UTSA inks Thompson to contract extension

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

06/30/2010 - San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Texas-San Antonio has signed head men's basketball coach Brooks Thompson to a contract extension through the 2014-15 season.

Thompson has led the Roadrunners to back-to-back 19-win seasons and an overall mark of 56-62 during his tenure at the school. This past season UTSA ended 19-11 and tied for third in the Southland Conference West Division and fifth overall with a 9-7 league mark.

UTSA won a school-record 10 non-conference contests, including a team-best seven victories against Division I opponents, and advanced to the Southland Tournament for the third consecutive year.

"We are pleased to be able to sign Brooks for another five seasons," athletics director Lynn Hickey said. "He has done an outstanding job turning the program around and we are very excited about the direction and future."

Wwwc2i NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Manny Ramirez to get MRI on hamstring
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers star outfielder Manny Ramirez will undergo an MRI on his injured right hamstring during Thursday's day off. Ramirez will have the MRI done in Arizona, where the Dodgers ar

<< Wilson transfers to Marquette
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forward Jamil Wilson has transfered to Marquette after spending his freshman season at Oregon. He will have to sit out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules, but will have three years of el

<< Dodgers complete sweep of Giants
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp each homered to back Vicente Padilla's solid pitching performance, as the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated the San Francisco Giants, 8-2, to complete a three-game series

<< Red Wings, city of Detroit agree to extend arena lease talks
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit mayor Dave Bing agreed to extend talks aimed at a lease renewal that will keep the hockey club at Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Free Press revealed that both sides have

<< Gay gets qualifying offer from Grizzlies
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to Rudy Gay on Wednesday, making the forward a restricted free agent. Gay, the eighth overall pick in the 2006 draft, ranked second on the Grizzli

Lions sign third-round pick Spievey >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions on Wednesday signed rookie cornerback Amari Spievey to a three-year contract. Spievey was selected by the Lions in the third round (66th overall) of this year's draft. The 5-foot

Tigers send reliever Ni to Toledo >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers optioned relief pitcher Fu-Te Ni to Triple-A Toledo. The move was made following Detroit's 5-1 setback in the finale of a three- game set against the Twins. In his second major-l

Rockets extend qualifying offers to Scola, Lowry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets extended qualifying offers to forward Luis Scola and guard Kyle Lowry prior to a Wednesday night deadline. The team also exercised a team option to extend the contract of center/fo

Spurs' Jefferson to become a free agent >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Antonio Spurs forward Richard Jefferson has opted out of the final year of his contract, forgoing the $15 million he is due next season to test the free agent market. The Spurs acquired Jefferson in a

Ducks get Jaffray from Flames >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks acquired left wing/center Jason Jaffray from the Calgary Flames in exchange for left wing Logan MacMillan. Either club could also receive a seventh-round selection in the 2013 NH

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.