Eahawks Football Betting News

<< Ole Miss G Polynice done for season
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ole Miss announced Wednesday that starting guard Eniel Polynice will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery last week. Polynice, a junior, averaged 10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds an

<< Arshavin's 'dream' to play at Bayern Munich
St. Petersburg, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrei Arshavin's potential move to one of Europe's major leagues has taken another twist after the Russia star claimed it would be "a dream" to join Bayern Munich. The 27-year-old midfielder

<< Ex-Inter boss Mancini named top coach in Serie A
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini has been named the Serie A coach of the year for last season. Mancini, 43, was dumped by Inter in favor of Jose Mourinho during the summer despite leading the clu

<< Portsmouth's Diarra likely to miss several weeks
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth boss Tony Adams fears that key midfielder Lassana Diarra may be sidelined for several weeks with the ankle injury he suffered in the goalless draw at West Ham United. The 23-year-old form

Williams stars as Volunteers rout UT-Martin >>
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Williams hit 8-of-10 from the floor while recording 21 points and 12 rebounds as the 14th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers cruised to a 91-64 victory over Tennessee-Martin. The blowout was Tenne

Wade leads Heat past Wizards >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade scored 19 points and doled out 10 assists to lead the Miami Heat in a 94-87 victory over the Washington Wizards. Mario Chalmers added 15 points and six helpers for the Heat, who

Nowitzki, Dallas cruise past Bobcats >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dirk Nowitzki poured in 32 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Dallas Mavericks remained perfect all-time against the Bobcats with a 100-83 win over Charlotte. Josh Howard scored 21 point

Turkoglu leads Magic over Raptors in Orlando >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hedo Turkoglu scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, pacing the surging Magic to a 103-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis also finished with 22 points for Orla

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.