RSL thumps United
Soccer Betting Lines
07/31/2010 - Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-half goals from Robbie Findley and Nelson Gonzalez propelled Real Salt Lake to a 3-0 win over D.C. United at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday.
Alvaro Saborio put Salt Lake in front after 13 minutes, while Findley doubled the lead in the 79th minute and Gonzalez scored his first goal of the season in stoppage time to cap the comfortable win.
RSL has now tasted defeat just once in its last 13 games, while United is winless in its last six and remains on the bottom of the Eastern Conference table.
Ned Grabavoy set up the opener when he slipped a pass into the penalty area for Saborio, who drove a low shot underneath D.C. goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
United tried to answer on the half-hour mark as Branko Boskovic tried to chip the ball over the head of goalkeeper Nick Rimando, and while the ball did clear Rimando, it also sailed narrowly over the crossbar.
The home side nearly doubled its lead with a long-range effort from Will Johnson that barely whistled past the crossbar, while the visitors had a chance to equalize in the 68th minute with a free kick 20 yards from goal.
Boskovic took the shot and curled it around the wall but saw it miss the upper-left corner by inches.
Findley put RLS up two goals 11 minutes later when he took a pass from Williams and again beat Perkins low, while the game was capped off in stoppage time by a beautiful chip from Gonzalez that left Perkins with no chance.
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Mullan scored in the 90th minute as 10- man Houston tied Red Bull New York on Saturday, 2-2, to spoil Thierry Henry's two-assist debut in Major League Soccer. Henry assisted on two goals for Juan Pablo
<< Gonzo's cycle, HR in ninth lifts Rockies over Cubs
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Gonzalez's lead-off home run in the
ninth inning gave him the cycle and the Colorado Rockies a 6-5 win over the
Chicago Cubs in the second of a three-game set.
Gonzalez led off the bottom of
<< Bunbury leads Wizards past TFC
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Teal Bunbury's header in the 62nd minute
was enough for the Kansas City Wizards to claim a 1-0 win over Toronto FC at
CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday.
Neither side created a ton of chances ove
<< Suppan picks up first win as Cardinals rout Pirates
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Suppan finally got his coveted first win
of the season, pitching 5 1/3 shutout innings to lead the Cardinals to an 11-1
win over the Pirates.
Suppan (1-6) earned his first victory since September 19,
<< Mets use run in ninth to edge Diamondbacks
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jesus Feliciano tripled to deep right-center
to open the ninth inning and scored the game-winning run on Carlos Beltran's
sacrifice fly, as the Mets beat the Diamondbacks, 5-4.
David Wright went 2-for-4 wi
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Uggla became the Marlins all-time home run leader and Ricky Nolasco was solid in 8 1/3 innings on the mound, as Florida held off San Diego, 6-3, in the second test of a three-game set at Petco P
Titans agree to terms with top pick Morgan >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee Titans have reportedly agreed
to terms with defensive end Derrick Morgan, their first-round draft pick.
WVLT television in Nashville is reporting that it is a five-year deal for the
16th overal
Guerrero's bat, Harden's arm helps Rangers down Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vladimir Guerrero's two-run homer in the fourth
inning was enough against his former team as the AL West-leading Rangers edged
the Angels, 2-1, in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Nelson Cruz ex
Montero stays hot as Sounders down Earthquakes >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fredy Montero headed home the lone goal of
the game in the 26th minute as Seattle Sounders FC handed the San Jose
Earthquakes a 1-0 defeat at Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday.
Montero continued his
Braun helps Chivas tame Crew >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA rolled to a surprising 3-1 win over
the Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center on Saturday behind a pair of late
first-half goals.
Justin Braun tallied his seventh goal of the season in the 37th
Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game
How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.
The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).
Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.
The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).
Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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.
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