Reports: Ricky Williams to retire
Football Betting Lines
02/07/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Ravens running back Ricky Williams is planning to retire, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday.
The former NFL rushing champion assumed a reserve role with the Ravens this past season, gaining 444 yards and scoring two touchdowns while backing up Ray Rice. The news of Williams calling it a career comes two weeks after he said that he intended to return to the Ravens for the final season of his two-year contract.
The 34-year-old veteran spent his first three NFL seasons with the New Orleans Saints, who traded all six of their choices in the 1999 draft, and two picks the following year, to move up and select the former Texas standout with the fifth overall pick in 1999.
Williams twice reached the 1,000-yard plateau with the Saints, then led the NFL with 1,853 rushing yards in his first season with Miami in 2002. He added 1,372 yards the following year, then abruptly retired just before training camp in 2004.
The 1998 Heisman Trophy winner rejoined the Dolphins in 2005, only after the team had demanded that he return bonus money for breach of contract. He then was suspended for the 2006 season after his fourth violation of the league's drug policy.
Unable to play in the NFL in 2006, Williams inked a one-year deal with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. With the Argos, he rushed for 623 yards on 124 carries and caught 24 passes for 193 yards. He also missed two months of the season due to a broken arm.
Williams played just one game in 2007 before rebounding to rush for 1,121 yards and 11 touchdowns two years later. He was no longer the feature back in his final season with the Dolphins, totaling only 673 yards in 2010.
For his career, Williams has run for 10,009 yards with 66 touchdowns in 147 NFL games.
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants celebrated another Super Bowl title Tuesday with a parade up the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan and a ceremony at City Hall Plaza. Thousands of fans lined the streets as playe
<< Juninho, Leonardo return to Galaxy
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy announced Tuesday that
Brazilian duo Juninho and Leonardo will return to the club from Brasileiro
side Sao Paulo, as Juninho rejoins the club on a season-long loan and Leonardo
signs
<< Stoke's Huth loses appeal of red card
Stoke-on-Trent, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stoke City defender Robert Huth
had his red card appeal dismissed Tuesday by the English Football Association,
meaning he will serve a three-match ban.
Huth was sent off before halftime Saturday
<< Saint Francis announces signing class
Loretto, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saint Francis University announced Tuesday that
eight high school players have signed national letters of intent to join its
football program.
Red Flash coach Chris Villarrial finalized the signing class after
<< Potent Leafs determined to end playoff drought
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - What has happened to the Toronto Maple
Leafs in the post-lockout era hardly seems possible for the NHL's most
valuable franchise.
But, the Leafs, who were valued at $521 million by Forbes back in November,
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley has been named the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Haley was fired by the Chiefs on December 12 after a 5-8 start to his third season
Danilo Gallinari has 'significant ankle sprain' >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari has a
significant left ankle sprain and is out indefinitely, the team announced
Tuesday.
Gallinari suffered the injury in Monday's loss to the Rockets. A CT and MR
Game On Dude and Ultimate Eagle likely for Big 'Cap >>
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This past weekend's stakes races at Santa Anita
Park for older thoroughbreds gave early incite into the $5 million Breeders'
Cup Classic set for November at the southern California facility. However,
next mo
Portugal, Zenit midfielder Danny out 6-8 months >>
St Petersburg, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portugal and Zenit midfielder Danny
tore ligaments in his right knee Sunday and will be out six to eight months,
the Russian club announced Tuesday.
Danny, 28, will miss the remainder of the Cham
Ricky Williams calls it a career >>
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former All-Pro running back Ricky Williams has
decided to retire after 11 NFL seasons.
The 34-year-old Williams was a star at the University of Texas and a heralded
first-round pick of the New Orleans Sain
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.
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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