Detroitlios Football Betting News

<< Philadelphia Eagles 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Outside linebacker and defensive tackle were two of the Eagles' biggest need areas entering the offseason, but a trade for ex-Bill Takeo Spikes and the acquisition of former Colt Montae Reagor helped offset those respective r

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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If he is still available at No. 4, there is no way the Buccaneers can pass up Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson. However, if another team trades up to snatch Johnson with one of the first three picks, it won't be the

<< San Francisco 49ers 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Niners are in major need of a No. 1 receiver after releasing Antonio Bryant, and might have to look long and hard at multi- talented Ohio State standout Ted Ginn, Jr. There are also secondary needs, though the signings of

<< Green Bay Packers 2007 Draft Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Ahman Green now a Houston Texan, the Packers have a hole at running back that the franchise has not experienced heading into a season since the pre-Edgar Bennett days. Head coach Mike McCarthy says he's comfortable with

Pettitte's return to the Bronx rained out >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Pettitte's much anticipated return to the Bronx will have to wait as Wednesday's game between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium has been postponed due to rain. No makeup da

Washington Redskins 2007 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington places little to no value on the draft, as evidenced by the fact that it has one pick among the first 142 and has an NFL- low five selections overall. Which isn't to say that the Redskins are without needs, particu

Detroit Lions 2007 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For all the speculation about the Lions taking Brady Quinn, Calvin Johnson, or trading down for multiple picks, it would still fly in the face of the logic if GM Matt Millen does anything other than draft Wisconsin left tackl

Cain hopes to get Giants on track against San Diego >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Young Matt Cain officially takes hold of the No. 2 starting slot in the San Francisco Giants rotation tonight when they host the San Diego Padres in game two of their three-game curtain-raising series at AT&T Park. Cain,

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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