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08/10/2007 - Elkhart Lake, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastien Bourdais captured the provisional pole for Sunday's Generac Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. The No.1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver circled the historic 4.048-mile road course in one minute, 42.385 seconds to take the top spot.
The pole victory guarantees Bourdais a starting spot on the front row and one championship point.
Behind the Frenchman were Will Power (1:43.116), Neel Jani (1:43.417), Dan Clarke (1:43.439) and Justin Wilson (1:43.525).
"Road America is a high-speed track, more what I'm used to in Europe," said former Formula One driver Robert Doornbos. "You sort of have to shift your mind set, just as you'd change the setup on your car after racing on a street course. For one thing, there is so much more speed around the turns compared with the street circuits that you have to be much more delicate and precise with the car. We did well at the test earlier this year, and I can't wait to get back there."
With seven races left in the series, Bourdais, who just announced that he would leave the series to drive for Formula One's Toro Rosso in 2008, is on track to win his fourth consecutive series championship. The Frenchman used a win at Edmonton to reclaim the top spot and a fifth-place two weeks ago to maintain his lead. It is where Bourdais always expects to be. In 68 races, Bourdais has been the points leader for 42 of them.
However, Bourdais will bring just an 11-point lead over "rookie" Doornbos into this week's race at Road America. Doornbos cut the lead in half with a win at San Jose.
The second qualifying session is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. (et) and the race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 3 p.m.
<< Kim survives again at U.S. Women's Amateur
Carmel, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kimberly Kim is proving a tough out at the U.S.
Women's Amateur.
The defending champion survived another round of match play at Crooked Stick
by squeezing out a 1-up victory over Jennifer Song in the quar
<< Mets activate Beltran from DL
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have activated outfielder
Carlos Beltran from the 15-day disabled list on Friday.
Beltran, who is in the starting lineup against the Marlins, has been out since
July 25 with a strained left a
<< Lehigh names Reed head basketball coach
Bethlehem, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lehigh University has named Brett Reed as its
new head men's basketball coach.
Reed, who was elevated from associate head coach, takes over for Billy Taylor,
who left the program to become Ball State's coach
<< Clemens declines to appeal five-game suspension
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens
decided not to appeal his five-game suspension and started serving the penalty
on Friday for the opener of a weekend series against Cleveland.
Clemens was suspe
Kansas City signs midfielder from Argentina >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City added another option to its
potent offense this week, signing forward/midfielder Eloy Colombano out of
Argentina.
The 24-year-old has played for Defensa y Justicia and LP Estudiantes
Stuttgart ties Schalke in Bundesliga opener >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Substitute Ivan Rakitic scored in the
76th minute as Schalke tied Stuttgart, 2-2, in the Bundesliga season opener
Friday.
Schalke took the early lead on a goal from Levan Kobiashvili midway thro
Isles ink Sutton to three-year deal >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders signed defenseman
Andy Sutton to a three-year contract on Friday. Per club policy, terms of
the deal were not disclosed.
"We're very pleased to bring Andy Sutton to Long Isla
Wickman gets OK to pitch, Dotel to DL >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Friday was a good news/bad news day for
the Atlanta Braves, who learned that closer Bob Wickman received a clean bill
of health, but placed reliever Octavio Dotel on the 15-day disabled list.
Wickman
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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.
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