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
08/30/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monty couldn't win.
There were five players vying for three spots on the European Ryder Cup team. Technically, there might have been six golfers for three spots, after Colin Montgomerie himself floated Bernhard Langer's name out there.
Somebody's feelings were going to be hurt on Sunday. Sadly, someone's feelings were going to be hurt at an event on the other side of the pond, and that's indicative of the bigger problem.
Padraig Harrington, Edoardo Molinari and Luke Donald were tabbed for the three spots, and Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Langer weren't. Everyone but Molinari was in the field at the Barclays on the PGA Tour.
So Monty was able to get a hold of Rose before he teed off on Sunday. Had to be a fun call, but it's one that's always made.
You want real awkward, like lose your wedding ring in a strip club awkward?
Caroline Harrington got a text message saying her husband made the team. She gave the thumbs-up to Paddy's caddy who told the Irishman. His playing partner felt a little overwhelmed and ignored once Harrington received the news.
Harrington's playing partner? Paul Casey.
"Caroline's a great friend," said Casey. "She would have said something to me if I had been picked. So at that point I kind of knew that I hadn't. It was about two-and-a-half hours. It was difficult."
That's just a bad confluence of events, but some are criticizing Monty's picks.
Molinari was a lock. He won on Sunday and did so with birdies at the last two holes. The Italian won twice this summer and if that doesn't get you on the team, what could?
Plus, his brother Francesco made the team on points. Seems like a pretty simple pairing to me, and to Monty.
"I don't think I have to tell you who his partner might be in the four-ball or the foursomes," joked Montgomerie.
Harrington has had a terrible year, but he won three majors in the last three years. He's played on every Ryder Cup team since 1999 and is a veteran presence on a team, with the inclusion of Edoardo Molinari, that has six rookies.
The Donald inclusion isn't hard to fathom either. He's had maybe the best summer of anyone. Donald has eight top 10s all over the world, including a win at the Madrid Masters.
Hard to argue his credentials.
The problem is, anyone can make a case for Rose or Casey as well.
Casey is the ninth-ranked player in the whole world. Rose won twice on the PGA Tour this summer at some pretty remarkable venues like Muirfield and Aronimink.
It makes very little sense to almost anyone how a top-10 player in the world can't make a team of the top 12 players on a continent.
"That's up for the committee and European Tour to sort out of which I'm a member of the committee, but we will see," said Casey.
It's a tricky situation for the European Ryder Cup committee. The U.S. team is run by the PGA of America and they don't run the PGA Tour. The European team is run by the European Tour.
The logical play is to get more of the top-ranked Europeans on the team. The realization has been made to a certain degree that the state of golf is global now. The majority of European Ryder Cuppers play the U.S. full time, so why not make the standard for team membership even more world-ranking-based?
As it stands now, the top four in the world-rankings-based points list make the team and the next five come from a European Tour-based points system. Why not at least flip that so you have the best possible team? Heck, I'd even make it six and three.
You have to give credit to guys like Peter Hanson and Ross Fisher for making the team. But my dad won't have a clue who those guys are.
This process is based on the fact that European Tour has to protect itself. If making the Ryder Cup team becomes too world-ranking oriented, than some Europeans may not play that tour at all.
It's certainly an interesting pickle. The reality is that changes are probably not forthcoming. It's definitely a nice problem to have for the European side. Woe is us, we have too much high-ranking talent to make our team.
It's a better problem than Corey Pavin will have a week from now. Only one top 10 player to choose from for Captain Corey. I think he'd take Casey and Rose. They do live in the U.S. part-time.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- I'd have gone Harrington, Molinari and Rose myself. Donald's summer love tour aside, I would have had a hard time leaving off a guy who won twice in the U.S. this summer.
- Here's how I handicap Pavin's four picks - Locks: Tiger Woods. Likely: Zach Johnson. Screwing himself badly out of an easy lock pick: Anthony Kim. Possible, but I hope not as a proud American: Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover. I'm gonna say Pavin goes Woods, Johnson, Cink and Glover, but with a big push from some Americans at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the last two are subject to change. I think they are actually ripe to be knocked off this list, so go get 'em, U.S. guys.
- The Jim Furyk disqualification at The Barclays is a stunningly bad rule. How can you disqualify a player for missing a pro-am tee time when only half of the field is even asked to participate in the pro-am in the first place? Isn't that by very definition completely unfair? Thanks for being such a good player and such a big star. We trust you to schmooze with our sponsors. Now you have to adhere to rules that half of the field doesn't. Ridiculous.
- Michelle Wie wins and now has to stop in a little bit to go back to Stanford. Tough decisions I did not have to make in my pursuit of a.) a degree and b.) millions of dollars.
- Movie moment - I tweeted this recently, but the most underrated great movie of the last 25 years is "The Insider." Russell Crowe is at his best in this movie. (No offense, "A Beautiful Mind." Tons of offense, "Gladiator.") I could watch Christopher Plummer destroy Gina Gershon verbally all day. Just a great movie in every way imaginable. Even a golf scene, so that's something.
<< Arizona Cardinals 2010 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Kurt Warner having ridden off into the glorious sunset
of retirement, the Arizona Cardinals were planning on once again handing Matt
Leinart the keys to the Porsche.
But as he has done twice before, Leinart is already
<< Van Persie suffers minor ankle injury
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal and Netherlands striker Robin van
Persie is set to miss a few weeks because of an ankle injury, according to the
Dutch football federation.
Van Persie missed five months last season because of
<< Arena to extend schedule to 18 games
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arena Football League will extend its
regular-season schedule from 16 to 18 games next season.
A 16-game schedule had been in effect since 2003.
"There has never been a better time for the Aren
<< Boston downs Philadelphia to edge closer to playoff berth
West Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Breakers closed the gap on the
Philadelphia Independence in the race for second place in the Women's
Professional Soccer table with a 2-1 comeback win at John A. Farrell Stadium
on Sund
Wie up to seventh in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie's victory Sunday at the
Canadian Women's Open vaulted the 20-year-old up to No. 7 in this week's world
rankings.
Wie, who collected her second LPGA Tour win, moved up five spots this wee
Fabiano signs Sevilla extension >>
Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luis Fabiano pledged his future to Sevilla
through June 2013 on Monday when he signed a two-year contract extension,
which brings to an end any speculation about a move away from the club.
Fabiano's p
Baggies add Scharner on free transfer >>
West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich announced the signing
of Paul Scharner on a two-year contract on Monday.
The 30-year-old Scharner joined on a free transfer after leaving Wigan at the
end of last season, and Baggie
Kuchar up to 10th in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kuchar's playoff victory Sunday over
Martin Laird at The Barclays vaulted Kuchar up to 10th in this week's world
golf rankings.
Kuchar jumped up 13 places to his highest-ever ranking.
Tiger Wo
Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards
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