Bentley sues Browns for career-ending staph infection

Football Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Cleveland Browns center LeCharles Bentley has sued the Browns, reportedly for fraud and negligent misrepresentation over a career-ending staph infection he suffered while with the club.

Bentley filed his civil suit in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, and the case has been assigned to Judge Joseph D. Russo. The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reports the suit asks for more than $25,000 for pain and suffering, plus punitive damages.

Bentley is not the first former Browns player to file such a suit, as wide receiver Joe Jurevicius reached a settlement with the club in June after he also suffered a staph infection.

The team has multiple issues with staph from a period starting in 2003 that included tight end Kellen Winslow, wide receiver Braylon Edwards, defensive back Brian Russell and linebacker Ben Taylor.

Regarded as the top free agent in the 2006 off-season, Bentley backed out of an unofficial agreement with the Philadelphia Eagles before signing a reported six-year, $36 million deal with the Browns. In July of that year he tore the patella tendon in his knee, sidelining him for all of 2006, and suffered a staph infection that kept him out of the 2007 campaign.

He returned to the team's minicamp in 2008 before asking for his release. His request was granted, and he has never played since.

The Ohio State product started 57 games with New Orleans from 2002-2005 and was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2003 and 2005.

Vagescasinoonline Football Betting News

<< Top seed Davydenko latest to fall in Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko was the latest to fall in an upset-minded German Open Tennis Championships, as third- round play concluded Thursday. Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev dethroned the defending

<< Heat re-sign G Arroyo
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat re-signed guard Carlos Arroyo on Thursday. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not released. Arroyo started 35 of the 72 games he appeared in with the Heat last season, averaging 6.1 point

<< Phillies avoid sweep, snap Cardinals' eight-game win streak
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Placido Polanco's leadoff homer in the 11th inning provided the game-winning run, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 2-0 victory. Polanco

<< Blackhawks acquire Taffe from Florida for Reasoner
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks acquired forward Jeff Taffe from the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Marty Reasoner. Taffe recorded two points in 21 regular season games for the Panthers last season. In

<< AP source: Hornets schedule meeting with Paul
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -A person familiar with the meeting says the Hornets have scheduled a face-to-face discussion with Chris Paul on Monday to talk about the team's plans for the future.The star guard will sit down with new head coach Monty Williams, n

Roddick moves on in Atlanta >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Andy Roddick lost a second set tiebreaker, but managed to pull out the final set to advance to the quarterfinals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships. Roddick needed less than a hal

Union sign Argentinean midfielder Coudet >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union signed Argentinean midfielder Eduardo "Chacho" Coudet on Thursday. Coudet, who last played for Colon in the Argentinean First Division, will be eligible to play when the Union r

San Jose's Convey added to MLS All-Star roster >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Bobby Convey was named to MLS All-Star roster by coach Bruce Arena on Thursday. Convey will replace injured Jonathan Bornstein. Convey is the first member of the Earthquakes

Kang into quarters at U.S. Girls' Junior >>
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stroke-play medalist Danielle Kang posted two impressive wins on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Kang, who was also the medalist at last year's U.

Phils' Moyer out indefinitely; weekend rotation filled internally >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer will be out indefinitely after suffering an elbow injury on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Moyer, 47, is expected to be placed on the disabled

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.