Aubameyang's hat trick topples Lorient
Soccer Betting Lines
02/22/2012 -
Saint Etienne, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a
second-half hat trick to help St Etienne to a 4-2 win over Lorient at the
Geoffrey-Guichard Stadium on Wednesday.
The match came to life after a scoreless first half as Lorient's Arnold
Mvuemba gave his team the lead from the penalty spot in the first five minutes
of the second half.
Aubameyang equalized shortly before the hour mark and added a second goal in
the 68th minute to put the hosts in front.
Mathias Autret responded 15 minutes from time to level the match for Lorient,
but a pair of late goals propelled St Etienne to all three points.
An own goal in the 88th minute from Bruno Ecuele Manga put Lorient behind, and
Aubameyang finished off his hat trick a few minutes later by volleying home a
pass from Max Gradel.
St Etienne has claimed four wins from its last five games to take hold of
fourth place in Ligue 1, while Lorient's struggles continued on Wednesday as
the club remains in the bottom half of the league having gone winless in nine
games.
Lille 1, Sochaux 0
Montbeliard, France - Lille edged closer to the leaders on Wednesday after
securing a 1-0 win at Sochaux courtesy of Nolan Roux's 76th-minute goal.
The win lifts Lille to within six points of leaders PSG having won three of
its last four games, with Sochaux rooted to the bottom of the league and
winless in 11 games.
Lille's performance was far from convincing and goalkeeper Mickael Landreau
needed to push a free kick from Sochaux's Marvin Martin off the post in the
first half.
The visitors eventually took the lead when Roux headed home a corner kick 15
minutes from time. But the points weren't safe until the end as Sochaux's
Cedric Bakambu beat Landreau with a shot in the final minutes that came back
off the post.
Caen 2, Auxerre 1
Caen, France - Caen rallied for a 2-1 win over Auxerre on Wednesday with two
goals in the final 20 minutes to move six points above the drop zone.
Auxerre's Roy Contout gave his team the lead on the hour mark but saw Kandia
Traore and Livio Nabab combine on the equalizer as Traore took the return pass
from Nabab and beat goalkeeper Olivier Sorin.
Caen seized the lead in the 77th minute when Nabab decided to go for goal from
22 yards and found the bottom corner, dooming Auxerre to a third defeat in
five games.
<< Royal Delta set for Sabin
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion filly Royal Delta is ready to
make her 2012 debut in Saturday's $100,000 Sabin Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
The four-year-old will face four challengers in the 1 1/6-mile race.
Royal Delta,
<< Report: Temple in talks to join Big East
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Temple is reportedly in talks to join the Big
East in all sports as early as next season, which would give the conference 13
teams in football and 18 in basketball.
A planned move could be completed this
<< Ivy power Penn to play two CAA teams
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Penn will play a difficult non-conference
schedule to try to set up a run for the Ivy League football title this year.
Penn announced its 10-game schedule on Wednesday and will play five home games
and fiv
<< Tsonga wins Marseille opener
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded former champion Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga was an easy second-round winner Wednesday at the Open 13 tennis event.
The 2009 Marseille titlist trounced fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 on
the i
<< Detriot Tigers
Agreed to terms with pitchers Matt Hoffman, Andy Oliver and Adam Wilk, infielder Hernan Perez and outfielder Andy Dirks.
This Week in Auto Racing February 23 - 26 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Get ready for what is expected to be a
wild four days of racing at Daytona International Speedway, culminating with
Sunday's Daytona 500.
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series
Daytona 500 - Daytona International
Hurricanes, Ruutu agree to 4-year extension >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to terms with
forward Tuomo Ruutu on a four-year contract extension on Wednesday.
"Players like Tuomo are extremely difficult to replace, and it is very
important for
Company sues Marlins based on auction bid >>
Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Marlins are being sued for
damages by a corporation that says it won a bid to buy the team at an auction
more than four years ago.
In a complaint filed in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court
Gatorade Duels: Who's in and who's not in the Daytona 500? >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Thursday,
February 23. Race: Gatorade Duel twin-qualifying races. Site: Daytona
International Speedway. Track: 2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et).
Laps: 60 (each ra
Pack 'em in for the Daytona 500 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday,
February 26. Race: Daytona 500. Site: Daytona International Speedway. Track:
2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 1:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 500. 2011
Winner: Trevor
Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year
Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.
Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.
With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.
Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.
Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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