Game 5 Betting: Miami Heat Travel To Chicago to Possibly Close Out Series

Miami Heat AT Chicago Bulls
May 26, 2011 at 8:30 PM EST
Opening Line: CHI -2.5
Current Line: CHI -3
Opening Total: 179.5
Current Total: 179.5
Miami Leads Series 3-1

In many respects, the Bulls have found they just don’t have what it takes to match up against a team with three top tier all stars.
While Derrick Rose has been impressive all year, leading the Bulls to probably 10 more wins than people expected, he hasn’t been able to get off against the Heat and having 6’8″ LeBron James in his face in game 4 didn’t help. And it wasn’t just defense that James contributed. He also scored 35 points, though he did hit less than 50% of his shots from the field. He also played nearly 50 minutes. Also, despite being only a 75% free throw shooter, he went 13 of 13 from the line.
While his teammate Dwyane Wade didn’t help out a lot offensively, he did play excellent defense, including coming up with three of his four blocked shots in overtime. The Heat recorded 10 blocks as a team, with the offensively challenged Joel Anthony accounting for 4, as well.
Mike Miller was a pleasant surprise for the Heat. He nailed 2 threes and 5 shots of 8 overall, while recording a ridiculous team leading +36. He also tied Haslem for the team lead in rebounds with 9. It was sweet redemption for Miller who had only played more than 10 minutes in 2 other games in this year’s playoffs. He’s battled injuries but appears to have turned the corner now, and at no better time for the Heat. Their lineup in the fourth quarter included Miller and Haslem lining up with the “big 3.”
Wade realizes that this game won’t be easy and that the Bulls aren’t going to simply throw in the towel after battling so hard all season. “We understand it’s going to be a tough game,” Wade said. “But we have the team and we have the guys that are capable of showing up and putting on a performance that we need to win the game. It’s not going to be pretty, but that’s not Miami Heat basketball anyway.”
The three game skid against the Heat was the first three game losing streak of the entire season for the Bulls, but Luol Deng reiterated what Wade already knows: “There’s no quit in that locker room. It’s going to come down to the end of the game again.” Derrick Rose isn’t anywhere near ready to capitulate either, saying “We still have games to play.” The fact he said “games” instead of just “game” indicates his confidence that the series won’t end tonight. Even if his Bulls do win, however, they are going to have to steal another road game in Miami, where the Heat have not lost yet in this year’s postseason.
As I mentioned in the last game preview, a team that takes a 3-1 lead goes on to win 96% of all series, with the comeback only having happened 8 times in 199 series.
The Bulls have hit just 14 of 67 threes after hitting 10 of 21 in game 1. They also turned it obver 22 times in Tuesday’s loss including two on back to back possessions in the overtime, which pretty much locked it up for the Heat. Seven of the 22 turnovers were committed by Derrick Rose, while he had only 6 assists. It’s never a good sign when your best player has more turnovers than assists. He also had his shot blocked 4 times, which is essentially four more turnovers. All in all, Rose shot just 8 of 27 from the floor and hit only 1 of 9 threes. It’s hard to blame him though because he seems to have lost a lot of trust in his teammates.
“I think it came down to hustle plays,” Chalmers said. “At first they (Chicago Bulls) were beating us to all the 50/50 balls. In the fourth quarter and the overtime, we were able to beat them to all the 50/50 balls and that’s what helped us win.”
Some betting trends:
Miami is 5-1 SU in their last 6 games and the total has gone OVER in 5 of their last 6 games. The Heat are 8-3 SU in their last 11 games on the road and the Heat are 3-10 SU in their last 13 games on the road against the Chicago Bulls. The Heat are 5-14 ATS in their last 19 road games against the Bulls and the total has gone UNDER in 7 of the Heat’s last 9 games on ther road in Chicago.
The Bulls are 18-6 SU in their last 24 games and 22-3 SU in their last 25 at home. The total has gone UNDER in 7 of the Bulls’ last 9 games at home against the Heat and the Bulls are 10-3 SU in their last 13 home games against the Heat.
With the Bulls’ season on the line, and being at home, you can expect them to come out in desperation mode and play hard early on. That may not be enough, though, if the Miami defense is as strong as it was on Tuesday night. The Bulls are going to need big games from Boozer and Deng again, who combined for 40 points in game 4. The Heat’s big 3 combined for 71 points, though, bringing the Heat’s record to 39-5 when the Big 3 scores 70+

Where are all the travel guide apps for Android?

Nearly two years ago, I bought my first smartphone: the T-Mobile Android MyTouch*. I'm only occasionally jealous of my iPhone-carrying friends, as I find few travel guide apps for Android. Even after a move to Istanbul, I still use and rely upon it daily; Android's interface is fast and easy-to-use, and seamless use of Google applications like Gmail and Google Maps is part of the reason I bought it in the first place. Living in a foreign country means English-language books and magazines are expensive and hard-to-find, and like many travelers, I don't want to carry bulky books around when I'm on the road. This leaves a perfect opportunity for mobile developers to provide real travel guide content and not just travel-booking apps, especially apps produced by reliable media sources with professional editorial. These days, every guidebook and travel magazine publisher is coming out with apps for the iPhone and now iPad, supplying users with content and directions on the go, but there are hardly any for Android.

So what's available for mobile travelers from the top travel book and print sources? Better hope you're running Apple OS...

Random House marks 75th anniversary of Eugene Fodor’s first travel guide with e-book version

NEW YORK — In 1936 Europe, before Hitler rolled into Poland but civil war was on in Spain, a unique guidebook offered a different slant on the Continent for foreign travelers tired of traipsing to ancient monuments during whirlwind grand tours

“We have proceeded on the assumption that your thirst for historical knowledge is nothing like so great as your thirst for the beer of Pilsen or the slivovitsa of Belgrade,” the foreword reads, pointing out that Rome not only contains famous architecture and priceless art, “but also Italians.”

The writer was Eugene Fodor, hardly a travel industry mainstay when his book, “On the Continent,” launched his namesake brand 75 years ago. Back then, the Hungarian-born Fodor was a young anti-fascist who had worked as an interpreter for a French shipping line, studied at the Sorbonne and spoke six languages.

His trajectory as head of a fledgling guidebook company took a shadowy turn once war broke out. In 1942, he added spy to his resume — specializing in psychological warfare for the Americans and later providing cover for CIA operatives masquerading as travel writers for his guides.

Fodor’s Travel is now an imprint of Random House, which is feting the founder this month as “The Spy Who Loved Travel,” reissuing the original 1936 guide as an e-book on Fodors.com.

Fodor’s spy past remained a secret for years after his 1,200-page tome on Europe helped transform guidebooks from stuffy lists of famous sites to often-cheeky narratives on cultures and people — while also dishing up places to stay, eat and wander in a variety of price ranges. Little more than rarely updated books for academics and the privileged existed before that.

Fodor employed top writers (the real kind) to spin each of the 26 countries covered in the book, first published in Britain. They provided on-the-ground advice on everything from tipping to train travel while encouraging tourists to mingle with the locals.

Fodor fact-checked every word and wrote chapters on Bulgaria and Monte Carlo himself. He updated the book for a U.S. audience in 1937. Another revision followed in ‘38 and hit The New York Times best-seller list.

It was the same year Hitler took control of the northern section of Czechoslovakia — Fodor’s home area — under the Munich Agreement. Fodor was in the United States promoting his guidebook when he learned of the Munich pact. Outraged, he cabled the magazine office in London where he was employed and vowed never to return to Europe — “except in uniform.” He made good on the promise when he joined the U.S. Army in 1942, becoming a U.S. citizen soon after.

He was recruited by CIA precursors because of his language skills, doing prisoner interrogations and helping write leaflets dropped on the enemy during the Italian campaign. He also broadcast propaganda from Algiers and created the system of “Eisenhower Passes” that rewarded Nazi soldiers who surrendered with good treatment.

After the war, Fodor lived in Prague for a year. He met and married his wife, Vlasta, there and they later settled in Litchfield, Conn.

In 1974, The New York Times revealed his spy secret — Fodor’s franchise long established with several dozen guides in what had become a competitive business after a ‘50s boom in overseas travel by Americans. Watergate operative E. Howard Hunt, at the height of Senate hearings on the scandal that brought down President Nixon, spilled Fodor’s past and other CIA secrets during testimony.

According to Hunt, Fodor had worked as a spy in Austria when the Office of Strategic Services became the CIA and continued in intelligence for 12 to 15 years. Fodor tried to keep the lid on in late 1974 and early ‘75, fearing relatives of his Czech-born wife could be put in danger. But pressed by the paper’s expose, he acknowledged his covert work — and his hiring of many guidebook writers who were CIA spies during the Cold War.

“But I told them to make sure and send me real writers, not civil engineers. I wanted to get some writing out of them. And I did, too,” Fodor told the Times in June 1975.

Fodor died in 1991 of a brain tumor at age 85. He retired from the company in 1978 following a heart attack after a stressful reshuffling of publishers. Random House bought the company in 1986 and Fodor returned in a smaller role.

“This was a man who had deep curiosity and loved travel,” said Tim Jarrell, publisher of Fodor’s Travel. “He really felt that travel was a form of international diplomacy. He was a strong advocate of tourism and travel because he felt that when you meet people from different cultures, it’s extremely hard to start a war.”

Before there was a Frommer’s or a Lonely Planet, Fodor dedicated himself to annual updates. “That was a huge factor,” said Meg Rushton, a Fodor’s Travel publicist who spent six months researching Fodor’s life for the reissue. “You didn’t have things like hotels or restaurants listed because the books wouldn’t be updated for 15 or 20 years.”

Fodor’s regular updates allowed for more detailed logistical information to be included for the first time.

A constant traveler himself, Fodor was also dedicated to encouraging foreigners to interact with the people of the countries they visit. “He was very interested in talking about the modern culture, seeing their lives the way they lived them then, not just visiting artifacts of the past,” Rushton said.

He also thought guidebooks should be entertaining, unlike the Baedekers and Blue Guides that dominated when he broke into the industry. “He thought travel guides should be inspirational,” Rushton said.

The Fodor’s brand now includes about 300 titles, a website with nearly 2 million unique visitors each month and a complement of iPhone apps and e-books.

Pat Carrier, who owns the Globe Corner travel bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., said the Fodor’s brand has ceded ground to competitors over the last 15 years, allowing Lonely Planet, Moon and DK to chip away at its base.

But, he said, the brand has stayed true to its mission: “They provide a refined, filtered set of recommendations across the board. They’ve curated the destination a bit more than some of the other guide series, which kind of throw everything at you without a filter. That’s also why some people don’t like Fodor’s, because it’s a filtered view of the place.”

One competitor, Arthur Frommer, came along a generation later and gives Fodor his due: “That was the beginning of the effort to begin describing the entire travel experience,” said the founder of Frommer’s Travel Guides.

Fodor, he said, “didn’t lead the movement but he joined the movement to change travel guides from simply a dry recitation of sightseeing attractions into books that dealt with the entirety of the travel experience.”

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