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08/20/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rudy Fernandez has more than enough ability to play a major role on a top-tier NBA team.
I'm just not sure he wants to.
The disgruntled Trail Blazers swingman has been griping about his playing time for Nate McMillan in the Pacific Northwest after he averaged 8.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season, a year after bursting on the NBA scene by setting an NBA rookie record with 159 3-pointers.
Fernandez's agent, Andy Miller, went public on Wednesday informing several media outlets that the Spanish star wants to return to Europe and is willing to sit out for the next two seasons, the time left on his Portland deal.
That's just posturing, of course, but it was enough to get the NBA's attention and the league fined Fernandez $25,000 on Thursday for comments "detrimental" to the league.
Detrimental may be a bit of a stretch, but rules are rules and the NBA strictly prohibits players or their representation from publicly requesting a trade.
And make no mistake, that's what this is about. Fernandez, who is currently playing for the Spanish national team as it prepares for the upcoming world championships, wants out of Rip City and is trying to force the hand of rookie general manager Rich Cho.
Cho, who seems a bit perturbed at Fernandez's constant complaining to a sympathetic international press, has already admitted to looking at several scenarios for moving the Spaniard, but has been mimicking MSNBC's Chris Matthews and playing hardball.
Cho is well aware that this will be regarded as his first real test as Portland's basketball chief, and doesn't want to take less back in order to rid himself of a headache that is extremely popular with his fans thanks to the energy he brings to the floor.
A divorce is still on the docket but Cho may steer Fernandez away from his real preferred destination, New York.
The Knicks have reportedly offered athletic swingman Wilson Chandler for the sharp-shooting Fernandez but Chandler isn't Rudy's equal on the court and was recently arrested in May for marijuana possession during a traffic stop in Queens, something that isn't going to sit well with an organization desperately trying to rid itself of its former 'Jail Blazers' reputation.
Chicago may be the better option. The Bulls have already offered to absorb Fernandez's $1.25 million salary for 2010-11 with cap space in exchange for a future first-round pick. Cho is still holding out for Taj Gibson, a second- year player with a big upside as a defender.
The only certainty in this breakup is that Fernandez is more concerned about being the big fish in a small pond rather than the guppy swimming with the big boys.
<< New York aims to break offensive slump at Toronto
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York travels to take on Toronto FC
at BMO Field as the two Major League Soccer clubs meet for the second time in
10 days on Saturday afternoon.
Toronto has been off in league play since the previo
<< MISL adds second expansion team for 2010-11
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major Indoor Soccer League announced this
week an expansion team based on Omaha, Neb. will join the league for the
2010-11 season.
The soon-to-be-named Omaha team joins the Missouri Comets as new te
<< Lagoutte-Clement wins Ladies Scottish Open
East Lothian, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Virgine Lagoutte-Clement posted a
one-under-par 71 on Friday to come from behind and win the Ladies Scottish
Open.
She won the championship by a stroke at one-over 217 at Archerfield Links.
<< NHL's hybrid icing rule could have legs
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 NHL Research, Development and
Orientation Camp took place on August 18-19 at Toronto's MasterCard Centre,
drawing many of hockey's most critical thinkers.
Grouped together at the Toronto Maple Lea
Bills TE Nelson suspended >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Football League has suspended
Buffalo Bills tight end Shawn Nelson four games without pay for violating the
league's substance-abuse policy.
The second-year pro out of Southern Mississippi
San Francisco 49ers 2010 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers have a new strategy in their
attempt to end a seven-year playoff drought.
The plan?
Try nothing new at all.
San Francisco finished strong under head coach Mike Singletary in 2008 after
he repl
Hibs ready to take on defending champions >>
Edinburgh, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time defending champions Rangers
will visit Easter Road Stadium on Sunday to face Hibernian, with both teams
coming off of successful opening weekend matches.
Rangers held off Kilmarnock, 2-
AL Central: Twins beginning to separate from the pack >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You'll have to forgive the Minnesota Twins if they're not
quite sure how to handle themselves in the role of frontrunner.
Typically around this time of year, the Twins are the ones fighting for their
playoff lives. They ar
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds
Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.
The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.
Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.
MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)
Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)
Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.
Get free Super Bowl XLIII Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting with credit cards
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