09/30/2008 - Mooresville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite finishing a career-best ninth last Sunday at Kansas, AJ Allmendinger is out at Red Bull Racing as Mike Skinner and Scott Speed will replace him in the No.84 Toyota for the remainder of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
The No.84 is currently 33rd in owner points.
"The schedule we put together is in the best interest of both Red Bull Racing Team and AJ's plans for the future," team vice president and general manager Jay Frye said. "Allowing Mike Skinner and Scott Speed to share the No.84 for the balance of the season helps our team continue developing our program for the future."
Skinner will drive the car this weekend at Talladega and next week at Charlotte. Skinner drove the car in five Sprint Cup races earlier this year as well as the open test last week at Charlotte.
Speed, a development driver for Red Bull, will be behind the wheel of the No. 82 Toyota at Charlotte on the same weekend he attempts to clinch the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship in Toledo, OH. He will then take over driving duties of the No.84 for the last five races of the season.
"I'm really looking forward to my first Sprint Cup race with Red Bull," Speed said. "I can't describe how much it means to walk into Red Bull Racing and feel support from everyone on the team. It's a huge step up the ladder and another step toward the goal of becoming a Sprint Cup champion for Red Bull. I know this team has the performance level that it takes to be competitive."
Speed will compete in Saturday's Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega. He won his first truck event in May at Dover.
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Tokyo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of
Denmark highlighted Tuesday's first-round winners at the $175,000 Japan
Open Tennis Championships.
Wozniacki rallied to top Argentina's Gisela Dulko in
<< Nishikori moves on in Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Local favorite Kei Nishikori outlasted
American Robert Kendrick in three sets to reach the second round at the
$869,000 Japan Open Tennis Championships.
The 18-year-old Japanese Nishikori topp
<< Bills sign McIntyre; release Barnes
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills have signed free agent
fullback Corey McIntyre and have released fullback Darian Barnes, the team
announced Tuesday.
McIntyre, who was recently released by the Atlanta Falcons
<< Sabres' Gaustad out 3-4 weeks after thumb surgery
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Sabres forward Paul Gaustad is
expected to miss the next three to four weeks after undergoing surgery to
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The 26-year-old Gaustad has played
Everton's Cahill has suspension upheld >>
Merseyside, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Everton midfielder Tim Cahill will miss
his side's next three Premier League matches after the FA rejected an appeal on
Tuesday against the red card he was handed in the recent Merseyside derby.
The 2
AFC North: Steelers Hurting, Even in Victory >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers won a battle on Monday night,
coming back from a double-digit halftime deficit to defeat the rejuvenated
Baltimore Ravens, 23-20, in overtime.
That said, they may have made it more difficult for the
Blue Jays keep coaching staff intact >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays will be bringing back
their entire coaching staff for the 2009 season.
The Blue Jays agreed to two-year contract extensions with pitching coach Brad
Arnsberg, bench coach Brian Butt
ALDS Preview - Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox start defense of their second World
Series title in the last four years against a familiar opponent in the AL West
champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Boston, the AL's Wild Card winner with a 9
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.
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