Revs, Goats desperate for points in Friday fixture

Soccer Betting Lines

09/09/2010 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution travel to take on Chivas USA on Friday night in a Major League Soccer fixture between two clubs desperate for points.

Both teams sit at or near the bottom of their respective conferences, and with the regular season winding down, the time is now to make a move or be on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.

The Revs (7-12-3) are third-from-the bottom in the Eastern table, but are coming off a confidence-boosting 3-1 win at home vs. Seattle this past weekend. Not only did New England earn the full points on their home turf, but they did so against a club that had been unbeaten in seven league fixtures.

"I think it speaks for itself after the week we've had," New England coach Steve Nicol said after the win. "We basically got robbed the three points last weekend [in a 2-1 loss vs. Philadelphia]. We were real unfortunate on Wednesday in [a 2-1 loss to Morelia in the SuperLiga] final. But to come back from those two games, the third game in eight days, and go about it the way we did I think says all we need to know about the players and their attitude and the commitment and how they stick together. It was fantastic."

The win snapped a three-game losing streak in league play, and gave the revs hope that they could make a run over their final eight games.

Chivas USA (6-12-4), on the other hand, is coming off a potentially demoralizing 3-0 loss at Colorado.

"[The loss to Colorado] is going to be a tough game to regroup from, but we will and look forward to [Friday's game vs. New England]," Chivas USA coach Martin Vasquez told mlssoccer.com.

The Goats, who are in last in the Western table, know they must run the table over their last eight league fixtures to have any chance at playing in the second season.

"We have to win the next eight games," Chivas USA's Mariano Trujillo told mlssoccer.com. "We still have a chance to make it to the playoffs if we win. We have to do our jobs."

The Goats could be without midfielder Blair Gavin, defender Jonathan Bornstein and forward Giancarlo Maldonado because of injuries, while new England will be without forwards Zak Boggs and Taylor Twellman for the same reason. Midfielder Jason Griffiths and forward Edgaras Jankauskas are listed as doubtful, while defender Cory Gibbs is probable with an ankle injury.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

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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