Football Betting

Nine carries in preseason plenty for Jackson

Football Betting Lines

08/31/2010 -

ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson says nine carries in the preseason is enough to get ready for the season.

The Pro Bowler said he didn't want to play Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens. Then came the long, rumbling guffaw that has become a Jackson trademark.

``If coach wants me to go out there, I'm fully prepared to go out there and play however long the ones are going to be out there,'' Jackson added. ``But me, personally, no, I don't want to play.''

The finale is a lot more important for Kenneth Darby, Chris Ogbonnaya and Keith Toston, the trio vying to be Jackson's backup. All three are likely to get a lot of playing time.

``This game is always about competition,'' Darby said. ``I love competition. It's what makes me great, makes me better as a player, makes me better as a person also.''

Jackson understands, though, that a little playing time can aid in developing timing with rookie quarterback Sam Bradford. The No. 1 pick will get his second start of the preseason ahead of A.J. Feeley, still recovering from a sprained right thumb, and could be under center for the opener Sept. 12 against Arizona.

``It would definitely be beneficial in letting us grow more chemistry, yes,'' Jackson said. ``But the gentleman asked, 'Do I want to play?' I do think it's probably something what coach will probably want and I'm ready for it if it happens.''

Coach Steve Spagnuolo said Monday he hadn't finalized the plan for the Ravens game, but anticipated the first-team offense and defense would get some playing time. How much time Jackson gets, if any, hadn't been decided.

``There's a chance he could go out there, but I don't know,'' Spagnuolo said. ``Fifty-fifty on that one.''

The Rams would have given Jackson a light workload in the preseason even if he had not been coming off surgery to repair a herniated disk in April. He's gained 42 yards on those nine carries for a 4.7-yard average, and the Rams have scored touchdowns on both possessions he's played.

Throughout training camp, Jackson has talked about how good he feels heading into the opener at home against the Arizona Cardinals.

``I'm really excited, I'm ready,'' Jackson said. ``As the days go by I'm getting more anxious about it. A few more short weeks and we'll be there.''

The offensive output last week at New England was a positive sign for a unit that was the NFL's worst last season. Bradford threw two touchdown passes in a 36-35 victory.

``It's definitely a confidence booster,'' Jackson said. ``We know we're capable of putting up points.''

Jackson said it's especially impressive considering the youth on the offense. Besides Bradford, there are two rookie tight ends, and the offensive line has one rookie and a second-year player.

``It's very encouraging,'' Jackson said. ``We're going in the right direction.''

None of the three backup candidates have put up scintillating numbers. Toston, an undrafted rookie, has 80 yards and a 2.8-yard average. Darby, the primary backup last year, has 60 yards and a 2.9-yard average. Ogbonnaya, a sixth-round pick last year, has 39 yards and a 2-yard average.

Toston is the only one who hasn't gotten a chance to go with the first-string offense. He's trying not to worry about upcoming roster cuts.

``It's going out just playing every game like it's my Super Bowl,'' Toston said. ``Because it really is. I'm not promised the next game.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


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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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