Pats list Gronkowski as questionable
Football Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is listed as questionable on the team's injury report for Sunday's matchup against the New York Giants.
Gronkowski's left ankle has been the main injury focus heading into Super Bowl XLVI, and he took the field for the second straight day after practicing on a limited bases Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury in the AFC Championship Game against Baltimore.
New England head coach Bill Belichick told the media on Friday that Gronkowski had no setbacks after Thursday's session.
Gronkowski had a record-breaking season for the Patriots, setting an NFL mark for tight ends with 17 touchdown receptions. He also scored once on the ground and finished with 90 catches -- second on the team behind only Wes Welker's 122 -- for 1,327 yards.
The Patriots listed 10 other players as questionable, including safety Patrick Chung (knee), guard Logan Mankins (knee), linebacker Rob Ninkovich (hip), linebacker Brandon Spikes (knee) and Welker (knee).
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlo Ancelotti is perfect in four matches in charge of PSG and the rebuilt French club hosts Evian on Saturday in search of their sixth in their last seven games overall. With more than $100 million spent on
<< Youzhny, Baghdatis land in Zagreb final four
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny
and former champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus were a pair of quarterfinal
winners Friday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis tournament.
Youzhny needed 2 hours, 42
<< Report: Rays win arbitration case against Niemann
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rays have won their arbitration case
with towering right-hander Jeff Niemann, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.
The 6-foot-9 Niemann, who turns 29 later this month, will earn $2.75 million
this
<< Dortmund downs Nurnberg to take Bundesliga lead
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrio scored in
the second half as Borussia Dortmund downed Nurnberg, 2-0, on Friday to return
to top of the Bundesliga.
Defending champion Dortmund broke a three-way tie on poin
<< Snow threatening weekend schedule in Italy
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy snow in Italy is threatening to wreak
havoc with the 22nd round of Serie A fixtures this weekend as one match has
already been postponed and others have been moved.
Four midweek matches were post
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic suspended forward Glen Davis two games for conduct detrimental to the team, general manager Otis Smith announced Friday. Davis, who was acquired during the offseason via a trade with
D.C. United waives forward Brettschneider >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United waived 22-year-old forward
Blake Brettschneider on Friday after just one season with the club.
Brettschneider was picked 21st overall in the 2011 Supplemental Draft by D.C.,
and played in 1
Ronaldo poised to lift Real Madrid against Getafe >>
Getafe, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - La Liga leading-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and
his Real Madrid team face Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez on Saturday,
and if history is any indication, the Portuguese superstar could be in line
for an
Oden has yet another knee surgery >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden
underwent successful knee surgery on Friday.
The athroscopic procedure was performed in Vail, Colorado and cleaned out
debris inside his right knee.
Oden
Pistons' Villanueva to miss at least 'a few weeks' >>
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva
will miss at least a few weeks due to continued soreness and discomfort in his
right ankle, the team announced Friday.
After visiting with multiple foot and an
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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