Football Betting

Woods will play next three PGA Tour events

Golf Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - Jupiter, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods announced on his web site Tuesday that he will play the next three PGA Tour events, starting next week.

First up is the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship, a tournament which Woods has won three times. Currently ranked 18th in the world, Woods will likely be a No. 4 seed in that event, which seeds by players world ranking position.

Last year, Woods lost in the first round of the Match Play and he missed the event in 2010.

The following week Woods will play the Honda Classic for the first time since he was a teenager. Woods last played the Honda in 1993, when he posted rounds of 72-78 and missed the cut.

"I've heard great things about the Honda Classic, and now that I live here, I want to play whenever possible," Woods said in a statement on his web site. "Jack's [Nicklaus] involvement in the tournament and the benefits to the local community are also important."

Woods will then tee it up at the WGC - Cadillac Championship. He won that event at Doral six times between 1999-2007. Woods still owns the 36-, 54- and 72-hole scoring records at the TPC Blue Monster.

In two starts this year, Woods has posted a pair of top-15 finishes.

He shared third in Abu Dhabi after entering the final round tied for the lead. At Pebble Beach last weekend, Woods had three under-par rounds to open the tournament, then stumbled to a 75 in the final round to slide into a share of 15th place.

"I'm excited about my start and look forward to keep building," Woods added. "I've made great strides from last year and hopefully all my hard work will pay off with a victory soon."


<< Golf Tidbits: So I was wrong about Phil & Tiger
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Was it just two weeks ago that some writer asked whether Tiger or Phil was closer to winning? And didn't said writer come to the conclusion that Tiger was closer? Guilty as charged! I'm sure Phil Mick

<< Tevez returns to City following absence
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Tevez returned to Manchester City on Tuesday, months after leaving the club following a dispute with coach Roberto Mancini. Tevez and Mancini were involved in a dispute in September, when T

<< Leafs put Gunnarsson on IR
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Carl Gunnarsson on injured reserve and recalled defenseman Keith Aulie from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Gunnarsson has an ankle injury

<< Rangers enters administration, docked 10 points
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scottish Premier League champions Rangers entered administration Tuesday, which automatically penalized the storied club 10 points, and essentially handed the title to rival Celtic. Rangers needed to ente

<< Atletico duo ruled out of Europa League tie
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid revealed Tuesday that midfielder Thiago and defender Antonio Lopez have been ruled out of Thursday's Europa League tie against Lazio as the two players are still recovering from injurie

Lions sign DB Shell >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The British Columbia Lions signed defensive back Lin-J Shell on Tuesday. Shell has spent the last three seasons with the Toronto Argonauts (2009-2011), racking up 222 tackles and seven interceptions in 53 g

Red Wings' run bolstered by shootout >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If American author Stephen King is looking for a setting in his next horror novel, he should base it on Joe Louis Arena. That's because no other venue in the NHL is currently as ominous. The Detroit Red

Olympiacos tops Rubin to open Europa last 32 >>
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Fuster scored and Roy Carroll saved a penalty as Olympiacos kicked off the Europa League round of 32 on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Rubin at Luzhniki Stadium. Fuster scored the lone goal in the 72nd m

Top Shelf: Blue Jackets can't keep Nash forever >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the NHL's trade deadline less than two weeks away, the rumor mill is churning faster and faster every day. On Monday, it finally spun out a name worth getting excited about. For the most part, the dea

U.S. draws Ukraine in Fed Cup playoff >>
White Plains, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2012 Fed Cup World Group Playoffs draw was held Tuesday and the United States drew an away tie in Ukraine that will be played April 21-22. The U.S. needs to defeat the Ukrainians

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.