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05/06/2010 - Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ole Miss sophomore guard Terrico White decided to hire an agent and remain in the running for the NBA draft.
The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 15.1 points and 4.6 rebounds last season and was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2008-09 after putting in 13.7 points per game.
"My family and I have decided that it is best for me to stay in the upcoming draft," White said. "This was a very tough decision to make. I would like to thank all of the coaching staff for giving me the chance to play at Ole Miss and for everything they have done for me over the past two years. I really love it at Ole Miss, and I will always be a part of the Ole Miss family. It really hurts for me to go, but this is what's best for my family."
The Last Ole Miss player to be selected in the draft was Justin Reed in 2004.
<< L.A. remains unbeaten, edges Colorado
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy earned their first
ever win at Dick's Sporting Goods Park with a 1-0 victory over the Colorado
Rapids on Wednesday night in Major League Soccer action.
Alan Gordan scored the g
<< Short-handed Dallas edges Houston for first win
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ugo Ihemelu scored in the 79th minute and Kevin
Hartman posted his first shutout of the season, as 10-man FC Dallas edged the
Houston Dynamo 1-0 on Saturday for its first win of the season.
Dallas (1-1-4) was
<< Lee ends long HR drought in ninth to snap 'Stros skid
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee picked a good time to hit his first
home run of the season, hammering the first pitch he saw from Juan Gutierrez
in the ninth inning to lift Houston to a 4-2 victory over Arizona.
With the score
<< Jones, Rios homer as White Sox rout Royals
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andruw Jones and Alex Rios each homered and
drove in three runs to pace the Chicago White Sox to a 9-2 clobbering of the
Kansas City Royals in the rubber match of a three-game set.
Juan Pierre ended 2-f
Byfuglien's hat trick helps Chicago down Vancouver in Game 3 >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Byfuglien scored his first three
goals of these playoffs for his second career hat trick and Antti Niemi made
31 saves, as Chicago took control in its Western Conference semifinal series
with a
Longoria helps Rays handle Mariners >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria drove in two runs, including the
go-ahead single in the eighth inning, and the Rays continued their amazing
success on the road with an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Matt Garza (5-1) t
Brewers break out bats in another rout of LA >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rickie Weeks went 3-for-5 with three RBI
while Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee each drove in a pair, as the Brewers
upended the Dodgers, 11-3, behind another offensive outburst.
After being shut out
Stewart's HR in 12th lifts Rockies over Padres >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Stewart smacked the game-winning homer
in the top of the 12th inning, as the Colorado Rockies snuck past the San
Diego Padres, 6-5, in the rubber match of a three-game series at Petco Park.
Tim S
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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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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