Patriots, Giants to Meet for NFL Title in Super Bowl (Update2)
By Erik Matuszewski
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The New England Patriots and New York Giants will have a Super Bowl rematch of their regular- season finale after winning their conference championships.
The Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers 21-12 yesterday in the American Football Conference title game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, overcoming three interceptions by quarterback Tom Brady to continue their undefeated season.
The Giants beat the Green Bay Packers 23-20 for the National Football Conference championship at Lambeau Field on a 47-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes in overtime that came after two fourth-quarter misses.
The Patriots are favored by 14 points over the Giants for the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 in Glendale, Arizona, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on betting lines.
New England, which hasn't lost a game, beat the Giants 38- 35 in the final week of the regular season on Dec. 29. Both teams played all their starters even though the game wouldn't have any impact on the postseason.
``We played them well and that gave us a little momentum and got us playing good football,'' Giants quarterback Eli Manning said yesterday in a televised interview. ``We know how good they are, but we know what it takes to beat them.''
The temperature at Gillette Stadium was 23 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 Celsius) at the start of the game. It was minus-1 at kickoff in Green Bay -- the third-coldest NFL game ever --and reached 24 degrees below zero with the wind-chill factor.
Unbeaten Patriots
The Patriots are 18-0, the best record in NFL history, and advanced to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years. They won titles in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
``There's been so much energy expended each week with the expectations and the pressure our coach puts on us,'' Brady, who threw two touchdown passes yesterday, said at a news conference. ``I'm glad we have the week off here to regroup a little bit and try to elevate our game for one last performance.''
The Giants are in the NFL's championship game for the first time since they lost to Baltimore 34-7 after the 2000 season.
New York, which won Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991, has won 10 consecutive road games, including three straight in the playoffs, to improve to 13-6.
``Our guys never say die,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ``We find ways to win.''
Maroney Leads Patriots
Laurence Maroney rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown yesterday in Foxborough, while Brady threw scoring passes to Jabar Gaffney and Wes Welker, and the Patriots' defense limited the Chargers to four field goals.
The Patriots were nursing a 14-12 fourth-quarter lead when Brady fired a 6-yard touchdown pass to Welker with 12:21 remaining. After forcing San Diego to punt on the next possession, the Patriots ran the final 9:13 off the clock.
Randy Moss was held to one catch for 18 yards for the Patriots after catching an NFL-record 23 touchdown passes during the regular season. Running back Kevin Faulk led New England with eight receptions for 82 yards.
The Chargers, limited on offense by injuries to three of their top players, drove inside the New England 20-yard line three times without reaching the end zone. LaDainian Tomlinson, the NFL's leading rusher this season, carried the ball twice and caught one pass before leaving the game with a knee injury. Quarterback Philip Rivers, who threw a pair of interceptions, was hobbled by a knee injury, while tight end Antonio Gates was slowed by a toe injury and had two catches.
Brady finished with 209 yards passing, completing 22 of 33 attempts.
Giants' Overtime Win
At Lambeau Field, the Packers won the coin toss in overtime after Tynes missed a 43-yard kick with 6:53 left in the fourth quarter and a 36-yard attempt as time expired in regulation.
Packers quarterback Brett Favre threw his second interception of the game on the second play of overtime, giving the Giants the ball at the Green Bay 34-yard line. Four plays later, Tynes hit the winning field goal.
``We had a lot of opportunities,'' Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. ``We just couldn't take advantage, and the Giants got the turnover and finished it off.''
The only other NFC championship game to be decided in overtime was in 1999, when Atlanta beat Minnesota 30-27.
Plaxico Burress caught 11 passes for 154 yards for the Giants, and Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw each had rushing touchdowns in the second half as the teams exchanged the lead three times in the third quarter. Manning completed 21 of 40 passes for 254 yards.
Favre, a three-time NFL Most Valuable Player who was trying to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 10 years, threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns. His 90-yarder to Donald Driver in the second quarter was the longest postseason play for the Packers, whose first playoff appearance was in 1936.
Ryan Grant, who rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns in Green Bay's playoff win over Seattle last week, was held to 29 rushing yards on 13 carries by the Giants.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 21, 2008 07:59 EST
(c)2008 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Five New Year's Resolutions for Any Bettor: Joe Saumarez-Smith
Commentary by Joe Saumarez-Smith
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The start of a new year is always a good opportunity to take stock and work out where you can make more (or lose less) from your gambling. Here are five resolutions that would improve any bettor's performance in 2008.
1. Keep records.
This is every pro's first advice. Alistair Flutter, who has made a living from gambling for more than 10 years, says, "If you are serious about gambling and don't keep records, then you are an idiot.''
Someone who says "I'm breaking even on the year'' usually means they are somewhere between $3,000 and $20,000 behind on their betting action. Not keeping records allows you to kid yourself that you are doing better than you are. Records let you analyze your strengths and weaknesses and eliminate those sports where you struggle to make a profit.
If there's just one thing you do to improve your betting, start writing down every wager.
2. Become a specialist.
It pays to specialize. In the major sports such as NFL football or the big European soccer leagues -- Italy's Serie A, English Premiership, Spanish La Liga -- there are tons of information for bookmakers to work with. Every major club has reporters whose only job is to write on injuries, the latest squabbles between the coach and his players, and what's going on in the boardroom.
In smaller sports there might be two reporters in a whole nation who make a living from covering that sport. Yet the bookies still have to post odds. Make it a specialty and you'll be able to spot when they have put up a favorable line.
Scottish Specialty
One of Europe's top professional gamblers, Tony Ansell, has made his fortune by specializing in Scottish Division Two and Three soccer matches. Most of the players are semi-professionals or amateurs and Ansell makes it his business to know the squad's activities. If the team has been celebrating a player's birthday the night before a match or the goalkeeper's wife is sleeping with the striker, Ansell will know.
The other advantage of being a specialist is that other winning bettors will seek you out and will be happy to reciprocate by giving you their picks on their specialties. Most top gamblers realize they can't be experts on everything.
3. Search for the best odds.
Would you buy a plasma TV without checking around for the best price? Probably not. The same is true of your bets. You shouldn't just go to the first bookie and take the offered odds.
This is especially true if you are betting a local team with a bookie in your town. If you are in New York and the line on the Giants is +7 in Las Vegas, you're likely to be offered +6.5 in New York as the bookie adjusts for the weight of money being placed on the local favorite. Losing that half point will, over the course of the season, make a big difference. There are plenty of online odds comparison services that will show you the odds in real time from as many as 30 sportsbooks.
If you're an online poker player, search for the best "rakeback'' deal. Poker sites often give back a percentage of the house "rake'' that you pay on every hand at the end of the month. This can be as much as 40 percent, and a good rakeback deal can make the difference between a monthly profit or a loss.
4. Manage your money better.
Keep a separate account for gambling and don't mix it up with your household cash. Gambling money should be money you can afford to lose. Poker players have an expression for a player who sits down with cash that is meant to be used for a credit- card payment or rent: "scared money.''
It is much harder to make sensible gambling decisions when, in the back of your mind, you're thinking of the dreadful consequences of losing all your cash. I keep a separate bank account purely for gambling money and only withdraw from it when I have reached a pre-ordained limit.
5. Stop chasing your losses.
It is human nature to double your bets to try to recoup a loss. When the roulette wheel has come up red seven spins in a row, it's tempting to plunk a huge bet on black because it's "due.'' The ball drops in red and the gambler is left wondering why he risked so much on one spin. Las Vegas casinos know that the gambler's instinct to chase losses is what will pay the electricity bill for all those neon signs that can be seen from the moon.
If you set yourself a limit at which you walk away from the table or stop placing sports bets, then you will start to have the discipline to become a winning player. Even the top pros chase their losses (it's known as "going on tilt'' in poker) and while it is hard to cure, it is an impulse you have to learn to control if you want to make money from gambling long term.
If you can keep all five of these resolutions, your 2008 gambling should see an impressive improvement on the last 12 months. But even sticking to one or two of them should improve your cash flow considerably.
(Joe Saumarez-Smith is chief executive officer of Sports Gaming, a U.K. management consulting firm to the gaming industry. He also owns European online bingo companies and odds comparison Web sites. The opinions expressed are his own.)
(c) BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Weather Could Affect NFL Gambling Odds in New England Today
No NFL team has been able to walk off the field victorious against the New England Patriots this season. Today, an opponent the Pats have not yet seen will try and ruin their perfect season. That opponent? The weather.
New England has played such exceptional football this year, that when they finally had a couple close games against the Ravens and Eagles, analysts actually believed they were vulnerable.
Now the Patriots will face their toughest opponent of the year. The Jets are the team stepping on the field with them, but the opponent that fears the Pats this weekend is, the weather.
A massive storm is set to hit the Northeast and with the way the Pats have played so far this year, it might be the only thing that can break up their perfect season.
The betting line on the game has stayed at twenty three and a half, but it will be extremely difficult for New England to cover that spread if the weather acts up, as is expected.
With three games left in the regular season, the Patriots are getting close to football immortality, and while no team has been able to hand them a defeat, Mother Nature will take its shot today.
December 16, 2007
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
(c) 2007 Casino Gambling Web, Ltd.
St. Louis Rams vs Cincinnati Bengals Betting Preview
Cincinnati, OH 12/09/2007 10:29 AM GMT (FINDITT)
Kris Lazaro, expert football handicapper from NFLSystems.com, has made a prediction on this game.
The Cincinnati Bengals host the St. Louis Rams this Sunday as a current 10 point home favorite. The line has jumped up 4 points since news of Rams regular quarterback Marc Bulger will potentially not play. Both teams have struggled this year and the author believes neither team should be favored, let alone by more than a field goal.
The St. Louis Rams started the season 0-8, but have since then won 3 of their last 4 games.
Even though Bulger may not play under center this Sunday, the Rams still have a good quarterback in Gus Frerotte. The Rams still have the offensive power of wide outs Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt and running back Steven Jackson. The Rams are 3-9 straight up, 4-8 against the number and both 2-4 on the road straight up and against the spread. The author believes that 10 points is a lot of points to give to a good offense, and add to the fact that Cincinnati has no business laying points to anybody, and the points look very tempting.
Copyright 2007, TransWorldNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Betting services certainly aren't hurting
It's not difficult to get injury updates on college players.
By Lonnie White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 3, 2007
Need an update on Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter's injured thumb to help figure out who to pick for the Sun Devils' big game at Oregon?
No problem. Covers.com had that information all week.
Interested on the health status of Maryland quarterback Jordan Steffy before placing a bet on the Terrapins' game against North Carolina?
A piece of cake. Profantasysports.com is always a source for a quick answer.
Although the NCAA doesn't like to talk about it, detailed updates on injuries in college football are an open book, just like in the NFL.
Of course, betting trends are affected by injury updates. That was the case with today's Arizona State at Oregon matchup.
The Ducks opened as 7 1/2 -point favorites with the status of Carpenter uncertain because of an injury suffered in Arizona State's victory over California last week.
With the line remaining steady all week, Oregon has dominated action in money-line bets and wagers made against the spread. TheSpread.com has the Ducks picking up 70% of the bets against the spread, while Wagerline.com has Oregon at 63.8%.
But according to various betting trend boards, support for the Sun Devils to win straight up grew late in the week after Carpenter's injury was updated. Arizona State's money line? +250.
AccuScore.com, which simulates every game 10,000 times, produced a couple of interesting forecasts for Pacific 10 Conference games today.
Even with a healthy Carpenter, Arizona State falls short against Oregon, 34-27; while USC -- a 15-point favorite over Oregon State -- gets a boost with the return of quarterback John David Booty, who sat out the last three games because of a broken finger.
The Trojans are picked to defeat the Beavers, 34-16, with Booty, who provides USC with a +4% advantage in winning percentage than when Mark Sanchez starts.
UCLA, a one-point favorite over Arizona, may be in trouble without injured running back Khalil Bell. The Bruins win by a field goal with Bell; with him sidelined they are picked to win, 26-25.
Boxing
Joe Calzaghe has maintained a -160 favorite role over Mikkel Kessler (+130) for tonight's super-middleweight unification title bout at Cardiff, Wales.
lonnie.white@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
Dahlberg on Football: Betting on the NFL in London is a sure thing
The English aren't exactly flocking to the betting windows, at least just yet. Then again, they might not have much left to bet after a dismal sporting weekend that tested the heart of even the most stoic Brit.
The Russians, of all people, beat England in its national sport, possibly costing the country a berth in the European Championship. The South Africans did the same in the Rugby World Cup, beating the defending champions in the final.
And driving hero Lewis Hamilton tanked in the final race of the Formula One season, depriving home fans of their first British driving champion in more than a decade.
So excuse them if they haven't been scouring the roster of the Miami Dolphins to find some reason to take 9½ points and bet them to cover against the New York Giants in the first regular season NFL game held outside North America.
"It's been a little overshadowed this week by the England football team, the England rugby team and Lewis Hamilton in FI," said Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for the William Hall betting chain. "They all lost."
You can bet British bookmakers didn't lose along with them, because they tend to be a savvy bunch. They have to be, because sports betting in England is as much a part of the social fabric as the neighbourhood pub.
Go down the main street of any tiny English town or village and the odds are there will be a betting parlour open for business. You can find them on almost every street corner in London, and anyone attending a soccer match at Wembley Stadium can put a few pounds on the game while picking up some fish and chips on the concourse level.
Except this weekend, that is. As one of the conditions for hosting the NFL, organizers had to agree that punters (an English word for bettors, not kickers) could not wager on the games inside the stadium itself.
On this Sunday, the 40 to 50 Betfred windows normally open at Wembley for betting on anything from NFL football to Premier League snooker will be closed.
Outside, though, it's fair game to bet on any game. And that includes the Betfred shop in the village of Wembley where about 500 pounds had been wagered as of Tuesday despite the fact most British bettors consider football to be something played with a round ball and short pants.
"It'll gather momentum throughout the week," said Betfred spokesman Peter Collins, who said the bookmaker would be putting up 25 to 30 special wagers on the game in addition to the usual point spread and money line.
The line the British bookies use looks suspiciously like the Las Vegas line, with the Giants a 9½-point favourite over the hapless Dolphins. That's the same point spread you can get on the Las Vegas Strip, where millions are wagered every weekend on America's favourite betting sport.
The difference is the NFL is embracing London as a partner, so much so that commissioner Roger Goodell said last week the city might one day host the Super Bowl. The same league that so abhors the thought of betting on its games that it wouldn't allow Las Vegas tourism officials to even buy a TV ad during the Super Bowl, is considering holding one in a city where there are probably 20 betting joints for every one in Sin City.
Hypocritical? Sure, but the NFL is all about money and opportunity, and there is plenty of money to be made at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium and plenty of opportunity to make even more once the British are properly introduced to the American game.
"This has nothing to do with Las Vegas," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "We can't control where there's legalized gambling. There's legal gambling in other places near where we play games."
Gambling, yes. Most states have lotteries, Indian casinos are nearby, and it's not hard to find a place to throw a few bucks on a filly.
Sports betting, no. At home that's the province only of Nevada, and it's a sure bet the NFL would never allow as much as an exhibition game in Las Vegas, not to mention a Super Bowl.
The NFL's arguments about Las Vegas and sports betting have all been made before. Though some credit the point spread with helping boost the league's popularity, the league is so afraid of being tainted by a scandal that it would rather pretend both betting and the city itself don't exist.
All of which makes it odd that the league would be so happy to be in London, where the only concession made to the NFL was that the betting windows inside the stadium itself would be closed.
No matter. There will be thousands of places in England to bet the game, and bookies say the fact it is being played in London will make it especially attractive to British punters (no, not the kickers).
And if they don't want to bet football, there will always be another national team to gamble on.
Forget the Dolphins plus the points. How about England at 5-2 odds against Sri Lanka on the cricket pitch?
The punters have to love that one.
Copyright (c) 2007 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved
Cheerleaders can ruin a football player's concentration
CAM HUTCHINSON
The Daily News
Jesse Palmer of TSN knows first- hand that cheerleaders can be a distraction to football players. This was apparent to Palmer during a start at quarterback for the New York Giants in 2005 when he couldn't get the attention in the huddle of his teammates: "They were all staring right at the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders who were performing in the end zone. The classic line came from our tight end, Visanthe Shiancoe, who interrupted me in the middle of a play call and said, 'Jesse you really need to turn around and see this.'"
- From Derek Wilken: "The Detroit Red Wings want to move back into the Eastern Conference of the NHL so they can have more natural rivals, reduce travel time and get Chris Chelios home before his 10 o'clock bedtime."
- Days after admitting she used steroids, Marion Jones returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Barry Bonds said he would return his balls if he can find them.
- A USC co-ed (real or imagined), as quoted on foulballs.net, after her favourite U.S. college football team was upset by Stanford: "I'd be lying if I told you (the loss) wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me. Except for when my hairdresser left my highlights on too long and I looked like Britney Spears on crack, which is to say, Britney Spears."
- Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet will be selling a number of personal and household items later this month at a giant garage sale to raise money for two California schools. "Wayne will also sell autographed jerseys and memorabilia," Wilken says, "while Janet will give tips for betting on NFL games."
- Michelle Wie turned 18 this week. She planned to celebrate by missing a cut.
- Miami quarterback Trent Green suffered a Grade 3 concussion when he blocked Johnson during last Sunday's game. In football this injury is commonly referred to as Terry Bradshaw Brain.
- Wilken, after reigning Formula One champion Fernando Alonso was questioned in the Ferrari spy scandal: "Prosecutors became suspicious when he was seen swapping video techniques with Bill Belichick.'
- From contributor Bill Littlejohn: "Authorities thought they had a surveillance camera video of Joe Paterno's alleged road-rage incident. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an episode of Mr. Magoo.'
- Paterno apparently blew a gasket when another motorist pointed out that the 80-year-old coach was driving in the left lane with his left-turn signal on.
- Toronto comedian Frenchie McFarlane says Alex Rodriguez blows in the playoffs, as evidenced by his .085 batting average in one recent post-season stretch of 14 games: "Even when Lindsay Lohan, David Hasselhoff and Kiefer Sutherland blow, they hit more than .085."
- Wilken, when Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo went down in pain during a game against the Calgary Flames: "It was the first time a whole city held its breath, other than Hamilton."
- Has a team with a more pathetic lineup ever advanced as far into the baseball post-season as these Arizona Diamondbacks? If these guys win the World Series, it will be the biggest surprise since Keith Richards woke up this morning.
- Another from Littlejohn: "Gerhard Ertl of Germany has won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work studying the ozone. Among others receiving votes was Barry Bonds for his work in breaking Henry Aaron's home-run record."
(c) The Daily News
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