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06/03/2009 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NBC Sports has added former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and recently-retired safety Rodney Harrison to its NFL studio show for the 2009 season.
Both were part of NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIII this past February.
Dungy called it quits in January after seven seasons with the Colts. He led the team to the playoffs every year and his crowning achievement came after the 2006 season when the Colts beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
The Colts won at least 10 games in each season under Dungy, who was 85-27 as Indy's head coach in the regular season and 7-6 in the postseason. Dungy's tenure included five straight AFC South titles from 2003-07.
Before joining the Colts, Dungy spent six years as the head coach of Tampa Bay. He had a regular-season mark of 54-42 with the Buccaneers, guiding them to four playoff appearances.
"Over the past few years I've enjoyed getting to know Tony through numerous production meetings and his work on our Super Bowl coverage, and have been impressed by the way he handled himself not only as a coach and communicator but more so as a human being," said NBC Sports chairman and executive producer Dick Ebersol in a release. "What I learned is that in addition to his obvious Super Bowl credentials, Tony is a gifted storyteller. That was confirmed by his outstanding work on our Super Bowl studio show.
Harrison just announced his retirement on Wednesday after 15 seasons in the NFL. He spent the last six seasons with New England after playing his first nine years with San Diego. He won a pair of Super Bowl titles with the Patriots.
In addition to 1,205 tackles, Harrison also notched 34 interceptions and 30 1/2 sacks to become the only player in NFL history to notch 30 sacks and 30 picks in a career.
"Rodney is someone we've had our eye on," Ebersol stated. "He is a strong communicator and personality, and our initial thoughts about him were confirmed when he did a terrific job for us at the Super Bowl. We have no doubt that Rodney will be as hard-hitting with his opinions as he was with his body on the football field."
One of NBC's top studio analysts, Cris Collinsworth, will work next season as a game analyst for the Sunday Night Football package, replacing the retiring John Madden.
<< Chelsea denies making record bid for Kaka
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea has categorically denied making a
world record bid in excess of $115 million for AC Milan's Brazilian superstar
Kaka.
The 27-year-old South American is being heavily linked with an exit from th
<< Federer, del Potro reach French semis
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time runner-up Roger Federer and
rising Argentine Juan Martin del Potro were a pair of straight-set
quarterfinal winners Wednesday at Roland Garros.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Federer handl
<< Pizarro hopes to stay at Bremen
Bremen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Claudio Pizarro has urged Werder Bremen to
make his loan switch from Chelsea into a permanent summer transfer.
The Peru striker scored 26 goals in all competitions this season and played a
key role in Wer
<< Sunderland confirms Bruce appointment
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland has confirmed the
appointment of Steve Bruce as their new manager on a three-year contract.
Bruce has decided to leave Wigan to take up the reins at the Black Cats, with
Ricky Sb
Longoria undergoes MRI, should avoid DL stint >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan
Longoria underwent an MRI exam Wednesday on his ailing left hamstring and
should avoid a trip to the disabled list.
The 23-year-old reigning AL Rookie of t
Tulowitzki day-to-day with hand injury >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is
day-to-day with a left hand contusion suffered in Tuesday's 3-2, 11-inning
loss to the Houston Astros.
He left the contest in the bottom of the fourth inni
Indians' Cabrera lands on DL >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Indians shortstop Asdrubal
Cabrera was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a left
shoulder subluxation.
Cabrera was forced from Tuesday's 4-3 setback to the Minn
Cavs' James released from hospital >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland's LeBron James has been
released from the Cleveland Clinic after undergoing successful surgery
Tuesday to remove a benign growth near the right side of his jaw.
The five-hour pr
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.
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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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