11/17/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After capturing his third-consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson and his No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew have not only established themselves as one of the greatest teams in NASCAR, but as the latest in a string of professional sports dynasties.
Johnson finished 15th in the season-ending Ford 400, and clinched his third title in a row, finishing the season 69 points ahead of Carl Edwards, who won at Homestead for his series-leading ninth victory of the year. Johnson became just the second driver in NASCAR's 60-year history to win three straight titles, matching Cale Yarborough's 30-year-old record.
"Right now we've been fortunate to win three," Johnson said. "So over the off season I'm going to be drooling about a fourth. It's not really where I fall into the books. It's more about what I want to be as a champion."
Johnson ended the year with seven victories and 22 top-10 finishes, but his season started off sluggish as he held the ninth position in points after finishing a season-worst 39th in the May 25th Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway. His turnaround began in July when he survived the "tire debacle" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to win the Allstate 400. He won the final two races of the regular season, California and Richmond, to start the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" as the third seed.
Kyle Busch entered the Chase atop the standings and was one of the favorites to win the title after scoring eight victories for the season. But Busch quickly fell out of contention when he finished 34th at New Hampshire and then 43rd at Dover.
Johnson won at Kansas, the third race in the Chase, grabbing the points lead for the first time this season. After Edwards wrecked at Talladega and suffered mechanical problems at Charlotte, resulting in poor finishes at both tracks, Johnson was well ahead in the standings.
Edwards won three of the last four races, but came up short of spoiling Johnson's record-tying feat.
Johnson's championships have come under the guidance and hard work of pit boss extraordinaire Chad Knaus, who became the first crew chief in NASCAR's premier series to win three straight titles.
"I've been fortunate to work with really great race car drivers," Knaus said. "I worked with Jeff Gordon in the 24 car. I've seen what Jeff can do with a race car, and I've got a lot of respect for what Jeff can do."
Knaus has been Johnson's crew chief since 2002, but also served as a tire changer for Gordon and the original "Rainbow Warriors" pit crew when Gordon won his championships in 1995, '97 and '98.
"To be able to work with Jimmie, he's definitely brought it to a new level," he said. "But I'm also a lot more entwined than I was back then, with what's going on. In my eyes he's the best that there's been...People are going to say Richard Petty is, Dale Earnhardt and all those guys. But with the competition level the way it is today with what you've got to do working, racing day in and day out, no time to take time off, in my mind, (Jimmie) is the best."
Johnson's team joins the likes of other championship-winning greats in the U.S. this past decade such as the Los Angeles Lakers, winning three straight NBA Finals from 2000-02, and the New York Yankees, taking the World Series consecutively from 1998-2000.
Also, the championship achievements of Formula One legends Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as well as National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) great John Force have been engraved in motorsports history.
Schumacher, the seven-time F1 World Champion from Germany, is arguably the world's best race car driver ever. He won five straight titles from 2000-04, and holds the F1 record for most career victories with 91.
Affectionately known as "bandy legs" by his many fans, Fangio captured four- consecutive World Championships from 1954-57.
Force won an unprecedented 14 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series championships from 1990-2006, including 10 straight titles (1993-2002). He holds the series record for most wins (126) and final rounds (202).
Now, Johnson will try to join those men in the four-plus titles category.
As Johnson and his team celebrated their third championship at the conclusion of Sunday's race at Homestead, one thing was already on their mind, winning a fourth title.
"I think from a driver's standpoint, I could go race again next week and start the season and go for four," Johnson said.
Perhaps no one on the team is more optimistic about making history in 2009 than Knaus.
"Yeah, we want four," Knaus said. "To get four championships in a row you have to get three. And we're fortunate to get three. If we buckle down and do what we need to do, we'll be in contention for our fourth championship next year. If that means I have to get up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning and go to work to do it, I'll do it."
If Johnson can win his fourth straight championship next year, it will certainly make for a strong argument that he is the best NASCAR driver of all time.
<< Penguins G Fleury listed as day-to-day
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre
Fleury has been ruled out for Tuesday's home game against the Minnesota Wild
with an undisclosed injury.
Pittsburgh head coach Michel Therrien confirmed Mo
<< Bears/Vikings remains on Sunday night for Week 12
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL announced its final schedule for Week
13 and decided to keep the matchup between the Chicago Bears and
Minnesota Vikings as the Sunday night contest.
There was one change for that wee
<< Hansbrough ruled out for Kentucky game
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina senior forward Tyler
Hansbrough will miss a second straight game when the No. 1 Tar Heels take on
Kentucky Tuesday due to a stress reaction condition in his right shin.
UNC head coa
<< James, Billups earn NBA weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James
and Denver Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups were named the Eastern and Western
Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for the period ending November
16.
Around FCS: Defogging the playoff picture >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It was like taking an air brush to a foggy
portrait on Saturday, as teams around FCS cleared away many of the clouds
hanging over the playoff picture for the NCAA Division I Football
Champio
Boston F Garnett suspended one game >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett has
been suspended for one game without pay for throwing a punch at Milwaukee
Bucks center Andrew Bogut.
In the Celtics' 102-97 overtime victory over Milwauke
NFL Inactives (Monday, November 17, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive players
for tonight's NFL game.
CLEVELAND BROWNS AT BUFFALO BILLS, 8:30 P.M. (ET)
Browns - 3rd QB Ken Dorsey, TE Martin Rucker, CB Gerard Lawson, S Hamza
Abdullah, FB
College basketball hall of fame member Newell dies at 93 >>
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - College basketball hall of fame member Pete
Newell, the head coach of an NIT champion, NCAA champion and Olympic champion,
passed away Monday at the age of 93.
The University of California, the program New
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting