Reid and McNulty share Tradition lead

Golf Betting Lines

08/17/2007 - Sunriver, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Senior PGA Champion Mike Reid and Mark McNulty each fired rounds of six-under-par 66 on Thursday to share the opening-round lead of the Tradition.

David Edwards carded a bogey-free, five-under 67 at Crosswater Club and Sunriver Resort to finish alone in third place.

This is the fourth major championship of the year on the Champions Tour and two of the three former major victors in 2007 are in the hunt.

Tom Watson, who won the Senior British Open, was tied for the lead until bogeys at 16 and 17. He shot a four-under 68 and shares fourth place with Ben Crenshaw and Bruce Summerhays.

Brad Bryant, the U.S. Senior Open champion, shot a two-under 70 and is part of a group tied for 11th. Senior PGA Champion Denis Watson only managed an even- par 72 and is tied for 26th.

They are all looking up at Reid, who won a playoff for the 2005 Senior PGA, and McNulty, who won five times in his first two years on the 50-and-over circuit.

Reid first broke into red figures at the par-three third when his seven-iron tee ball stopped a foot from the cup. He made it two in a row thanks to a 14- foot birdie putt at four, then saved par from 12 feet at the fifth.

Reid parred the next seven holes around the turn, then once again hit a great seven-iron at a par three. His tee ball at 13 came to rest 10 feet from the flag and Reid holed the putt to reach three-under par for the championship.

He hit a nine-iron to 12 feet to set up birdie at the 15th. Reid again racked up two birdies in a row, this time from seven feet out at the par-five-16th to join a large group at minus-five.

Reid broke out of the pack with yet another great seven-iron shot. His approach landed 15 feet from the hole at the closing hole and sank the putt to post a 66.

Reid has not enjoyed a great run this year on tour. His best finish was a tie for third place at the ACE Group Classic in mid-February. Since, Reid's best finish was a a tie for 29th at the Boeing Championship in early June.

"I haven't played well all year," admitted Reid. "My scorecard has looked like a bingo card lately. Usually I'm pretty consistent. Hopefully, I can build on what I did today."

McNulty, hobbled most of 2007 with a back injury, started on the 10th tee Thursday and began his round with a bogey at 11. He ran off three birdies in his next four holes, the capped it off with a beautiful hybrid-club shot to 12 feet to set up birdie at 17.

He birdied the first to reach four-under par for the championship, but back- to-back bogeys at four and five knocked him down the leaderboard. McNulty clawed back with four straight birdies to end his round and tie Reid for the lead.

"Today, I had a great putting round," said McNulty. "Hopefully, I'm moving in the right direction now. It was great to finish with four birdies in a row. It was a good, pleasing round."

Lonnie Nielsen, who lost in a playoff last year, former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson, Hugh Baiocchi and two-time major winner Mark O'Meara are tied for seventh at minus-three.

Eduardo Romero, who defeated Nielsen in 2006 for his first major title, struggled on Thursday. He only managed a two-over-par 74 and is part of a group tied for 52nd place.

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

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.

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