Betting Odds - Graffiti - Podcast

MLB 07/10/2007 8:20 PM EDT 941 american league (r) haren, d -125 -128 /-129/-130 -132 -1.5(+125) 942 national league (r) peavy, j 10u15 10u20 / 10u20 10u25 +1.5(-145) 2007 (78th) MLB ALL-STAR GAME; AT; AND; T PARK; San Francisco, CA. [FOX]

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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - Jul 10 Jul 10 941 AMERICAN LEAGUE -125 o10-105 -1½+125 8:20 PM 942 NATIONAL LEAGUE +105 u10-115 +1½-145 ALT - LINES Jul 10 1001 AMERICAN LEAGUE +1½-240 8:20 PM 1002 NATIONAL LEAGUE -1½+200 Jul 10 1003 AMERICAN LEAGUE -2½+200 8:20 PM 1004 NATIONAL LEAGUE +2½-240

2007 MLB FUTURES - Jul 17 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 NL CENTRAL DIVISION 1091 ST LOUIS CARDINALS +850 1092 CHICAGO CUBS +125 1093 CINCINNATI REDS OR MILWAUKEE BREWERS -250 1094 HOUSTON ASTROS OR PITTSBURGH PIRATES Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 NL WEST DIVISION 1095 LOS ANGELES DODGERS EV 1096 SAN DIEGO PADRES +115 1097 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 1098 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS OR COLORADO ROCKIES +325 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 AL CENTRAL DIVISION 1055 CHICAGO WHITE SOX OR CLEVELAND INDIANS -105 1056 DETROIT TIGERS OR MINNESOTA TWINS -125 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 AL WEST DIVISION 1061 LOS ANGELES ANGELS -545 1062 OAKLAND ATHLETICS +750 1063 TEXAS RANGERS OR SEATTLE MARINERS +450 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 NL EAST DIVISION 1085 NEW YORK METS -255 1086 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES +300 1087 ATLANTA BRAVES +300 1088 FLORIDA MARLINS OR WASHINGTON NATIONALS Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 AMERICAN LEAGUE 971 BOSTON RED SOX +225 972 NEW YORK YANKEES +650 973 DETROIT TIGERS +400 974 LOS ANGELES ANGELS +300 975 CLEVELAND INDIANS +350 976 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 977 ANY OTHER TEAM +1000 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 NATIONAL LEAGUE 981 NEW YORK METS +315 982 ATLANTA BRAVES +850 983 LOS ANGELES DODGERS +425 984 SAN DIEGO PADRES +250 985 MILWAUKEE BREWERS +450 986 CHICAGO CUBS +600 987 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES +700 988 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS +1150 989 ANY OTHER TEAM +1250 Jul 17 - 8:00 PM ODDS TO WIN THE 2007 MLB WORLD SERIES 951 BOSTON RED SOX +300 952 NEW YORK YANKEES +1000 953 DETROIT TIGERS +600 954 LOS ANGELES ANGELS +500 955 CLEVELAND INDIANS +700 956 NEW YORK METS +500 957 ATLANTA BRAVES +1500 958 LOS ANGELES DODGERS +1200 959 SAN DIEGO PADRES +700 960 MILWAUKEE BREWERS +1000 961 CHICAGO CUBS +1350 962 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES +1500 963 ANY OTHER TEAM +850

National League

American League at National League, 8:20 p.m. (in San Francisco)

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 60.

Second Neteller Co-Founder Pleads Guilty

Neteller co-founder, John Lefebvre, 55, has plead guilty Tuesday to a charge of conspiracy to conduct illegal Internet gambling.

The plea was made before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel during a hearing in Manhattan, just days after co-founder Stephen Lawrence also pleaded guilty in the case. Lefebvre faces up to five years in jail when he is sentenced on Nov. 1.

Read the back story HERE from the Washington Post

During the hearing, Lefebvre admitted promoting Internet gambling. Its legality was ambiguous in the United States for many years but was effectively banned last October when President George W. Bush signed legislation outlawing gaming financial transactions.

“I eventually came to see that promoting payment services to online gambling businesses serving customers in the United States was wrong,” Lefebvre said.

His statement was almost identical to that which was issued by Lawrence.

Lefebvre was widely believed to be preparing a plea of guilty following in the footsteps of Lawrence. Neteller has targeted this coming Friday as a day to begin the process of returning funds to US players tied up since an investigation into the company began in January.

That is when Lefebvre and Lawrence were arrested, leading NETeller to quit the United States, abandoning two-thirds of its business.

A crackdown on Internet gambling by U.S. authorities began last July with the arrest of BETonSPORTS’s then-chief executive, David Carruthers, during a layover at a Texas airport.

NBC Reporter Amy Jacobson Caught at Stebic House in Bikini

CBS, Fox and other networks are covering this story right now….NBC seems not to. Reporter Amy Jacobson of NBC Chicago affiliate WMAQ has been caught on video tape prancing around the home of Craig Stebic.

Craig is the estranged husband of missing mother Lisa Stebic. Of course the local news in Chicago (not to mention the nation) has been covering this story heavily.

See the raw video of Amy Jacobson at the Stebic home here

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The tape reportedly shows Jacobson “in a swimming suit top” at the pool on Friday with her children and Lisa Stebic’s estranged husband, Craig.

Neighbors told Channel 2 in Chicago that Jacobson has visited the Stebics’ home frequently since she started covering the story.

A spokeswoman for WMAQ said the matter is under review.

The costa rica book makers overnight line and opening odds for the 2007 Major League All Star game opened at -125 and has already been bet up as high as -132 with the American League as the favorite.

The American League will try to stretch its unbeaten streak to 11 games over the National League when the respective All-Star teams battle Tuesday in the 78th edition of the Mid-Summer Classic at AT&T Park.

This marks the first All-Star Game in San Francisco since Candlestick Park played host in 1984 and the third time the city has housed the event since the Giants moved west in 1958.

A complete list of the MLB All Star game sites can be viewed here.

The American League has not lost to the National League since 1996, collecting nine wins during that stretch and battling to a 7-7 tie in the 2002 game that was called after 11 innings when both squads ran out of pitchers. Last season, the AL All-Stars rallied for a 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.

The longest win streak in the All-Star Game is 11, held by the Senior Circuit from 1972-1982. The AL is actually 15-3-1 in the last 19 All-Star Games and has not lost since falling 6-0 at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium back in 1996.

Oddly enough, though, the scores of the previous 77 contests add up to 326 runs for the AL and 326 for the NL. However, during the unbeaten streak, the AL has outscored its counterparts, 63-38.

This also marks the fifth straight year that the All-Star Game will determine which league gets home-field advantage in the World Series.

On Monday, American League skipper Jim Leyland of Detroit named Oakland righty Dan Haren as the team’s starting pitcher for tonight’s contest. Haren has emerged as the Athletics’ ace this season with Rich Harden on the shelf. In 19 starts Haren is 10-3 with an AL-leading 2.30 ERA. He also leads the league in opponents’ batting average against at .205.

SAN FRANCISCO — Dan Haren has always lacked the luster of his big-name teammates, quietly putting up big numbers and impressing opposing hitters.

With Barry Zito out of Oakland and the spotlight mostly his own this year, Haren has shown he has the stuff and the composure to be a No. 1 pitcher on any staff, including a star-studded one at the All-Star Game.

Haren was picked Monday to start for the American League just across the bay from his home ballpark in Oakland.

“I had been always kind of under the radar,” Haren said Monday. “Now that I’m in the limelight so to speak, at least for the next couple of days, I’m just going to try to have as much fun as I can rather than putting so much pressure on myself and have this be a rough couple of days.”

Haren will be on center stage Tuesday night, facing a power-packed National League lineup featuring Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Prince Fielder. Opposing him on the mound will be San Diego’s Jake Peavy, another young pitcher just starting to come into his own.

Haren is 10-3 with an AL-leading 2.30 ERA. He certainly had the credentials to earn the All-Star start, but there was plenty of competition for AL manager Jim Leyland to sift through, including his own no-hit stud Justin Verlander of Detroit.

Two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana, C.C. Sabathia, Josh Beckett and John Lackey also are on the staff.

“I felt that Danny’s numbers certainly should give him the right to start this game,” Leyland said. “And I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t a nice extra touch since he pitches right across the Bay here in this area. Truthfully, if this game was in Cleveland, it would probably be Sabathia and if it was in Detroit it would be Verlander. So there was a little added incentive for me.”

Haren certainly earned this start with his performance on the mound. After losing his first two starts — despite allowing one earned run in 13 innings — Haren reeled off 10 straight wins before losing to Seattle on Friday. Despite that loss, he still took a league-leading 2.30 ERA into the break.

He has helped the A’s survive the free agent departure of Zito and another injury-plagued season for Rich Harden, becoming the latest star pitcher for the A’s. The last Oakland pitcher to start the All-Star Game was Mark Mulder in 2004. Just five months later Mulder was traded to St. Louis in a deal that sent back a 24-year-old pitcher who had made only 19 career starts.

“Dave Duncan and I have been together a long time and been friends for a long time and it’s probably the closest we’ve ever come to having a disruptive relationship, because he was very adamant that Dan be a part of St. Louis’s future,” NL manager Tony La Russa said of his pitching coach on the Cardinals.

In Oakland, many questioned the departures of Mulder and Tim Hudson in the same week. Haren helped silenced those doubters by winning 14 games in each of his first two seasons in Oakland. This year has been by far his best.

“He has become one of the toughest pitchers to hit against,” Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said. “He’s getting better as he matures.”

Getting the start also gives Haren a chance to face Barry Bonds without having to worry about the standings. Bonds is 4-for-12 in his career against Haren, hitting his only homer on a 3-0 pitch on June 24, 2006, that Haren said he still regrets. Advertisement

“I’m definitely not going to lay one in there,” Haren said. “I’m going to try to make my pitches. I’ll challenge him. It’s not a situation where I’ll put him on base if there’s an open base. It should be a fun at-bat. It should be a fun at-bat for me. They’ll all be fun, but that one will be extra special.”

Peavy earned the start for the NL, part of a remarkable turnaround from a rare off year. Peavy struggled to an 11-14 record with a 4.09 ERA last season in his worst year since becoming a full-time starter in 2003. Hampered by tendinitis in his pitching shoulder after participating in the World Baseball Classic last spring, Peavy was unable to throw between starts the first half of last season.

Peavy was just 4-8 with a 4.46 ERA at the break last season, but he picked it up and went 7-4 down the stretch.

But he got off to a fast start this season, shutting the Giants out for six innings in an opening day win at the same ballpark that will host the All-Star Game. Peavy is 9-3 with a 2.19 ERA that trails only teammate Chris Young in the NL.

“The biggest thing for me is I’ve been healthy,” Peavy said. “For the most part I’ve stayed decently sharp and made a lot more quality pitches in the first half than I did last year.”

Peavy is the third Padres pitcher to start an All-Star Game, joining LaMarr Hoyt in 1985 and Randy Jones in 1976. He got some advice from teammate Greg Maddux, who started three All-Star Games.

“He told me if I didn’t start, don’t go,” Peavy joked. “Greg has definitely talked about it to me and told me how big of an honor it was and how much he enjoyed it and looked back on them and smiled.”

Rumors are circulating that one of baseball’s highest paid men, Alex Rodriguez, could be heading to the San Francisco Giants from the New York Yankees.

Mike Celizic of MSNBC writes:

“For Alex Rodriguez, this trip to San Francisco could be for more than an appearance in the All Star game. It could also be an audition.”

What exactly does he mean?

“It’s also public knowledge that the Giants are probably going to be saying goodbye to one highly compensated superstar at the end of the year when Barry Bonds takes his home-run record and limps off either into the sunset (which, being over the Pacific Ocean, would cheer some hearts) or into a DH role with an American League club.”

And that means plenty of money for A-Rod should he choose to move to the other side of the country from New York.

According to Celizic, it’s no secret that A-Rod can opt out of his contract at the end of this year with three years and $81 million still owed to him.

“It’s also no secret that his agent, Scott “Chutzpah” Boras, has scores of trial balloons floating around baseball front offices, with every one of them carrying a $30 million-per-season price tag for the next six or eight years of his client’s services.”

World Series of Poker 2007 Should Have Had More Players at the Table.

The numbers are staggering but they cannot be ignored. World Series of Poker organizers seem content that they have attracted 6358 players in the 2007 event. To anyone who hasn’t followed the WSOP numbers these past few years that’s a mighty impressive number. And considering just three years ago, there were only 2576 entrants, that 6358 number really stands out.

But that 2576 number more than doubled the following year on the heels of a massive online poker craze that unofficially started the prior year when an unknown Internet poker player, Chris Moneymaker, made his mark on the 2003 World Series of Poker. During that event there were only 839 entrants. By the following year, the number had tripled.

That’s been the trend since 2004 and it has been a trend driven by the online poker craze that showed no sign of slowing down until last October when US President George Bush signed into law a measure that would hold banking institutions responsible for preventing online poker transactions.

The new law was successful in forcing World Series of Poker owner Harrah’s to shun all online poker establishments - the very establishments that have helped to build the event into such a colossal success over the years.

Learn how to keep FUN in your poker playing here.

The law also resulted in big name publicly traded Internet Poker ventures the likes of PartyPoker, Paradise and 888 leaving the US market.

In January, the US government decided to go after two co-founders of popular online gambling money processing firm, Neteller. This resulted in a ripple effect whereby nearly every “legitimate” online processor doing business with these poker rooms left the US market virtually overnight.

While poker players have been able to deposit and withdraw monies from US-facing online poker rooms, the process hasn’t been without its hassles over these past few months.

Proposed legislation to have the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act repealed is now gaining steam in Congress. A critical World Trade Organization decision against the new US law is now forcing officials to rethink their stance on Internet gambling. A filed complaint was entered into the court system last month that claims the UIGEA is “unconstitutional”. The complaint itself is widely speculated to be pushed along by the banking sector.

And despite the 6358 individuals entered into this year’s World Series of Poker, it appears the WSOP may have been hit harder than any other gambling-related entity by the UIGEA.

Betting odds are there would have been a couple dozen online poker rooms vying for exhibit space and a chunk of the WSOP market. More established poker rooms would have forked over a million dollars each.

But the numbers really stand out when we look at recent WSOP trends, all fueled by the Internet poker craze.

For the last three years, the percentage growth has increased dramatically from 33% in 2004, to 46% in 2005, to a whopping 64% in 2006.

Assuming the percentage growth stayed the same, we would be looking at very conservative numbers for the 2007 World Series of Poker. 64% growth over last year would have amounted to 14387 entries this year. Staggering numbers to say the least.

Instead there was actually more than a 25% decline in actual attendance this year over last year.

Below are the prize and attendance numbers in addition to the 1st and 2nd place finishers from 2001 thru 2006.

2001 Juan Carlos Mortensen K♣ Q♣ 1,500,000 613 Dewey Tomko A♠ A♥ 2002 Robert Varkonyi Q♦ 10♠ 2,000,000 631 Julian Gardner J♣ 8♣ 2003 Chris Moneymaker 5♦ 4♠ 2,500,000 839 Sam Farha J♥ 10♦ 2004 Greg Raymer 8♠ 8♦ 5,000,000 2,576 David Williams A♥ 4♠ 2005 Joe Hachem 7♣ 3♠ 7,500,000 5,619 Steve Dannenmann A♦ 3♣ 2006 Jamie Gold Q♠ 9♣ 12,000,000 8,773 Paul Wasicka 10♥ 10♠