TFC brings De Rosario home in blockbuster trade with Houston

Soccer Betting Lines

12/12/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC announced on Friday they have acquired four-time Major League Soccer Cup winner and three-time MLS All-Star Dwayne De Rosario from the Houston Dynamo in exchange for defender Julius James and allocation money.

"Dwayne is a player we've admired for quite some time," TFC Director of Soccer Mo Johnston said. "When the chance came to work with Houston to get this deal, we were obviously very happy. I'd like to thank Chris Canetti and Dominic Kinnear f the Dynamo for their help in bringing Dwayne to Toronto. He's a wonderful talent and I hope all of our supporters are as excited as we are that Dwayne is now a member of Toronto FC. We also want to wish Julius all the best, it's never easy to say goodbye to a young talent."

"We would like to thank Dwayne for his leadership, commitment, and contributions during his tenure with the Dynamo," Dynamo coach Kinnear said. "He has been a valuable asset to our team, but it is time for both parties to move on. This move is in the best interest of everybody and now gives the Dynamo real opportunity to address a number of its off-season goals. We are receiving a bright young talent in Julius James, and now have great salary cap flexibility to bring in players that can add to our strong base."

In eight seasons in MLS, De Rosario has scored 51 goals and 42 assists. He was also named the MVP of the 2007 MLS Cup. The Toronto native has also been a key contributor for the Canadian national team, having scored 15 goals in 53 career appearances.

James comes to the Dynamo after his rookie season in Toronto, where he saw action in 13 MLS games. The 24-year-old is a Trinidad & Tobago native and member of its national team.

"Julius is an aggressive, fast defender that fits really well in our style of play," Kinnear said. "I think he has a very bright future, not only in our club, but also in Major League Soccer."

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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.

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