Report: Beckham to miss World Cup due to Achilles tear
Soccer Betting Lines
03/14/2010 - Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - English superstar soccer player David Beckham will reportedly miss the World Cup in June after suffering an apparent tear to his left Achilles while playing for AC Milan.
The injury occurred Sunday night in a 1-0 Italian League win over Chievo Verona.
AC Milan said on its Web site that "there is the suspicion of a broken Achilles' tendon." The BBC reports Beckham, who is in his second loan stint with Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, will fly to Finland on Monday for surgery.
"We all know the great contribution of David, he's also an extraordinary lad," Milan coach Leonardo said. "On the pitch, he had already understood the entity of the injury. He felt a pull in his tendon and the muscle was going up. Pity, for us it's a tough blow."
Instead of playing for England in the World Cup, it appears the 34-year-old Beckham will be recovering from what is believed to be an injury that will take 5-to-6 months to heal.
Beckham is currently England's most-capped outfield player with 115 appearances. He has 17 international goals.
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders announced Sunday that they have acquired linebacker Kamerion Wimbley from the busy Cleveland Browns for an undisclosed draft choice. While the draft choice remains undisclosed officially,
<< Coyotes nip Thrashers in SO
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adrian Aucoin scored the game-winning goal in
the fourth round of the shootout, as the Phoenix Coyotes edged the Atlanta
Thrashers, 3-2, at Philips Arena.
Rich Peverley got Atlanta on the board with a
<< North Carolina, UConn lend big names NIT field
NEW YORK (AP) -North Carolina and Connecticut are lending some serious star power to the NIT.The Tar Heels were a No. 4 seed in the bracket released Sunday, the second time in the past three years that the defending national champion missed the NCAA
<< Messi's hat trick leads Barca over Valencia
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi had second-half hat trick and
Barcelona beat Valencia 3-0 on Sunday in a clash of top-three clubs in Spain's
La Liga at the Camp Nou.
Messi scored in the 56th, 81st and 83rd minutes to incre
<< Isles finally win back-to-back games, top Leafs
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard Park posted a goal and an assist,
while Blake Comeau added three helpers, and the Islanders recorded back-to-
back wins for the first time in nearly two months with a 4-1 win over Toronto.
Matt
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Jackson recorded 28 points, six rebounds and as many assists, as Charlotte matched a franchise-best winning streak with its sixth straight win, 96-89, over Orlando. Raymond Felton checked i
Wade carries Heat over Sixers >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade poured in 38 points on 14-of-25
shooting, pacing Miami to a 104-91 wire-to-wire victory over the Philadelphia
76ers.
Udonis Haslem added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Carlos Arroyo chipped in
Wild stop surging Blues >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikko Koivu netted a goal and two assists, and
the Minnesota Wild notched a 4-2 win over the streaking St. Louis Blues at
Xcel Energy Center.
Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen both had a goal and an
North Carolina among NIT field >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Illinois, Arizona State, Virginia Tech and
Mississippi State were anointed as the top seeds for the 32-team 2010 National
Invitation Tournament.
The field was revealed Sunday night, approximately three ho
Westbrook, Durant lead Thunder over Jazz >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Westbrook poured in 30 points and
dished out 11 assists, as the Oklahoma City Thunder took down the Utah Jazz,
119-111.
Kevin Durant added 35 points for the Thunder, who have won five in a row
Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.