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02/12/2012 - Fribourg, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States had already clinched a victory over host Switzerland in their best-of-five Davis Cup tie before capping off the weekend on Sunday with two more singles wins in a 5-0 sweep in Fribourg.
The 32-time champion Americans will meet the Canada-France victor in the quarterfinals in April.
On Sunday at Forum Fribourg, Ryan Harrison topped Swiss Michael Lammer 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-4) and Fridays' hero John Isner doused Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4 in a pair of dead rubbers, as Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka and top American Mardy Fish were replaced in Day 3's reverse singles.
The U.S., captained by former world No. 1 Jim Courier, clinched the stunning victory here on Saturday when its doubles tandem of Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish defeated a Swiss pairing of Federer and Wawrinka in four sets. Federer and Wawrinka were the Olympic gold medal winners in Beijing four years ago.
Switzerland entered this weekend's tie with Federer anchoring its squad at home on clay. However, the 16-time Grand Slam champion was on the losing end twice in less than 24 hours on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Fish gave the Americans the first point by gutting out a five- set win over Wawrinka, before Isner did the unthinkable with one of the greatest upsets in Davis Cup history, as he shocked Federer in four sets.
Isner is best known for playing in the longest-ever Grand Slam match two years ago at Wimbledon.
The Americans are 3-1 all-time against Switzerland. The lone Swiss win in the series came 11 years ago in the only previous matchup in Switzerland.
<< Jazz start tough stretch in Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Memphis continues a five-game homestand Sunday when it
welcomes the struggling Utah Jazz to FedEx Forum.
The Grizzlies improved to 2-1 on the residency Friday when Rudy Gay scored 21
points as Memphis defeated the Indiana
<< Warriors entertain Rockets in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will shoot for a fourth straight win
tonight in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors.
The Rockets improved to 3-1 on a six-game road trip Thursday in Phoenix when
Luis Scola scored 16 points and wa
<< Rangers welcome Caps for matinee at MSG
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off another dominating performance against their
nearest division rivals, the first-place New York Rangers will welcome the
Washington Capitals for today's battle at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers visited Philade
<< Heat and Hawks clash in Atlanta
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks hope to tighten things up in the
Southeast when they entertain division-leading Miami at Philips Arena.
The star-studded Heat lead the Hawks by two games entering tonight's contest
and improved to 1-1 on
Ducks try to bounce back in Columbus >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks will try to rebound from a loss tonight,
when they play the second test of an eight-game road trip against the Columbus
Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
The Ducks became the 19th straight opponent to los
Kings end road trip in Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to end a rough road trip on
a positive note when they visit the rival Dallas Stars for today's Pacific
Division battle at American Airlines Center.
The Kings are 1-3-1 so far on a six-game sw
Pens welcome Bolts to Steel City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins tied a season-high for goals in a
game on Saturday and will try to carry some of that offense into tonight's
contest when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins host
Sharks begin epic trek in St. Louis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place San Jose Sharks will make the first stop on
their longest road trip of the season tonight, as they visit the St. Louis
Blues in a Western Conference showdown at Scottrade Center.
The Sharks lead the Pacific
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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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.
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