Briscoe captures third straight Chicagoland pole

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/27/2010 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Briscoe will start on the pole for an IZOD IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway for the third year in a row after winning Friday's qualifying for the PEAK AntiFreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300.

With IndyCar debuting its new two-lap oval qualifying format, Briscoe recorded an average speed of 216.346 m.p.h. around the 1.5-mile track for his third pole of the season and the 11th of his IndyCar career. All three of his poles this year have come on mile-and-a-half ovals -- Kansas, Texas and Chicagoland.

Earlier this week, IndyCar's sanctioning body, the Indy Racing League, announced that the qualifying format on ovals would change from the average speed of four timed laps to just two laps in determining the starting grid, beginning with this weekend's race at Chicagoland.

Briscoe is the defending race winner. He finished third at Chicagoland in 2008.

"I'm just hoping in the race I can be as competitive as we have been in the last two years, " Briscoe said. "It's always an exciting race. There's always a lot of good side-by-side, two-wide, three-wide action. We've got 29 cars this weekend, and it's a huge field. It's going to make it very busy for us out there.

Briscoe has one race win so far this year, which came at Texas.

Defending series champion Dario Franchitti will start on the outside pole after qualifying just 0.18 seconds behind Briscoe.

Briscoe gave Team Penske its 11th pole this season. His teammate, Will Power, the current points leader, has won a series season record eight poles so far. Power, who won last week's final road course race of the season in Sonoma, CA, qualified third.

"It's all about racing obviously on the ovals here," Power said. "Running in practice today, I felt as though we had a pretty good car, and now we just got to have a good, clean race tomorrow."

Power will share the second row with teammate Helio Castroneves, while Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal will roll off from row three.

Dan Wheldon qualified seventh, followed by Hideki Mutoh, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato.

Danica Patrick will start 12th.

Power holds a 59-point lead over Franchitti, while Franchitti's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, trails by 95 points. Dixon, who has finished second in the last four races at Chicagoland, qualified a disappointing 15th.

Saturday's 300-mile race from Chicagoland will start around 8:00 p.m. (et).

Freepono Autoracing Betting News

<< Fire's Ljungberg set for first trip to Seattle
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddie Ljungberg will return to Seattle on Saturday for first time since being the first designated player ever traded in Major League Soccer, as his new club Chicago visits Qwest Field. Ljungberg joined S

<< TFC aims to start new home streak vs. RSL
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake travels to take on Toronto FC in Major League Soccer action at BMO Field on Saturday night. RSL, which has just one league loss in its last 16, will be facing a Toronto side that is coming off

<< Report: Manny awarded to White Sox through waiver claim
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox have reportedly been awarded Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez through a waiver claim, MLB.com has confirmed. There is still the matter of either finalizing a trade with Los Angeles

<< Stakhovsky lands in New Haven finale
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ninth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky was an easy semifinal winner Friday at the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up. The Ukrainian Stakhovsky handled 12th-seeded Dutchman Thiemo D

<< Dons aim to continue perfect start
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aberdeen enters the weekend on top of the Scottish Premier League table with two wins from its first two games, and the Dons will look to make it three wins from three matches on Saturday when they ho

Lions place DE DeVries on IR >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions placed defensive end Jared DeVries on injured reserve Friday, officially ending his 2010 season. DeVries has been dealing with knee problems all training camp and he had arthroscopic

Rams WR Avery has significant knee injury >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams wide receiver Donnie Avery suffered an apparently serious knee injury during Thursday night's 36-35 preseason win over New England. Avery, who departed after recording two catches f

Georgia RB Ealey arrested >>
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia sophomore running back Washaun Ealey was arrested early Friday morning for a hit-and-run involving a parked vehicle and driving with a suspended license. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is reportin

An into semifinals at U.S. Amateur >>
University Place, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Byeong-Hun An defeated Max Homa, 1-up on Friday to advance into the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur Championship. An's quarterfinal victory at Chambers Bay on Friday keeps h

Mets bring up Hernandez, option Feliciano >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets selected the contract of infielder Luis Hernandez from Triple-A Buffalo on Friday and optioned outfielder Jesus Feliciano to Buffalo. Hernandez last appeared in the majors in 2

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.

MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.

(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977.  Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.

Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer.  In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season. 

MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite.  After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.

Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions.  They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals.  The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown. 

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.