Hat Trick: Jets bring back Coles for third time
Football Betting Lines
07/30/2010 - Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets and wideout Laveranues Coles have renewed relations.
The Jets' Twitter page on Friday revealed the signing, and while terms have yet to be released, the New York Post reports a one-year deal.
Coles spent last season with the Cincinnati Bengals, hauling in 43 balls for 514 yards and five touchdowns in 16 games. Prior to that, he suited up for the Jets between 2005-09, scoring 24 TDs in 60 contests.
The Jacksonville native and Florida State product was the Jets' third-round selection in the 2000 draft, and spent his first three seasons there. During his first stint, Coles set a career high with 1,264 receiving yards in 2002.
Over seven years with New York, Coles has racked up 459 receptions for 5,941 yards and 37 scores. For his 10-year NFL tenure, he has collected 674 receptions for 8,609 yards and 49 touchdowns.
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators have re-signed defenseman Chris Campoli to a one-year contract, the team announced Friday. Campoli, 25, appeared in 67 games for the Senators last season, collecting four goals and 18
<< Redskins' Haynesworth held out of practice again
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert
Haynesworth was held out of practice for a second straight day Friday after
again failing to pass his conditioning test.
Haynesworth was held out of the R
<< Zambrano rejoins Cubs
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs have reinstated pitcher Carlos
Zambrano from the restricted list prior to Friday's road game against the
Rockies.
The right-hander's placement on the restricted list stemmed from a du
<< Steelers agree to five-year deal with Pouncey
Latrobe, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to terms
on a five-year deal with first round draft choice Maurkice Pouncey. He is
expected to be with the team for its' first official practice on Saturday.
Financia
<< A's activate Anderson, disable Bailey
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics made several moves on
Friday, among them reinstating pitcher Brett Anderson from the 15-day disabled
list and placing pitcher Andrew Bailey on the 15-day DL, retroactive to July
21.
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant suffered an apparent right ankle injury during Friday's practice. Bryant was helped off the field after colliding with a defender toward the end of the se
Twins send P Blackburn to minors, place INF Punto on DL >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins demoted pitcher Nick
Blackburn to Triple-A Rochester on Friday to make room for newly acquired
reliever Matt Capps.
Blackburn, who received a four-year, $14 million contract la
Stewart tops in qualifying at Pocono >>
Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart claimed the pole for Sunday's
Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 after posting the quickest lap in qualifying
at Pocono Raceway.
Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, turned a lap of
Yankees appear set to acquire Berkman from Astros >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees are reportedly set
to acquire Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros.
A story from MLB.com cites a source in reporting the impending deal, adding
that Berkman gave general manag
A's sign first-round selection Choice >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics have signed their top
pick of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, outfielder Michael Choice, to a
minor league contract.
Choice was taken 10th overall in the first round.
He was
SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
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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