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07/19/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks signed free agent point guard Keyon Dooling on Monday.
Dooling is said to have inked a two-year deal and will slide in as the backup to Brandon Jennings after former Buck Luke Ridnour reportedly agreed to sign with Minnesota.
The 30-year-old Dooling spent the last two seasons with the Nets and averaged 6.9 points and 2.5 assists while connecting at a 39.8-percent clip from three- point range over 53 games in 2009-10.
The 10-year veteran posted per game averages of 9.7 points and 3.5 assists in 77 games (18 starts) a year prior for New Jersey. In 595 career games, including 62 starts, Dooling averages 7.2 points and 2.2 assists having spent time with the Clippers, Heat and Magic.
Dooling was originally selected with the 10th overall pick in 2000 by Orlando, but was traded to the Clippers where he played his first four pro seasons.
<< Athletics put OF Sweeney on DL
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics placed outfielder Ryan
Sweeney on the 15-day disabled list with right patella tendinitis on Monday.
The move is retroactive to July 12.
The 25-year-old is hitting a team-best .294 wi
<< Bulls officially sign Brewer
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls announced the signing of
free agent guard Ronnie Brewer on Monday.
Terms of the contract were not released, but it was earlier reported to be for
three years and $12.5 million.
The Bu
<< Jazz sign Bell
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz have signed guard Raja
Bell to a reported three-year contract worth $10 million.
This will be Bell's second stint with Utah after spending two seasons from
2003-05 with the club. He
<< Dushevina moves on in Slovenia
Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Russian Vera Dushevina was
a first-round winner Monday at the Slovenia Open.
Dushevina dropped the first set but rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over
fellow countrywoman Anna Lapushch
Reds 3B Rolen remains sidelined >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen
missed his third straight game Monday due to a right hamstring injury.
Rolen received a cortisone shot in his hamstring and could go on the disabled
list in the
Report: Childress visits Favre in Hattiesburg >>
Hattiesburg, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress
reportedly met with Brett Favre on Monday as he tries to gauge if the star
quarterback will return for a 20th season in the NFL.
WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg repo
Twins' Morneau to see specialist >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin
Morneau will see a specialist Tuesday, as he continues to deal with symptoms
of a concussion he sustained before the All-Star break.
Morneau is on the disabled
Kang leads U.S. Girls' Junior >>
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danielle Kang shot a five-under 67
on Monday to take the first-round lead at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.
Kang, 17, collected seven birdies against two bogeys at the Country Club of
Nort
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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