Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
06/23/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In another example of being too cautious and showing no interest in the racing fan, Arkansas Derby winner Line of David was retired from racing earlier this week.
The colt had only minor physical problems, but his new owner decided that it would be better to retire him than allow the horse to heal. Line of David was purchased by B. Wayne Hughes from Ike and Dawn Thrash and will begin his stud career at Hughes' Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.
Line of David, 17-1 at post-time, won this years Arkansas Derby in his first try on a regular dirt track. He defeated eventual Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and made his last career start in the Run for the Roses.
"We thought he was a nice horse on turf," noted trainer John Sadler following the Arkansas win, "and we wanted to try him on a natural surface."
Not sure why the colt was retired so quickly. The new owner should have let Line of David rest through the summer and get him ready for a fall campaign.
People are always saying that in order to build interest in horseracing the horses have to be kept in competition longer. Line of David being a speed horse probably would have become a very good sprinter if allowed to race as an older thoroughbred.
Minor injuries for a horse are a part of the game. I'm not saying Line of David should have competed with them, but at the same time minor injuries are not reason enough for retirement.
Allow horses to race and given necessary time to recuperate. Every fan wants the best horses to stick around longer than they are. We all would like to see great matchups in the best stakes races.
Extra congratulations go to the connections of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra for bringing the two champs back for 2010. This type of love of racing seems to be rare in this era.
<< Donovan's stoppage-time goal puts USA through
Pretoria, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States completed its FIFA
World Cup group stage with a 1-0 win over Algeria on Wednesday at Loftus
Versfeld Stadium thanks to a 91st minute winner from U.S. attacker Landon
Donovan
<< Angels hope to add to Dodgers' woes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In addition to calling the same metropolitan area home,
both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Los Angeles Dodgers hold the title
of defending division champions. Only one of these teams has been playing like
a contender
<< Hudson, Buehrle square off in Windy City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A matchup with one of the National League's top teams has
yet to slow down the surging Chicago White Sox, who'll put a seven-game
winning streak on the line when they resume a three-game series with the NL
East-leading Atlant
<< 2010 FBS Positional Analysis: Quarterbacks
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They probably get too much credit when
things are going good, and too much blame when things aren't. But that's the
nature of the quarterback position at every level, and the FBS is certainly
no exception.
Riders great Ron Atchison passes away >>
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Wednesday
the passing of Ron Atchison. He was 80.
Atchison joined the Roughriders in 1952 and played in 237 regular season games
with the franchise until retiring in 1968
Italy still has work to do against Slovakia >>
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All four teams are still alive
as Group F enters its final day of play on Thursday, but Italy has plenty of
work to do in order to reach the knockout round, which was unthinkable at the
start o
Surprising Kiwis hope to seize chance vs. Paraguay >>
Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Group F was widely considered to be
the weakest group at this summer's FIFA World Cup, and while the action on the
field has not always been scintillating, it has been unpredictable.
Italy was wid
Lawrence Taylor indicted on rape charges >>
White Plains, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor
was reportedly indicted on six charges, including rape, on Wednesday.
According to The Journal News, a Rockland County, New York grand jury indicted
Taylor on fel
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.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting