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09/15/2007 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston and Los Angeles, which are owned by the same company, AEG, are two teams on the opposite side of the spectrum.
The Dynamo are second in the Western table and are built around a gritty defensive backline and skill up the middle. The Galaxy are last in the Western table, and are built around the flashy form of superstars David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
The two clubs meet Sunday in a Major League Soccer clash at The Home Depot Center.
L.A. is coming off a 3-0 loss to CD Chivas USA Thursday night in which it lost its first Super Clasico title to the upstart Goats.
"I'm just incredibly disappointed. Anytime we face Chivas where we don't walk away with three points is a disappointment," Galaxy midfielder Kyle Martino said. "To feel like we had a lot of the run of the play and not capitalize on chances where we could have put some pressure on them adds to that disappointment."
Ante Razov scored early in the first half for Chivas before Francisco Mendoza and Laurent Merlin added two late goals.
"I thought we played well for the most part, but we're still naive in certain parts of the field," Donovan said. "I think Chivas has done that all year. They wait for you to make that mistake and then they make you pay. I thought we played well overall, but we still have a lot to learn."
Not only did the Galaxy lose the Super Clasico, but their slim playoff hopes took a major hit with the loss on Thursday. They are currently 12 points out of the final spot with just nine games left.
"We needed to get three points tonight, obviously," galaxy coach Frank Yallop said. "It's been a long year to be honest. It's been like this from the start if you like. We're going to keep going until we're out of it."
Houston is coming off a 4-3 win over Real Salt Lake last Sunday in which forward Nate Jaqua scored a hat trick in the win.
"It feels great. It's even better since we got the win," Jaqua said. "We made it tough on ourselves at the end, but we were able to get out of there at the end. Getting the hat trick is neat. I'm happy to do that."
The win extended the Dynamo unbeaten streak to four games, but the team has been anything but impressive in the stretch.
"It's three points - a much needed three points," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said.
The Dynamo need three points in Los Angeles Sunday to keep pace with surging CD Chivas USA, which took over the top spot in the West with the win over the Galaxy Thursday. The team can clinch a spot in the '07 playoffs with a win, a Columbus loss and a Colorado loss.
After Sunday's league fixture, Houston plays at Western rival Dallas on Sept. 30 and L.A. plays at RSL Wednesday.
<< Bowyer edges Truex Jr. for pole in first Chase race
Loudon, NH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clint Bowyer won the pole for the opening round
of the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup" at the New Hampshire International
Speedway. The No.07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver will start out
front
<< Phils' Alfonseca suspended four games
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher
Antonio Alfonseca was suspended for four games and fined an undisclosed amount
for intentionally throwing at Colorado's Todd Helton on Thursday.
With two outs i
<< Unbeatens Bayern Munich, Schalke clash
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich will put its unbeaten mark on
the line on Saturday against Schalke 04, the only other club in the Bundesliga
that hasn't lost this season.
Although the league contenders haven't lost yet, the
<< Manning, Umenyiora practice
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants got a boost
on Friday, as both quarterback Eli Manning and defensive end Osi Umenyiora
practiced in preparation for Sunday's game against Green Bay.
Head coach Tom Coug
Culpepper likely to start for Raiders >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Oakland quarterback Josh McCown listed as
doubtful for Sunday's game at Denver, the Raiders are expected to start Daunte
Culpepper under center.
McCown sprained his right foot last Sunday versus Detroi
Patriots owner disappointed in embarrassing events >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reacted
Friday to the penalties levied against his team and coach following action
taken by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday.
Patriots head coach Bill Bel
Nationals' Patterson undergoes arm surgery >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington pitcher John Patterson Friday
underwent surgery to decompress the radial nerve in his right arm.
Dr. David Ruch performed the procedure in one hour at Duke Medical Center.
Patterson, who m
Redman, Burres key O's victory over Jays >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tike Redman went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a
pair of runs scored as Baltimore topped Toronto, 6-2, in the opener of a
three-game set at Rogers Centre.
Aubrey Huff went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run score
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.
MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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