02/08/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas remained the top team in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll, while Syracuse moved up one spot to No. 2.
The Jayhawks (22-1) regained the top spot last week after spending the first eight weeks of the season atop the rankings before their lone loss of the season on January 10 at Tennessee. Kansas received 55 first-place votes, one more than last week, and a total of 1,613 points from a nationwide media panel.
Syracuse (23-1) moved up one spot, garnering eight first-place votes, while Kentucky also climbed one spot to third. The Wildcats, who spent one week at No. 1, picked up a pair of top tallies.
Villanova and West Virginia, combatants on Monday in Morgantown, round out the top five. The Wildcats were second last week, but suffered their first Big East loss on Saturday at Georgetown, while West Virginia moved up one spot from sixth.
Purdue jumped up two spots to sixth and this week is followed by Georgetown, Duke, Kansas State and Michigan State. The Spartans lost to Wisconsin and Illinois last week and dropped five places from fifth.
The second 10 consists of Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio State, Texas, New Mexico, Gonzaga, BYU, Butler, Northern Iowa and Georgia Tech. Wisconsin moved up five spots from 16th after beating Michigan State and Michigan, while Texas dropped five places after a loss Saturday at Oklahoma. The Longhorns were ranked No. 1 for two weeks, but have lost four of their last six games entering Monday's Big 12 tussle against Kansas.
Temple, Vanderbilt, UNLV, Baylor and Pittsburgh are the last five teams ranked this week.
UNLV is the lone newcomer, thanks to a five-game winning streak that included Saturday's 88-74 victory over BYU. The Runnin' Rebels were ranked for two weeks earlier this season.
Ole Miss was the only team to drop from the rankings. The Rebels were 25th, but lost to Kentucky last Tuesday before beating Alabama.
In addition to Monday's matchups of ranked foes, Tuesday's slate features an SEC showdown between Tennessee and Vanderbilt in Nashville and a Big Ten battle pitting Purdue and Michigan State in East Lansing. On Wednesday, UNLV will host New Mexico and a rare Friday top-25 contest has West Virginia at Pittsburgh in the second 2010 basketball edition of the Backyard Brawl. The two rivals squared off last Wednesday in Morgantown with West Virginia taking a 70-51 decision. Only one ranked matchup Saturday is a big one in the SEC, as Kentucky welcomes Tennessee.
<< Patrick given green light for Daytona Nationwide race
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - IndyCar series star Danica Patrick will
continue to be in the spotlight during Speedweeks at Daytona International
Speedway.
Patrick announced on Monday she will make her Nationwide Series debu
<< Lisicki rolls in Pattaya opener
Pattaya City, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Sabine Lisicki
highlighted Monday's first-round winners at the $220,000 Pattaya Open tennis
event.
The German Lisicki was pasting Akgul Amanmuradova 6-0 when the Uzbekista
<< Kostner to remain at Wolfsburg through season
Wolfsburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caretaker manager Lorenz-Gunter Kostner
will remain in charge at German champions Wolfsburg until the end of the
season.
Kostner took charge of the Wolves a couple of weeks ago when Armin Veh
<< City waits on Bellamy injury news
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City are waiting to discover
how long Craig Bellamy faces on the sidelines after the striker suffered a
knee injury during the 2-1 defeat at Hull City.
The 30-year-old Wales internation
Connecticut continues to top women's poll >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Connecticut remained a unanimous choice as the
top-ranked team in women's college basketball, as the Associated Press
released its latest poll Monday.
The Huskies (23-0) enter the week with a 62-gam
Gainey stepping down as Canadiens GM >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey
will reportedly step down from his post, as the team has scheduled a press
conference for 4 p.m. (et).
According to a report by TSN Canada, assistant general
Stricker up to second in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Stricker's victory on Sunday at the
Northern Trust Open moved the American to second in this week's world
rankings.
Tiger Woods remained in first, followed by Stricker, who was third last
Vesnina, Szavay advance in France >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth-seeded Elena Vesnina and Hungarian
Agnes Szavay were Monday's first-round winners at the $700,000 Open GDF Suez
tennis tournament.
The Russian Vesnina vaulted past Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6
Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.
Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.
"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."
Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com
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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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