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<< Clark named director of player relations for MLBPA
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former MLB veteran Tony Clark has been hired by the MLBPA as director of player relations. A 15-year-veteran who retired during the 2009 season, Clark was a club player representative for the Red Sox and

<< Syracuse, Michigan headline 2010 Legends Classic lineup
Princeton, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse, Michigan, Georgia Tech and UTEP have been announced as participants for the 2010 Legends Classic next November. The early season tournament will maintain the same format, with 12

<< Titans add LB Witherspoon
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms on a multi-year contract with Will Witherspoon on Wednesday. Witherspoon started last season with St. Louis, but was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in Oct

<< Pistons' Stuckey cleared for exercise
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -The Detroit Pistons say three doctors have cleared Rodney Stuckey for exercise after a heart evaluation.Stuckey collapsed on the bench during Friday's game at Cleveland and was taken away on a stretcher. He missed Sunday's

Mattingly, Dodgers have talked about manager's job >>
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -On his first day as Dodgers interim manager, hitting coach Don Mattingly said Wednesday the team has made overtures about him eventually becoming Joe Torre's permanent replacement.With Torre en route to Taiwan to manage a Dodge

G'Town crushes South Florida to advance in Big East tourney >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, as No. 22 Georgetown defeated South Florida, 69-49, in the second round of the Big East Tournament. Jason Clark sank four three-pointers and finishe

Chiefs sign DT Shaun Smith >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs announced Wednesday the signing of defensive tackle Shaun Smith. Terms of the deal were not released. Smith appeared in only three games for the Bengals last season and recorded

Redskins sign T Kemoeatu >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins have signed nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu, the team announced Wednesday. Kemoeatu, 31, spent the entire 2009 season on the Carolina Panthers' injured reserve after suffering a torn

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.