10/30/2008 - Ft. Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Crawford won the pole for Friday night's Chevy Silverado 350K Craftsman Truck Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.14 Circle Bar Racing Ford driver rounded the 1.5-mile, tri-oval in 30.197 seconds (178.826 m.p.h.).
Crawford recorded his fifth career Truck Series pole, but his first since October 2005 at Martinsville.
"Tonight's lap was just a phenomenal lap by the truck, the team and the engine package underneath the hood, the Roush-Yates combination," Crawford said.
Starting alongside Crawford will be Cale Gale, who posted a time of 30.205 seconds. Gale is driving the No.2 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. this weekend at Texas. Ryan Newman, in his first-ever series start, drove the No.2 truck to victory in last Saturday's race at Atlanta. Gale runs a partial schedule for Harvick in the Nationwide Series this year.
Sprint Cup regulars Kyle Busch (30.306) and Travis Kvapil (30.325) will start on the second row.
Road-racing veteran Max Papis will roll off fifth in his series debut.
Sixth through 10th will be: Jon Wood, Ron Hornaday, Jr., TJ Bell, Colin Braun and Todd Bodine.
Points leader Johnny Benson will start 20th. Benson holds a 31-point advantage over defending series champion Hornaday with three races to go.
Hornaday won at Texas for the first time earlier this year, while Benson's best finish there is second, coming in 2004 and '05.
The green flag for Friday's race is scheduled to drop around 9:00 p.m. (et).
<< Report: Thomas was not breathing when police arrived at home
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former New York Knicks coach and president
Isiah Thomas was reportedly not breathing when police arrived at his home last
week.
According to an incident report obtained by the New York Daily News throug
<< Revs, Fire battle to scoreless draw to open the MLS Cup playoffs
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution earned a moral
victory in the home leg of their Major League Soccer Eastern Conference
Semifinal Series vs. the rival Chicago Fire on Thursday evening at Gillette
Stadium
<< Kelly's tally in third caps Sens' comeback over Panthers
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Kelly banged home the second of Ottawa's
two third-period goals, as the Senators posted a 2-1 comeback victory over
the Florida Panthers.
Dany Heatley tallied the tying goal, and Alex Auld was s
<< James helps Cavs dominate Bobcats
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James narrowly missed a triple-double
with 22 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, as the Cleveland Cavaliers
dominated Charlotte, 96-79, keeping the Bobcats and Hall of Famer Larry Brown
winless
Artest helps Rockets spoil Carlisle's Dallas debut >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Artest scored 10 of his 29 points in the
fourth quarter as the Rockets surged down the stretch to beat Dallas, 112-102,
spoiling Rick Carlisle's debut as head coach of the Mavericks.
Yao Ming dominat
South Florida falls again to Cincinnati >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Pike threw two touchdown passes and
John Goebel had 121 total yards of offense and a score as the Cincinnati
Bearcats toppled the 24th-ranked South Florida Bulls, 24-10, at Nippert
Stadium
Ward, Carolina give St. Louis the blues >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cam Ward turned away all 19 shots he faced,
and the Carolina Hurricanes posted a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues at
Scottrade Center.
Ward posted his first shutout of the season, as the Hurricane
Hansbrough sidelined indefinitely with shin injury >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina senior forward Tyler
Hansbrough, the reigning national player of the year, will be out indefinitely
due to a stress reaction condition in his right shin.
Tar Heels head coach Roy
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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