Aguero rescues City in Europa League
Soccer Betting Lines
02/16/2012 - Porto, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergio Aguero scored in the 83rd minute and Manchester City edged FC Porto, 2-1, in the first match of their Europa League round of 32 series Thursday.
Silvestre Varela gave defending Europa League champion FC Porto the lead after 27 minutes, but an own goal by Alvaro Pereira tied the fixture in the 55th and Aguero added the late winner for City.
Aguero only entered the match in the 78th to replace Mario Balotelli, and Yaya Toure set up the goal with a pass into the middle of the area that Aguero slid into the net.
City takes a one-goal aggregate lead and two away goals to Etihad Stadium for the second leg Wednesday. City and Porto play their second leg a day early, as rival Manchester United hosts Ajax on Thursday, when the rest of the second legs are played. United won the first leg, 2-0.
Two-time European champion Porto will need at least two goals in Manchester to have any chance to advance to the last 16.
PSV Eindhoven, which has one European Cup title to its name, needed goals from Tim Matavz and Ola Toivonen for a 2-1 win at Trabzonspor in another late match Thursday.
Mehmet Topal scored to lead Valencia over Stoke City 1-0, Ola John's goal gave Twente a 1-0 win at Steaua Bucharest, Jan Schlaudraff's late penalty kick gave Hannover a 2-1 win over Club Brugge, Tsvetan Genkov scored in the 88th as 10- man Wisla Krakow tied Standard Liege 1-1, and PAOK tied at Udinese 0-0 in the day's other late matches.
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos on Thursday signed free- agent wide receiver Jason Hill. Hill recorded a career-best 367 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 25 catches last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
<< Creative Cause heads San Vicente Stakes
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Creative Cause, third in last year's Breeders'
Cup Juvenile, heads a field of six in Sunday's $150,000 San Vicente Stakes for
three-year-olds at Santa Anita Park. The seven-furlong sprint marks the 2012
debut f
<< Oilers, Ducks swap players
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers acquired defenseman Bryan
Rodney from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for center Ryan O'Marra.
The 27-year-old Rodney has five goals and 15 assists in 41 games with the
Syracuse Crunch
<< Berdych, del Potro land in Rotterdam quarters
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Wimbledon runner-up
Tomas Berdych and former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro reached the
quarterfinals at the $1.6 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The second-seeded Ber
<< MLS signs U.S. striker Johnson
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson will
return to MLS this season, it was revealed Thursday. It will take one more day
to determine which team he will play for, however.
The 27-year-old Johnson, who le
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame catcher Gary "Kid" Carter died Thursday. He was 57 years old. More to follow...
Rapids acquire Argentinean midfielder Rivero >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids acquired Argentinean
midfielder Martin Rivero on loan Thursday from Argentina's Rosario Central.
The 22-year-old Rivero debuted for Rosario Central at the age of 18, and made
30 app
Alouettes sign LB Davis >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Alouettes signed linebacker Rod
Davis to a two-year contract on Thursday.
Davis, who became a free agent on Wednesday, led the Edmonton Eskimos with 79
tackles last season. He also recorded fiv
Roughriders sign LaBatte, Picard >>
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Saskatchewan Roughriders agreed to terms
with a pair of offensive linemen on Thursday, signing Brendon LaBatte and
Dominic Picard.
LaBatte heads further west after spending the previous four seaso
United's Valencia out four weeks with hamstring injury >>
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United winger Antonio
Valencia injured his hamstring Thursday in a 2-0 Europa League win at Ajax,
and will be sidelined four weeks.
The 26-year-old Ecuadorian was injured as he set
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.