Czechs clinch spot in Davis Cup semis
Tennis Betting Lines
07/10/2010 -
Coquimbo, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Czech Republic clinched a spot in the
Davis Cup semifinals Saturday after a victory in the doubles rubber over host
Chile.
Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek were 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winners over the
Chilean tandem of Jorge Aguilar and Nicolas Massu, giving the Czechs an
insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Ivo Minar and Hajek had notched singles victories on Friday for the Czech
Republic, which was the runner-up of this event in 2009 to reigning two-time
champion Spain. However, Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup as France took a
3-0 lead. The Czechs captured their lone title back in 1980, led by the
great Ivan Lendl.
Sunday's reverse singles tentatively have Massu facing Hajek and
Paul Capdeville encountering Minar.
The Czech Republic will face the Croatia-Serbia victor in September's
semifinals.
<< Hornets agree to terms with G Head
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -The New Orleans Hornets have reached an agreement on a two-year contract with veteran guard Luther Head.The Hornets are not announcing the deal yet because Head still must pass his physical, but Head's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told
<< Creamer, Yokomine share U.S. Women's Open lead
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer and Sakura Yokomine shared the
lead with two rounds finally completed at the U.S. Women's Open.
Creamer posted a second-round, one-under 70 Saturday, while Yokomine managed
her second straigh
<< TFC tops Colorado to stay unbeaten at home
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fuad Ibrahim's 61st-minute goal was enough to
lead Toronto FC to a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids at BMO Field on
Saturday.
The goal was Ibrahim's first of the season and it allows Toronto to exten
<< Petro headed to Nets
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have reached an
agreement in principle with free agent center Johan Petro.
Terms of the deal weren't announced, but The Star-Ledger reports it's for
three years and worth $1
<< Clippers ink two first-round picks
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers signed two first-
round draft picks on Saturday - rookie forward Al-Farouq Aminu, the eighth
overall selection and rookie guard Eric Bledsoe, the 18th pick.
Aminu, who played
UGA football players arrested for alcohol offenses >>
ATLANTA (AP) -Two football players for the University of Georgia were jailed early Saturday morning on alcohol-related charges less than a week after an embarrassing drunken driving arrest prompted the university's athletic director to resign.Dontav
Heat meet with Derek Fisher >>
MIAMI (AP) -Free agent point guard Derek Fisher has met with the Miami Heat on the day after the team lavishly introduced LeBron James and Chris Bosh as Dwyane Wade's newest teammates.Fisher has been part of all five Los Angeles Lakers' championship
Khedira's late goal helps Germany claim third place >>
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sami Khedira's goal eight
minutes from time capped a 3-2 Germany win over Uruguay in the third-place
match of the FIFA World Cup at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
Khedira brok
Maver's last-second FG sends Stamps past Hamilton >>
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rob Maver knocked through a 23-yard field goal
with 10 seconds remaining to give the Calgary Stampeders a thrilling 23-22 win
over the Hamilton Tigercats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Maver nailed all three of his
Hornets agree with G Head >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hornets have reached an agreement to
sign free agent guard Luther Head, according to New Orleans general manager
Jeff Bower.
Bower told the Times Picayune that the two sides agreed to a two-year c
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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