Boston hits the road to Milwaukee
Basketball Betting Lines
04/05/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics hit the road tonight as they pay a visit to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.
Boston has won three of its last four games, including Sunday's 98-96 win over the LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Banknorth Garden. James missed the game with tendinitis in his right knee.
Delonte West hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds left, while Gerald Green scored 25 points and Al Jefferson added 24 points with five blocked shots for Boston, which will try to improve on its 11-25 road record this evening.
Paul Pierce sat out his second straight game with inflammation in his left elbow and a sore left foot. Boston is 3-23 this season without Pierce in the lineup, and the star forward is questionable for Wednesday's game. Boston forward Al Jefferson (knee) is also listed as questionable.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, will try to stop a seven-game losing streak tonight when they wrap up a three-game homestand. On Tuesday the Bucks suffered a 119-101 loss to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets at the Bradley Center.
Michael Redd returned to the lineup after missing Sunday's loss to the Washington Wizards with a sore left knee and scored 27 points for the Bucks, who fell to 16-19 as the host this season.
Wednesday's game between Boston and Milwaukee is the third of four meetings this season. The Celtics have won the first two encounters, but Milwaukee has won seven of 12 and eight of the last 14 meetings.
The Bucks and Celtics will meet again on April 13th in Beantown.
Boston has won two of its last three at the Bradley Center.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ramon Ortiz makes his Minnesota debut this evening, as the Twins try to sweep their first season-opening series at home in 10 years in the finale of their three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at the Metrodome. A win
<< Beckett, Red Sox set to take on Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Beckett hopes to get the Boston Red Sox in the win
column this evening when they continue their season-opening three-game set
with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Beckett struggled a bit in his first year
<< Oakland, Seattle wrap series at Safeco Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Injury-plagued right-hander Rich Harden makes his first
appearance after a solid spring tonight when the Oakland Athletics visit the
Seattle Mariners in the finale of a three-game series at Safeco Field.
Harden, who'd won
<< Sixers take on Knicks in Big Apple
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams fighting for a playoff berth in the Eastern
Conference meet tonight, as the New York Knicks host Atlantic Division-rival
Philadelphia at Madison Square Garden.
The Sixers have lost four of their last
<< Hawks swoop into New Jersey
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets close out a brief two-game homestand
when they welcome the Atlanta Hawks this evening to Continental Airlines
Arena.
New Jersey has won three of its last four games, including Saturday's 86-
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Vikings signed free agent safety Mike Doss on Wednesday. Doss played the first six games of the season for Indianapolis last year -- including four starts -- before going down with a
Hornets, SuperSonics clash at Ford Center >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets try to keep their
playoff hopes alive, as they welcome the Seattle SuperSonics tonight to the
Ford Center.
The Hornets are 2 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth an
Penguins name Morehouse team president >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins named David
Morehouse team president on Wednesday.
The 46-year-old Morehouse will represent the franchise primarily in the
redevelopment of the Mellon Arena site,
Rockets continue homestand vs. Golden State >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff-bound Houston Rockets play the middle contest
of a three-game homestand, as they welcome the Golden State Warriors tonight
to the Toyota Center.
Houston is No. 5 in the Western Conference playoff race, while Go
Colorado tabs Air Force's Bzdelik as new basketball coach >>
Boulder, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Bzdelik, who posted a 50-16 record the
past two seasons at Air Force, agreed on a five-year contract to become the
University of Colorado's new men's basketball coach on Wednesday.
The contract in
Online Sportsbook Football Betting
LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
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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