Ohio State fends off Illinois in Big Ten quarters
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/05/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jantel Lavender poured in 19 points and pulled down six rebounds, as 10th-ranked Ohio State held off Illinois, 66-55, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Samantha Prahalis added 13 points and eight assists for the Buckeyes (28-4), who will do battle with either Purdue or Wisconsin in the semifinals on Saturday. Ohio State won this tourney last year.
Jenna Smith finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois (16-14), who beat Indiana in the first round on Thursday. Smith set a single-season school record for rebounds and came up just three points shy of breaking Illinois' career scoring record.
Lacey Simpson had 13 points and seven rebounds in defeat.
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stefanie Murphy posted 14 points to lead all scorers, and Boston College moved on to the semis of the ACC Tournament with a 67-60 upset over No. 8 Florida State. Jasmine Gill added 13 points, while Carolyn
<< Report: Texans retain Walter with multi-year deal
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter has
reportedly re-signed with the team after becoming an unrestricted free agent
earlier in the day.
The Houston Chronicle reports the pact is for multiple years.
<< Earnhardt Jr. tops in qualifying at Atlanta
Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole for the Kobalt
Tools 500 with a blazing lap in Friday's qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt Jr.'s lap of 192.761 m.p.h. set a record for the fastest qualifying
spee
<< Trio on top at Toshiba Classic
Newport Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former PGA Champion Bob Tway, Mark Wiebe
and Chien-Soon Lu each fired six-under 65s on Friday to share the first-round
lead of the Toshiba Classic.
Fred Couples, already a winner after two Champions Tou
<< Redskins re-sign DE Daniels, OL Williams
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins on Friday re-signed
defensive end Phillip Daniels and offensive lineman Mike Williams.
Daniels started all 16 games for the Redskins last year, recording 46 tackles,
one sack, and
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey was taken from the court at Quicken Loans Arena on a stretcher after possibly suffering a seizure during Friday night's game against the Cavaliers. The incident
Horizon League Tournament Recaps >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eli Holman scored 16 points and grabbed 11
rebounds as the seventh-seeded Detroit Titans beat the third-seeded Green
Bay Phoenix, 62-53, in the second round of the Horizon League Tournament.
Xavier K
Garnett, Celtics handle Sixers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Garnett scored a team-high 22 points
to go with eight rebounds, and Rajon Rondo chipped in 16 points and 11 assists
to pace the Celtics to a 96-86 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ray Allen post
Cornell clinches Ivy League, first team into NCAA Tournament >>
Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Jaques scored 20 points, going 6-of-8
from beyond the arc, and Cornell hit 20 shots from beyond the arc and clinched
the Ivy League crown with a 95-76 victory over Brown.
Louis Dale, Ryan Wittman a
Raptors upend Knicks, halt four-game slide >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sonny Weems poured in half of his career-high
20 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Toronto
to a 102-96 win over the New York Knicks.
Jose Calderon also thrived off the benc
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
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.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.
Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.