Belichick: No setbacks for Gronkowski
Football Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told the media on Friday that tight end Rob Gronkowski had no setbacks after practicing on a limited basis Thursday.
Gronkowski's left ankle has been the main injury focus heading into Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants and on Thursday the record-setting tight end was able to take the practice field for the first time since suffering his injury in the AFC Championship Game against Baltimore.
"I think he was OK this morning. I don't think we had any setbacks, and we'll see how it goes out there today," Belichick said Friday morning. "He's gotten treatment morning, noon and night, and he's gotten better on a daily basis. Hopefully we'll be able to continue that same progress today, tomorrow and all day Sunday, and we'll see where that takes us. But I think he's coming along... he's moving in the right direction."
Gronkowski had a record-breaking season for the Patriots, setting an NFL mark for tight ends with 17 touchdown receptions. He also scored once on the ground and finished with 90 catches -- second on the team behind only Wes Welker's 122 -- for 1,327 yards.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony has battled with injuries and losing
streaks since helping the New York Knicks defeat the Boston Celtics in a much-
anticipated matchup on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony scored 17 of his 37
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and head
coach Rick Carlisle were each fined by the NBA on Friday.
Cuban was slapped with a $75,000 penalty and Carlisle was penalized $35,000.
Carlisle's fine resulted
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will try to halt a two-game slide when
they welcome the Phoenix Suns to South Texas on Friday.
After a poor start to the season, Houston crept near the top of the Southwest
Division by winning nine o
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Timberwolves respectable this season and they'll try for a third straight
victory as the guest tonight against the New Jersey Nets.
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Pacers roll into Big D >>
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fourth straight win Friday when they visit Big D to take on their former
coach, Rick Carlisle, and the reigning NBA champion Mavericks.
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Sliding Blackhawks make a stop in Calgary >>
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looking for.
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Panthers hope to string together win streak vs. Jets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers will try to win consecutive games for
the first time since mid-December when they host the Winnipeg Jets for
tonight's clash at BankAtlantic Center.
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Thunder, Grizzlies collide in OKC >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Thunder make a quick stop back in Oklahoma City
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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