With Hampton out, Robinson shines for No. 9 Iowa
NCAA Football Betting Lines
09/05/2010 -
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -The anticipation for Iowa sophomore running back Jewel Hampton's return from knee surgery and a one-game suspension has reached a fevered pitch in Iowa City.
Meanwhile, Adam Robinson keeps moving the chains.
Robinson, an unheralded sophomore from Des Moines, rushed for 109 yards and three first-half touchdowns on Saturday as the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes overwhelmed Eastern Illinois 37-7.
Hampton will finally be back for next week's home game with rival Iowa State, and many believe he'll give the Hawkeyes a much-needed home threat out of the backfield. He and Robinson will split the carries next week, but in the opener, Robinson continued to display the type of gritty, well-rounded play that's won over Iowa's players and coaches.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -Texas spent the offseason loading up a new power running game that was going to get tough yards and first downs when they need it.The Longhorns still have some work to do.By the numbers, Texas was able to grind out 197 yards on 4
<< Bomar, Pascoe among 7 on Giants practice squad
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Quarterback Rhett Bomar is back with the New York Giants.Bomar, who threw more passes than any other Giant this preseason, was among seven players signed to the team's practice squad on Sunday.The Giants say they also si
<< Smyth wins Senior Masters by three
Woburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ireland's Des Smyth posted a three-under 69
Sunday to win the Travis Perkins Senior Masters by three strokes.
Smyth finished the event at 10-under-par 206. The victory was Smyth's third on
the European Seni
<< TV ratings for Notre Dame opener up 77 percent
NEW YORK (AP) -The start of the Brian Kelly era attracted a large television audience for Notre Dame.Saturday's preliminary rating was up 77 percent from last year's opener. NBC said Sunday that the Fighting Irish's 23-12 win over Purdue drew a 2.3
<< Slovenia routs Australia to reach quarterfinals
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaka Lakovic scored 19 points in
Slovenia's 87-58 rout of Australia to reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA
World Championships.
Primoz Brezec added 12 points for Slovenia, which will play
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -Jack Crowe has been coaching football for 40 years, but even he was at a loss to describe how Jacksonville State pulled off the unthinkable with a 49-48 double-overtime victory over Mississippi on Saturday.Not only was it undoubt
Defense comes up big for Mountaineers >>
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -West Virginia is accustomed to scoring in bunches. What stood out after the season opener was an effort unseen from its defense in quite some time.The Mountaineers earned their first home shutout win in 13 years on Saturday,
Clijsters, Venus roll into quarterfinals in New York >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Kim Clijsters
and Venus Williams each recorded straight-set victories in fourth-round play
Sunday at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Clijsters needed just 59 minutes to post a 6-2 ,6-1
Verdasco moves on to fourth round at U.S. Open >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fernando Verdasco was a third-round
winner Sunday at the U.S. Open.
The eighth-seeded Spaniard dispatched Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-2, 3-6,
6-3, 6-2. Verdasco was a quarter-finalist here l
Frogs overcome Fiesta flashback to beat Oregon St. >>
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -Andy Dalton and the TCU Horned Frogs can now start looking forward to trying to make another BCS run.The sixth-ranked Frogs survived a tough opening test, beating No. 24 Oregon State 30-21 Saturday night in their first game si
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
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