Rangers' Hamilton admits to another relapse
Baseball Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton confirmed reports Friday that he had a relapse with his alcohol abuse earlier this week.
The incident, which was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, took place at Sherlock's -- a Dallas-area bar -- on Monday. Hamilton's teammate, second baseman Ian Kinsler, was present as well.
"I had a weak moment on Monday night in Dallas," said Hamilton, stating the situation was brought on because of personal reasons with a family member. "I walked to a restaurant to have some dinner and...ended up ordering a drink. I had three or four drinks."
According to Hamilton, Kinsler, who arrived later, was unaware that Hamilton had been drinking. When the restaurant closed, the pair went across the street to another establishment and talked for "25 to 30 minutes" before Kinsler dropped Hamilton off, asking "You're not gonna go back out or anything are you?"
Hamilton said he did go back out and "had some more drinks" at the establishment he and Kinsler had just left.
"No drugs were used at all. I never though about it. I've had two drug tests since Monday so I have no concerns there at all," continued Hamilton, who is drug tested three times a week due to prior substance abuse issues.
This is the second public relapse for Hamilton, who has suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse in the past and had been suspended for over three years early in his career. In 2009, the website Deadspin.com published photos of the then-27-year-old All-Star drinking and taking shots with several women at a bar in Tempe, Arizona.
"There were no pictures taken of me having a beer with somebody or anything like that," he said of Monday's incident.
Hamilton, who did not take questions from the media, failed to speculate on whether the episode would affect his contract situation. The 2010 American League MVP is in the final year of his contract and is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
"As far as baseball and the Rangers, they've shown nothing but support to me and tell me they will continue to support me," he said, adding "I'm sorry (the press conference) had to be this way. It would've been nice if it was talking about a contract. We'll put that on the back burner for awhile."
The reserved Hamilton also offered his amends, saying "For everybody that I've hurt, for everybody, fans, kids, people who have addictions, I apologize. When you're doing this you don't mean to hurt anybody. You only think you're hurting yourself, but as I know, it hurts a lot of people."
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers avoided arbitration with Shaun Marcum, signing the right-hander to a one-year contract on Friday. Marcum made a career-high 33 starts last season, his first with the Brewers follo
<< Red Wings' Howard out with broken finger
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings announced Friday that
All-Star goaltender Jimmy Howard will miss at least the next two games because
of a broken finger.
Howard, who leads the NHL with 32 wins, broke the index fing
<< Every day still a struggle for Hamilton
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton
relapsed this past week.
The 2010 American League Most Valuable Player met the media on Friday to
address the situation. According to Hamilton a family issue led him to
<< Manning mania leaving Brady an afterthought
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's not every Super Bowl where the team
with the league's worst record gets as much attention as the two that will be
competing for the NFL's most cherished piece of sterling silver.
Or when Chad Och
<< Report: Clippers, Martin reach deal
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Clippers have agreed to a deal,
pending a physical, with free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, the Los Angeles
Times reported Friday.
Martin played for the Xinjiang Tigers of the Chinese Bask
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United are not accustomed to long-standing droughts at many stadiums in England, but Stamford Bridge is certainly one of the few exceptions. The Red Devils square off against Chelsea in W
Nicholls to play three FBS opponents >>
Thibodaux, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nicholls State University football
program is going heavy on the FBS opposition and light on the home games in a
2012 schedule announced on Friday.
The Colonels' first three games are against FBS opponent
Youzhny reaches Zagreb final four >>
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny
was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Friday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis
tournament.
Youzhny needed 2 hours, 42 minutes to stave off eighth-seeded massive-serving
Snow threatening weekend schedule in Italy >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy snow in Italy is threatening to wreak
havoc with the 22nd round of Serie A fixtures this weekend as one match has
already been postponed and others have been moved.
Four midweek matches were post
Dortmund downs Nurnberg to take Bundesliga lead >>
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrio scored in
the second half as Borussia Dortmund downed Nurnberg, 2-0, on Friday to return
to top of the Bundesliga.
Defending champion Dortmund broke a three-way tie on poin
COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING
NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
MySportsbook is considered one of the finest football betting sportsbooks according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.
MySportsbook is a large company with strong financial backing. Considered the best sportsbook for betting football online You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs.