Argonauts name new president
Football Betting Lines
01/30/2012 - Toronto, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bob Nicholson resigned as president and CEO of the Toronto Argonauts on Monday, and Chris Rudge has been named his successor.
Argonauts owner David Bradley announced the change in leadership, stating Nicholson resigned to pursue other opportunities.
"Bob was one of the first people I turned to when I bought the Argonauts franchise. His experience and leadership have contributed significantly to building a foundation from which the franchise can continue to move forward," Bradley said.
Rudge was CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee from 2003 to 2010 before named chairman and CEO of the upcoming 100th Grey Cup Festival.
"I am excited to continue to build the Argonauts brand, and cementing its place in the hearts and minds of Torontonians," Rudge said. "The great response to the 100th Grey Cup demonstrates that the fanbase is here; we need to continue to find ways to reconnect it to the Double Blue. I am looking forward to this challenge."
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Flood has reportedly agreed to become the permanent head football coach at Rutgers. Flood agreed to the job hours after Florida International's Mario Cristobal turned Rutgers down, The New York Times reported Mo
<< Nyjer Morgan to practice with NHL's Sharks
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Nyjer Morgan, who
once played junior hockey but chose a career in professional baseball instead,
will lace up his skates once again with the NHL's San Jose Sharks.
The Sharks said
<< Raiders introduce Allen as head coach
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie called
two people after he interviewed Dennis Allen for the open head coach position
in Oakland: his wife and owner Mark Davis.
"They could feel the excitement I had,
<< Brewers ink OF Patterson
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers signed veteran
outfielder Corey Patterson to a minor league deal on Monday.
He did not receive an invitation to spring training and will begin the 2012
season with Milwaukee'
<< Wizards F Blatche out with calf injury
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche is
expected to miss between three and five weeks with a strained calf.
Wizards coach Randy Wittman made the announcement before Monday's game against
Chicago.
Bla
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Canisius basketball coach Joseph Curran has died, the school said Monday. He was 89. Canisius said Curran passed away Saturday in Mystic, Connecticut, but did not give a cause of death. He coached C
Cavs G Gibson remains in Boston hospital >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson was diagnosed with
a soft tissue infection in his neck and remains in a Boston hospital for
further evaluation, the team said Monday.
Gibson missed the Cavaliers' 88-87 win
Giraldo, Volandri upended in Chile >>
Vina del Mar, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Santiago Giraldo of
Colombia and eighth-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri were both upset Monday in
the first round of the $398,250 VTR Open tennis event.
Giraldo was knocked off b
Hartley, Connecticut smother Duke >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bria Hartley scored 15 points and Caroline Doty
donated 11, as third-ranked Connecticut used a balance attack and suffocating
defense to down fifth-ranked Duke, 61-45, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Stefanie Dols
Rose, Bulls rebound against Wizards >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Rose had 35 points and eight assists
Monday night and the Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Wizards for a seventh
straight time, 98-88.
Carlos Boozer added 18 points and Kyle Korver scored 14 of
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.
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