Hornets agree to terms with G Head

Basketball Betting Lines

07/10/2010 -

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -The New Orleans Hornets have reached an agreement on a two-year contract with veteran guard Luther Head.

The Hornets are not announcing the deal yet because Head still must pass his physical, but Head's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the deal paying Head about $2.5 million over two years is done.

Bartelstein says the second year of the contract is a player's option, and that the Hornets pursued Head because they wanted a veteran who can play both guard spots.

The 6-foot-3 Head is entering his sixth NBA season. He has played with Houston, Miami and Indiana. Last season with the Pacers, he averaged 7.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 47 games.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Wwwugameasia Basketball Betting News

<< Creamer, Yokomine share U.S. Women's Open lead
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer and Sakura Yokomine shared the lead with two rounds finally completed at the U.S. Women's Open. Creamer posted a second-round, one-under 70 Saturday, while Yokomine managed her second straigh

<< TFC tops Colorado to stay unbeaten at home
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fuad Ibrahim's 61st-minute goal was enough to lead Toronto FC to a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids at BMO Field on Saturday. The goal was Ibrahim's first of the season and it allows Toronto to exten

<< Petro headed to Nets
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have reached an agreement in principle with free agent center Johan Petro. Terms of the deal weren't announced, but The Star-Ledger reports it's for three years and worth $1

<< Clippers ink two first-round picks
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers signed two first- round draft picks on Saturday - rookie forward Al-Farouq Aminu, the eighth overall selection and rookie guard Eric Bledsoe, the 18th pick. Aminu, who played

<< Szavay to meet Schnyder in Budapest final
Budapest, Hungary (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Agnes Szavay and Patty Schnyder will stage a rematch of the finale from a year ago, after both were semifinal winners Saturday at the $220,000 Budapest Grand Prix. The Hungarian

Czechs clinch spot in Davis Cup semis >>
Coquimbo, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Czech Republic clinched a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals Saturday after a victory in the doubles rubber over host Chile. Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek were 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winners over t

UGA football players arrested for alcohol offenses >>
ATLANTA (AP) -Two football players for the University of Georgia were jailed early Saturday morning on alcohol-related charges less than a week after an embarrassing drunken driving arrest prompted the university's athletic director to resign.Dontav

Heat meet with Derek Fisher >>
MIAMI (AP) -Free agent point guard Derek Fisher has met with the Miami Heat on the day after the team lavishly introduced LeBron James and Chris Bosh as Dwyane Wade's newest teammates.Fisher has been part of all five Los Angeles Lakers' championship

Khedira's late goal helps Germany claim third place >>
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sami Khedira's goal eight minutes from time capped a 3-2 Germany win over Uruguay in the third-place match of the FIFA World Cup at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. Khedira brok

Maver's last-second FG sends Stamps past Hamilton >>
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rob Maver knocked through a 23-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to give the Calgary Stampeders a thrilling 23-22 win over the Hamilton Tigercats at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Maver nailed all three of his

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.