Last-Minute Shopping not First on Ravens' List

Football Betting Lines

12/20/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - List of things to do for you Ravens fans in the week preceding Christmas:

1. File a formal complaint with whoever is responsible for selecting the AFC Pro Bowl team (be sure to CC yourself, since fan voting makes up a large portion of the selection process). No Ray Lewis? No Bart Scott? Have the voters been paying attention to who is leading the NFL's top-ranked defense of the moment?

2. Get out your Ben Roethlisberger, Joey Porter, or Bill Cowher voodoo doll, and prick, prick, prick away. This Sunday's trip to meet the suddenly- resurgent Steelers will be huge for team confidence, and will also have major implications in regard to AFC Playoff seeding. The Ravens, who drilled the reigning Super Bowl champs (27-0) back in Week 12, haven't won in Pittsburgh since 2001 and have never swept the Steelers in a home-and-home.

3. Find out which channel, either on your Sirius radio or Direct TV package, you can find the Colts/Texans game, also scheduled for 1pm on Sunday afternoon. If the Ravens wish to secure a first-round bye, a loss by similarly 11-3 Indianapolis would be extremely helpful. The Colts would win a tie- breaker with Baltimore based on a better record against common opponents. Indy/Houston will be the game to flip to when the Ravens go to commercial.

4. Repeat Step 3, only switch Colts/Texans to Chargers/Seahawks, which is the 4pm Christmas Eve game that matters most. San Diego (12-2) is a game better than Baltimore at present, but since the Ravens own the tie-breaker over the Chargers based on a head-to-head win, Brian Billick and company still have a chance at the No. 1 seed in the AFC. You can even find yourself a Shaun Alexander No. 37 jersey to slip on in time for the Seahawks game. You'll probably be able to find one on the discount rack.

If that sounds like a busy week, it is certainly preferable to the alternative, experienced by all of Ravens nation last season.

Baltimore was 5-9 and headed nowhere at this time in 2005.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS

It was a little on the anti-climatic side, but the Ravens' 27-17 victory over the Browns on Sunday, coupled with the Bengals' 34-16 loss in Indianapolis the following night, gave Baltimore its first division title since 2003.

The ability to add a new "2006 AFC North Champions" hat to the collection was a tad bittersweet for the Ravens, who were actually rooting for Cincinnati to defeat Indianapolis to improve their position in regard to earning a top-two seed. However, the fact that the Ravens wrapped up the division with two games left to play, when few (present company included) had predicted them to finish better than third before the season began, was an impressive achievement nonetheless.

"We're still in the battle to get homefield and let the playoffs go through Baltimore," said Ravens linebacker Bart Scott. "Hopefully, we can keep chugging along because we know it's a huge advantage and something we're fighting for. By no means do we shut it down here."

The division crown was just the second in Ravens team history. Baltimore was a Wild Card entry when it won the Super Bowl in 2000, and also went as a Wild Card in 2001. The Ravens were 20-17 First-Round losers to the Titans following their only previous division title, in '03.

McNAIR SCARE

Sunday's win over the Browns will likely be best-remembered for the hand injury that kept quarterback Steve McNair out for most of the afternoon. McNair had his hand stepped on by Cleveland linebacker Andra Davis in the first quarter, and though he could have returned, Billick opted to leave him on the sideline to avoid re-aggravating the injury. McNair is expected to start in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Former starter Kyle Boller stepped in for McNair, the second time this season that the 2003 No. 1 pick has played meaningful minutes. Boller, who also played extensively in a 23-21 loss to the Panthers in Week 6, completed 13- of-21 passes for 238 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against Cleveland. Boller's passer rating was raised to 104.0 in the victory.

PRO BOWLING

Though there were notable Ravens omissions on the AFC Pro Bowl roster, including Lewis, Scott, and defensive tackle Kelly Gregg, Baltimore did manage to place five players on the squad.

From the defense, linebacker Adalius Thomas and safety Ed Reed were both named, starters and linebacker Terrell Suggs and cornerback Chris McAlister reserves. On offense, tackle Jonathan Ogden was the only player selected.

It was the ninth career Pro Bowl citation for Ogden, the third for Reed and McAlister, and the second for Suggs and Thomas.

Kicker Matt Stover, tight end Todd Heap and special teams stalwart Gary Stills were all listed as Pro Bowl alternates, as was Lewis. A selected player at each's position would have to bow out in order for any of the above to make the trip to Hawaii.

QUICK HITS

-Running back Jamal Lewis rushed 22 times for a season-high-tying 109 yards and a touchdown against the Browns, leaving him just 14 yards shy of the fifth 1,000-yard season of his career. After scoring one touchdown in his first seven games, Lewis has scored seven times in his last seven contests.

-Rookie wide receiver Demetrius Williams posted his first career 100-yard game on Sunday, with most of the damage coming on a 77-yard catch from Boller that staked Baltimore to a 24-17 lead in the third quarter. The fourth-round draft pick out of Oregon is the third Raven this season to post a 100-yard receiving game, joining Mark Clayton (3 times) and Derrick Mason (once). Williams joins Clayton as the only Ravens rookies to accomplish the feat.

-Scott (9.5 sacks) and Suggs (8 sacks) have two games to join Ravens end Trevor Pryce (12 sacks) and linebacker Adalius Thomas (10 sacks) in the double-digit sacks category, which would make Baltimore the first team in NFL history to have four players with 10 or more sacks.

NEXT UP: PITTSBURGH

The Steelers hold a 13-8 edge in the all-time regular season series with the Ravens, but as mentioned, were routed, 27-0, when the teams met in Baltimore in Week 12. The teams split last year's home-and-home, including a 20-19 Pittsburgh win when the teams met for a Monday Night showdown in the Steel City in Week 8. The home team has won the last eight installments of the series since Pittsburgh won in Baltimore during the 2002 campaign. The Ravens are 0-4 in regular season games played in Pittsburgh since last winning there in 2001.

Pittsburgh won the only postseason meeting between the teams, a 27-10 triumph in a 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff at home.

Pittsburgh head coach Bill Cowher is 14-8 against Baltimore all-time (including postseason), while Billick is 7-9 overall against both Cowher and the Steelers.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.