11/03/2009 - Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes have recalled forward Mikkel Boedker from their American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio.
The 19-year-old, taken eighth overall in the 2008 draft by the Coyotes, recorded 11 goals and 17 assists in 78 games during his rookie season last year. He tied for second among NHL rookies with three game-winning goals.
Boedker has skated in five games with Phoenix so far this season without recording a point while posting a goal and three assists in seven games for San Antonio.
<< Kessel set to debut in Leafs' clash with Lightning
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will see their biggest offseason
addition on the ice for the first time this season tonight when they welcome
the Tampa Bay Lightning for a battle at Air Canada Centre.
The Maple Leafs pulled off a
<< U.S. Olympic hockey team to be revealed during Winter Classic
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States Olympic hockey team
for the 2010 Games in Vancouver will be revealed during NBC's broadcast of the
NHL's Winter Classic on January 1.
This year's Winter Classic will feature the
<< Now we go back to the Bronx
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You can argue all you want about whether or not Joe Girardi
should have started A.J. Burnett on short rest on the road, or whether Charlie
Manuel should have gone with Cliff Lee a day earlier than he did.
Either way, thoug
<< Waxman: Decisions threaten progress on steroids
WASHINGTON (AP) - A key lawmaker says recent court decisions blocking suspensions of two NFL players threaten to undermine progress made in reducing performance-enhancing drug use among athletes at all levels.Rep. Henry Waxman said at a House hearin
Floyd set to return for Notre Dame >>
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd has
been cleared to return after recovering from a broken left collarbone and is
expected to play Saturday when the 19th-ranked Fighting Irish host Navy.
Floyd was
Sale of Coyotes to NHL closes >>
PHOENIX (AP) -Final papers have been signed closing the sale of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to the NHL.Notification of the closure was filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.Attorneys signed final papers on Monday and $13.3 million was transferred
LA Clippers owner agrees to pay $2.725 million >>
WASHINGTON (AP) - Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations by the government that he allegedly refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and to families wi
Roma's Riise rules out return to Liverpool >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Norway international defender John Arne Riise
has dismissed reports linking him with a move from Roma back to Liverpool.
A newspaper story on Sunday suggested the left back was unhappy in the Italian
capital
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.
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