McHale will open for U.S. against Azarenka
Tennis Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A Fed Cup World Group II matchup between the United States and Belarus will get underway Saturday with a rubber between American teenager Christina McHale and newly-crowned world No. 1 star Victoria Azarenka.
The best-of-five tie will be staged on an indoor hardcourt at Worcester's DCU Center.
Azarenka-McHale will be followed by a match between former No. 1 American great Serena Williams and Olga Govortsova on Day 1.
The 22-year-old Azarenka is fresh off her first-ever Grand Slam title, which she attained by beating former top-ranked star Maria Sharapova in last week's Aussie Open finale. The Belarusian slugger also ascended to No. 1 in the world in the process.
Sunday's reverse singles in Massachusetts will pit the U.S. Open runner-up Williams against Azarenka and the New Jersey native McHale versus Govortsova, while the doubles currently call for an American duo of Venus Williams and Liezel Huber to battle a Belarusian pairing of Azarenka and Govortsova on Day 2.
Venus hasn't played anywhere since pulling out in the first week of last year's U.S. Open, as she has been slowed by Sjogren's syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain.
The former No. 1 Serena is a 13-time Grand Slam champion, while her fellow former top-ranked older sister boasts seven major championships.
The Americans, captained by Mary Joe Fernandez, and Belarusians are not in the World Group this year, which means neither team can capture the Fed Cup title in 2012. The U.S. is the all-time leader with 17 championships.
This will mark the first-ever Fed Cup meeting between the U.S. and Belarus.
The winner here will advance to the World Group playoffs and have a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title next year.
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard is expected to be out for up to six weeks due to an ankle injury. Lindegaard sustained the injury in training and missed Tuesday's match against Stoke
<< Former VMI football coach Thalman, 89, passes
Lexington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former VMI football coach Bob Thalman died at
age 89 on Tuesday in Atlanta from the effects of Alzheimer's disease.
Thalman was VMI's longest-tenured head coach, compiling a 54-93-3 record in 14
seasons from
<< Crespo confirms exit from Parma
Parma, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Parma striker Hernan Crespo confirmed his
departure from the Italian club on Friday, with Crespo widely expected to
complete a move to India in the coming weeks.
The 36-year-old Crespo announced at
<< Watson to coordinate Presbyterian defense
Clinton, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Familiarity will aid Drew Watson as
Presbyterian College's new defensive coordinator.
After spending the last 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina,
he knows the Big South Conference and Presbyte
<< Wild, Rangers swap forwards
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild acquired forward Erik
Christensen and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft
from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Casey Wellman.
Christensen appea
Leverkusen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayer Leverkusen striker Eren Derdiyok will miss the next three weeks after he cut his foot on a toothbrush holder. A glass holding Derdiyok's toothbrush fell and shattered on his bathroom floor,
Berdych, French seeds reach Open Sud semis >>
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seeds Tomas Berdych, Gilles Simon
and Gael Monfils were a trio of quarterfinal winners Friday at the Open Sud de
France tennis tournament.
The Czech world No. 7 Berdych handled France's Nicolas Mah
Safety among prevalent issues for Goodell >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Armed with labor peace for the next 10
years, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discussed a number of topics Friday in
his annual state of the league address.
Last year's session with the assembled m
Portland's Valencia to miss 6-12 months >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland Timbers forward Jose Adolfo Valencia
will undergo surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee and will be
sidelined six to 12 months.
Valencia was acquired on loan from Colombian first-divi
Calhoun takes medical leave of absence >>
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Connecticut men's basketball head
coach Jim Calhoun is taking an indefinite medical leave of absence, starting
with Saturday's game against Seton Hall.
Calhoun is suffering from spinal stenosis
Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship
(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.
MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.
College Football Betting Tips From a Pro
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.