Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
06/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While walking around Philadelphia's Wachovia Center in the hours leading up to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, it became clear to me that the Flyers organization and their fans are not big on subtlety.
In fact, the Flyers' default position skews to the dramatic side of things. Fans come to the arena clad in orange T-shirts that bear slogans like "Defy All Odds", "Together We Fight" and "We Bleed Orange".
Prior to Game 3, when the Flyers trailed the series 2-0, the club posted a picture of captain Mike Richards on the big screen accompanied with the famous Winston Churchill quote, "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls."
In a sense, the Flyers market themselves as a kind of NHL version of the Oakland Raiders and, perhaps, the warrior imagery and flair for the dramatic is what makes the Wachovia Center such a tough place to play.
This was, after all, the home of the Broad Street Bullies, one of the most notorious championship teams in pro sports history. The group of players who made up the 1974 and '75 Cup title clubs -- the only two championships in franchise history -- are still worshipped as conquering heroes in the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, the Flyers will have to use the art of psychodrama to keep their Cinderella season alive for one more game. Philadelphia and Chicago will meet Wednesday night for another showdown at the Wachovia Center.
After posting a dominating 7-4 win in Sunday's Game 5, the Blackhawks will take a 3-2 series lead into that next battle, and can claim their first Stanley Cup title since 1961 with the win.
But that figures to be easier said than done for the Blackhawks, after all, this series has been owned by the home teams. Chicago proved that once again on Sunday as it improved to 3-0 on home ice in this set. The Flyers, of course, are 2-0 on Broad Street.
Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette is confident that his club can continue the trend of home dominance on Wednesday night.
"We've got to get back as a team and make sure we're ready to play our brand of hockey, our style of hockey in our building with our fans," said Laviolette. "We have to make sure we're ready to win one hockey game."
Of course, there isn't much sense in looking ahead to Game 7 yet, but if the Flyers are able to take the sixth meeting, it certainly would be tough for Philly to pull off a road win should there be a decisive contest in Chicago.
Then again, the Flyers have been counted out so many times this season it would be unwise to sound the death knell at this stage. A team that has already come back from down 3-0 in a series to win in this postseason is not going to be scared off by a mere 3-2 deficit.
"I think that when you get to this point there's a tremendous amount of confidence in your team to win hockey games," added Laviolette. "They get it and they understand it. If any team gets it, this team gets it, because we've been here so many times."
BUFF TURNS THE TABLES ON PRONGER
The most intriguing matchup of this series has been a battle between heavyweights -- Chris Pronger of the Flyers and Dustin Byfuglien of the Blackhawks.
Pronger, a towering defenseman, and Byfuglien, the game's bulkiest player, have been hammering away at each other since the Cup Finals began over a week ago. The Flyers blueliner dominated the first four games, limiting Byfuglien to just one assist in Games 1-4.
However, Chicago's mammoth winger exploded for four points in Game 5 on Sunday night, posting two goals and two assists to push his club within one game of a Stanley Cup title.
"I think last night was the biggest influence in the game he's had throughout the playoffs," Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said of Byfuglien's Game 5 effort. "He was a big factor."
Pronger, on the other hand, had his worst game of the playoffs Sunday, as he was on the ice for six of Chicago's seven goals and finished a minus-five for the night. He was a plus-seven through the first four games of the series.
Laviolette defended his No. 1 blueliner after Game 5 and was obviously not keen to make a scapegoat of Pronger.
"Our team needs to be better, the whole group, I believe, needs to be better," said Laviolette. "When we're successful, we do it as team. When we lose and we have a night that's tougher, we do it as a team. The minus 5's, are they all his fault? No."
WILL IT BE THE LEIGHT SHOW IN GAME 6?
There is some speculation as to who will be between the pipes for the Flyers in Game 6. Michael Leighton was torched for three goals in the first period and was replaced by Brian Boucher before the start of the second.
It should come as no surprise that Laviolette has been mum on who will be his starter in Wednesday's game.
"I don't comment on lineups," was all Laviolette had to say on Monday when asked if he was sticking with Leighton.
It's hard to believe he will make the switch to Boucher. Leighton was also pulled after giving up five goals in Game 1 of this series and rebounded nicely in the next game, stopping 24-of-26 shots in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss for the Flyers.
<< La Salle agrees to multi-year contract with Giannini
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - La Salle and head men's basketball coach
John Giannini have agreed to a multi-year contract. Details of the agreement
were not released.
Giannini's Explorers teams have gone 83-97 in six seasons, inc
<< Silva stays undefeated as Cubs down Pirates
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlon Byrd went 3-for-4 and drove in two to
help Carlos Silva stay undefeated, as the Chicago Cubs topped the Pittsburgh
Pirates, 6-1, in a makeup game at PNC Park.
Silva (8-0) allowed one run on four
<< Benneteau, Gasquet win Aegon openers
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French seeds Julien Benneteau and Richard
Gasquet were among Monday's opening-round winners at the Aegon Championships,
a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The ninth-seeded Benneteau handled fellow French
<< This Week in Golf - June 10th through June 13th
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - ST. JUDE CLASSIC, TPC
Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee - Brian Gay earned a trip to the U.S. Open with
his five-shot victory at last year's St. Jude Classic -- his second dominant
win in
Hornets to introduce Monty Williams as next head coach >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Hornets will reportedly
introduce Monty Williams as their next head coach on Tuesday.
According to The Times-Picayune, the two sides agreed on a three-year contract
with an option for a
Logano, Harvick have at it at Pocono >>
Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The next chapter in NASCAR's "boys, have at
it" story of the season was written on Sunday at Pocono Raceway, with Joey
Logano and Kevin Harvick re-igniting their feud.
While Logano's teammate, Denny Hamlin, d
Cardinals' Rasmus claims NL weekly award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus
was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending June 6.
Rasmus hit .500 (11-22) with three home runs, nine RBI and eight runs scored
duri
Near perfect game gives Galarraga AL weekly honor >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga,
who had a perfect game taken away on a blown call on what would have been the
final out, has been named the American League Player of the Week for the
period
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting