Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
03/17/2010 - Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington reportedly tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season.
According to a report from SI.com, Washington failed the test last July, but has passed all his tests since. The testing increased after the positive test, the report said.
Washington, 57, told the news outlet he made a mistake and regretted it. The report said Washington notified the commissioner's office and the Rangers about his use of cocaine prior to learning the test results.
Texas general manager Jon Daniels told SI.com that the organization felt not firing and supporting Washington was the right thing to do. He said the organization feels Washington is still the right person to lead the team, which went 87-75 last season, its first winning record since 2004.
The report said under MLB policy, Washington was considered a first-time offender and went through counseling that's mandatory for non-players who fail a test or admit to drug use. MLB policy mandates managers and coaches be subject to random testing once a year. But while the report said Washington was cleared to have his testing scaled back to that level, he voluntarily will continue the increased testing.
Washington was hired as the Rangers' manager in November 2006. In three seasons with him at the helm, Texas has gone 241-245.
<< Harvick looking for another win at Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday,
March 20. Race: Scotts Turf Builder 300. Site: Bristol Motor Speedway. Track:
.533-mile oval. Start time: 2:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 300. Miles: 159.9. 2009
winner: Kevin Harv
<< NASCAR's March Madness begins with Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, March
21. Race: Food City 500. Site: Bristol Motor Speedway. Track: .533-mile oval.
Start time: 1:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 500. Miles: 266.5. 2009 winner: Kyle Busch.
Television
<< March Madness: NBA style
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When watching the NCAA Tournament, I'm not
holding my breath waiting for Cinderella to appear like most of America.
Nope, I'm all about the next level and trying to project which players have
the athletic
<< NBA board approves sale of Bobcats to Jordan
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA Board of Governors made it official
on Wednesday by unanimously approving Michael Jordan's acquisition of a
controlling interest of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Jordan and MJ Basketball Holdings,
NASCAR tweaks format for all-star race >>
Concord, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR is making a slight adjustment to its
annual Sprint All-Star Race by adding a mandatory four-tire pit stop for all
teams prior to the start of the final 10-lap segment.
NASCAR officials made the a
Seton Hall fires hoops coach Gonzalez >>
South Orange, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seton Hall has fired head men's
basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was in his fourth season with the team, which ended its season
Tuesday with an 87-69 loss to Texas Tech in the f
Canucks winger Samuelsson to miss up to 3 weeks >>
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -Canucks winger Mikael Samuelsson will be out up to three weeks with an undisclosed upper body injury during Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to the Islanders.Samuelsson left during the third period of a contest that also sa
Bears release Vasher >>
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -The Chicago Bears have released former Pro Bowl defensive back Nathan Vasher.Vasher, selected in the fourth round of the 2004 draft out of Texas, played six seasons with Chicago and made 19 interceptions, including eight in 2
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting