2009 British Open Contest Betting Odds

Pick The Winners and Win $50

In the world of golf and the sports betting world, the British Open will take center stage this week. With baseball taking their All-Star break early in the week, the UFC 100 in the rear view mirror, and nothing much else happening in sports on either side of the pond, the third major of the golf season will get plenty of attention.

Online sportsbook posted the odds up for the Open Championship a while back, and as you would expect, Tiger Woods is the big favorite (the only time Tiger isn't the big favorite in a golf tourney is when he's on the sidelines).

SPORTSBETTING(dot)com has Tiger at 9-4 odds to win, with Sergio Garcia slotted in behind him at a distant 20-1. Garcia has never won a major, but has finished in the top five a number of times, including placing second in this tourney in 2007.

Check all the Master Betting British Open odds

Padraig Harrington has won consecutive Opens, but has been struggling this season. However, there are signs of improvement and he has been focused on getting the game together and peaking for this event. He has odds of 25-1 and while the betting volume on him has been slow, there has been a noticeable pick up over the weekend as we get closer to teeing off.

Free British Open Contest

SPORTSBETTING(dot)com is running another "Pick The Winners" contest for the British Open, like they did for the US Open.

It's free to play and adds to the excitement.

All you need to do to win the free $50.00 is pick the winning golfer in each of the listed matchups (see below). If you go 5-for-5 you win the free cash.

Here are the matchups:

Click here for British Open Contest

Sergio Garcia vs. Tiger Woods

Paul Casey vs. Jim Fury

Luke Donald vs. Lucas Glover

Darren Clark vs. John Daly

Geoff Ogilvy vs. Anthony Kim

Go 5-for-5 and win $50.

Check out all the Master Betting US Open matchups you can wager on at SPORTSBETTING (dot) COM

Enjoy the tournament.

College Football Betting Future Odds

SPORTSBETTING.com is seeing the volume on the NCAA Football Championships start to jump.

Last year’s champs, the Florida Gators, head into the 2009 season as the big favourites. Not overly surprising considering they basically get everyone back and Tim Tebow stuck around campus for another season. Tebow is arguably (maybe not even arguably) the best college football player ever. It is going to be very, very tough to beat the Gators.

But bettors have been shying away from Tebow and crew so far. Sure, there has been Florida money trickling in, but most sports bettors are looking at the NCAA Football future Betting odds and don’t see any value on betting a 2-1 favorite – well done, as there isn’t any value in putting money down on the big fav. Not too many bettors are stepping up this early to lay down money on the favourite.

This is the time of year when we see money try and find a team with a little longer odds, who have a real shot but might be flying a bit under the radar.

Bettors have been playing USC, currently sitting at 5-1. If they can get past Ohio State on September 12^th (at Ohio State) they very well could run the table and go undefeated. A loss to the Buckeyes and everyone who bet the Trojans can rip their tickets up, as it’s hard to envision this team securing a Championship invite with one-loss on the books.

USC always attracts a ton of attention from the sports betting public and this year, despite losing Mark Sanchez to the pros, is no exception.

Texas at 7-1 has been getting interest at online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com the last couple of weeks. They’re going to be a player in the National Championship, but they need to beat Oklahoma (unless the Sooners trip up along the way). This should come down to the Red River shootout. The Sooners are 5-1 to win it all.

SPORTSBETTING.com did see some Florida State money showing up as well, but even at 18-1 I don’t really like this bet. The offense should be strong and they’ll likely win the ACC, but there are big questions on defense.

Odds To Win NCAA Football Championship

Top 10 Teams:

Notre Dame - 22 - 1

Alabama - 20 - 1

Virginia Tech - 20 - 1

LSU -20 - 1

Florida State - 18 - 1

Ohio State - 8 - 1

Texas -- 7 - 1

USC - 5 - 1

Oklahoma - 5 - 1

Florida - 2 - 1

We’ll look at more of the College Football Betting future odds betting action on the next couple of weeks and I’ll have a few plays that I think offer some real great value.

Enjoy the weekend.

AFC West NFL Future Betting Odds

Sports bettors have been looking over the numbers for this division and it is hard to believe any team other than the San Diego Chargers will win this one.

SPORTSBETTING.com has the NFL Live odds up for the AFC West:

Oakland Raiders - 11 - 1

Kansas City Chiefs - 8 - 1

Denver Broncos - 4 - 1

San Diego Chargers - 4 - 11

Check on all the NFL Future Odds

- The big questions still exist all over this division. How will Matt Cassel perform without the New England system surrounding him. A mediocre coaching staff, mediocre system, weak offensive line and mediocre receiving corps...sports bettors, I wouldn’t count on Cassel leading this team to a playoff spot, and certainly not a division title.

Can Kyle Orton and Josh McDaniel pull it together in Mile High? It’s going to be tough. Their star receiver, Brandon Marshall wants out, their defense looks like they’ll be bad (except for all-world corner Champ Bailey) and the schedule doesn’t do them any favors. It starts soft with Cincinnati, Cleveland and Oakland, and bettors will want to watch for good spots to get their money down on them early, before hitting a brutal five-game stretch (Dallas, New England, San Diego, Baltimore and Pittsburgh).

With odds of 4-1 on them to win the division at most online sportsbooks there is really no value in betting on the Broncos in this spot.

The raiders...well...forget about them challenging for the division. Al Davis has been successful at running this franchise into the ground and every year demonstrates an ability to drill them down a little further (see that draft this summer). It’s still bad in Oakland, but that said, I’ll be looking for spots to bet on the Raiders, as the defense can compete and there should be some value on taking the points with the big numbers.

The Chargers need to get focused and get over themselves. Suck it up, quit whining and play ball...yes we’re talking to you LaDainian Tomlinson, you Philip Rivers and you Merriman.

They still have talent everywhere and will be the cream of the AFC West crop and could make a deep playoff run.

Good luck with future betting as we get closer to the NFL pre-season odds.

Check out top online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com for the NFL lines and great bonuses.

Serbia College Basketball-Wisconsis’s Coache

Serbia had a 3-pointer to win the game, but the shot by Ivan Paunic didn't go down.

So on Tuesday night in Belgrade, the U.S. team escaped with a 68-66 victory in the final pool-play game prior to the medal round in the World University Games.

Every year one of the USA College Basketball Betting -based teams heads overseas to play a true road game and the response is always the same: The Americans had no idea it would be this intense.

This happens countless times on these trips, whether it's in Argentina, Brazil or, as in the case this week, Serbia.

Coaches from the United States -- Wisconsin's Bo Ryan and Miami's Frank Haith -- were amazed by the intensity of the game, the crowd, the players and the overall atmosphere the U.S. team endured in front of 14,000 fans at the Belgrade Arena. This isn't like the Olympic team playing to an NBA-friendly crowd in Beijing, either. The Serbs and the U.S. don't exactly have the coziest relationship.

That's why it should come as no surprise that the U.S. delegation is heavily guarded on the trip and doesn't go anywhere without an armed presence.

And it should come as no shock that the intensity in the building was raw.

"Basketball is huge in Serbia. It's their national sport,'' Ryan said by phone from Belgrade on Wednesday. "I had heard about it, but until you're here, and you see it -- it's incredible."

The whistling by the fans during the final few possessions was apparently deafening. On three successive possessions, the Americans got to the line, only to miss five straight free throws: the first two by Penn State's Talor Battle, the next two by West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler and one more from Villanova's Corey Fisher before he made his second attempt.

"It was like playing at Duke or North Carolina,'' Haith said. "It was unbelievable. There was an intensity there, playing Serbia. It was one helluva win for us. They're good -- really good.''

Ryan had to go with more strength in this game, leaning on Clemson's Trevor Booker and Purdue's Robbie Hummel in the second half as foul trouble plagued the slender Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State. Haith described Serbian big man Miroslav Raduljica as a massive human being at "7-1, 290-something."

"People have no idea how awesome a win this was,'' Haith added.

The Americans may end up facing the Serbs in the gold-medal game if the favorites hold. The Americans play Bulgaria in the quarterfinals Thursday and would play the winner of Russia-Lithuania in a semifinal match Friday. The other bracket pits Serbia-Turkey and Germany-Israel. The championship game is Saturday.

If the U.S. is going to win this tournament, it might need another game from Battle like the one he had against the Serbs. He was 7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-6 on 3s and scored 17 points in 22 minutes. Battle wasn't the first choice to make the squad a few weeks ago at the trials in Colorado Springs. The expectation prior to the event was that Arizona's Nic Wise would earn the nod. But Battle, fresh off leading the Nittany Lions to the NIT title, won the job and has been a bit more consistent than Fisher at the point.

NFL Super Bowl Odds -Do the Cowboys offer NFL Future Odds value?

Looking over the 2009 NFL Future Odds the first week of July, and more specifically, focusing on the Super Bowl odds, it’s pretty much a story of déjà vu. The usual suspects can be found at the top with the exception of some slight adjustments over the last few years.

The New England Patriots are the odds-on favourite, sitting with Super Bowl odds of 6-1 at most online sportsbooks, with the defending Super Bowl champ Pittsburgh Steelers right behind them at 10-1 odds.

The NFC steps up in the next two spots, with the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles the favourites from the National side and then it’s back to the AFC with the next two spots, as the Peyton Manning-led Indy Colts slide in to the fifth spot and the Chargers are sitting as the sixth biggest favourite at 15-1.

None of these teams are in unfamiliar territory as they have all been top tier clubs the last few years heading into each new season, even if their actual season performances didn’t live up to the pre-season billing.

But of note for NFL betting purposes is the Dallas Cowboys future odds situation as the 2009 season approaches. At Online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com the Cowboys slide into the #7 spot on the future odds list “To win the Super Bowl”. The Cowboys have odds of 16-1. That is a few spots lower than we’re used to seeing them, but like most years, probably still too high.

This is a team that hasn’t played a second round playoff game since Monica Lewinsky was sneaking into the White House, but every year you can find them close to the top of the future odds list as one of the biggest favourites. And every year they are always one of the favourite teams for sports bettors.

“The Cowboys are one of those teams that attract a lot of attention from the sports betting community, and that is the case during the season, after the season and heading into new seasons.” stated Mike, one of the sportsbook managers at SPORTSBETTING.com. “This NFL future odds betting volume on Dallas hasn’t been as strong this off-season as the past two or three years, but we have noticed a slight increase recently as the media and bettors start to pay more attention to the upcoming NFL betting season”.

Dallas unloaded their number one receiver in the off-season, but also got rid of a huge dressing room distraction as well, when they let Terrell Owens go (he’s now in Buffalo). So things have been quieter in Big D this summer. They still have a very talented offensive unit, anchored by Tony Romo and Marion Barber. Add in Felix Jones and receiver Roy Williams and they should be able to score points.

Bet NFL Futures Odds

Defensively they also boast impressive talent, notably DeMarus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Terence Newman, Ken Hamlin, Mike Jenkins and free agent signings Igor Olshansky and Keith Brooking.

But even with the talent, it’s hard to suggest risking a future odd wager on them. They play in a very tough division, are saddled with mediocre coaching and don’t seem to have that toughness needed to turn it up down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Talent abounds and they’ll certainly compete with any team in the league, but betting them at 16-1 to win it all doesn’t have much appeal for me.

There are better NFL future odds options on the board. Over the next few weeks I’ll look at those betting options that offer great value.

Check out the Odds to win Super Bowl XLIV at SPORTSBETTING.COM