Jaguars' Taylor sidelined with hamstring injury

Football Betting Lines

12/20/2006 - Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor is listed as questionable for the team's game against New England on Sunday.

Taylor leads the 8-6 Jags in rushing with 1,120 yards on the season.

Wwwfreescoreboard Football Betting News

<< Sevilla adds to La Liga lead; Recreativo honors fallen supporters
Sevilla, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sevilla took a four-point lead in the Spanish La Liga table with a 4-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna to close out its 2006 season, Wednesday. Second-placed Barcelona, who has only played 14 games comp

<< Inter gets number 10 with 10
Lazio, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan proved once again why it sits at the top of the Serie A table on Wednesday, when the first-place squad defeated Lazio 2-0 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza to capture its 10-stra

<< Ravens place Cody on IR, sign Bannister
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens placed linebacker Dan Cody on injured reserve Wednesday and signed former Pro Bowl wide out Alex Bannister. Cody was taken 53rd overall in the 2005 draft but missed that entire sea

<< Braves agree to terms with Woodward
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves and infielder/outfielder Chris Woodward agreed to terms on a one-year contract for the 2007 season on Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. Woodward, 30, played

<< The Rockets are Yao's team
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All-Star center Yao Ming has been huge for Houston, which is a solid 15-9 and is 3 1/2 games behind the first place San Antonio Spurs in the Southwest Division. The second place Dallas Mavericks are just one game behind

Royals make Riske signing >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals signed pitcher David Riske to a one-year contract with an option for 2008 on Wednesday. Last season Riske, 30, was 1-2 with a 3.89 earned run average in 41 appearance

Henry questionable for Titans >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Titans running back Travis Henry is listed as questionable for Sunday's showdown on the road against Buffalo with an ankle injury. Henry has a team-leading 974 yards rushing and seven touchd

Jets' Coles listed as questionable >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles is listed as questionable on the team's injury report. Coles missed a portion of practice on Wednesday with a back injury. He caught 12

Nationals agree to terms with Fick >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals agreed to terms on Wednesday with catcher/first baseman Robert Fick on a non-guaranteed minor league contract. He also received an invitation to Spring Training. Fick hit .2

Blizzard postpones Suns-Nuggets game >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wednesday's contest between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets was postponed due to a blizzard, dumping as much as two feet of snow. No makeup date has yet been announced. This is the first time

El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.

Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''

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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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