Ravens stop Steelers, vault into No. 2 seed in AFC

Football Betting Lines

12/24/2006 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve McNair threw three touchdowns as Baltimore moved in to the second seed in the AFC with a 31-7 shellacking of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.

McNair went 21-of-31 with 256 yards and two interceptions, and Mark Clayton had seven receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown for the Ravens (12-3), who have won their last three games and, thanks to Indianapolis' 27-24 loss to Houston, now find themselves right on the heels of 12-2 San Diego for No. 1 in the AFC.

San Diego is currently underway at Seattle.

Ben Roethlisberger went 15-for-31 for 156 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and Santonio Holmes had five receptions for 90 yards for the Steelers (7-8), who had a three-game winning streak snapped and were all-but knocked out of the playoff chase, ending any hopes of defending their Super Bowl title.

The Baltimore defense sacked Roethlisberger five times and only allowed Pittsburgh across midfield twice in the second half.

Wwwroyalsports Football Betting News

<< Young leads streaking Titans past Bills
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Vince Young threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 61 yards and a score, as Tennessee edged Buffalo, 30-29, to keep its slim playoff hopes alive. Young, who completed 13-of-20

<< New England clinches AFC East with win over Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Brady threw for 249 yards and a touchdown as New England edged Jacksonville, 24-21, to win its fourth consecutive AFC East title at Alltel Stadium. Brady completed 28-of-39 passes for t

<< Vick sets running record, but Falcons fall to Panthers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Vick became the first quarterback in NFL history to top 1,000 yards rushing, but did little else as the Atlanta Falcons continued to fade out of the uninspiring NFC wild-card picture, losing 10-3 to

<< Bucs beat Cleveland for only road win of season
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Pittman ran for 86 yards and a touchdown, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers battered Cleveland, 22-7. Derrick Brooks returned an interception for a touchdown for the Buccaneers (4-11), who snap

<< Brown's FG lifts Texans past Colts
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Dayne rushed for a career-high 153 yards and scored two touchdowns, and Kris Brown booted a 48-yard field goal as time expired, as Houston stunned Indianapolis with a 27-24 victory, the first win in 10 a

Saints move closer to bye with win over Giants >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reggie Bush rushed for a career-high 126 yards with a score, as New Orleans moved one step closer to a first-round bye after a 30-7 win over the fading New York Giants. Bush recorded the first 100-y

Gould, Bears rally past Lions >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robbie Gould kicked four field goals, including three in the final quarter, as the Chicago Bears rallied for a 26-21 win over the Detroit Lions. Rex Grossman completed 20-of-36 passes for 197 yards and was in

Action Jackson: Rams top Redskins in OT >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Jackson ran 21 yards to the end zone with 8:27 left in overtime, as the St. Louis Rams kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 37-31 victory over the Washington Redskins. After both teams h

Vikings to cut Marcus Robinson >>
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Vikings informed veteran wide receiver Marcus Robinson that he will be released. According to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Robinson received a call from Vikings VP of p

Leinart sprains shoulder >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart sprained his left shoulder in the first half against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Leinart got sacked by Roderick Green just under the two-minute mark of th

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.


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.