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Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Falcons agreed to terms with their 2010 first-round draft pick, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, the club announced on Thursday. Financial terms were not released. The 6-foot-2, 244-pou

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Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators on Thursday re-signed forward Peter Regin to a two-year contract. Regin, 24, registered 13 goals and 16 assists in 75 games with the Senators last season, his first full NHL campaig

<< Hughes named manager at Fulham
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fulham named Mark Hughes its new manager on Thursday and signed him to a two-year contract. The former Wales, Blackburn and Manchester City manager replaces Roy Hodgson, who left to join Arsenal this offs

<< Kings' Greene sidelined three months following shoulder surgery
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings announced Thursday that defenseman Matt Greene is expected to be sidelined approximately three months after recently undergoing shoulder surgery. Greene, 27, appeared in 75 gam

Broncos come to terms with Tebow >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos agreed to terms with quarterback Tim Tebow, a first-round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft, on Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed, but The Denver Post reports it is a

Steelers sign former Cowboys T Adams >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have reportedly signed veteran and longtime Dallas Cowboys tackle Flozell Adams. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday revealed the deal is for two years. A former second-ro

Niemi decision expected by Saturday >>
CHICAGO (AP) -Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman expects to learn on Saturday whether his salary cap-squeezed team will be able to keep restricted free agent goaltender Antti Niemi.After Bowman and Niemi's agent, Bill Zito, were unable to reach

Rangers acquire Cantu from Marlins >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers bolstered their infield, acquiring Jorge Cantu and cash considerations from the Florida Marlins in exchange for a pair of pitching prospects. Cantu, 28, was in the starting lineup

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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