Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
11/19/2008 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals placed wide receiver Antonio Chatman on injured reserve on Wednesday, ending his season. Chatman, who also returned punts, suffered a cervical injury in Sunday's 13-13 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Chatman was carted off the field late in the second quarter of Sunday's game. On 3rd-and-16 at the Cincinnati 41, Chatman took the pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick and ran for an 11-yard gain before he was hit by Eagles safety Quintin Mikell.
Mikell and Chatman knocked helmets, and the receiver's arms went limp as soon as he was hit. Chatman, who fumbled on the play, stayed down and the game was stopped so medical personnel could attend to the sixth-year receiver.
Chatman was immobilized on a stretcher and carted off the field. The catch was the only reception of the game for the 29-year-old wideout, who has 21 receptions for 194 yards this season, his third with the Bengals.
The Bengals also issued their injury report for Thursday's game at Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and offensive tackle Levi Jones (back), safety Chinedum Ndukwe (foot), and guard Andrew Whitworth (ankle) were all declared out. Also on Wednesday the Bengals added offensive tackle Dennis Roland to the active roster from the practice squad.
<< Hill, Ross, Rackers earn NFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill,
New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross and Arizona Cardinals kicker Neil
Rackers have been selected as the NFC's top players for Week 11 of the NFL
season.
<< Manning, Harrison, Washington selected for AFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning,
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and New York Jets return
specialist Leon Washington have been selected as the AFC's top players for
Week 11
<< Wolf Pack loan Murray to Charlotte
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hartford Wolf Pack loaned defenseman Chris
Murray to its ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, the American Hockey
League club announced.
A second-year pro out of the University of New Hampshire, Mu
<< NCAA announces future Final Four sites
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA Division I men's basketball
committee has announced five selections as hosts for the Final Four starting
in 2012 and running through 2016.
New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas-Arlington-Fort Wo
Steelers TE Miller could return Thursday >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers may get tight end
Heath Miller back for Thursday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Miller has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. The fourth-year
tight end has
Crespo ponders Real move >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan's veteran Argentinian striker
Hernan Crespo is a reported transfer target for Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Real are desperate to bring in a new frontman after losing Ruud van Nistelrooy
for th
Hull City's Brown hit with fine >>
Hull, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hull City manager Phil Brown has been handed
a $1,500 fine and warned over his future conduct by the Football Association
due to his actions during the 5-0 thrashing by Wigan.
The Tigers suffered a humi
Spurs lose Modric for two weeks >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham has confirmed that playmaker Luka
Modric could be sidelined for two weeks by a groin injury sustained in the 2-1
defeat at Fulham.
The 23-year-old Croatia international has struggled to make his
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting