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06/26/2010 - Loudon, NH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Keselowski will start on the pole for Saturday's New England 200 Nationwide Series race after topping Carl Edwards in qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Keselowski, who currently holds a 237-point lead over Edwards, turned a lap of 129.657 m.p.h. around the flat 1.058-mile oval for his third pole of the season and the sixth of his Nationwide career.
"This is a great start, but we still have a long way to go, even just today," Keselowski said. "This is a tough race. Having a good car like we have today hopefully should get us to that next level."
Keselowski will attempt to become the 24th different winner in as many Nationwide races at New Hampshire.
Edwards qualified 0.03 seconds behind Keselowski to capture the outside pole.
Kevin Harvick took the third spot, while Kyle Busch, the defending race winner, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-five. Busch is making his first Nationwide start since four weeks ago at Charlotte, where he picked up his series-leading fifth win of the season.
Steve Wallace qualified sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Justin Lofton and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Danica Patrick struggled in Friday's practice sessions at New Hampshire, but improved with a 25th-place qualifying effort. Patrick will make her fourth Nationwide start, but her first since February 27 at Las Vegas.
"Just considering how it felt, I guess I should be a little bit happier with it," she said. "To go a little bit quicker than yesterday, I guess is a good thing. It's always nice when your quickest lap of the weekend is in qualifying."
Charles Lewandoski and Chris Lawson failed to qualify.
The 200-lap race at New Hampshire is scheduled to start around 3:30 p.m.
<< Suarez fires Uruguay into WC quarterfinals
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luis Suarez scored a goal in
each half, including a spectacular winner 10 minutes from time, as Uruguay
advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 win over South
Korea a
<< Wizards' Blatche has foot surgery
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche is
expected to be out of action for three months after having surgery on his
right foot.
The procedure, which was performed Friday night by Dr. Ed Magur at
<< Rockies continue series with Angels
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams trying to remain in striking distance of their
respective divisions clash in the middle contest of a three-game series
tonight, as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim tangle with the Colorado Rockies
at Angel Stadium.
<< Pirates hope to solve road woes in clash with Athletics
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will attempt to end a 15-game road
losing skid tonight, as they continue a three-game set with the Oakland
Athletics at the Coliseum.
Last night, Cliff Pennington went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a ru
Dredge moves three clear in Germany >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bradley Dredge fired a five-under 67
Saturday to grab a three-stroke lead after three rounds of the BMW
International Open.
Dredge, a two-time European Tour winner, completed 54 holes
Sharks sign 2 more potential free agents >>
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -The San Jose Sharks have signed two more of their potential free agents before they hit the open market.The team announced Saturday that it agreed to one-year deals with forward Scott Nichol and defenseman Niclas Wallin. Both
Baltimore recalls Bergesen, puts Montanez on DL >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have recalled pitcher
Brad Bergesen, who will start Saturday's game against the Washington
Nationals.
Bergesen was called up from Triple-A Norfolk and will begin his third
Serena will face Sharapova in fourth round at Big W >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a rematch of the 2004 final here,
reigning world No. 1 Serena Williams will face former top-ranked star Maria
Sharapova in the fourth round at Wimbledon 2010.
Williams, who swatted 19 aces o
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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