Hurricanes get a surprise visit from LeBron

Basketball Betting Lines

08/27/2010 -

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - LeBron James went back to school Thursday, working out against the Miami Hurricanes.

The NBA's two-time reigning MVP and some of his new Miami Heat teammates made a surprise stop at the university's basketball facility for some informal scrimmaging against the Hurricanes. James, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, Patrick Beverley and New Orleans guard Chris Paul - a close friend of James - played pickup for more than an hour.

``Just left 'The U' hooping with the team ... Great runs! Needed that,'' James posted on Twitter after the workout session.

Some of Miami's players hadn't been told beforehand that James and his crew would be popping in for a workout. James and the NBA players, including injured Heat guard Mario Chalmers, stayed afterward to pose for pictures.

It's not uncommon to see NBA players working out on Miami's campus, especially those who maintain offseason homes in South Florida. As far as the Hurricanes know, Thursday marked the first time James came for a visit since joining the Heat nearly two months ago.

``No question, it's great having those guys here,'' Miami coach Frank Haith said. ``It's a great influence for our players. They're some of the greatest players in the NBA, so it's obviously great for our guys and our program.''

James had a variety of eye-popping dunks during the pickup games, which were played without an audience - and with no video.

The Hurricanes hope to see plenty more of James, who has also been invited to see a Miami football game from its sideline anytime he wants - even if that happens to be Sept. 11, when the nation's No. 13 team travels back to James' homeland to face No. 2 Ohio State.

And if he wants to see a Miami football practice, that's fine with the Hurricanes as well.

James created a buzz in Cleveland last season after saying he could be ``really good'' if he committed to playing football, and Browns coach Eric Mangini make a half-serious offer for the 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward to ``come on down'' to work out with the NFL club.

``You need to come out to the football field and show ur skills for us,'' Hurricanes defensive back DeMarcus Van Dyke wrote to James on Twitter as news spread of the MVP's visit to campus.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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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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