Hi, you've clicked through to Bookmaker.com's News and Views page. 4 February 2010
The content in this section of GoonersGuide.com is all provided courtesy of Bookmaker.com, one of the most popular online sportsbooks for American and Canadian bettors. We'll update this page several times a week with the latest news, game reviews, previews and sports betting commentary, so check back regularly.
Bookmaker.com is especially popular with bettors from these countries/regions US Sports Bettors Welcome
US Sports Bettors Welcome BOOKMAKER.COM is a specialist sports betting site for US residents and those wanting great odds on US-format sports.
Bookmaker.com's North American Sports Betting News & Views
Bookmaker.comhas over 10 years of solid trading history and is powered by BetCRIS, the very first offshore sportsbook established out of the Caribbean. Bookmaker.com has diversified from providing online sports betting to include a full race book, virtual casino, online multi-player poker and mobile betting options (cell phone or PDA).
The emphasis at Bookmaker.com is on giving North Americans secure, confidential, tax free sports betting coverage, but Bookmaker.com also services customers from around the world.
Bookmaker.com is a corporation registered and licensed in San Jose, Costa Rica.
In reality, Manning has nothing left to prove in a 12-year career that will one day most certainly earn him a bronze bust in Canton. He's already won a Super Bowl, having guided the Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears three years ago on the same Sun Life Stadium field in Miami that Indianapolis will oppose the Saints. He garnered an unprecedented fourth NFL MVP Award in 2009 after amassing a 10th season of over 4,000 passing yards, also more than any player in league history.
There's no debate over whether Manning has been among the best regular-season field generals the NFL has ever seen. Yet even after taking a somewhat-flawed Indianapolis team to a second Super Bowl in four years, the 33-year-old still hasn't been able to completely slay all the postseason demons that have haunted him throughout his remarkable tenure.
Those remaining critics are quick to point out Manning's 9-8 playoff record as a starting quarterback and a rather ordinary 27-to-18 touchdown-to-interception ratio in those games. They'll just as quickly spout off about the multiple Super Bowl titles won by his Hall of Fame counterparts, a list that includes such hallowed names as Montana, Bradshaw, Aikman, Elway and Starr.
Bookmaker.com offers a choice of sign-up bonuses if you enter the bonus code: 20GOONER.
If you open an account with $300 or more you can choose from a 20% bonus (with a 5x rollover) or a 10% bonus with a 3x rollover. Max bonus $500.
Existing members get reload bonuses and rewards too. Every time you re-deposit $300 or more into your Bookmaker.com account you can earn a 10% bonus - and they'll meet your Western Union fees. Bookmaker Rewards: Cash back, Gift Cards, Airline Miles, BM Merchandise and more. Gold, Platinum, Diamond membership levels for regular bettors.
By Scott Garbarini, Associate NFL Editor (Sports Network) - By the time Super Bowl XLIV finally kicks off, essentially the entire free world will be fully aware that Peyton Manning was born and raised in the city of New Orleans, and that his father happens to be one of the most recognizable and beloved players to ever don a uniform for the team the Indianapolis Colts quarterback will be facing for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy.
While that angle will be mercilessly hammered into our collective heads in the days leading up to this year's Big Game, this Super Bowl really isn't about Manning standing in the way of his hometown Saints' quest for a long-awaited first-ever world championship. More than anything, Super Bowl XLIV presents the opportunity for one of the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks to unequivocally cement his place alongside the immortals at the game's premier position.
Tom Brady, the active player most often compared to Manning, has led the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl triumphs despite entering the league two years after his rival. Ben Roethlisberger has brought home two Lombardi Trophies in only six seasons as a professional. While winning one is surely no small feat, it's still the same amount produced by the likes of Trent Dilfer, Mark Rypien and Brad Johnson -- quarterbacks not normally mentioned in the same breath as Manning. Whether fair or not, those are the cold, hard facts.
Even Manning's MVP performance against the Bears -- a solid 247 yards on 25- of-38 passing with one touchdown and an interception -- isn't considered up to legendary standards by that hard-to-please army of detractors.
That group is beginning to get smaller and smaller, however, and Manning likely made himself a few more converts with his sensational showing in Indianapolis' besting of the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game on January 24. The 10-time Pro Bowl honoree took apart the league's top-ranked pass defense in the 30-17 decision, racking up 377 yards and three touchdowns in skillfully bringing the Colts back from an early 11-point deficit.
It was an outing much like he delivered all throughout his latest MVP campaign, in which Manning threw for 4,500 yards and completed a career-best 68.8 percent of his throws. The cerebral signal-caller's 33 touchdown passes during the regular season were just one shy of the league lead set by the man he'll battle on Super Bowl Sunday, New Orleans' Drew Brees.
"You think that he may level out, but he never does," Colts head coach Jim Caldwell recently told the team's official site. "He never gets complacent. Every year it seems like he takes it to another plateau." That trademark focus will come in handy for Manning in a matchup that will obviously have an attachment of sentimentality to it. Not only did one of New Orleans' favorite sons grow up a Saints fan, he remains active in the community and took a heavy role in the relief effort when the city was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Archie Manning, Peyton's father, quarterbacked the Saints from 1971-82 and still holds the franchise record for career passing yards. He also served as the team's radio color commentator for over a decade following his playing days and continues to have a close relationship with the organization.
"I'm very excited for the city of New Orleans," said Peyton Manning about the Saints' march to the Super Bowl. "New Orleans is definitely a huge part of my life, and my dad's been a part of the New Orleans Saints organization for 39 years. We definitely have strong ties." It's a strange twist of fate that one of New Orleans' hometown heroes will be trying to prevent the long-suffering Saints from capturing the NFL's ultimate prize. That's almost as ironic as Manning finding himself in an eerily similar scenario as he did in Miami three years ago -- playing in a game that will forever define his legacy as a quarterback.
The Top Super Bowl Team Prop Bets
By Jeff Frank, Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's easy to have an opinion on which team will win the Super Bowl and by how many points, but when deciding on what other bets to make on the game, be careful how and what you wager.
I highly recommend staying away from all bets that involve a 50% chance of winning. It might be a whole lot of fun to root for one single occurrence, such as heads or tails on the coin toss, but there's not much skill or logic in those wagers. Just because heads has come up in eight of the last 13 Super Bowls doesn't mean it will happen in this contest.Furthermore, even though the NFC representative has won the last 12 coin tosses, the odds of the Saints taking the honors in 2010 is still a 50-50 proposition. And to put another spin on the situation, just because a team wins the toss, it doesn't necessarily mean that club will get the ball first. Last year, the Cardinals won and deferred.Imagine if someone had wagered all their hard-earned money on Arizona getting the first first-down in last year's contest.
That person was probably ecstatic when the Cardinals won the toss, only to have Pittsburgh receive the opening kickoff.
POSSIBLE WAGERS : There aren't many sure things in life but in a game featuring the highest- scoring team in the league (the Saints) and the number three squad in the AFC (the Colts), it's pretty obvious that one of the two clubs will score in the first 7:30 minutes of the game. The line is lofty at -250 but it's better to wager on something that has a high probability rate rather than something at 50-50.
One prop bet that I am a huge proponent of is "the first score of the game will be" with the two choices being a touchdown and field goal/safety.
Last year, it looked as if the first score would be a touchdown when Ben Roethlisberger plunged into the end zone from one-yard out, but Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt challenged the ruling on the field and Pittsburgh settled for an 18-yard field goal.
The first score has now been a field goal in seven of the last 11 Super Bowls, which makes one wonder why the touchdown is such a high favorite at -200 while the field goal stands at a very generous +160. To that end, two more wagers that should also be made are an Indianapolis field goal at 4-1 and a New Orleans field goal at 6-1 as the first scoring play of the game.
Another prop bet to take advantage of concerns turnovers. I mentioned in last week's column how opportunistic the Saints defense has been with 39 regular season takeaways and an additional seven in the playoffs. On the other hand, the Colts ranked 18th during the regular season with 26. New Orleans has turned the ball over only one time in the two postseason games, so take the Colts to have more turnovers than the Saints at +105.
I fully expect this game to be a back-and-forth affair so grab the YES at +155 on "will there be a lead change in the second half." This prop bet in last year's game was as high as +190 for YES and it came through with 2:37 left in the game when Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald for a 64-yard touchdown strike. Expect it to happen much earlier in this year's matchup.
Along those lines, take the +110 on YES that both teams will have a lead at some point in the first half.
HALFTIME AND END OF REGULATION PROPS: For those who are confident the underdog Saints will win the game, there are a few ways to wager without taking them at +185 on the money line. If New Orleans has the lead at the half and at the end of the game, the odds almost double at 4-1. If the Colts lead after 30 minutes and the Saints end up winning the game, the odds go to 8-1, and if the score is tied at the half and New Orleans comes out on top, the payoff is 20-1.
Sometimes when looking over all the prop bets you find some inconsistencies that could help in determining which ones to eventually wager on. For instance, in the prop bet labeled "first-half team scoring," the increment that's the top choice for the Colts is "22 points or more," which stands at 5-2. The one that's favored for the Saints is "between six & nine points" at 3-1.
However, that's not the case when it comes to the "halftime margin of victory" prop bet. If the Colts lead by 14-17 points at the half, the payout would be 13-2. On the other hand, if the first 30 minutes of play ends with the Colts up by just one to three points, the payout would be 3-1. Those figures seem extremely incongruous.
I expect a close game in Super Bowl XLIV with the final score decided by a field goal so the
final team prop bet I would make is "will the game be decided by exactly three points" at a
very generous +400.
North American Sports Betting Analysis, News & Views. The latest online betting info on Super Bowl XLIV from Bookmaker.com February 4 2009
