right now and could speak, for the past 20 years he could speak but he was very embarrassed because of the stroke and what it did to him. And it paralyzed his left side and he had a very difficult time speaking. But I know Mills, and I know news of this, before he passed he found out what happened to Carlos. I guarantee you he had a really stern opinion about what should happen. But you know, fighters knew what they were getting when they got Mills. They knew they were getting a consummate professional. He could handle himself and it did not matter how big the guys were, they all respected him. And like I said, I'm going to miss him man. He was a great guy, awesome referee, and a hell of a mentor. Great guy. Bill Clancy, I appreciate your time my friend.

Thank you very much. And for those people who don't know, Carlos Padilla, who's from the Philippines, basically admitted that he helped throw a fight or tipped the scales in favor of Manny Pacquiao. Word from his own mouth, criminal, it's a shame and it's a disgrace to this profession and I'm embarrassed by what I learned and I hope, I hope that the right thing is done and in my opinion he should be stripped of his Hall of Fame induction.

It's a disgrace. Yes, Mills Lane would do that personally if he could. Bill Clancy, you're the man. I appreciate your time. We'll talk again. You got it. Thank you very much.

Take care. Bill Clancy here on the Adam Gold Show. Alright, when we come back, how has things changed from a gambling perspective? We like to place bets here every day. And by the way, have I told you that I'm kind of hovering at plus nine thousand? Yeah, actually you are.

It hasn't gone, like it's basically steady but it's still inching it because I do stupid things that have great value and every once in a while they hit and it saves me the, you know, my 0 for 9's don't hurt as much if you hit on a big one. Yeah. By the way, yesterday's Korea plus eleven hundred wasn't one of them. That didn't work. It was worth a shot though.

No it wasn't. After watching the first four minutes of that match, you knew what that was going to be like. Anyway, but from a gambling perspective, a little bit on the World Cup, but how have the odds changed? We're now basically a third of the way through the NHL season. How have the odds changed for the Hurricanes, for the New Jersey Devils, for the Florida Panthers? Remember, they were the President's Cup trophy winners. President's trophy, not President's Cup. President's trophy winners as the number one point earner in the NHL last year. They're outside the playoff line right now. So are the Rangers. How have the odds changed there? We'll talk about it next.

My friend, Mike, Michael Lebowski from the Action Network is joining us here. He is a hockey expert, but also a soccer expert and somebody who before the World Cup had a semi-final ticket on Japan. First of all, have you recovered from the penalties yesterday?

No. It feels like the World Cup is over for me, man. That was what a thrill ride that team was and to see them go out, not with a bang, but a terrible penalty kick effort was really a kick in the gut.

Look, they were great. What I remember from our conversation about it was that you said that Japan is the perfect team to deal with the Germanys and the Spains of the world because they're basically counter-attacking and they were going to have all the possession and boy, it worked out. Who'd they lose to?

Costa Rica. But who also wants to play that way? But they were able to beat Japan and Germany coming rather Spain and Germany coming from behind in both matches. All right, I want to talk about the NHL first.

So we are now about third one third of the way through almost at the one third mark. So how have the odds changed for a team like Colorado that is like in third or fourth place or a team like the Rangers who are outside of the playoffs or the Panthers who are outside of the playoffs? How have the odds changed for them?

Yeah, it's funny. The avalanche haven't really budged all that much. And I think that's because sportsbooks and odds makers in the market generally knows that this team is just going through a pretty crazy injury cluster. They'll likely be in the playoffs and once they do, if they're healthy, they'll be fresh and pretty pretty tough to deal with. And the biggest question mark coming into the season with Colorado was the goal.

Tending and Alexander Georgi have somehow has answered the questions pretty well. And then the Rangers, they've drifted a little bit. We've seen the Panthers drip the Rangers and Panthers are kind of in that same tier hanging in the high teams, low twenties. And they've just kind of been pushed down the list by teams like Boston, who is now close closing in on Colorado is as the clear consensus favorite Vegas.

And the devil is like that. You're if you told me if you were to tell me, you know, in some in the summer that Colorado, Boston, Vegas and New Jersey would be the 1234 on the betting odds here in the first week of December. I probably would have said, you know, I can maybe see two of those, but all four of them. It's a little strange, but I think what what the odds are telling us is or tells us, which is something that we already know is this this season's going to be a tough season. There's really no clear run away team like there was last year.

Michael above at the big Lee Bowski on Twitter is joining us here. NHL season again about to approach the one third mark. I find it interesting that the avalanche odds haven't moved really, but the devil's odds have. Why do you think that is it?

Dude? It's just a realization that you know what? They've compiled a lot of young talent and they're just they happen to be good. Yeah, and and eat one of the things that happens is that you will when a team gets off to a hot start within like the first two weeks of the season, you'll see like odds makers, you know, move move things forward. So like like the Sabres and the Red Wings, they both got off to pretty good starts this season too, but they never really got in, you know, to like the 40 to 1 range. Whereas the Devils did and people just kept betting them.

So so clearly people believed in this team from the get-go and you know, they haven't given us any reason not to believe in them. Well, what what I will say is I don't expect this this team to, you know, eclipse Boston or Colorado. The Devils could win the president's trophy by 20 points and I wouldn't make them the betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup because of their goal-tending right compared to the teams that they'll have to beat.

Mike Lebowski Mike Leboff at the big Lebowski the big Lee Bowski on Twitter. Where are the canes now based on where they were at the beginning of the season in terms of the betting market? Yeah, they're kind of in the middle of the season. Yeah, they're kind of in the same situation as Colorado there. They haven't really budged their, you know, fifth or sixth favorite depending on where you're looking in that that 11 to 1 range because you know, your your team is doing what it always does. They're putting up great five on five. Numbers, they're just not, you know, finishing or the they're not getting the bet the goal-tending that they got last year. And I think that the betting market would be all over this team. If they did drift because everything checks out. They'd you just it's the finishing touches around the edges that the Hurricanes need and they haven't in-house finishing touch coming their way. What in a couple months now with with that you ready? Yeah, and tavo terevinen came back and played in LA's first game in about three and a half years.

Four weeks. So that was a good thing to see for Carolina's perspective. Is there a statistic in the NHL that is used most readily to determine these? Do they use possession metrics? What exactly is used?

Do you know what's used to determine these? Yeah, I think it's expected goals rate and like high danger chances. It's the thing that I like to kind of check under the hood with these teams, you know, Carolina rates out great in both of those, you know, mental health and physical health.

Look, if you're if you're consistently creating more high danger scoring chances at 5 on 5, then your opponent, you're going to give yourself a better chance to win. And especially over the long haul of an 82 game season. So what we'll see is like for the end, the Islanders are a good example of that. Like they're have a, you know, decent record.

They passed the eye test. They've got the best goalie in the league this season and odds makers aren't shortening them, you know, to rep, you know, reflecting on their record. They're keeping them pretty high up there. They're in like the 40s or the 50s and that's because they're pretty good at it. And so I think that odds makers are willing to take on that risk with a team like the Islanders and keep taking money on them because they these numbers that are kind of powering their models are are going to tell them that the Islanders are closer to mediocre than everything than anything.

And, you know, I think that's a really good example of that. And so I think that odds makers are willing to take on that risk with a team like the Islanders and keep taking money on them because they these numbers that are kind of powering their models are are going to tell them that the Islanders are are closer to mediocre than everything than anything. You know, you and I know better than most from what we saw with the Rangers last year that, you know, that's it's a dangerous game to play because that goal tending, you know, that type of goaltending can really, really mask a lot of problems. And, you know, we don't have to go too much further into what happened last spring, but because I because I don't want to, but it does make them it does make them a dangerous team as a as a long shot and one that I wouldn't, you know, tell anyone to, you know, I wouldn't tell people betting on a team like like them right now in this range of same thing with the Winnipeg Jets to with that goaltending that they have there hanging around in a big number two.

And even if they're the rest of their numbers don't look great, you bring that kind of goaltending to the big dance in the spring lookout. All right, let's let me just ask you about the World Cup before we before we have to get out of here. Who are who are the we know who the favorites are we know that Brazil based on what we saw France on what we have seen England has played really well the England has to play France who where's the value who are the favorites as you see it? Yeah, I think you know, I know they just went down one Dale, but I still think Switzerland can get something out of this game. Then they played they would have to play Morocco like, you know, this is true. Got a rush to get it in but like I don't hate the bet right now in Switzerland to win or to make the semifinals if you can find it or to win at their hundred to one right now. I'm seeing just because they can beat Morocco to get to the semifinal then all of a sudden you're holding a hundred to one ticket, but you of course the first step of that would be coming back and get this Portugal team that I think is fraud. I feel like the Dutch they're they're hanging around 14 to 1 which is where they were to start the tournament. I don't really believe in Argentina. I think that a lot of people are betting into the messy narrative or books or hang, you know, they don't they don't they can't fathom the fact, you know, the fact that messy might be walking off the pitch for the final time and I was impressed with what the Netherlands did against the United States after they were only okay in the group stage. So, you know that the doctor team I would have circled if Switzerland is, you know, if you can find a number on Switzerland right now with them down one nil, I don't hate that either.

It's a long shot. But yeah, that I was pretty wrong about a couple teams like I didn't think France is going to be this good and Portugal. I continue to sink money betting against Portugal and it looks like that's not going well either. Well, I see I can't decide if I want Portugal to win without Ronaldo or to lose with him. He's not playing. So, you know, I kind of would like to see them win in spite of Ronaldo's absence because I got no time for him. Yeah, he's just has to make him steam on the sidelines.

They're better team without him. I'll tell you that. By the way, the guy who the guy who starting in his place scored the goal even better, even better. Michael Leboff from the Action Network at the big Lebowski on Twitter. I'll talk to you soon. My friend. I appreciate your time. Awesome. Talk to you.

Got it. Mike Mike Leboff. I'm watching.

I'm watching the goal Portugal scored and I'm getting Mike's name wrong. I'm so good at this gosh. I'm who's smoother than me. It's hard to multitask sometimes, you know. Yeah. Yeah. My wife said I miss stuff. My wife says the same thing about me. Yeah.

Yeah multitasking. It's actually it's a male problem. Apparently. Oh, okay. So yeah, just ask just ask the fairer sex.

They'll tell you it's a male problem and I don't really doubt it for a minute. This is the Adam Gold Show spring training is right around the corner. So come for the games and have a ball in Arizona. With world class resorts, unbeatable dining and nightlife, amazing scenery and endless outdoor adventure. Make your visit unforgettable. Plan your getaway at my spring training dot com.