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Barca focused on derby with EspanyolSoccer Betting Lines04/16/2010 - Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona took control of the La Liga race last week with its second win over Real Madrid, and maintained its three-point La Liga lead with a win over Deportivo midweek ahead of the local derby with Espanyol on Saturday. Barca visits newly-built Estadi Cornella-El Prat for the first time, then goes to Italy to play Inter Milan on Tuesday in the first match of the Champions League semifinals. Defender Gerard Pique felt Barcelona could not afford to drop a match over the final weeks of the season, and called all the matches "finals." "There are nine games left, nine finals including the actual Champions League final, and we have to win them all to win the double," Pique told Barca TV. Barca won the Champions League and La Liga last season, as well as four other titles, and is in position to defend the two biggest. Pep Guardiola will have to field a team without midfielder Andres Iniesta, but striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and fullback Eric Abidal practiced Friday and could play this weekend. Espanyol has lost just three times at home all season, but is coming off a 3-1 loss to Racing on Wednesday. Goalie Carlos Kameni will play against Barcelona, after his red card was overturned. Pablo Daniel Osvaldo leads Espanyol with six goals - well off the pace of Lio Messi of Barca and his La Liga-high 27 - but Guardiola doesn't think Barca has to focus solely on him. "He has scored goals and moves well inside the area, but there are other players like Callejon, Luis Garcia, etc.," Guardiola said on Barca's official website. "Espanyol have always been tough opponents, even when I was a player. "They will be ready for this and have a good coach and strong Argentinian players and this is their game of the year. "We have a lot and for them this is it." Espanyol is not safe yet, but is seven points clear of the drop zone with just six matches remaining. A victory over Barca would highlight the club's season, but Barca considers the match just as important with Real lurking. "The game is very important and will show us where we stand. Winning would be a very important step because there are less and less games each week. Nobody will give us anything and I think that Madrid will lose very few games as they have won 13 of their last 14," Guardiola said. "This will go down to the wire." Also Saturday, Sevilla will try to bounce back from its 2-1 loss to Valladolid midweek when it hosts Sporting Gijon. Sevilla is in fifth, one behind Mallorca for fourth and final Champions League berth. Eighth-place Villarreal will try to close in on a European berth when it hosts Atletico Madrid. Real, which edged Almeria 2-1 on Thursday, hosts Valencia in a top-three match to highlight Sunday's action, although Madrid holds a 21-point lead over the third-place club. Also, Deportivo hosts Almeria, Xerez hosts Racing, Malaga hosts Valladolid, Tenerife hosts Getafe, and Bilbao hosts Zaragoza. On Monday, Mallorca hosts Osasuna.
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Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrek Lee hit a three-run homer to cap a six- run seventh inning, as the Chicago Cubs downed Houston, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game set from Wrigley Field. Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso So
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Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United will be gunning for a victory when it hosts the Chicago Fire in a Major League Soccer battle of winless clubs at RFK Stadium on Saturday night. United (0-3-0), which fell 3-2 at Philadelp
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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit CardsMichael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football. As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL. The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago. Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996). But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side. Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show. Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East: Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1 Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2 New York Giants - 9 - 2 Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1). Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship. So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume. And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top. They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy. Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday. But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division. Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS. Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS. Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162. Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense? Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS. In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS. Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division. Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do. The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20. The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550. Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Super Bowl 2009 BettingSuper Bowl 2009 Betting propositionsUnderdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder. Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while. Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books. If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl. Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX. By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI. In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite. So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs. While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl. There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog. In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl: SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots. XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired. XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers. Get free 2009 Super Bowl Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting VISA Mastercard |
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