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06/10/2010 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Linebacker Arthur Moats, the 2009 Buck Buchanan Award winner, signed his rookie contract with the Buffalo Bills on Thursday.
Moats, a sixth-round selection out of James Madison, was named the FCS defensive player of the year last fall after leading the division with 23.5 tackles for losses, including 11 sacks, as a defensive end. He set the Dukes' school record with 29 career sacks.
The Bills have converted the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Moats into an inside linebacker.
"It definitely makes you bring out your best," Moats said of the NFL. "In college, in practices, you're better than most of the guys you're going against. Yeah, you (can) take some plays off in practice. Not at this level. Every play you have to be at full speed, your best rep. Otherwise you're going to get embarrassed."
<< Manuel, Girardi announce All-Star staffs
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie
Manuel and New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced on Thursday their
on-field staffs for the 2010 All-Star Game, to be played at Angel Stadium of
Anaheim
<< Zenyatta versus five in Vanity
Inglewood, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Leading Horse of the Year candidate Zenyatta
will go after a third straight win in Sunday's $250,000 Vanity Handicap at
Hollywood Park. The undefeated mare has five challengers in the 1 1/8-mile
race on
<< Danks impressive in White Sox's win over Tigers
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Omar Vizquel and A.J. Pierzynski each homered
to back seven shutout innings by John Danks, as the Chicago White Sox topped
the Detroit Tigers, 3-0, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Danks (5-5) w
<< Sharapova lands in Birmingham quarters
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time titlist Maria Sharapova won
a pair of matches on Thursday in order to reach the quarterfinals at the
rainy $220,000 Aegon Classic.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova fin
Cahill shines as A's top Angels >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Cahill pitched a career-high eight
innings and held the Angels to one run, as the Athletics earned a split of a
four-game series against their American League West rivals with a 6-1 win.
Cahill (
Brewers edge Cubs in 10th on error >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Gomez scored the game-winning run on a
throwing error in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the Milwaukee Brewers
edged the Chicago Cubs, 5-4, in the rubber match of a three-game series at
Miller
Blue Jays put McDonald on bereavement list >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday placed
infielder John McDonald on the bereavement list and selected the contract of
outfielder Dewayne Wise.
McDonald was batting .250 with three RBI in 16 games fo
Texans release Moats, sign third-rounder Mitchell >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Texans have released running back
Ryan Moats and signed defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, a third-round pick in
the 2010 draft.
Moats had spent the last two seasons with the Texans, and in 2009
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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Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
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