Bucs beat Cleveland for only road win of season

Football Betting Lines

12/24/2006 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Pittman ran for 86 yards and a touchdown, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers battered Cleveland, 22-7.

Derrick Brooks returned an interception for a touchdown for the Buccaneers (4-11), who snapped a four-game losing streak. Tim Rattay, making his first start of the season, went 16-for-26 with 212 yards and was picked off once for Tampa Bay, which secured its first road win since winning at Carolina, December 11, 2005.

Derek Anderson had a tough day as he went 10-for-27 with just 123 yards and was intercepted four times for Cleveland. Reuben Droughns carried the ball 19 times for 92 yards for the Browns (4-11), who have dropped their last three games.

After stopping the Browns on their first possession, the Buccaneers marched the ball down the field and capped off a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ate up over six minutes of the clock with a 23-yard field goal by Matt Bryant for a 3-0 lead with 7:05 left in the first quarter.

Tampa Bay threatened on its first drive of the second quarter when the team got the ball deep in Cleveland territory, but with the ball at the nine-yard line on a 4th-and-1, Mike Alstott was stuffed for no gain and Cleveland got the ball back.

However, Jermaine Phillips picked off a pass by Anderson and six plays later Bryant punched a 24-yard field goal through the uprights for a 6-0 lead with 6:18 left in the first half.

The Buccaneers scored on their first possession of the second half when Pittman took the ball around the right end and into the end zone from 11 yards out to complete a nine-play, 74-yard drive less than six minutes in. The extra point attempt was blocked and Tampa Bay led 12-0.

The Browns almost got on the scoreboard on their next possession, but a 31- yard field goal attempt by Phil Dawson was blocked by Jeb Terry.

After stopping Tampa Bay on its next possession Cleveland got the ball back, but a pass by Anderson was picked off by Brooks and he rumbled into the end zone from 21 yards out for a 19-0 lead 48 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Cleveland finally got on the scoreboard, but not with its offense as Kamerion Wimbley sacked Rattay, who coughed the ball up and Daven Holly grabbed it and took it into the end zone from 40 yards out to make it a 19-7 game with 11:33 to play.

A 37-yard field goal by Bryant with 5:46 to play capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Tampa Bay hosts Seattle next Sunday and Cleveland travels to Houston to wrap up the season...Tampa Bay outgained Cleveland, 355-187...Alstott finished the game with 22 carries for 56 yards...Tampa Bay held the ball for 37:16 while Cleveland only had the ball for 22:44...Phillips had two interceptions in the game.

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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.

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

Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.