05/09/2008 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 superstar Roger Federer suffered a quarterfinal setback Friday at the hands of gritty Czech Radek Stepanek at the $3.5 million Italian Masters, a clay-court French Open tune- up.
The unseeded Stepanek stunned the top-seeded Federer in straight sets in a pair of tiebreaks, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7), at Foro Italico. Federer was the runner-up at this event in 2003 and 2006.
Stepanek pulled off the upset in 1 hour, 55 minutes with the help of eight aces and a pair of service breaks.
The 29-year-old Stepanek is now 2-4 lifetime against Federer, who had won their previous four meetings, including a third-round one here in 2006.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer dropped to 22-6 this year and has won only one title in seven tournaments in 2008.
A milder Day-5 upset came when Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka upended eighth-seeded American James Blake 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
This week's winner will take home $558,000.
<< Reds place Mercker on DL
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds placed relief pitcher
Kent Mercker on the 15-day disabled list on Friday, retroactive to May 6,
with lower back pain.
The 40-year-old left-hander has a 3.86 earned run average
<< Columbus gunning for fifth straight win at San Jose
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When asked how the Columbus Crew, who have
won four straight and five of six, could continue their early-season success,
forward Alejandro Moreno had a simple answer.
"Well," Moreno said, "we keep doing t
<< Cubs activate Eyre
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs activated pitcher Scott Eyre
from the 15-day disabled list and optioned left-handed pitcher Sean Marshall
to Triple-A Iowa on Friday.
Eyre, 35, has missed the first 34 games this seas
<< Wolfsburg, Stuttgart highlight key Bundesliga games
Wolfsburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath described
Saturday's Bundesliga match against Stuttgart as a "final."
Wolfsburg has climbed from 11th at the halfway point of the season to seventh
- only Bayern Munich an
Nash expects D'Antoni to stay despite speculation >>
PHOENIX (AP) -Despite rampant speculation that Mike D'Antoni is headed to Chicago or New York, Phoenix point guard Steve Nash expects his coach to be back on the Suns' bench next season.Beyond that, the two-time NBA MVP had little to say about the S
Report: Knicks negotiating with D'Antoni >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Knicks are reportedly
negotiating with Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni to become their next coach.
The New York Post reported on its website on Friday, citing a league source,
that co
Drama at both ends of Premiership table on final day >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There is still plenty to be decided on
the final Premiership Sunday of the season, with Manchester United and Chelsea
both level on 84 points at the top, while three teams are separated by just
one poi
Lyon filled with confidence ahead of top-three clash >>
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyon will head into Saturday's top-three
showdown with Nancy full of confidence after beating Sedan 1-0 in the
semifinals of the French Cup on Wednesday.
The six-time defending Ligue 1 champi
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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