Clevelandbrowna NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Rockets G Lowry out at least a week
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowry will sit out for at least a week after spraining his left knee. The team confirmed the injury Saturday after Lowry played just 11 minutes in a 104-100 win over Portland on Fri

<< Syracuse rallies fron 18 down, escapes DePaul
Rosemont, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoop Jardine's layup with under four minutes to play gave No. 4 Syracuse its first lead of the game after trailing by 18, and the Orange held off a pesky DePaul squad down the stretch to post a 59-57 road wi

<< Hot-shooting Hoyas crush Blue Devils
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe and Chris Wright scored 21 points apiece, as seventh-ranked Georgetown routed No. 8 Duke, 89-77, behind an astounding 71.7-percent shooting performance at the Verizon Center. Austin Free

<< Vikings OT McKinnie kicked off Pro Bowl squad
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie has reportedly been kicked off the NFC team at the Pro Bowl after missing a majority of team practices and meetings. According to the Minneapolis Sta

Montpellier closes gap on Bordeaux >>
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montpellier moved to within six points of Ligue 1 leaders Bordeaux on Saturday as they recorded a 2-0 win over Marseille at Stade de la Mosson. Karim Ait-Fana tallied the opener in the 49th min

Former 'Skins coach Zorn hired as Baltimore QBs coach >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn has been hired by the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday to be the quarterbacks coach for the team. Zorn takes the job previously held by Hue Jackson, who lef

Real Madrid keeps pace with Barca >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karim Benzema's brace allowed Real Madrid to remain within five points of La Liga leaders Barcelona on Saturday as Real downed Deportivo, 3-1. Barca slipped past Sporting Gijon, 1-0, earlier in the day

Imada two clear at Torrey Pines; Mickelson within four >>
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryuji Imada ran home a long birdie putt at the 18th hole Saturday to shoot a two-under 70 and stay atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Imada, who shared the second-round l

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

MySportsbook.com Posts Heisman Trophy Odds

With 3,919 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a mere seven interceptions last season, combined with a powerful South Bend Heisman legacy, odds makers at MySportsbook.com have given Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn the best Heisman Trophy odds at 5-2.

Quinn isn’t the only big man on campus this season.  Oklahoma junior running back and 2004 Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson, listed at 7-2, rushed for a combined 3,033 yards in his first two years as a college player and will give Quinn a run for his money. 

This online sportsbook has also listed Troy Smith, Ohio State senior quarterback, as another strong favorite to win the 72nd Heisman Trophy.  A 7-1 bet, Smith threw for 2,282 yards last season and also led the Buckeyes to a convincing 34-20 victory over Quinn and the Fighting Irish in last season’s Fiesta Bowl.

Current betting odds Heisman trophy are:

For complete NCAA Football odds visit MySportsbook.com.