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Djokovic, Ferrer advance at Aussie OpenTennis Betting Lines01/19/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champ Novak Djokovic and fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer were both winners on Thursday, advancing to the third round of the Australian Open. Djokovic, the tournament's top seed, rolled past Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. The world No. 1 player has now won 34 of his last 36 Grand Slam matches and is seeking a third straight Grand Slam title and a third Aussie crown. Ferrer had a little more trouble in his match, dropping a hard-fought first set before outlasting American Ryan Sweeting 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Sweeting recorded nine double faults and hit 73 unforced errors in the loss. Also on Thursday, France's Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the tournament's sixth seed, defeated Ricardo Mello of Brazil 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets, and ninth- seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic took down Australia's own James Duckworth 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. A pair of seeded players were ousted in the tournament's fourth day as 32- seeded Russian Alex Bogolomov dropped the first two sets of his match before taking the next two, but faltered in the fifth set to take a marathon 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4 defeat at the hands of France's Michael Llodra. Spain's Marcel Granollers, the 26th seed, was defeated by Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In other matches Thursday, 23rd-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic downed Germany's Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, the 27th seed, rolled to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 decision over Spain's Pablo Andujar and Nicolas Mahut of France earned a 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-2 decision over Japan's Tatsuma Ito.
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Albuquerque, NM (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Xavier Thames netted a game-high 22 points, leading 16th-ranked San Diego State to a 75-70 win over New Mexico on Wednesday. Jamaal Franklin finished with 12 points and five rebounds, while Chase
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Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer advance at Aussie Open >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champ Novak Djokovic and runner-up Andy Murray, as well as fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, were each winners on Thursday, advancing to the third round of the Australian Open. Djokovic
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NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super BowlThe AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East. Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around. The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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." 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. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. |
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