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06/30/2010 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Saturday, July 3. Race: Coke Zero 400. Site: Daytona International Speedway. Track: 2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 7:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 160. Miles: 400. 2009 winner: Tony Stewart. Television: TNT. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) /SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.
The next chapter in NASCAR's "boys, have at it" takes place this Fourth of July weekend when the Sprint Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for its "mid-summer classic."
This year's 400-mile race at Daytona could very well be a classic...or perhaps a demolition derby.
With what we've seen in previous Sprint Cup races this season, particularly last week at Sonoma, CA, emotions are running high due to the level of aggression on the track.
At this time of the year, it certainly is hot and humid in Central Florida, so don't be surprised if tempers flare in the garage or on pit road before DIS begins its big post-race fireworks show over Lake Lloyd.
"If you're going to take someone out or wrong someone on track, you've got to be ready for the same thing down the road and the points and what's going to come back to you," said Jimmie Johnson, who has won the last two races. "It's awfully exciting. There's plenty to write about and talk about right now."
This will be the third of four restrictor plate races this season. With the Sprint Cup car now running a spoiler and having a slightly different aerodynamic package than the car used for the Daytona 500 in February, and then factor in a larger restrictor plate hole size -- 1 1/32 inch -- Saturday night's race at Daytona should be a thriller.
"With the bigger plate and with the spoiler on the car, the cars are going to pull up faster than they did before, that's for sure," current points leader Kevin Harvick said. "We saw it was a lot faster at the Daytona 500, and now we have a bigger plate. It will be exciting, and you will see a lot of cars passing and moving and going and doing what they did at the Daytona 500, just a little faster."
Harvick's most recent win came in April at Talladega. He also won the pre- season Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.
This race at Daytona also will be the last one before the entire 2.5-mile track surface will be repaved. Daytona last underwent a repaving in 1978.
Earlier this year, the Daytona 500 was marred by two sizeable potholes that emerged on the asphalt between turns one and two just past the half-way point in the race. NASCAR halted the Daytona 500 twice for a total of two and a half hours, as track personnel repaired the potholes.
Additional repairs were made to the damaged area of the track days after the Daytona 500.
"I wasn't real pleased at all to hear that the racetrack was going to have to be repaved, but the time has just taken its toll on the racetrack and some things you just have to do," Harvick said. "I don't think anybody would repave the racetrack if it just didn't absolutely have to be done.
"I feel pretty confident with everything that everybody said from the racetrack that the repairs are good and have tested the Nationwide car there, with the new patch in the corner. Couldn't even tell it was there."
Harvick was one of 26 drivers who participated in last month's two-day test session of the new Nationwide Series car, which makes its debut in Friday night's 250-mile race at Daytona.
With nine races remaining before the championship Chase begins September 19 at New Hampshire, the Chase bubble is tightening up. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is just three points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards. Ryan Newman is 15 points outside the top-12, and Clint Bowyer is only one marker behind Newman.
"There are a lot of guys fighting for that spot," Edwards said. "I think I can safely say that this is going be one of the toughest years to make that Chase that we've had."
Earnhardt Jr. has finished 11th or better in the last three races, while Edwards has finished no better than 12th since five races ago at Dover.
Jamie McMurray, currently 17th in points, has won two of the last three restrictor plate races. McMurray won at Talladega in November when he drove for Roush Fenway Racing. His Daytona 500 victory earlier this year came in his first race with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing.
"It will be cool to get back to Daytona and just to see that track again," McMurray said. "Certainly leaving there after winning the 500, it is crazy what you are going through."
McMurray will try to become the first driver to win both races at Daytona in the same season since Bobby Allison accomplished the feat in 1982. McMurray won the July race at Daytona in 2007.
Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Coke Zero 400.
<< IndyCar gears up for Fourth of July affair at Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July
4. Race: Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen. Site: Watkins Glen
International. Track: 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. Start Time: 3:30 p.m.
(et). Laps: 60. Miles: 204
<< Report: Moss out as Coyotes' president
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL has reportedly fired Douglas Moss as
president of the Phoenix Coyotes.
According to TSN.ca, Moss will be replaced by Mike Nealy, who joined the
Coyotes in 2006 and served as an executive vice
<< New Nationwide Series car makes debut at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Friday,
July 2. Race: Subway Jalapeno 250. Site: Daytona International Speedway.
Track: 2.5-mile tri-oval. Start time: 8:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 100. Miles: 250.
2009 winner: Den
<< Berdych ousts Federer; Nadal into Wimbledon semis
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Big Czech Tomas Berdych posted the
biggest win of his career on Wednesday by surprising six-time champion Roger
Federer in four sets in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Former champion Rafael
Nadal avoided
Rivers to return for one more season >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doc Rivers is apparently coming back to coach
the Boston Celtics for one more year.
The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that a source close to the situation
indicated that Rivers, who is in the final
Oilers, Coyotes swap players >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday acquired
defenseman Jim Vandermeer from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for forward
Patrick O'Sullivan.
Vandermeer, 30, registered four goals and 12 points in 62
Rays activate Kapler >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays have activated outfielder
Gabe Kapler from the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.
Kapler had been sidelined since June 12 with a right hip flexor strain. In 38
games this season, he is ba
L.A. coach Arena to lead MLS All-Stars >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena will lead
the Major League Soccer All-Stars against 2009 English Premier League champion
Manchester United in the 2010 All-Star Game, it was announced on Wednesday.
Arena
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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