Boozer, Okur to remain with Jazz
Basketball Betting Lines
06/30/2009 - Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet Okur both announced they will remain with the Utah Jazz for the 2009-10 campaign.
Boozer announced he will exercise his player option and remain with the club, while Okur declined to exercise his early termination option on his contract. Boozer is scheduled to earn $12.65 million next season, while Okur will make $9 million.
Boozer missed a majority of the 2008-09 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in January. The two-time All-Star missed 44 straight games but came back in late February and led the Jazz into the playoffs, where they were ousted in the first round by the eventual champion Lakers.
Despite the injury, Boozer, a 6-foot-9 forward, averaged a double-double for the third consecutive year with 16.2 points and 10.4 rebounds.
"We are excited that Carlos has decided to remain with the Jazz," said Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor. "We are hopeful he can continue to play at an All-Star level and will have an injury-free season."
Boozer signed with Utah as a free agent in 2004 after spending two seasons in Cleveland, which selected the Duke product in the second round of the 2002 Draft.
In 432 career games, the Alaska native has put up a robust 16.8 rebounds, 10.0 boards and 2.4 assists per game.
Okur, who came to Utah as a free agent in 2004, averaged 17.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 72 starts last season.
"We are looking forward to Memo's return," said Kevin O'Connor. "He has clearly been an integral part of our success since his arrival and we are hopeful that he will continue to perform at such a high level in the future."
Over seven NBA seasons, Okur has averaged 13.9 points and 7.2 rebounds in 531 games (373 starts) with Utah and Detroit.
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns exercised the second-year team option on the contract of forward Louis Amundson. Signed by the Suns last August, Amundson saw action in a career-high 76 games last season and averaged 4.2 poin
<< Utah C Okur to return next season
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah Jazz center Mehmet Okur decided
to exercise his player option in his contract and return to the team next
season, the club announced on Tuesday.
Okur, who came to Utah as a free agent i
<< Montana State gives basketball coaches three-year extensions
Bozeman, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montana State University has agreed to
three-year contract extensions with head women's basketball coach Tricia
Binford and head men's coach Brad Huse.
Each coach was set to enter the 2009-10
<< Smith to serve as Division I men's basketball chair
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced on Tuesday that Gene
Smith, the current associate vice president and athletics director at Ohio
State, has been named chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for
the 201
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Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre
underwent surgery Tuesday to remove bone spurs in his left shoulder.
Beltre, who was also put on the 15-day disabled list, had the procedure
performed by
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames' gamble paid dividends on Tuesday, as the club signed defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a multi-year contract just hours prior to the start of the NHL free agency period. Over the wee
Pirates blank Cubs, complete rare winning mark in June >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freddy Sanchez doubled and knocked in two
runs, and Ross Ohlendorf tossed seven shutout innings, as the Pittsburgh
Pirates got by the Chicago Cubs, 3-0, in the second of a three-game set at PNC
Park.
Haren pitches, hits D-Backs past Reds >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Haren threw seven innings of one-run
ball and added a double and solo home run at the plate to help snap the
Diamondbacks' five-game losing streak with a 6-2 decision over the Reds.
Haren (7-
Braves edge Phils in 10 innings at Turner Field >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregor Blanco scored the winning run in the
10th inning as part of a three-hit night, and Martin Prado drove him in as
part of a four-RBI evening, as Atlanta used the big bats from two unlikely
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Big Unit defeats Carpenter, Giants top Cards >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edgar Renteria went 3-for-4 with two RBI and
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test of
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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