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<< Mighty Sharks welcome Blue Jackets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks' incredible start to the season has been matched just once in league history. The club looks to extend that start tonight versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team it has dominated at HP Pavilion. The S

<< Tellqvist, Coyotes welcome Leafs to the desert
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Riding a hot hand, Coyotes' netminder Mikael Tellqvist will get a chance to do some damage against an old club. Tellqvist will make his second straight start tonight in Phoenix's home test against the Toronto Maple Leafs at J

<< Avs take trip to Nashville without Sakic
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche will continue a three-game road trip tonight without their captain, as they travel to Nashville to take on the Predators at the Sommet Center. Colorado begin its swing with a 6-5 win in Minnesota on

<< Red Wings try to solve Canucks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No matter who has been in goal for the Canucks, they have already handed the Red Wings a pair of defeats this year. Vancouver and Detroit wrap their season series tonight in Motown at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings have lo

Mighty Bruins visit struggling Lightning >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off an amazing month, the powerful Boston Bruins will play their first game of December when they visit the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning for tonight's test at St. Pete Times Forum. The Bruins caught the attention o

Caps recall Aucoin >>
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals have recalled center Keith Aucoin from their AHL affiliate in Hershey. Aucoin, an eighth-year pro with 53 games of NHL experience, leads the AHL in scoring this season with 36 poi

White Sox deal P Vazquez to Braves >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have acquired right-handed starter Javier Vazquez and left-handed reliever Boone Logan from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for four prospects. Chicago will receive catcher Tyler F

NFLPA to file grievance on Burress' behalf >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Football League Players Association is expected to file a grievance on behalf of suspended New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress. The Giants suspended the oft-troubled recei

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.