Angels' Rivera has surgery for broken leg
Baseball Betting Lines
12/27/2006 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Juan Rivera underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a broken left leg.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Michael Abrahams inserted a rod into Rivera's left tibia and screws at the top and bottom of the fracture. Rivera will remain hospitalized in Florida for a few days and x-rays will be taken every two weeks to determine his progress.
Rivera, 28, was playing winter ball for the Oriente Caribbeans against the Aragua Tigers in Maracay, Venezuela when he sustained a broken left tibia on December 22.
The following day, Rivera's leg was placed in a cast after being examined by a trauma specialist.
The Angels said Rivera will likely begin rehabilitation in six to eight weeks.
Rivera posted career bests during the 2006 season with a .310 batting average, 23 home runs and 85 runs batted in.
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson, Green Bay Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman and Chicago kicker Robbie Gould have been selected as the NFC's top players for Week 16 of the season. Jackson ear
<< Stars' Morrow out indefinitely
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow will be out
of action indefinitely following successful surgery Tuesday night to repair
severed tendons in his right wrist, general manager Doug Armstrong said on
Wednesd
<< Thornton leads West All-Star balloting
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton leads all
Western Conference players in fan balloting for the NHL All-Star Game.
Thornton has received 614,753 votes and has a lead of more than 70,000 votes
on Anaheim d
<< Grizzlies are locked in the cellar
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies three-year playoff run is in
serious jeopardy. They are a league-worst 6-23 and are six games behind the
fourth place New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets in the Northwest Division.
The Griz
<< Wolves' numbers keep coming up
Springfield, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Numerologists would have a field day with
the 2006-07 Chicago Wolves, who continue to put up offensive numbers rarely
seen during the American Hockey Leagues 71-year history.
Chicago wrote another headline
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Bengals center Rich Braham is apparently ready to call it a career. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis made the announcement at his Wednesday news conference. Braham suffered a knee injur
Buffalo extends Lindell >>
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo placekicker Rian Lindell signed a
contract extension that will keep him with the Bills though the 2011 season.
Since joining the Bills before the 2003 campaign, Lindell has connected on 83
percen
Vikings place Smoot on IR following car accident >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot
was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, five days after being involved in a
single-car accident in his home state of Mississippi.
Vikings head coach Brad Chi
Eagles' Sheppard and Lewis questionable for Falcons game >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pro Bowl cornerback Lito Sheppard and
strong safety Michael Lewis are both listed as questionable for Philadelphia's
game against Atlanta this Sunday.
Sheppard, who recorded three tackles and a ke
Colts' Freeney listed as questionable >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight
Freeney is listed as questionable for Sunday's regular season finale against
the Miami Dolphins with a shoulder injury.
Freeney, the Colts' career sack leade
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.