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07/23/2010 - Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doris Chen and Katelyn Dambaugh won both of their matches on Friday to advance to the final of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.
Chen first knocked off stroke-play medalist Danielle Kang in Friday's quarterfinals, then toppled Gyeol Park, 4 & 3 in Friday afternoon's semifinal action.
Dambaugh had an easier time of it on Friday. She beat Stephanie Liu, 2 & 1 in the quarterfinals and crushed Ally McDonald, 7 & 6 in the afternoon's semifinals.
If Dambaugh were to emerge victorious in Saturday's 36-hole final, she would become the first female left-handed player to win a USGA championship. There were five left-handed male golfers to hoist a USGA trophy, but Dambaugh could be the first female.
Dambaugh fell 1-down in her match against Liu, but pulled ahead with wins at five and six. She stayed in front the rest of the match and even built a 2-up lead through 11 holes.
Liu cut her deficit to 1-down when Dambaugh double-bogeyed the 12th. Liu bogeyed the par-three 16th to go 2-down with two to play, then Dambaugh closed out the match at 17 when the pair both made pars.
"I didn't expect to get this far," Dambaugh admitted Friday after her quarterfinal win. "I was just hoping to make the cut."
When Dambaugh got to the semifinals against McDonald, she won the second hole and never looked back. She built a 5-up lead at the turn and extended to 6-up with a par at No. 10.
McDonald made a mess of the par-five 12th and that was enough for Dambaugh. She won the hole and that ended the route at 7 & 6.
Chen never trailed in her match against Kang. They halved the first five holes and Chen won the sixth with a par. She got to 2-up at eight, but Kang won nine to get back to 1-down.
Chen birdied the par-three 13th and was once again 2-up. The match stayed at 2-up until Kang took the 16th with a par. The two halved the 17th with birdies, then halved 18 with pars to allow Chen to advance.
"I didn't play well the first two rounds," Chen said after her quarterfinal win. "I wasn't hitting the ball as well in the practice rounds. Since the third round, I am hitting more back to normal. I know where I cannot hit it. I am just improving every day."
In the semifinals, Chen jumped out early against Park with a win at the third. Chen's advantage was 3-up at the turn and after a par at No. 10, she was 4-up.
Chen stayed 4-up over the next five holes and that was enough to move her into the final.
<< Seattle tries to build momentum against Rapids
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following a successful first season in Major
League Soccer, Seattle Sounders FC has fallen on hard times as they enter
Sunday's contest with the Colorado Rapids at Qwest Field in seventh place in
the Wes
<< RSL aims to start new streak vs. Chivas USA
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake will aim to start a new streak
when it hosts Chivas USA in a Major League Soccer tilt on Saturday night at
Rio Tinto Stadium.
RSL (9-4-3) is coming off a 2-0 loss at Dallas that snapped a 10
<< Wells, Cubs blank Cards to begin weekend series at Wrigley
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Wells turned in seven scoreless innings,
and three different players hit home runs, as Chicago downed St. Louis, 5-0 in
the opener of a three-game set between these perennial rivals at Wrigley
Field.
<< Melzer and Golubev advance to semis in Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jurgen Melzer and Andrey Golubev were
two of four quarterfinal winners at the German Open Tennis Championships
on Friday.
Melzer dispatched Potito Starace of Italy, 6-4, 6-1, in only 69 minu
Coaches: Players also responsible for agent probe >>
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and Auburn's Gene Chizik both say the onus isn't just on agents to follow the rules, college athletes know the difference between right and wrong.``A lot of this has got to go back to the young guy,''
Thomas and Liu in finals of U.S. Junior >>
Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Thomas and Jim Liu both won twice on Friday
to advance to Saturday's 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur
Championship.
Thomas, 17, earned a 2 & 1 victory over Scott Wolfes
Dodgers designate Miller, recall Jansen >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers have
designated pitcher Justin Miller for assignment and recalled pitcher Kenley
Jansen.
The right-hander posted a 4.44 earned run average and no record in 19 rel
Oakland locks up C Suzuki with extension >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and catcher Kurt Suzuki
have agreed to a contract extension through the 2014 season with a vesting
option for 2015.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that the deal is
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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Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.
Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.
Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.
If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.
Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.
By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.
In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.
So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.
While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.
In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:
SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.
XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.
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