A sad, tragic end in Memphis

Basketball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A body riddled with bullets was found in Southeast Memphis Wednesday afternoon in a thickly wooded area near FedEx's world headquarters.

It was just another sad ending in a city that has become notorious for its gang problems and ever-increasing homicide rate.

But, Lorenzen Wright was the last person they should have been caught up in the underbelly of Memphis.

Wright spent 13 years in the NBA after being selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1996 draft.

Raised near Oxford, Miss., the River City would become a constant in Wright's short life. The 6-foot-11 power forward played his high school and college ball in Memphis, and eventually ended up with the Grizzlies in 2001-02 when he was traded by the Atlanta Hawks along with Pau Gasol and Brevin Knight to the Grizz for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jamaal Tinsley.

Although he never lived up to the billing of a top 10 pick, Wright carved out a niche that enabled him to make over $55 million dollars over his NBA career, and he never hesitated to give back to his hometown.

During his first of three NBA stints in Atlanta, Wright, Penny Hardaway and two other Memphis-area NBA players (Todd Day and Elliot Perry) furnished $10,000 to Travis Butler, a 9-year-old boy who lived with his mother's corpse for a month out of fear he would be put in foster care if anyone found out she was dead.

He also founded the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund designed to award students for academic achievement and heavy involvement in their school or community after the death of his infant daughter in March 2003.

Now, all that's left of Wright's legacy is for police to figure out what happened to him in the early morning hours of July 19.

The 34-year-old Wright was last seen alive on July 18 and was reported missing by his family four days later. A 911 call was received from Wright's cell phone at 1:00 am on the 19th and the caller, presumably Wright, was speaking with the dispatcher when several gun shots rang out.

According to 730 Fox Sports in Memphis, Wright was shot at least a dozen times and possibly as many as 18 times, a fact that most investigators will tell you points away from a random act of violence.

By Wednesday night, local media reports had nearly 200 people gathering in the area Wright's body was found as investigators combed the area for evidence and brought in a mobile command center.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of Lorenzen Wright," Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley said in a statement. "We lost a member of the Grizzlies family. Lorenzen delighted fans on the court with his passion and off the court with his generosity in a Memphis community that watched him grow throughout his playing career at Booker T. Washington High School, the University of Memphis and the NBA."

Family and friends, meanwhile, are having a difficult time coming to terms with Wright's tragic end.

"Lorenzen's family has come together to mourn his loss and honor his legacy," his family said in a statement issued through their cousin, Camella Logan. "We appreciate your thoughts, prayers and condolences as they are comforting at this very difficult time. Additionally, we ask that you please respect our privacy as we try to cope with his sudden loss."

"I cried, the emotions hit me immediately," Hardaway told Eyewitness News in Memphis. "It's sad because we lost a good person and a brother."

Wright leaves behind six children and a mystery for Memphis to solve.

"To end his career and his life like this here in some woods, that's not good," friend Stan McKinley said. "You don't do a dog like this. It's just a really sad day for the city as a whole."

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.