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08/30/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard's Kid's second straight win of the Pacific Classic catapulted him into 10th place in this week's NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll. The five-year-old had not received one vote the previous week.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Richard's Kid joined Tinner's Way and Skimming as the only two-time winners of Del Mar's signature race. The five-year-old received 21 points to put him into the top 10, replacing Life At Ten who was third in Sunday's Personal Ensign Stakes.
Two-time champion mare Zenyatta remains solidly in first-place with 14 top votes and 181 points.
Quality Road (133 points) and Lookin At Lucky (130) hold steady in third and fourth, respectively.
Blind Luck (101) and Paddy O'Prado (43) each advanced one spot in the poll, taking advantage of Sunday's loss by 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.
Rachel Alexandra suffered a one-length defeat to Persistently in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga. Rachel's point total fell from 113 to 36 to drop her into seventh.
Two-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti (24) and five-year-old mare Proviso (22) retained their respective places in eighth and ninth.
<< Missouri running back charged with sexual assault
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suspended Missouri running back Derrick
Washington has been charged with deviate sexual assault.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that official charges were filed Monday.
Washington had been suspen
<< Kuchar up to 10th in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kuchar's playoff victory Sunday over
Martin Laird at The Barclays vaulted Kuchar up to 10th in this week's world
golf rankings.
Kuchar jumped up 13 places to his highest-ever ranking.
Tiger Wo
<< Baggies add Scharner on free transfer
West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich announced the signing
of Paul Scharner on a two-year contract on Monday.
The 30-year-old Scharner joined on a free transfer after leaving Wigan at the
end of last season, and Baggie
<< Fabiano signs Sevilla extension
Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luis Fabiano pledged his future to Sevilla
through June 2013 on Monday when he signed a two-year contract extension,
which brings to an end any speculation about a move away from the club.
Fabiano's p
Hannover inks USA international Beasley >>
Hannover, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hannover has completed the signing of
American winger DaMarcus Beasley on a two-year contract, the club announced on
Monday.
Beasley, 28, was available on a free transfer following the expiration of
Clemens pleads not guilty at arraignment >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Clemens has pleaded not guilty to
charges of lying to Congress about alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens was indicted earlier this month and has been charged with three counts
of m
Montero earns MLS Player of the Week award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero was
voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 22 of the 2010 MLS
season on Monday.
Montero scored both of Seattle's goals in a 2-1 comeback win ove
Bautista named AL Player of the Week >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista has
been named the Player of the Week for the American League for the period
ending August 29.
In seven games last week, Bautista led the American League with a
Chicago, IL - New Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and star linebacker Brian Urlacher shot down reports of a rift, saying they're simply not true.
"There's nothing between us," Cutler said Thursday, when he reported to training camp. "I just want to put that to rest. There never has been anything between us."
Urlacher added: "I never said what I was quoted as saying and that's it. I have a lot of respect for Jay. I think Jay knows that."
Former Bears receiver Bobby Wade caused a stir when he told Minneapolis radio station KFAN-AM that Urlacher used a profanity while questioning Cutler's manhood during a conversation in Las Vegas last weekend. Wade, who now plays for the Vikings, said Urlacher used a profane version of the word "wimp" during the interview that had to be edited out.
go radio station WSCR-AM also reported that Urlacher had to be restrained from confronting Cutler during organized team activities.
"I wouldn't go face-to-face with Brian, anyway," Cutler said. "No, that's never happened. I've hung out with Brian away from the facility numerous times and we've always gotten along."
Urlacher, noting he was limited by a groin injury, denied the reports in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and did it again when he reported to camp.
"I didn't practice this summer, so I don't know how I would fight the guy if I didn't practice," Urlacher said. "We have no problems. I'm excited about football starting. I'm excited to have him as our quarterback."
Why would Wade say that?
"I don't know," Urlacher said. "Maybe he's jealous because we have a good quarterback now."
Cutler said the first he heard of any friction was when he got a call from Urlacher to clear the air. Urlacher, however, said he had already taken several calls from teammates wondering if the reports were true when Cutler phoned.
"He called me and I said, What's up (expletive), what are you doing?'" a grinning Urlacher said, uttering the same word he allegedly used with Wade. "It's so dumb to me that this even got to this point, but it did and then here we are."
better place after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They have a franchise quarterback for the first time in decades after acquiring Cutler in an offseason trade with Denver. But there are questions about his attitude following a fallout with Broncos management and new coach Josh McDaniels.
His critics include former Bears coach Mike Ditka and former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, one of Smith's mentors. Smith, however, said Cutler has been a model teammate so far while denying any animosity with Urlacher.
"There's no issue with Jay and Brian, except Brian and Jay are both excited about being teammates for our club this year," coach Lovie Smith said. "No more than that. We can't spend a whole lot of time on something that isn't true. I have talked to the players. Whenever something comes out, you have to address it, but it's a non-issue."
In some ways, Cutler is getting a second chance in Chicago, an opportunity to repair his reputation.
Smith said another quarterback - Michael Vick - deserves one, although he doesn't see it happening with the Bears, who lack an experienced backup. The former Atlanta Falcons star, who served a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring, said Thursday he is getting close to signing with a pro football team.
"A second chance, like everyone in society who has paid their debt to society," Smith said. "He deserves a second chance. As far as we're concerned, we like this team that we have right now."
Particularly the new quarterback.
"Me and Brian have been on a good relationship since I've been here, and I expect it to continue that way," Cutler said.
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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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