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05/10/2010 - Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Creighton basketball coach Greg McDermott has reportedly kicked guard P'Allen Stinnett off the team.
Stinnett had been suspended late in January by former head coach Dana Altman for "conduct not acceptable to the team," and did not play for the remainder of the year.
McDermott, according to the Omaha World-Herald, met with Stinnett on Friday and told the paper later that day of his decision to remove Stinnett from the team. McDermott was hired to replace Altman, who took the head coaching job at Oregon, in late April.
Last season as a junior, Stinnett averaged 9.2 points over 20 games. He posted more than 1,000 points in his two-plus seasons with the Bluejays.
<< Tigers' Willis scratched from start
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers pitcher Dontrelle Willis has
been scratched from his scheduled start Monday against the New York Yankees
because of an illness.
Instead, Brad Thomas will start for the Tigers. Thomas also
<< Serena, Venus advance in Madrid
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Serena Williams and her former
top-ranked sister Venus highlighted Monday's second-round winners at the $4.5
million Madrid Open, a clay-court French Open tune-up.
The reigning Australian Op
<< Lions sign safety Brown
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions signed safety C.C. Brown
on Monday. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Brown spent last season with the New York Giants after playing the first four
years of his career with the H
<< Charlotte, NASCAR fans eagerly await Hall of Fame opening
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The month of May will be unlike any other for
the City of Charlotte, as Tuesday's much-anticipated opening of NASCAR's new
Hall of Fame kicks off a long list of race activities in the Queen City.
Since its gr
Canucks hope to wreck Blackhawks' travel plans >>
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -The Chicago Blackhawks packed for a long road trip, but the Vancouver Canucks would like to send them home early for an unwanted Game 7.The Canucks stayed alive in the Western Conference semifinal series with a 4-1
Ex-Dallas Mavericks owner's company sues club >>
DALLAS (AP) -A company run by former Dallas Mavericks owner Ross Perot Jr. is suing the club, alleging that it's insolvent or verging on insolvency.''According to The Dallas Morning News, Hillwood Investment Properties III Ltd. sued Dallas Basketbal
Flyers G Boucher hurt in 2nd period vs. Bruins >>
BOSTON (AP) -Philadelphia Flyers goalie Brian Boucher (BOO-shay) is out of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against Boston because of an apparent knee injury.Boucher skated off the ice favoring his left knee with 15:25 left in the s
Flyers' Boucher leaves game >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Brian
Boucher left Game 5 of his club's Eastern Conference semifinal series against
Boston with an apparent lower-body injury.
Boucher was hurt at the 4:35 mark of t
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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