Murray marches on at the AEC
Tennis Betting Lines
06/24/2010 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy British crowd favorite Andy Murray was an easy second-round winner Thursday at Wimbledon.
The Australian Open runner-up Murray mauled Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, playing in front of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on Centre Court.
Murray cruised in 1 hour, 42 minutes by swatting 18 aces among his 49 winners and breaking Nieminen's serve on four occasions, while holding his serve throughout.
The two-time Grand Slam runner-up Murray, seeded fourth here, is trying to give Britain its first male Wimbledon singles champion in 74 years. His third- round opponent will be 26th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Another top-10 result saw 10th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outlast Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 5-7, 10-8 on Day 4 of the fortnight.
In other action involving seeds, No. 25 Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci snuck past Austrian Martin Fischer 6-7 (11-13), 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, No. 32 Frenchman Julien Benneteau overcame German Andreas Beck 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, and Simon advanced via walkover against Ukrainian Illya Marchenko.
Additional second-round wins came for France's Jeremy Chardy and German Tobias Kamke.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers didn't skip a beat without their red-hot slugger Josh Hamilton in the lineup on Wednesday. Tonight Hamilton will try to extend his career-best hitting streak, while the Rangers go after their 11th straigh
<< Giants get WR/KR Davis off waivers
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants were awarded wide
receiver/kick returner Chris Davis off waivers from the Cincinnati Bengals on
Thursday.
Davis missed the entire 2009 season with a hamstring injury he suffered i
<< Cards to send out another ace in finale with Jays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals will try to exit Canada with a
three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays when the two clubs close out an
interleague series tonight from Rogers Centre.
St. Louis rode Jaime Garcia to a win in the se
<< New-look Marlins shoot for sweep of lowly Orioles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Kevin Millwood will try
to build off his first win of the season when he makes his 16th start tonight
in the finale of a three-game interleague series versus the Florida Marlins at
Camden Ya
<< Cain, Giants aim to get back on track against Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Cain will try to get himself and the San Francisco
Giants back into the win column when he takes the hill Thursday in the rubber
match of a three-game series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
The Giants
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Vittek scored goals on each side of the half as Slovakia held on late to down the defending FIFA World Cup champions Italy, 3-2, at Ellis Park Stadium in Group F action on Thursda
Paraguay eliminates unbeaten Kiwis, wins Group F >>
Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paraguay wrapped up first place in
Group F on Thursday with a 0-0 tie against New Zealand at Peter Mokaba Stadium
in the FIFA World Cup.
Paraguay was unbeaten in the group with a win and two draws,
Schalke signs defender Papadopoulos >>
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Schalke has made Olympiacos defender
Kyriakos Papadopoulos its fifth signing of the summer.
The 18-year-old, who has signed a four-year deal with the club, arrives in
Gelsenkirchen for an undis
Sharks re-sign Marleau, Pavelski >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have re-signed forwards
Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski.
Marleau has spent his entire 12-season career with San Jose while Pavelski has
played four seasons in the NHL, all with the Shar
Isner tops Mahut in longest-ever tennis match >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Towering American John Isner defeated
Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history by winning
their epic fifth set, 70-68, on Thursday.
A 23rd-seeded Isner needed three days to post
2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
Las Vegas Sports Lines
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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