City's Balotelli faces six-week injury absence
Soccer Betting Lines
09/08/2010 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City announced on Wednesday that new signing Mario Balotelli will undergo knee surgery that could keep him out for up to six weeks.
Balotelli moved to City from Inter Milan in August, but after scoring in his debut against FC Timisoara, he suffered the injury in the same match.
"Striker Mario Balotelli is to undergo surgery on his injured knee that could rule him out for up to six weeks," read a statement on the club's official website.
"The Italian's injury is to the lateral meniscus, one of the two most crucial structures in the knee, and medical wisdom is to try and encourage the problem to heal without recourse to an operation."
"It was hoped that the symptoms would settle down, but once Balotelli began to step up his recovery program this week, it became clear that action would need to be taken."
The 20-year-old Balotelli has now flown to Milan for the operation, and he is likely to miss at least four league games, including a match with Chelsea, as well as the start of City's campaign in the Europa League.
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Friday, September 10. Race: Virginia 529 College Savings 250. Site: Richmond International Raceway. Track: 0.75-mile oval. Start time: 7:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 250. Miles: 187.5. 200
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Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Saturday,
September 11. Race: Air Guard 400. Site: Richmond International Raceway.
Track:0.75-mile oval. Start time: 7:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 400. Miles: 300. 2009
winner: Denny Haml
<< Djokovic reaches fourth straight U.S. Open semi
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former runner-up Novak Djokovic was
an easy quarterfinal winner Wednesday at the U.S. Open.
The third-seeded Djokovic handled 17th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6
(7-2), 6-1, 6-2 at the USTA Billi
<< Yanks' Posada hurt, may have concussion
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada did
not play in Wednesday's 3-2 victory over Baltimore, and may have a concussion
after a foul ball struck him during Tuesday's game.
"He got a foul tip, somewhat,
<< This Week in Auto Racing September 10 - 12
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sprint Cup Series' "Chase cut-off race" at
Richmond International Raceway headlines this week in motorsports. The
Nationwide Series also will be at Richmond, and Formula One concludes its
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Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys could be without two key members of their offensive line for the season-opener, as left guard Kyle Kosier and right tackle Marc Colombo both missed practice Wednesday. Colombo was
Houllier takes charge at Villa >>
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa confirmed on Wednesday that
Gerard Houllier has been hired as the club's new manager.
The 63-year-old Houllier was the technical director of French football, but
after stepping down from
Shanahan says DT Haynesworth will be with Redskins come Sunday >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington coach Mike Shanahan wouldn't address
rumors surrounding a possible trade of defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and
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Mertesacker to miss at least one week with eye injury >>
Bremen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Werder Bremen will be without defender Per
Mertesacker for Saturday's Bundesliga match with Bayern Munich as well as the
club's Champions League opener against Tottenham after suffering an eye
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Thome a late scratch vs. Royals >>
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Jim Thome's climb up the home run charts has been put on hold.The Minnesota Twins designated hitter was a late scratch for the series finale against Kansas City on Thursday night. The team says Thome was scratched for precautionary
Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.