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08/29/2009 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch made a late-race pass on Todd Bodine for the lead and then held off Bodine on a restart with seven laps to go to win Friday's inaugural EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Busch recorded his fourth victory of the season and the 13th of his Truck Series career. He won last week's race at Bristol, snapping Ron Hornaday Jr.'s five-race winning streak.
"[Crew chief] Richie [Wauters] made a good pit call there in the beginning of the race to take tires when we did," said Busch, who led a race-high 79 laps. "Luckily, we had that long green-flag run, and we cased it. We made it look like we knew what we were doing, and that long run, it just hurt everybody else."
Busch and Wauters are now two-for-two in wins since the duo were reunited at the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota team prior to Bristol. Wauters guided Busch to three victories in the series in 2008. Doug George had served as his crew chief before moving over to Ballew's No.15 team.
"Kyle is a heck of a race car driver, and when he gets to the front, I don't think anyone is going to get around him unless he's a little bit worse," Wauters said.
Busch has now won three of the last four races in which he's competed, as he captured the victory in both the Truck and Sprint Cup events at Bristol. He will try to improve on that record Sunday when he runs in the Nationwide Series race at Montreal.
The 24-year-old driver has now recorded victories in all three of NASCAR's national touring series at five different tracks. Busch won the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland last year.
Bodine settled for a second-place finish.
"On the second-to-last restart, I just got too good of a restart, and this place is so much like Daytona and Talladega where drafting is so important," said Bodine, who relinquished the lead to Busch with 19 laps remaining. "He got a good draft and passed me. I guess it's my fault."
Colin Braun finished third, followed by Rick Crawford and Johnny Sauter.
Dennis Setzer, Chad McCumbee, Aric Almirola, Timothy Peters and Terry Cook completed the top-10.
Hornaday had a disappointing night with an 11th-place finish, his worst result since the first weekend in June at Texas, where he placed 19th. Hornaday fell one lap behind but managed to get back on the lead lap during the seventh and final caution.
Matt Crafton, the pole sitter, finished a lap down in 14th.
Hornaday slightly increased his lead over Crafton to 220 points with nine races remaining in the season.
<< Red Sox squeak by Blue Jays in rain-soaked affair
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Ortiz scampered home with the go-ahead run
on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Jonathan
Papelbon survived a stressful ninth, as the Boston Red Sox defeated Toronto,
6-5, in
<< Howard homers twice as Phils take rainy game against Braves
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Howard had another awesome display of
power, clubbing a pair of homers, as the Philadelphia Phillies held off
Atlanta, 4-2, at a soggy Citizens Bank Park.
Howard, who had a solo homer in the
<< Stampeders use late TD to beat Argos
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris' eight-yard touchdown pass to
Jeremaine Copeland with just over a minute to play proved to be the
difference, as the Calgary Stampeders sent the Toronto Argonauts to their 10th
straigh
<< Fielder and Braun lead Brewers past Pirates
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer, and
Ryan Braun added a solo shot and scored twice, as the Milwaukee Brewers held
on for an 8-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game
set at
Hernandez helps Mariners take out Royals >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Felix Hernandez got back to his winning ways
with seven solid innings, and the Seattle Mariners grabbed a 6-3 win against
the Kansas City Royals at Safeco Field.
Hernandez (13-5) got his first win afte
Lincecum dazzles for eight innings as Giants top Rockies >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum hurled eight shutout innings
of four-hit ball and outdueled Ubaldo Jimenez, as the Giants defeated the
Rockies, 2-0, in the opener of a pivotal three-game set with both divisional
and wil
Morales has two HR, six RBI in Angels' comeback win over A's >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kendry Morales collected a career-high five
hits, including two home runs, and knocked in six runs, as Los Angeles put up
a seven-spot in the seventh inning to rally past Oakland, 11-7, in the second
of four
Packers hold on for wild win over Cardinals >>
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Rodgers threw for 258 yards and three
touchdowns, and the Green Bay Packers held on for a 44-37 victory over the
Arizona Cardinals in preseason action.
Rodgers completed 14-of-19 passes and also
The 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds have been released and Denver Broncos' running back Knowshon Moreno has been made the opening favorite.
Moreno was selected in the first round of April's NFL draft and is expected to carry the rushing load for the Broncos this season. And with Jay Cutler now in Chicago, Moreno might be expected to be Denver's entire offense.
Betting Lines from sports betting lines have made Moreno a 5/2 favorite to win this year's Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Fellow running back Chris “Beanie” Wells (Arizona Cardinals) is right behind Moreno at 7/2, while Donald Brown (Indianapolis Colts) and receiver Michael Crabtree (San Francisco 49ers) are 5/1 to win. Quarterbacks Mark Sanchez (New York Jets) and Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions) are 7/1 and 8/1, respectively.
A couple of players who present some value are Josh Freeman, Shonn Green and Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Freeman needs to beat out Byron Leftwich to become the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but if he does, he has a lot or raw talent and could use the weapons around him (i.e. Kellen Winslow Jr. and Antonio Bryant) to be very successful in his first season.
Green enters a crowded backfield in New York, but considering both Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are unhappy about their contract situations and might holdout, the former Iowa product could become the Jets' primary back.
Everyone was shocked when Al Davis took Heyward-Bey with the eighth overall pick in April's draft, but the kid has a tremendous amount of talent and if quarterback JaMarcus Russell takes the next step this year, the former Maryland product could blossom. Plus, Heyward-Bey will be looking to prove the people wrong who said Oakland should have taken Michael Crabtree with the No. 8 pick.
And if you're looking for a deep sleeper, check out Pat White at 30/1. He enters the Miami Dolphins vaunted “Wild Cat” offense and could be a big time playmaker.
For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds, see below.
2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Odds to Win
Ramses Barden (NYG) 40/1
Andre Brown (NYG) 20/1
Donald Brown (IND) 5/1
Kenny Britt (TEN) 20/1
Glenn Coffee (SFO) 30/1
Chase Coffman (CIN) 50/1
Michael Crabtree (SFO) 5/1
Josh Freeman (TB) 14/1
Shonn Green (NYJ) 14/1
Percy Harvin (MIN) 10/1
Darrius Heyward-Bay (OAK) 18/1
Juaquan Iglesias (CHI) 30/1
Cornelius Ingram (PHI) 50/1
Rashad Jennings (JAC) 30/1
Johnny Knox (CHI) 40/1
Jeremy Maclin (PHI) 18/1
Mohamed Massaquoi (CLE) 30/1
LeSean McCoy (PHI) 12/1
Knowshon Moreno (DEN) 5/2
Hakeem Nicks (NYG) 18/1
Brandon Pettigrew (DET) 30/1
Brian Robiskie (CLE) 20/1
Mark Sanchez (NYJ) 7/1
Matthew Stafford (DET) 8/1
Jason Smith (STL) 40/1
Mike Thomas (JAC) 25/1
Patrick Turner (MIA) 50/1
Mike Wallace (PIT) 50/1
Chris Wells (ARI) 7/2
Pat White (MIA) 30/1
Field (Any Other Player) 9/1
To visit this sports betting site go to BettingExpress.com for all your football betting lines needs.
For sports betting with credit cards site go to BettingExpress.com as well.
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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