Bruins edge Rangers in key battle for East playoff spot

Hockey Betting Lines

03/21/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tuuka Rask stopped 23 shots as the Boston Bruins got a big win with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers.

Both teams are struggling for their playoff lives, but it was the Bruins that came away with the two points and they now have 76 on the season, three more than Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. New York is stuck at 71 points with 10 games to play.

Miroslav Satan and Dennis Wideman each scored a goal for the Bruins, who came into the game having lost five of seven.

Michael Del Zotto scored the lone goal while Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots in the loss for the Rangers, who have dropped three straight and seven of their last nine to fall to the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference.

Wwwdallasnews Hockey Betting News

<< Johnson, Syracuse have little trouble downing Gonzaga
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wes Johnson poured in a career-high 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, leading Syracuse to an 87-65 victory over Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Andy Rautins scored 24 for Syracuse (30-4

<< Rooney, Park lead United over Liverpool
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wayne Rooney scored his 26th EPL goal, Ji-Sung Park added the match-winner, and Manchester United edged Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday to move back into first place. United regained the lead

<< Davies tops Oosthuizen in Morocco
Rabat, Morocco (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rhys Davies fired a seven-under 66 Sunday to come from behind and win the Hassan II Golf Trophy. Davies, who led after the second round, completed his first European Tour victory at 25-under-par 266. The

<< Suarez leads Ajax into second
Waalwijk, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luis Suarez scored two more goals to raise his Eredivisie-leading total to 29 and Ajax hammered RKC Waalwijk 5-1 on Sunday at Mandemakers Stadion to move into second in the Dutch top flight. First-pl

<< Miami-Ohio receives top seed in NCAA hockey tourney
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami-Ohio, Denver, Wisconsin and Boston College have been selected as the top seeds for the 2010 NCAA hockey tournament. Miami-Ohio will be the top seed in the Midwest Region and will open

UConn dominant as usual >>
Norfolk, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tina Charles posted 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies to a 95-39 romp over the 16th- seeded Southern University Jaguars in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maya

St. Francis (PA) no match for Ohio State >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jantel Lavender racked up 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes to a 93-59 triumph over the 15th-seeded St. Francis (PA) Red Flash in the first round of the NCAA Tournam

Hamburg denies Schalke top spot >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonathan Pitroipa scored with 13 minutes remaining and Hamburg denied Schalke the top spot in the Bundesliga with a 2-2 draw Sunday at HSH Nordbank Arena. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored before half for Hamb

Vanderbilt survives scare against DePaul >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Merideth Marsh scored 26 points as the Vanderbilt Commodores staged a late rally to down the DePaul Blue Demons, 83-76, in overtime of a first-round game of the NCAA Tournament. Hannah Tuomi score

Brooks gets hot late, lifts Rockets over Knicks >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Brooks scored seven of his 16 points late in the fourth quarter as the Houston Rockets held on for a 116-112 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Kevin Martin led all scorers wi

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.