Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/09/2010 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA is winless in seven straight MLS games, but first-year coach Martin Vasquez believes Tuesday's victory over the Houston Dynamo in U.S. Open Cup play could ignite the struggling team.
Vasquez has guided Chivas USA to just three wins through 14 league matches but the California club earned its first-ever win at Houston in the Open Cup, 3-1.
Chivas (3-9-2) has won just one game on the road this year in MLS and is 1-5-1 away from The Home Depot Center but visits the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday with more confidence.
"This win is going to help us to grow and to turn this around in MLS," Vasquez said after the quarterfinal win over Houston.
Chivas USA plays Seattle Sounders FC in the Open Cup semifinals, but that game is more than three weeks away. Chivas has three MLS games in the meantime, and the most important is this week at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City.
"If we can continue in this tournament and spark a revival in the league, then I'm all for it," said Michael Lahoud, who scored against Houston.
Chivas did earn a result in its last MLS match against the Philadelphia Union, a 1-1 draw. Although it wasn't a good enough effort to end its winless streak, it did snap a six-game losing streak.
Justin Braun scored the other two goals for Chivas against Houston, and on the heels of the huge win at Robertson Stadium, the struggling side hopes to start a surge off the bottom of the Western Conference table with a win at K.C.
Chivas is 25 points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, and at least 10 points back of the top four clubs in the Western Conference.
Kansas City (3-7-3) hasn't played much better than Chivas USA. Despite sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, K.C. is just one point off the bottom. The Columbus Crew are 16 points away in first.
The Wizards lost their last match, 1-0, to FC Dallas to remain winless on the road. David Ferriera scored on a penalty kick for Dallas. Overall, Kansas City has just one win in its last 11 dating back to the second of two straight wins to open the season on April 10.
K.C. coach Peter Vermes made a tactical adjustment against Dallas that did not work but he switched back to the team's familiar 4-3-3 formation in the second half and the team played well enough to take some confidence from the loss.
"Our adjustment back to the 4-3-3 put a lot of pressure on them," Vermes said, "and we started to put them on their heels."
<< 'Quakes, Union in search of full points at PPL Park
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union host the San Jose
Earthquakes in Major League Soccer action at PPL Park on Sunday evening.
Both teams are coming off of disappointing draws in their last league
fixtures,
<< Line of Scrimmage: NFL GameChangers '10: O-Line and TEs
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The news that you are being forced to move
to Detroit is, in most cases, best broken gently. No disrespect to the Motor
City, which is on the way back under mayor Dave Bing and has produced some of
the greate
<< Wizards' top pick Wall sits out with injury
WASHINGTON (AP) -Washington Wizards top draft choice John Wall has missed practice after injuring his groin a day earlier during his first workout with the team.Coach Flip Saunders says the overall No. 1 pick in last month's NBA draft has tightness
<< Rangers re-sign D Girardi
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have re-signed defenseman
Daniel Girardi to an undisclosed contract.
The 26-year-old registered six goals and 18 points with a minus-two rating
over a full 82-game schedule in 2009-1
Revs hope to make statement vs. Galaxy >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution have won just one
of their last 11 Major League Soccer fixtures.
The Los Angeles Galaxy have lost just one in 15 to start the 2010 season.
Obviously Saturday's game between the
Toronto adds former Chivas USA striker Santos >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC signed forward Maicon Santos, who
was the released earlier this week by Chivas USA, the Major League Soccer club
announced on Friday.
"We are delighted to welcome Maicon on board," TFC manager, di
Sharks sign D Hjalmarsson to offer sheet >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have signed restricted
free agent defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet.
Hjalmarsson skated in 77 games last season for the Stanley Cup champion
Blackhawks, who have
NL West: Rockies becoming the hitmen of baseball >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's all about making the 'hits' in organized crime.
In Major League Baseball, producing hits is what usually wins games and the
Colorado Rockies have been whacking opposing pitchers on their four-game
winning st
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting