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Bengals make Owens signing officialFootball Betting Lines07/29/2010 - Georgetown, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals officially brought controversial wide receiver Terrell Owens into the fold on Thursday, signing a previously reported one-year contract. It was reported earlier that the deal is worth up to $4 million, with $2 million guaranteed. "The addition of Terrell brings another accomplished and productive player to our offensive team," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "When you add his kind of threat to your passing game, it helps your running game, too, because defenses have to account for it. We've witnessed it as a defense playing against him. We've been through the process of trying to prevent it." Owens spent the last season in Buffalo, catching 55 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns in 15 games. He spent the previous three seasons in Dallas and the two before that with Philadelphia, all while often getting caught up in public locker room spats, but also producing as one of the league's top receivers. The five-year run with Dallas and Philadelphia saw Owens notch 1,000- yard seasons and double-digit touchdown receptions in all but one of those years. The Eagles suspended or left Owens inactive for the final nine games of the 2005 season because of constant problems with the team's front office, coach Andy Reid and teammates. A six-time Pro Bowl selection and third-round draft choice of the 49ers in 1996, Owens played in San Francisco for eight seasons before joining the Eagles for the 2004 campaign. In 205 career games spanning 14 years in the league, Owens has established himself as one of the best receivers of all-time. He ranks third in NFL annals with 14,951 receiving yards and 144 touchdowns receptions, while ranking sixth in catches with 1,006.
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East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have waived rookie safety Chad Jones with the intention of placing him on the reserve list. Jones was recently released from a New York hospital after a serious car accident
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<< Tribe pitcher Talbot leaves game
<< Vikings sign second-round pick Cook, three others
Bowditch, Thompson share lead in Nebraska >>
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Bowditch and Kyle Thompson fired rounds of eight-under 63 Thursday to share the lead after one round of the Cox Classic. Bowditch claimed his lone tour win in his homeland of Australia at the 2005 Jacob
Jets place McKnight on active non-football injury list >>
Salazar, Padres take series from Dodgers >>
Sharks sign D Demers to two-year extension >>
After Oswalt acquisition, Phillies win eighth straight >>
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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