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03/24/2007 - Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Taking notes from his famous father, Steven Wallace captured the pole for Saturday afternoon's Sharpie Mini 300 at the historic Bristol Motor Speedway. The No.66 Dodge driver circled the 0.533- mile, high-banked short track in 15.303 seconds (125.387 m.p.h.) to edge Ryan Newman for the pole.
The pole victory was the first of Wallace's Busch career. He did qualify third last year in his first Busch Series race at Bristol. But father Rusty Wallace has always been successful at BMS and earned seven poles and nine Nextel Cup wins on the popular short track during his legendary career.
Wallace was the sole "Busch Series-only" driver in the first four rows on the grid.
"My dad helped me out a bunch," said the 19-year-old pole winner. "I got everything we could out of the first lap."
Starting alongside Wallace will be Newman who posted a time of 15.348 seconds. Series points leader Carl Edwards (15.351) and Clint Bowyer (15.355) will make up row two.
Through five races, Edwards leads the standings with 810 points. He is 144 points ahead of defending series champion Kevin Harvick who did not compete in Mexico City. Edwards has finished sixth or better in all five 2007 starts though he has yet to taste victory. He has five career Busch starts at Bristol, with three top-10s.
Edwards won five times in 2005 and four times in 2006 so a win here would not be unexpected except for the fact that Harvick has an extraordinary record at BMS. In 14 Busch starts at the 0.533-mile, high-banked, short track Harvick has accumulated four wins and 10 top-5s.
This is the 50th Busch Series race at Bristol. The race is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. (et).
<< Clippers try to buzz Wizards in LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers shoot for their fourth straight
win tonight when they resume a three-game homestand versus the Washington
Wizards at the Staples Center.
The Clippers are eighth overall in the Western Confe
<< Sixers, Heat square off in South Beach
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat will open a brief two-game homestand when
they host the Philadelphia 76ers tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Miami has lost two of its last three games following a nine-game winning
streak, and su
<< Sharks look to fend off Hurricanes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks will attempt to keep up in the Pacific
Division tonight when they take on the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes
at the RBC Center.
The Sharks trail the Anaheim Ducks, who bested Dallas in overt
<< Tigers and Buckeyes clash in Elite Eight
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the hottest and most successful
teams in the nation meet in today's NCAA Tournament South Regional Final,
as the second-seeded Memphis Tigers take on the top-seeded Ohio State
Buckeye
Vancsik extends lead to four in Portugal >>
Santa Cruz, Madeira, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Vancsik posted his
second four-under 68 of the week Saturday and stretched his lead to four
strokes after three rounds of the Madeira Islands Open.
The Argentine stands at 1
Even without Wade, Heat are blazing >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Dwyane Wade went down indefinitely because of a
separated left shoulder in late February, many thought the Miami Heat's
playoff chances were going down with him.
Think again.
All Miami has accomplished since then,
Red Wings D Lebda suffers concussion >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brett Lebda
suffered a concussion in the first period of Saturday's game against St. Louis
and was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
"Brett is awake, alert and doing fine,"
Arizona State coasts past Bowling Green in the Sweet 16 >>
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danielle Orsillo scored a game-high 16
points as the third-seeded Arizona State Sun Devils coasted past the seventh-
seeded Bowling Green Falcons, 67-49, in the semifinal round of the NCAA
Tournam
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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