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07/18/2009 - Regina, Saskatchewan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Calvillo went 24-for-34 with 281 yards and two touchdowns as the Montreal Alouettes crushed the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 43-10.
Avon Coburne had 25 carries for 145 yards and two scores while Kerry Watkins and Kerry Carter each added a touchdown reception for the Alouettes (3-0), who are now the lone undefeated team in the league.
Darian Durant went 10-for-20 with 112 yards and one interception while Wes Cates provided a rushing touchdown for the Roughriders (2-1), who were coming off a 46-36 win over Toronto last week.
The Alouettes got the only points of the first quarter courtesy of a 40-yard field goal from Damon Duval with under six minutes to play in the frame and a single on a missed 54-yard field goal from Duval.
The Roughriders, though, took the lead early in the second quarter when a fumble recovery deep in Montreal territory resulted in a four-yard touchdown run from Cates.
A single later in the second gave Saskatchewan an 8-4 lead, but, on its ensuing possession, Montreal grabbed the lead back when Calvillo and Carter hooked up on a 20-yard touchdown with under seven minutes to play in the first half for an 11-8 lead.
Duval later connected on a 30-yard field goal to help Montreal take a 14-8 lead into the locker room.
On their first possession of the second half, the Alouettes marched the ball down the field and made it a 21-8 game on a 55-yard touchdown catch by Watkins and added another point with a single on the ensuing kickoff.
Later in the third quarter, a seven-yard touchdown run from Coburne was followed by a single from Duval on the kickoff for a 30-8 lead.
Duval booted a 21-yard field goal in the fourth, but later conceded a safety when he stepped out of the end zone.
A 40-yard field goal from Duval and a two-yard touchdown run by Coburne later in the fourth wrapped up the scoring.
Game Notes
The Roughriders had won four of the previous five against Montreal coming into the game...Ben Cahoon had seven catches for 86 yards for Montreal while Watkins finished the game with four catches for 69 yards...Andrew Fantuz led the Saskatchewan receiving corps with four catches for 60 yards.
<< Benjamin cruises to Publinx title
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Benjamin toppled Nick Taylor, 7 & 6, in
Saturday's 36-hole final to win the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at
Jimmie Austin/OU Golf Club.
"I haven't had time to think about it. I mean I
<< Errani, Pennetta reach final in Palermo
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded and defending champion Sara
Errani, and top-seeded Flavia Pennetta advanced to the final at the Palermo
International tennis tournament on Saturday.
The all-Italian final was set after
<< Marlins break ground on new stadium
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins ceremonially broke ground
on their new ballpark Saturday.
While construction actually started at the beginning of the month, the team
celebrated the coming new era in franchise history
<< Hornaday takes pole for Kentucky
Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Hornaday Jr. will start on the pole for
Saturday's Built Ford Tough 225 Camping World Truck Series race after topping
the charts in qualifying at Kentucky Speedway.
Hornaday, winner of the last two
Dye, Buehrle carry White Sox past O's >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jermaine Dye hit a two-run homer and Mark
Buehrle turned in 7 1/3 strong innings, as the Chicago White Sox clipped
Baltimore, 4-3, in the second of three from U.S. Cellular Field.
Gordon Beckham f
Lickliter leads in Milwaukee >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Frank Lickliter fired a seven-under 63 on
Saturday and moved atop the leaderboard after the third round of the U.S. Bank
Championship in Milwaukee.
Lickliter finished 54 holes at 11-under 199 and is one a
Keselowski nips Sorenson for Gateway pole >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Keselowski grabbed the pole for the
Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Nationwide Series race by the narrowest of
margins in Saturday's qualifying at Gateway International Raceway.
Keselowski and
Struggling Revs, Goats aiming for positive result >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution host Chivas USA
on Sunday in a Major League Soccer clash of former powerhouse clubs hitting
the skids as of late.
The Revs (4-5-5) have played a league-low 14 games throu
Michael 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.
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.
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