Safin sneaks out U.S. opener

Tennis Betting Lines

08/26/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Marat Safin was a hard-fought first-round winner Tuesday at the U.S. Open.

An unseeded Safin went the distance to get past veteran American Vincent Spadea 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at Ashe Stadium on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The former world No. 1 and two-time major titlist Safin captured the U.S. Open back in 2000. The big Russian will meet Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the second round.

A mild upset came when former Top-5 German star Tommy Haas erased 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet in a splendid five-setter, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Haas reached the quarterfinals here in three of the previous four years.

In other action involving Top-16 seeds, No. 13 Spaniard Fernando Verdasco vaulted past Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, a No. 15 Robredo rolled past German Mischa Zverev 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1 and 6-foot-10 No. 14 Croat Ivo Karlovic handled Czech Jan Minar 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.

American Sam Querrey posted an upset by dismantling 22nd-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-1, 6-2, while 31st-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi edged out Korean Hyung-Taik Lee 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3. Querrey closed out a listless Berdych with his 11th ace of the lopsided match.

Additional opening-round wins came for Finn Jarkko Nieminen, Spaniard Guillermo-Garcia Lopez, Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy, Nicolas Devilder and Florent Serra, Korean Yen-Hsun Lu, and Italian lucky- loser Flavio Cipolla, who replaced 21st-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the draw and outlasted Czech Jan Hernych 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-4).

The U.S. Open marks the fourth and final major of the year.

Gamblimg Tennis Betting News

<< Wenger drops signing hint
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dropped a strong hint that he will not be adding to his squad before the transfer window closes at the weekend. The Gunners have been linked with moves for Liverpo

<< Benitez keen to strengthen Liverpool side
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has revealed he is "working hard" on improving his squad following reports that he is close to signing Albert Riera from Espanyol. The 26-year-old Spain winger has be

<< Cottagers sign Dutch starlet
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fulham have agreed a deal with Fortuna Sittard to sign Danny Hoesen, according to the Dutch teenager. Hoesen, 17, was invited to London for a trial by Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson earlier in the summ

<< Cleveland's Jurevicius placed on PUP list
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns put wide receiver Joe Jurevicius on the physically unable to perform list Tuesday. With this move, the 33-year-old is ineligible for the first six weeks of the NFL season. Jurevic

<< QB Edwards returns to practice for Bills
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Bills starting quarterback Trent Edwards returned to practice on Tuesday after missing a week with a thigh contusion. The second-year quarterback missed Buffalo's 20-7 exhibition w

Confidence bubbling to surface for Red-hot Bulls >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It started out as a small bubble on July 19, when the New York Red Bulls battled to a 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy to snap a two-game losing streak in Major League Soccer play. A couple more bub

Edmonton's Harris highlights CFL weekly awards >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Harris and Dario Romero of the Edmonton Eskimos were among the top players for the CFL for Week 9. Harris earned offensive honors after running for a CFL season-high 189 yards and a score, plus 30

Bears part ways with Manning >>
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears terminated the contract of veteran cornerback Ricky Manning, Jr. on Tuesday. Manning came to the Bears in 2006 as a free agent and in 31 games, he has posted 106 tackles,

Nationals' Kearns headed back to DL >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals placed right fielder Austin Kearns on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday for the second time this season. Kearns has a stress fracture in his left foot. Kearns mis

Marlins activate Waechter from DL >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins activated pitcher Doug Waechter from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. Waechter was put on the shelf on August 11 with inflammation in his rotator cuff. In 39 games this season


Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.