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Alabama DE Dareus to remain sidelined against Penn StateNCAA Football Betting Lines09/06/2010 - Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alabama head football coach Nick Saban stated on Monday the suspension for defensive end Marcell Dareus will not be appealed. Saban stated last week the school planned on appealing the two-game ban, but changed his tune two days after Dareus sat out the reigning national champion's 48-3 rout of San Jose State. "I said that we would appeal, but when I say things like that we have to have precedent to appeal, precedent being some other case or some other circumstance relative to how penalties are granted," Saban explained. "We don't really feel like we have a good precedent. We feel like, relative to the circumstance, this was pretty fair. There were some other cases that we were looking at, but we really don't have precedent to do it (appeal the NCAA's decision). The governing body previously banned Dareus for two games due to his dealings with sports agents. In its ruling, the NCAA said Dareus must repay benefits to become eligible again. Those benefits amount to $1,787.17, which will go to a charity of his choice. Dareus led the SEC in sacks with 6 1/2 as a sophomore in 2009. He added 33 tackles, nine for a loss, and one interception in 14 games for the national champion and current No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide. The NCAA said the case submitted by Alabama shows Dareus accepted benefits that included airfare, lodging, meals and transportation during two trips to Miami. The NCAA said Dareus could have been suspended four games, but "based on the mitigating circumstances in the case" reduced the penalty to two contests. Dareus will miss the Crimson Tide's contest against No. 19 Penn State on Saturday.
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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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