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10/19/2007 - Surfers Paradise, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oriol Servia captured the provisional pole for Sunday's Lexmark Indy 300 with a qualifying time of one minute, 30.862 seconds (110.739 m.p.h.).
The provisional pole win gives Servia one championship point and a guaranteed front row starting position.
Will Power (1:30.895), Justin Wilson (1:31.365), Paul Tracy (1:31.820) and Neel Jani (1:32.520) completed the top-five.
Sebastien Bourdais crashed at the 14-minute mark in turn one. The penalty was losing his fastest time and he qualified eighth quickest.
After not being on track since the first week in September, the Champ Car Series returns to the track at one of the drivers' favorite venues - the Australian Gold Coast.
"I only touched down in Brisbane this morning and I am already loving this place," said rookie Simon Pagenaud. "It's great, warm weather and the beaches are out of this world. I've been looking forward to coming down to this event all season."
When we last left the series, Wilson was winning the inaugural Bavarian Champ Car Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands. The No.9 RuSport driver crossed the finish line 7.226 seconds ahead of Jan Heylen for his first win of 2007.
The win pushed Wilson past Robert Doornbos and into second place in the championship behind three-time series champion Bourdais. However, Bourdais holds a commanding 58-point lead in his attempt for a fourth consecutive title as he leaves the series for Formula One in 2008.
Bourdais, who finished seventh at Assen, couldn't clinch the title, but crept a bit closer with his 10th top-10 of the season. But it seems inevitable that Bourdais and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team will add the fourth notch this weekend.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 12 a.m. (et).
<< Staying Alive: Beckett and Boston force Game 6
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Beckett struck out 11 over eight
dominating innings as the Boston Red Sox staved off elimination with a 7-1 win
over the Cleveland Indians in Game 5 of the American League Championship
Series
<< Teel, Rutgers knock off second-ranked South Florida
Piscataway, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Teel threw a pair of touchdowns to
Tiquan Underwood as Rutgers upset second-ranked South Florida, 30-27, at
Rutgers Stadium.
It was the third straight week the No. 2 team has lost, as Stanf
<< Langkow, Flames trump Kings
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daymond Langkow's pair of goals pushed Calgary
past Los Angeles, 4-3, at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Kristian Huselius and Craig Conroy also scored for the Flames, who have won
three of four. Miikka Kiprusoff
<< Ridings leads suspended Chattanooga Classic
Chattanooga, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tag Ridings fired a 10-under 62 in the
first round of the Nationwide Tour's Chattanooga Classic on Thursday and held
a two-shot lead when play was suspended due to darkness.
Martin Laird, Scott Sterl
Spezza's late goal lifts Sens over Habs in Ottawa >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal with 6:45
remaining the third period, as the Ottawa Senators fended off the Montreal
Canadiens, 4-3, at Scotiabank Place.
Nick Foligno scored the first goal of his youn
Strong third period lifts Red Wings to road win over Sharks >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Ellis' first NHL goal gave Detroit the
lead 7:34 into the third period and Pavel Datsyuk added a power-play insurance
goal, as the Red Wings defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-2, at the Shark Tank.
Niklas
Beckham's back, but L.A. in trouble after draw >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Beckham's back, but Los Angeles' winning
streak is history and it no longer controls its own destiny for the playoffs.
Beckham missed the last 10 games with a knee injury but returned to the field
on Th
C.C. Sabathia beaten by Josh Beckett, ALCS goes back to Boston >>
CLEVELAND (AP) -C.C. Sabathia was better, but the Cleveland Indians still didn't get his best.Sabathia's second loss in the AL championship series forced the Indians to return to Boston where they'll have to get a win in front of Fenway Park's 37,00
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.
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.
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