Sports Betting Digest

After the long 2010 clay court season, ATP pros only have a few weeks to prepare for the grass courts of Wimbledon. There are only two warm up tournaments before the grass season’s grand slam tournament in London.

For the last several years, the discussion at Wimbledon has been about only a few players. Roger Federer is looking to tie Pete Sampras’ record for the most Wimbledon titles in the open era. No matter how Federer plays at the warm up tournaments such as Halle, he has great chances of capturing his seventh Wimbledon trophy.

Rafael Nadal comes into the 2010 Wimbledon as a major contender. Nadal won the title in 2008 but was unable to defend it in 2009 because of injuries. After winning this year’s French Open and regaining the number one ranking, Rafa will have plenty of confidence playing on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick are the two other tennis big shots who pose real threats on the grass courts of Wimbledon. Both of them lost early at the French Open, and they are hungry to make the transition to the grass season. Besides Federer, Murray and Roddick do not have anyone else to fear.

Last year, Roddick lost to Federer in the final in a heartbreaking marathon five set match. If he can play the way he did last year, Roddick has all of the chances in the world to be standing with the trophy on Championship day.

Andy Murray will once again carry the hopes of Great Britain on his shoulders. Although no one can honestly expect him to win Wimbledon, there is a lot of pressure for him to reach the Semifinal again, just like he did last year. Once he gets there, everything may come down to fate or a little luck.

As the second week of the French Open begins, several top players have seen their hopes of claiming the championship cut short. There have been a few upsets on the men’s and women’s sides of the Roland Garros draws.

On the men’s side, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have cruised to the quarterfinals without dropping a single set. The top two seeds of the tournament are expected to battle it out in the final. The biggest upset so far was when Tomas Berdych eliminated number four seed Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. However, Murray’s first round five set victory was a sign of his fragility at this year’s French Open.

Another fourth round upset was when number seven seed Fernando Verdasco lost to fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in four sets. Verdasco was the only true threat On Nadal’s side of the draw. In the third round, American Andy Roddick lost to Gabashvilli in three sets. But this is not surprising considering that Roddick has never made it past the fourth round at the French Open.

The women’s side has seen the biggest upset of the tournament as Justine Henin lost to Samantha Stosur in three sets. Henin was a strong contender to win the title, as the French crowd was eager to see her win another Roland Garros after coming back from retirement. As the second week starts, the bottom draw is wide open as second seed Venus Williams was knocked out in the fourth round by Nadia Petrova. Besides a three set stumble in the third round, first seed Serena Williams has comfortably advanced to the second week of the 2010 French Open. You can get on with the action at your favorite online sportsbook and casino.

Paul Casey is the third English golfer ranked as one of the world’s top ten current golfers. Casey ranks in at number 8. He will be trying to capture his first US major championship from June 17-June 20 at the US Open at Pebble Beach.

Casey has been with the European Tour since 2001 and the PGA Tour since 2005. His ten European Tour wins is tied for 21st all-time. Additionally, he has won one PGA Tour tournament. Including the eight US Open tournaments he has played in, he has not won a US major.

Casey’s first three US Opens couldn’t have gone much worse. He missed the half-way cut in 2003 and 2004 and withdrew in 2005.

In 2006 and 2007, Casey was able to earn respectable finishes at the US Open. The 2006 US Open was played at Winged Foot and Casey ended up finishing 15th. He ended up in a tie for tenth at the 2007 Open just a few months after finishing in the same position at the Masters. His plus 11 was six strokes behind winner Ángel Cabrera.

The last two US Opens haven’t been kind to Casey. He tied for 65th in 2008 and missed the half-way cut in 2009. Most recently, he did not make the final cut at the 2010 Masters.

Although Casey lacks notable results in the US Open, he has established himself as one of the top players on the European Tour. He is desperate to prove he can win majors and should come out looking a lot better than he did at the Masters.

The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees have already established themselves as two of the best teams in their division even though only one and a half months have passed since the opening day. At Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, the two baseball betting favorite teams are set to open a brief two game series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

From the start of the season, the Rays are a red hot team and will give the ball to Wade Davis (3-3, 3.38 ERA). In a 4-3 loss, Davis pitched six innings of a three-run ball. The right hander is looking for his first win against New York. On April 10, he faced the Yankees, tossing six innings and allowing four runs in a 10-0 loss at Tropicana Field. He is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in his career against the Bronx Bombers.

Yankees, who are playing excellent baseball like the Rays are not far behind. The scheduled starter for New York, AJ Burnett (4-1, 3.31 ERA), would like to continue that trend. He beat the Rays in the finale of the three game series in Tampa on April 11, tossing seven innings while allowing two runs in a 7-3 victory. Against Tampa Bay in his career, the right hander has been successful, posting a 12-4 record with a 2.76 ERA.

This year, the Yankees have won two of their first three meetings in Tampa.

The Boston Bruins, with a 3-1 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers, headed into Monday night’s game. The Bruins hoped to finish the Flyers off and move on in the playoffs, playing in front of their home crowd. They failed to execute that plan, as they fell to Philadelphia 4-0.
Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell each added 1 goal and Simon Gagne had 2 goals to lead the Flyers past the Bruins. As it was the first time in their history that they forced a Game 6 after being down 3-0 in the series, the victory was a historic one for the Flyers. Now, instead of sitting at home watching the playoffs, the Flyers have a legitimate shot at tying the series 3-3 on Wednesday night, as they’ll be playing at home again.
For the Flyers however, it wasn’t all good news. Their starting Goalie, Brian Boucher, went out after making 9 saves with what looked to be some sort of knee problem. However, the backup, Michael Leighton, came in and performed admirably, making 14 saves and holding the Bruins scoreless.
Philadelphia has to feel good heading into Wednesday night’s game, by winning in Boston. They overcame Boucher’s injury, came out, played hard and played an excellent game of hockey. They will hope to have Boucher back in time for Wednesday’s game, but if that doesn’t happen, Michael Leighton has proven that he is more than capable of helping his team claim victory.

Gambling is one of America’s favorite past times. Gambling is a multi- billion dollar a year industry and is steadily growing. Gambling casinos attract hundreds of thousands of people every year. When the state lotteries were introduced each state was able to bring in millions of dollars a year to put toward education and other various state funded institutions.

Delaware is currently only one of four states which allow sports betting under a 1992 federal law. Jack Markell proposed that Delaware be allowed to expand its sports betting, to single game betting, in order to bridge a widening gap in the state budget. Markell’s proposal was fully funded by area casinos.

On Monday the Supreme Court rejected this proposal. This was devastating news for Delaware and its citizens. There is a major budget shortfall in the state to the tune of millions of dollars. Delaware was hoping to gain revenue by being able to expand sports betting.

The Supreme Court ruling was considered a success for the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. These associations were opposing this proposal with the full support of their members. They sued to have this proposal rejected and lobbied to have the Supreme Court refuse to hear this proposal.

The Player’s Championship, which starts May 6, is the “player’s tournament” and the best of The PGA Tour gather every year at the TPC Sawgrass for this annual event. A past winners list reads like a who’s who of the PGA. Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III, Greg Norman and of course Tiger Woods. Speaking of Tiger, he has committed early this year and all the patrons will be happy to see him.

With tournament dates of May 6-9, the course should be in excellent shape the weather perfect. The course will again play at a par-72 at just over 7200 yards, but what the players must contend with is the tight fairways and sloping greens. Everybody will be watching at the 17th hole where the famous island green proves a tough test for each and every player. The hole plays at just over 130 yards, but the wind swirls and club choice is always important here more than any other hole. If you miss the green, you will most likely get wet.

Last year there was a European flavor to the TPC as Henrik Stenson held off Ian Poulter to claim the title. Expect the Americans to put up a fight this year to try and get their championship back. Look for Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, or someone like Hunter Mahan to try and tame the TPC.

In wake of the 2010 NFL draft, what started off as a mostly uneventful offseason for the San Francisco 49ers has began to heat up. In exchange for a 5th round pick, most notably the signing of former Miami Dolphin first round draft picks Ted Ginn Jr. The former Ohio State standout never quite lived up to his billing with the Dolphins. Stirring up talk around South Florida that they had drafted a bust, however, the talented wide receiver had been plagued with inconsistent route running and a plethora of dropped passes, speed is the great equalizer and Ginn has plenty of that. The 49ers are sold on his upside, the ability to stretch the field and make plays on special teams.

By trading quarterback Shaun Hill to Detroit for an undisclosed 2011 pick in another eye brow raising move, the 49ers reaffirmed their commitment to quarterback Alex Smith. when the 49ers drafted Smith first overall in the 2005, leading many to believe that he may finally live up to his potential as he took away the starting job from Hill during last season played solid football in coach Mike Singletary’s system. Veteran quarterback David Car was also brought in to back up Smith. David Bass and Barry Sims, San Francisco resigned offensive lineman to one year deals. This gives them some much needed consistency to an often underachieving offensive line.The latest information on San Francisco 49ers strategies for upcoming football league can be found at  legend sportsbook.

With the highest career graded stakes earnings the field for the Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters with preference given to horses. Kenny McPeek trained Noble’s Promise has an impressive $738,000. It is second only to champion Lookin At Lucky’s $1,480,000.

After Saturday’s Arkansas Derby, The horse’s Kentucky Derby plans were put on life support. At the beginning of the race the colt suffered injuries that may prevent him from starting next month at Churchill Downs however his spot in the Kentucky Derby was secured regardless of what place he finished.

He got cut up at the start,” assistant trainer Walt Blum Jr. said. “They squeezed him out and someone stepped on his foot. (Jockey) Robby (Albarado) then let him run up in there on the turn and he got cut up on both front legs.” his status for the Run for the Roses is uncertain, As a result of his injuries.

With a series of impressive graded stakes finishes, He earned his spot near the top of the earnings list. In his first graded stakes race, He finished first at the Breeder’s Futurity Stakes (G1). He finished in the top 3 in each of his next three races, with Lookin At Lucky finishing just ahead of him each time.

He is the son of Cuvee and The Devil’s Trick. Kenny McPeek, who has notable experience in Triple Crown races, has trained him. At the 2002 Belmont Stakes, Long-Shot Savara (a McPeek trained horse) became the highest-paying horse to win in the history of the Belmont.

With regards to current players running into off-the-field problems, Houston Cougars head coach Kevin Sumlin has had an offseason filled with tough decisions. Within in a month’s time this past February and March, Sumlin dismissed sophomore OL Ari Tatum, freshman KR A.J. Dugat, and senior RT Jarve Dean all.

In terms of what Houston loses with the dismissals, Dean is thought to have the biggest impactout of the 3 players. For the Houston team which won the West division of Conference USA before losing to E. Carolina in the Conference USA Championship Game, Dean had started all 14 games.

Marshall: John “Doc” Holliday, Marshall’s new head coach, arrives on campus as a much ballyhooed hire that could provide huge dividends in the long run for the Marshall football program. Under Urban Meyer, Holliday has most recently served as the recruiting coordinator first at Florida and then (for the past 2 seasons) at West Virginia under Bill Stewart.

Holliday was the associate head coach during his stints at both Florida and West Virginia and he has also coached everything from fullbacks to safeties.

To fill out their recruiting class, the Marshall Thundering Herd was yet another football program that relied heavily on South Florida talent. For head coach Doc Holliday, guys like QB Eddie Sullivan, WR Fred Pickett, and S Brian Robinson are all expected to come in and contribute immediately. Classes like this year’s are to be expected for Thundering Herd fans as the program continues to develop so Holliday is considered to be one of the nation’s best recruiters.

When former Clemson QB Willy Korn (who was highly regarded coming out of high school) announced that he would be transferring to Marshall, it would be a good news for Holliday.