Sports gambling column: Week 22

After all the hype, I have to admit that there’s only one Oscars bet that I like. I decided to bet $10 on Christian Bale to win the best actor in a leading role award for his performance in “Vice.” In my opinion, this was a relatively weak year for films compared to past years, and even though Rami Malek won the same award at the Golden Globes, I still think that Bale’s performance as Dick Cheney was more impressive. He gained a ton of weight for the role, mimicked Cheney’s real voice, and even talked out of the side of his mouth the entire time just like Cheney did. I like Bale as an actor anyway, as I’ve enjoyed seeing him in “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” just to name a few. Bale has never won an Oscar for acting, and I think that much like Leonardo DiCaprio did in 2016, Bale will finally get his this Sunday.

On the sports side of things, there’s still not much to bet on. I was so close to betting on Nets shooting guard Joe Harris (he was +900) to win the Mountain Dew Three Point Contest at All-Star weekend, but I balked (he won). I’m still pissed, but I’m hoping I can make at least some of that money back with a $10 bet on the Raptors to win the Eastern Conference. That’s right: I’m counting on the Raptors to live up to expectations in the playoffs. Now that Lakers forward LeBron James is in the West, the Raptors are free of their demons. They already had a strong team last year, and have only gotten better through acquiring forward Kawhi Leonard in exchange for now-Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan and the addition of center Marc Gasol at the trade deadline. They will probably have to end up playing the Celtics or Sixers in the second round, but I like their chances, given that they will have the best player in the series (Leonard) in both, which is very important in the playoffs (we saw it last year in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Pelicans-Blazers series). After that, they’ll probably have to play the Bucks, who will likely be the first seed in the conference. If they can slow down forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, there’s really no one else on the Bucks that can be trusted to take over. Leonard always steps up his game in the playoffs, so I’ll put $10 on the Raptors at +185.

Next week, I can start looking at more NBA stuff.

Money spent to date: $230

Winnings to date: $170.99