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02/10/2012 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League fined Tampa Bay Lightning forward Dominic Moore $2,500 on Friday.
The fine stems from an interference play to New Your Rangers forward Ruslan Fedotenko on Thursday.
The incident happened 3:05 into the third period as Moore hit Fedotenko high with his shoulder. Moore was assessed a roughing penalty on the play.
The Rangers said on Friday that Fedotenko will miss Saturday's game against the Flyers with a head injury resulting from the hit.
<< Jackets place Lebda, Methot on IR
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets placed
defensemen Brett Lebda and Marc Methot on injured reserve Friday.
Lebda was signed by Columbus on January 19, and has picked up one goal in five
games since.
M
<< Berdych, Stepanek give Czechs 2-0 lead
Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 7 Tomas Berdych and
countryman Radek Stepanek gave the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead in Friday's
opening singles rubbers against visiting Italy.
Bolstered by a 90 percent first-
<< Cardinals sign P Linebrink
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have signed pitcher
Scott Linebrink to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring
training.
Linebrink pitched for Atlanta last season and went 4-4 with a 3.64 earne
<< Barcelona hopes to heap pressure on Madrid
Navarra, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona, by its high standards, is sailing
in chartered La Liga territory this season.
The Catalans have exhibited a certain level of dominance in Spain's top flight
over the past few seasons, claiming thr
No. 25 Harvard holds off Penn >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Casey and reserve Corbin Miller
scored 17 points apiece to help No. 25 Harvard stay undefeated in Ivy League
play with a 56-50 victory over Penn at The Palestra.
Oliver McNally had eight poi
DeRozan, Raptors down Celtics >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeMar DeRozan continued his hot steak,
following up his 25 point performance on Wednesday night with 21 points, and
the Raptors lead wire-to-wire as they defeated the Celtics, 86-74, at Air
Canada
Paul lifts Clippers over Sixers in final seconds >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul hit the game-winning shot with
3.2 seconds remaining as the Clippers downed the 76ers, 78-77, on Friday.
A pair of Lou Williams free throws had Philadelphia up, 77-76, with 18 seconds
left, bu
Bulls rout Bobcats >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One can wonder what the score might have
looked like if Derrick Rose had suited up.
Even with the reigning league MVP resting his ailing back, the Chicago Bulls
made it look easy by posting a 95-6
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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