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06/20/2007 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer and Justine Henin have been installed as the top seeds at Wimbledon, which begins next Monday at the venerable All England Club.
Federer enters the third Grand Slam event of the year as the four-time defending champion, but comes off a disappointing loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final. The Swiss superstar will try to become the first man to win five straight Wimbledon crowns since the great Bjorn Borg accomplished the feat from 1976-80, and he will attempt to do so without a grass-court tuneup.
After the loss to Nadal in Paris, Federer skipped his usual Wimbledon tuneup in Halle, Germany and is not playing either of the two warmup tournaments this week.
Nadal has been seeded second at Wimbledon. The reigning three-time French Open champ reached the final at the All England Club last July, but lost to Federer in four sets.
American Andy Roddick, a two-time runner-up to Federer on the hallowed grounds of the London suburb, has been seeded third, followed by Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Britain's Andy Murray, American James Blake and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Wimbledon seeds its players by using the ATP rankings. The top 32 ranked players are seeded, but rearranged on a surface-based system. For example, Berdych is ranked 11th by the ATP, but seeded seventh at Wimbledon.
Henin, coming off her third straight French Open crown, is the top women's player in the world and earned the top seed for Wimbledon despite never winning the title.
The Belgian star is a two-time runner-up, though, losing to France's Amelie Mauresmo in a three-set thriller last year and falling to American Venus Williams in another three-setter in 2001.
Russia's Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, is this year's second seed, while rising Serb star Jelena Jankovic is third. Jankovic is coming off a victory over Sharapova in the title match of the grass tuneup in Birmingham after losing to Henin in the French semifinals.
Mauresmo, who has struggled to recover from an appendectomy earlier this year, will defend her Wimbledon crown as this year's fourth seed. She will be followed by Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and French runner-up Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.
Two-time Wimbledon champ Serena Williams is seeded seventh. She won the coveted crown in 2002 and 2003, beating sister Venus both times, then lost to Sharapova in the '04 final.
Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, 1997 champ Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia round out the top 10 seeds.
Venus Williams, the champion here in 2000, 2001 and 2005, is seeded 24th.
The draw is scheduled to be released on Friday.
<< Clark, Young lift D-Backs over D-Rays
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Young's two-run homer in the bottom of
the 10th inning capped a late rally and sent Arizona to a 10-8 victory over
Tampa Bay in the middle contest of a three-game interleague set.
Conor Jackson beg
<< Predators ink Smithson
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nashville Predators made a move to
replace a pair of players traded on Monday by signing center Jerred Smithson
to a two-year contract. The deal will pay him $475,000 for next season and
$525,00
<< Lee leads Astros over Angels in LA
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee homered and knocked in four runs
while Hunter Pence had three hits including a tie-breaking two-run homer, as
the Houston Astros downed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 9-5, in the
second
<< UC Irvine, UNC advance at CWS; Louisville & ASU eliminated
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Olli Linton hit the game-winning single in the
bottom of the 10th inning to lift the UC Irvine Anteaters to a come-from-
behind 8-7 win over the now-eliminated Arizona State Sun Devils in College
World S
Fightin Phils wrap up set with Tribe >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Howard is hitting his stride and will try to continue
the power surge tonight when the Philadelphia Phillies play the rubber match
of their three-game set with the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field.
Howard had thr
Bonderman leads Tigers in finale at D.C. >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Bonderman will try for his eighth straight winning
decision tonight when his Detroit Tigers wrap their three-game series with the
Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium.
Bonderman opened the season with five straigh
Streaking Red Sox wrap set with Braves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox are back in the swing of things and will
shoot for another win this evening in the finale of a three-game interleague
series with the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.
Boston has won four of its last five
Pettitte toes the rubber as Yanks clash with Rockies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Pettitte tries to win back-to-back starts for the
first time all season and stretch his unbeaten streak to four games in the
process when the New York Yankees continue their three-game series with the
Colorado Rockies th
MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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