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08/13/2010 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kasey Kahne claimed the pole for the CARFAX 400 after posting the quickest lap in Friday's qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.
Kahne knocked Jimmie Johnson off the top position after he turned a lap of 187.183 m.p.h. around the two-mile oval for his second pole of the season and the 18th of his Sprint Cup Series career. Kahne started on the pole and won at Michigan in June 2006.
"I got through [turns] one and two really good, and I knew I was awesome getting into three," Kahne said. "I got there and had three lanes to choose from in three and four. I chose one [lane], and it didn't really work, but it still ended up on the pole."
Earlier this week, Kahne announced he will join Red Bull Racing in 2011 to drive one of their Sprint Cup cars. He will then move over to Hendrick Motorsports to drive Mark Martin's No.5 car the following year. Kahne currently is behind the wheel of the No.9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.
Johnson qualified 0.02 seconds behind Kahne to start on the front row for the fourth time at Michigan. The four-time defending series champion has yet to win at this track, as well as Chicagoland, Homestead and Watkins Glen.
"I'm very proud of the effort we made today," Johnson said. "I certainly would have liked to won the pole. It's been Homestead of last year since we have won a pole. We've been close a few times."
Clint Bowyer took the third spot, while Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya, last weekend's race winner at Watkins Glen, rounded out the top-five.
Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth qualified sixth and seventh, respectively.
Team owner Jack Roush returned to the racetrack more than two weeks after he sustained serious injuries during a plane crash in Oshkosh, WI. Roush, who was released from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN earlier this week, arrived at Michigan wearing dark sunglasses. He ruptured his left eyeball and permanently has lost vision in that eye. He does expect to fly again.
"I feel very lucky," he said. "I had a damaged left cheek. I had a broken jaw, and I had a compression fracture in my back, and I've got a back brace for the compression fracture. I have hardware in my cheek. I still have packing in my nose, because they say its biodegradable, and it will come out on its own.
"I'm still uncomfortable with the fact that I can't breathe clearly through my nose. Everything will come back, and I was blessed to have great vision in two eyes, and now I've got great vision in one."
Roush resides 60 miles away from the two-mile track in Northville, MI.
Kevin Harvick, the current points leader, qualified eighth, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard.
Harvick currently holds a 185-advantage over Jeff Gordon, who qualified a disappointing 36th. Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., wound up two spots behind in 38th.
Mike Bliss, J.J. Yeley, Scott Riggs and Casey Mears failed to qualify.
Sunday's 400-mile race at Michigan is scheduled to start shortly after 1:00 p.m. (et).
<< Nationals heading to deadline for deal with Harper
WASHINGTON (AP) -It looks like negotiations with No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Harper will go to the deadline, the way they did last year with top choice Stephen Strasburg.The Nationals have until midnight as Monday turns to Tuesday to reach an agr
<< Injury news worsens for Twins, Morneau
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Minnesota Twins first-baseman Justin Morneau says there is no timetable for his return from a concussion, and reliever Jose Mijares will miss four weeks with a torn meniscus in his right knee.Morneau says he's ``making progress and
<< Kuchar two clear at rainy Whistling Straits
Kohler, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kuchar posted a three-under 69 on Friday to
stay atop the leaderboard after his second round of the PGA Championship at
Whistling Straits.
Kuchar, the first-round leader, finished 36 holes at eight-un
<< Blue Jays recall Rzepczynski for start
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays recalled pitcher Marc
Rzepczynski from Triple-A Las Vegas to make Friday's start against the Angels.
Rzepczynski will make his third start of the season and is 0-1 with a 7.15
earn
Mickelson six back at Whistling Straits >>
Kohler, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Mickelson shot an up-and-down three-under
69 on Friday to finish his second round at two-under-par 142 at the PGA
Championship at Whistling Straits.
Mickelson, the 2005 winner, is six strokes behin
Brewers release Gerut >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers have released veteran
outfielder Jody Gerut.
The 32-year-old was batting .197 with two home runs and eight runs batted in
over 71 at-bats this season in a reserve role.
He was a
Twins P Mijares out four weeks >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins pitcher Jose Mijares will
miss the next four weeks with a torn meniscus in his right knee that will
require surgery.
Mijares suffered the injury in the eighth inning of Wednesday's
Dodgers demote Broxton from closer's role >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers demoted Jonathan
Broxton from the closer's role after he suffered his fifth blown save of the
season by faltering in the ninth inning Thursday night in Philadelphia.
Broxton, c
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.
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.
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