Dolphins sign RB Messam
Football Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins signed running back Jerome Messam on Wednesday.
The Toronto, Ontario native, spent the last two years playing in the Canadian Football League, where he recorded just 93 yards on 23 carries in his rookie season in 2010 before breaking out last year for the Edmonton Eskimos.
Messam recorded 1,057 yards and six touchdowns on 195 carries in 2011, ranking him third in the league and earning him the CFL's top Canadian Player award. He also added 27 receptions for 248 yards.
Mississauga, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Argonauts re-signed free agent linebacker Jason Pottinger on Wednesday, keeping him with the club through the 2013 season. "We are happy to be able to keep Jason in his hometown of Toron
<< Georgia DB Commings suspended 2 games
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia cornerback Sanders Commings has been
suspended two games, the university announced on Wednesday.
The suspension stems from the senior's arrest for domestic violence on January
21.
He will miss th
<< Long-time Astros broadcaster Hamilton to retire after 2012
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milo Hamilton, who has been the voice of the
Houston Astros since 1985, announced on Wednesday that he intends to retire
following the upcoming season.
Hamilton will close the books on a career which s
<< Sam Houston State to play Baylor, Texas A&M
Huntsville, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sam Houston State won't take the easy way as
it tries to return to the FCS national championship game.
The Bearkats, who finished 14-1 as the national runner-up this past season,
will make trips to two in-st
<< Calhoun to miss at least three more games
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Connecticut men's head
basketball coach Jim Calhoun will miss at least three more games as he
receives treatment for spinal stenosis, the school announced Wednesday.
Calhoun was
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Zeller scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds, as 18th-ranked Indiana avoided a fourth consecutive loss to visiting Northwestern with a 71-66 victory at Assembly Hall. Victor Oladipo and Ch
Cooley takes over, lifts Irish past Rutgers >>
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Cooley scored 17 of his 22 points in
the second half, helping No. 23 Notre Dame pull away from Rutgers in a 71-53
decision at the Joyce Center.
Cooley also pulled down 18 rebounds to record his thi
Magic drain 15 3s in rout of 76ers >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Orlando Magic live and die by the three-
pointer, they not only lived on Wednesday night, they thrived.
Ryan Anderson scored 27 points on 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc and
Orlando drained 15 t
Ducks stay hot, down Penguins >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Teemu Selanne scored a tiebreaking goal in
the third period and Jonas Hiller turned away 25 Penguins shots, backstopping
the Anaheim Ducks to a 2-1 victory, their first in Pittsburgh in more than a
decade.
Lin, Knicks rout Kings for 7th straight win >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Lin had the ball in the air before
Landry Fields even made his move.
Taking off from outside the paint, Fields caught the pass two-handed near the
right baseline and finished off a thunderous alley-oop
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.
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