Carolina and Peppers fail to reach long-term deal
Football Betting Lines
07/15/2009 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers and defensive end Julius Peppers failed to reach a contract agreement before the NFL's 4 p.m. deadline for negotiating long-term deals with franchise players.
Peppers, who signed his franchise tender on June 24, will now play the 2009 season under a one-year deal worth close to $16.7 million. His agent, Carl Carey, was quoted by the Charlotte Observer as saying the two sides attempted to reach an agreement but ultimately could not. The two sides won't be able to discuss a new contract until the end of the season.
The second overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft has made four Pro Bowl appearances over his seven-year career with Carolina, but in the offseason had expressed a desire to play elsewhere.
In 2008, the 29-year-old, who switched from left to right defensive end, recorded a career-high 14 1/2 sacks and 51 tackles. In 106 career games with the Panthers, the North Carolina product has compiled 70 1/2 sacks and 344 tackles.
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Canada's Nick Taylor cruised to a 6 & 4 win over Craig Cyr, advancing to the second round of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship on Wednesday. After losing the opening hole, Taylor, 21, squared the ma
<< Coyotes ink LW Korpikoski to two-year deal
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes signed newly acquired
left wing Lauri Korpikoski to a two-year contract on Wednesday. Per club
policy, financial terms of the deal were not released.
Korpikoski came over in a
<< Thrashers re-sign G Lehtonen
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers re-signed restricted free
agent goaltender Kari Lehtonen on Wednesday. Per club policy, terms of the
deal were not disclosed.
Lehtonen, 25, posted a 19-22-3 record with three shuto
<< Soderling, Robredo move into Bastad quarters
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open runner-up Robin Soderling
and reigning champion Tommy Robredo were among Wednesday's second-round
winners at the Swedish Open.
The second-seeded Swedish favorite Soderling, rank
<< Around FCS: Can Weber State stop Montana's streak?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It is never unwise to select Montana as
the title favorite when you are predicting the order of finish in the Big Sky
Conference.
The Grizzlies came within a play or two of seeing their 10-year run of winn
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United acquired midfielder Danny Szetela via its #2 allocation ranking on Wednesday. Szetela joins United after spending two-plus years in Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie B. The 22-year
RSL duo added to All-Star roster as commissioner's picks >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber
selected the Real Salt Lake midfield duo of Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales
as his two "commissioner's picks" for the 2009 MLS All-Star Game.
Beckerman and M
UEFA reduces bans for Chelsea duo >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea duo Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa
have had their suspensions cut by UEFA following their behavior after last
season's Champions League semifinal second leg clash with Barcelona.
Drogba will
Gibson extends United contract >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Republic of Ireland international
Darron Gibson hopes to establish himself in the Manchester United first team
after agreeing to a three-year contract extension with last term's Premier
League
Former NFL RB Henry sentenced to three years in prison >>
Billings, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NFL running back Travis Henry was
sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison stemming from federal cocaine
trafficking charges last October.
Henry was arrested in October after a multi-kilo
MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.
(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977. Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.
Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer. In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season.
MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season. Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite. After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.
Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions. They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown.
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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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