The Times-Picayune reported late Tuesday night that the Hornets are expected
to name San Antonio Spurs vice president of basketball operations Dell Demps
to the post on Wednesday. The 40-year-old Demps will replace Jeff Bower after
the latter and the organization agreed to part ways last week.
Demps has been in the Spurs' front office the past five years.
He was briefly a teammate of new Hornets head coach Monty Williams with the
Spurs during the 1995-96 season.
<< Cubs look ahead after Piniella says he will retire
CHICAGO (AP) -Just like a long line of predecessors, Lou Piniella thought he could lead the Chicago Cubs to that elusive championship and end a drought that dates to 1908.Barring an epic turnaround, he can forget about that.General manager Jim Hendr
<< Torres leads Giants to late win over Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andres Torres sparked a three-run top of
the ninth with a two-run double, as the San Francisco Giants rallied past the
Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5, in a wild game between these NL West rivals.
Holding a
<< A's top Red Sox in 10 innings
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff's RBI single in the bottom of
the 10th inning lifted the Oakland Athletics to a 5-4 win over the Boston Red
Sox in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Kouzmanoff and Jack Cust both
<< Hornets hiring Dell Demps as general manager
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -A person familiar with the hiring says Dell Demps has agreed to become the New Orleans Hornets' next general manager.The person, who spoke to The Associated Press late Tuesday night on condition of anonymity because the hiring had
<< Leake, Votto pace Reds over Nats
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Leake threw five innings of one-run
ball before a nearly three-hour rain delay and Joey Votto smacked a three-run
homer, as the Reds hung on for an 8-7 win over Washington in the continuation
of a four-gam
Rays OF Crawford leaves game >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Carl Crawford left
Tuesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles following the top of the first
inning after getting hit in the groin area with a pickoff throw.
Crawford led off
NHL says Kovalchuk deal circumvented salary cap >>
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year, $102 million deal with the New Jersey Devils has been rejected by the league because it circumvents the salary cap in the collective bargaining agreement.Daly said W
Canada's youth movement >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cast in the shadow of the Open Championship
which finished this past weekend at St. Andrews, the 2010 installment of the
RBC Canadian Open is all set to tee off at the historic St. George's Golf and
Country Cl
Hughley, Rowley and Reid earn weekly AFL honors >>
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tulsa wide receiver JEFF HUGHLEY,
Spokane quarterback KYLE ROWLEY and Dallas defensive back
DELENALL REID have been named the JLS Ironman, Russell Athletic
Offensive Players and Riddell Defensive Player of the Week,
Amid trade rumors, Myers and Lilly square off in Astros-Cubs finale >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two pitchers rumored to be on the trading block get
together this afternoon in the Windy City, where Ted Lilly and the host
Chicago Cubs take on Brett Myers and the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field in
the finale of a three-gam
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.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.