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01/26/2007 - Baton Rouge, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quianna Chaney had 15 points to pace eighth-ranked LSU past Arkansas, 70-53, in a Southeastern Conference clash at Maravich Center.
Sylvia Fowles added 13 points and 13 rebounds for LSU (19-2, 5-1 SEC), which never trailed in the game and led by as many as 26 late in the second. Ashley Thomas donated 11 points and six rebounds.
Lauren Ervin netted a game-high 16 points with eight rebounds, but it wasn't enough for Arkansas (18-4, 3-3), which shot just 32.2 percent from the floor.
Donica Cosby had 15 points and eight boards in defeat.
<< Lady Vols hold off Vanderbilt
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Spencer poured in a career-high 26
points and grabbed seven rebounds as fourth-ranked Tennessee held off 15th-
ranked Vanderbilt, 67-57, in a SEC clash.
Candace Parker scored 19 points and pull
<< Duke downs Seminoles to remain unbeaten
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alison Bales led a very balanced attack
with 15 points and also gathered nine rebounds, as top-ranked Duke downed
Florida State, 73-60, at the Tucker Center.
Carrem Gay totaled 14 points and eig
<< Humphrey propels Georgia past Ole Miss
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tasha Humphrey had 32 points and 14 rebounds to
lead 14th-ranked Georgia to a 69-60 victory over No. 22 Ole Miss at Stegeman
Coliseum.
Megan Darrah added 16 points for Georgia (17-4, 4-2 SEC), which is 13-0
<< McClure's last-second layup sends Duke plast Clemson
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David McClure dropped in a layup just before
time expired, as No. 10 Duke edged past 19th-ranked Clemson, 68-66, in a
thrilling Atlantic Coast Conference matchup at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue De
Graves leads Butler past LCU in OT >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Graves scored 10 points in overtime,
connecting on a game-winning, three-point shot with 56 seconds to play, as
14th-ranked Butler edged Loyola-Chicago, 70-66, at the Joseph J. Gentile
Center.
Cubs release Rusch >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs released pitcher Glendon
Rusch on Thursday after a blood clot in his left lung cut short his 2006
season.
The left-hander, 32, was 3-8 with a 7.46 earned run average in 25 gam
UCLA tops Cal >>
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arron Afflalo scored 25 points to lead the
third-ranked UCLA Bruins past the California Golden Bears, 62-46, at Haas
Pavilion.
Afflalo made 7-of-13 shots from the floor and was a perfect 9-for-9 fro
No. 9 Stanford downs Arizona >>
Tucson, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooke Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10
rebounds as ninth-ranked Stanford held on to beat Arizona, 86-76, to remain
perfect in the Pac-10 standings.
Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel each scored 18
After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.
Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.
Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.
So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.
In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.
For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.
The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.
The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
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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