Streaking Bruins face Panthers

Hockey Betting Lines

02/24/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games when they visit the Florida Panthers tonight at BankAtlantic Center.

The Bruins' latest triumph came Friday evening in Tampa, as Brad Boyes scored two goals and Boston coasted to a 6-2 romp over the Lightning at St. Pete Times Forum.

Brandon Bochenski had a goal and two assists, while Marc Savard added three helpers for the Bruins. Savard has been on a tear recently, notching points in seven straight games. He has two goals and 10 helpers during the run.

Tim Thomas stopped 24 shots for Boston, which is now five points back of Carolina for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins are in the midst of their second four-game win streak of the season. Another victory tonight would give Boston its first five-game stretch since rattling off six victories in a row from January 29-February 10, 2004.

Tonight marks the end of a six-game road trip for the Bruins, who are 14-14-2 as the visiting club.

The Panthers have played a good deal of close games lately, but have still dropped two straight and three of their last four contests. Florida has taken its last three games past regulation and is 1-0-2 in those contests.

Florida was handed an overtime loss by the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Colby Armstrong's goal with 2:21 left in overtime gave the Pens the 2-1 victory at BankAtlantic Center.

Juraj Kolnik scored for Florida, and Ed Belfour stopped 39 of 41 shots.

The Panthers are wrapping up a mini two-game homestand tonight. They are a respectable 16-10-4 as the host club this season.

Florida is 3-0 against the Bruins this year and has taken five straight in the series.

Jazzspirts Hockey Betting News

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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.

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