Keane's double leads Celtic over Falkirk

Soccer Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Falkirk, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robbie Keane scored a goal in each half and Celtic defeated Falkirk 2-0 on Sunday at Falkirk Stadium for its first win over the struggling club in three matches this season.

Celtic settled for draws in its first two games with Falkirk, 3-3 on the road, and 1-1 at Parkhead. The Bhoys claimed the third meeting against the side last in the Scottish Premier League to move back within 10 points of Rangers.

Rangers dropped Celtic 10 points off the pace last Sunday with a 1-0 victory in the Old Firm, and beat St. Mirren 3-1 on Saturday to push its lead to 13.

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray considered benching Keane following his match with Ireland earlier this week against Brazil, but the Tottenham loanee started and rewarded his coach with his third and fourth goals.

"I was half tempted to put Robbie on the bench after (the Brazil game) midweek but I started him and he got his goals," Celtic boss Tony Mowbray said on the league's website.

Keane, who is Ireland's captain, turned an assist from Morten Rasmussen into the opener in the 34th when he slotted low past Falkirk goalie Robert Olejnik.

Keane added his second in the 79th when he met a free kick from Marc Crosas to beat Olejnik for the second time.

Celtic kept its slim title hopes alive, but would still need a collapse in the closing weeks from Rangers to dethrone the defending champions.

Falkirk boss Steven Pressley was pleased with the effort, but his side sits in last place and three points behind Hamilton and St. Mirren.

"I thought we controlled the game for long periods and I'm devastated for the players," Pressley said.

Morgaro Gomis scored in the 78th as Dundee United reclaimed third with a 1-0 win over Hearts at Tannadice Park.

Gambbling Soccer Betting News

<< Nurnberg hands Leverkusen first loss
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored twice in the closing minutes of the first half, Mikael Tavares added a goal 10 minutes after the break, and Nurnberg held on to hand Bayer Leverkusen its first loss of the

<< Jaguars sign Kampman
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed defensive end Aaron Kampman, the team announced Sunday. Terms and length of the deal were not disclosed. Kampman had spent all eight of his NFL seaso

<< Czechs settle for 4-1 Davis Cup victory over Belgians
Bree, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Czech Republic wound up with a 4-1 victory over host Belgium in a first-round Davis Cup tie in Bree. In a pair of dead rubbers on Sunday, Steve Darcis got Belgium on the scoreboard with a

<< Everton cruises past Hull City
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikel Arteta scored his first two goals of the season, Landon Donovan added a goal and an assist, and Everton defeated Hull City 5-1 on Sunday at Goodison Park. Arteta, limited to six EPL matches due to

<< Nalbandian sends Argentina into Davis Cup QFs
Stockholm, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Nalbandian defeated Andreas Vinciguerra to give visiting Argentina a 3-2 victory over Sweden in their first-round Davis Cup matchup in Stockholm. The former Wimbledon runner-up Nalban

Djokovic propels Serbia past U.S. in Davis Cup >>
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic outlasted big John Isner in five sets on Sunday to lift Serbia past the United States and into the 2010 Davis Cup quarterfinals. The Serbs have an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five

Pavlyuchenkova sets up Monterrey final showdown with Hantuchova >>
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova got past Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in Sunday's semifinal at the $220,000 Monterrey Open. Pavlyuchenkova will face second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantu

Royals' Gordon to miss 3-4 weeks >>
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals announced Sunday that third baseman Alex Gordon is expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks with a broken right thumb, leaving his status for Opening Day unclear. Gordon was

Young scores 32 as Sixers down Raptors >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 32 points and Jrue Holiday had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists, as the Philadelphia 76ers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 114-101 win over the Tor

Dodgers C Martin out 4-6 weeks >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin will miss four to six weeks of action due to a pulled groin muscle. The injury will sideline Martin for the remainder of Spring Training and Opening Day.

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.

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

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.