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Ray carries Eskimos over Bombers; Lumsden hurts shoulderFootball Betting Lines07/03/2009 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricky Ray went 29-for-41 passing for 318 yards and a touchdown, as the Edmonton Eskimos edged the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 19-17, in the teams' season-opener. Edmonton took the win after Winnipeg kicker Alexis Serna missed a potential game-tying field goal of 56 yards in the final seconds, giving new Esks head coach Richie Hall his first victory. Andrew Nowacki caught seven passes for 79 yards and a score for Edmonton (1-0), which finished last season with a 10-8 record and defeated Winnipeg in the division semifinals before falling to Montreal in the division final. Calvin McCarty ran for 27 yards on 12 carries in the win, but the Esks' running back corps took a hit when Jesse Lumsden left with an apparent shoulder separation. Maurice Mann had five catches for 87 yards for Edmonton. Fred Reid rushed 13 times for 92 yards and a score for the Bombers (0-1), who played their first game under new head coach Mike Kelly. Stefan LeFors threw for 174 yards on 14-of-31 passing in the loss, while Adarius Bowman caught five passes for 56 yards for Winnipeg, which went 8-10 and finished second in the East Division last season. The Eskimos went ahead, 19-9, on Noel Prefontaine's 19-yard field goal with a little under eight minutes to play in the game. Mann helped Edmonton get into scoring territory after catching a 44-yard bomb from Ray while falling down. But the Bombers came back, and scored just past the midway point of the quarter. Reid took a handoff and dashed around the right end, shedding a tackler before going into the end zone for the 16-yard TD. Serna's extra point brought Winnipeg within 19-16. The teams traded punts, and Edmonton got the ball back with 2:40 to go just into Winnipeg territory. But an unsuccessful series led to a punt, as the Bombers took over with two minutes left on their own 20. LeFors led Winnipeg downfield, and completed a 13-yard pass to Bowman with under half a minute to play, getting the Bombers to the Edmonton 42. Another short pass to Bowman got the Bombers to the 35 before a penalty moved them back five yards. An Edmonton timeout set up the final kick, but Serna's boot sailed wide left and went for a single, leaving Winnipeg short at the clock ran out. After neither team scored in the first quarter, each got a safety in the second. The Esks went up 9-2 at intermission after Ray's 19-yard TD pass to Nowacki in the final minute of the half. The Bombers, though, pulled even after Tristan Jackson fumbled on a punt return. Shawn Gallant picked up the loose ball and ran it back for the score a little more than halfway through the third quarter. But the Esks re-took the lead after Ray's one-yard TD run later in the quarter, making it a 16-9 game. Game Notes Kai Ellis had two sacks for Edmonton, while Don Oramasionwu had one for Winnipeg...Ray had one interception for the Esks...The Bombers had 162 rushing yards, compared to only 33 for the Eskimos.
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Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu hit a pair of homers, accounting for four runs batted in, and John Lackey threw eight strong innings, as the Angels beat Baltimore, 5-2, in the opener of a four-game series. Chone Figgins had
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees will try to start a new winning streak this afternoon, when they play the first of four straight games versus the American League East-rival Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx. New York had a seven-game wi
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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card 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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