Miller leads in Tennessee; Daly one back

Golf Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - Farragut, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zack Miller posted a six-under 66 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead of the Knoxville Sentinel Open, but a multiple major champion lurks close behind.

John Daly, the 1991 PGA Champion and 1995 British Open winner, shot a five- under 67 and is tied for second place with former PGA Tour player Kirk Triplett, David Hearn, William McGirt, Justin Peters, Skip Kendall, Andrew Svoboda and Robert Damron.

Daly began on the 10th tee Thursday and rattled off three straight birdies. He finished off his first nine with two more birdies and a bogey to make the turn at four-under.

Daly eagled the par-five first, but back-to-back bogeys at five and six momentarily derailed his round. He birdied the seventh to get to five-under and stayed there with two closing pars.

Miller is a tour rookie and in his Nationwide Tour bio, he said he'd round out his dream foursome with Charles Barkley, John McEnroe and Daly.

Miller also got off to a big start on Thursday. He eagled the first hole, but only managed one other birdie the rest of his front nine.

Miller kicked off the second nine with two consecutive birdies from the 10th. He parred the par-four 12th, but birdied the par-three 13th to get to six- under par.

He parred his last five to secure the first-round lead.

Miller has two top-10s in his rookie campaign, including a tie for 10th at his first event, the Bogota Open, and a shared third at the Fort Smith Classic. He fired a 62 in the first round of the Wayne Gretzky Classic, but a second-round 73 led to a tie for 17th.

Chris Kirk, who is fourth on the Nationwide Tour money list, headlines a group of players tied for 10th at four-under 68. Tag Ridings and John Riegger, both in the top 20 on the money list, are also part of the group two shots off the lead.

NOTES: Daly isn't the only former major champion in the field this week. Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA Champion, carded a two-under 70 and is tied for 34th place...Leading money winner Jamie Lovemark is not in the field...Last year's winner Kevin Johnson is also not on hand this week.

Boxig Golf Betting News

<< Saban: Talks on agent issue continue
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Alabama coach Nick Saban says talks are ongoing in seeking a solution to the problem of rule-breaking agents.Saban said Thursday evening that there have been ``several conference calls'' with other coaches, the NFL, the NFL Pl

<< Irish ILB McDonald upgraded for opener vs Purdue
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Irish inside linebacker Anthony McDonald has been upgraded from doubtful to questionable for Notre Dame's opener against Purdue.Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said Thursday that McDonald, the projected starter, is making progres

<< Woods shoots 65, shares lead at Barclays
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing his best golf this year, Tiger Woods shot a six-under 65 Thursday to tie Vaughn Taylor for the first-round lead at The Barclays. Woods played in the first group out in the morning wave and racked

<< Missouri running back could miss season opener
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Missouri running back Derrick Washington has been suspended indefinitely for disciplinary reasons, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Washington's status for the Tigers season opener against Illin

<< Nationals introduce top overall pick Harper
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals officially introduced top-overall pick Bryce Harper on Thursday, prior to the start of a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Nats and Harper agreed to ter

Reyes leaves Thursday's game >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes left Thursday's game against Florida after aggravating his right oblique strain. Reyes legged out an infield hit in the second inning and was immediately removed in fa

Pujols fastest to reach 400 HRs >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols became the fastest in number of seasons to reach the 400 home run plateau when he went deep on Thursday. Pujols hit an opposite-field solo blast to right fiel

Wasylowich leads Canadian Tour Championship >>
St. Catharines, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kris Wasylowich fired an eight-under 62 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Canadian Tour Championship. Ryan Yip was a stroke off the lead at seven-under 63, while six-time tour winner Mik

Wie aces her way to Canadian Open lead >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie aced the par-three 11th hole on Thursday en route to a seven-under 65 and the first-round lead of the Canadian Women's Open. "It was a fun day out there today, it was a good pairing," said W

UNC expands investigation into possible NCAA violations >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina announced Thursday night the school and the NCAA are expanding an investigation in possible violations, and those may include infractions related to agents. The school held a news conferen

College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.