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05/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Physicality and borderline dirty plays have always been parts of hockey - and probably always will be.
Some argue that's what makes the game great.
Others contend the game is about speed and skill, and the 'goonish' element needs to go.
No matter what side of the fence you're on, the scene at a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game early this year that saw an 18-year-old convulsing on the ice after taking a blatant elbow to the face from an opponent was enough to make you sick.
The scene in question occurred in January when forward Patrice Cormier elbowed defenseman Mikael Tam, who was hospitalized with brain trauma and damage to several teeth after the hit. Tam eventually returned to junior hockey this season, but Cormier did not after being suspended for the remainder of the season and playoffs.
Cormier did return to ice hockey in the American League after his junior team's season ended, playing nine games for the Chicago Wolves, who were eliminated from the Calder Cup playoffs on Tuesday night by the Texas Stars.
But the story doesn't end there.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder, currently an NHL prospect in the Atlanta Thrashers organization, faces an assault charge in Canadian Court stemming from the on-ice incident, a charge that was made official just hours before the game-seven matchup with the Stars. The 19-year-old now faces up to 18 months in jail if convicted.
There is precedent for this type of criminal charge in Canada.
Todd Bertuzzi, then with the Vancouver Canucks, was suspended for 17 months by the NHL after a blindside sucker punch to the head of former Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore in 2004. Moore suffered three broken vertebra in his neck and a high grade concussion, ending his hockey career.
Bertuzzi was charged in Vancouver, resulting in a guilty plea, one year of probation, and 80 hours of community service.
The difference in Cormier's case is the age of the combatants and the severity of the injuries. The Bertuzzi/Moore incident was between two professionals in their 20s, one of whom could not return to the ice. The Cormier/Tam incident was between two amateurs in their teens, and Tam was able to return to action this season, actually serving his own suspension for an illegal hit.
"The incident itself, I really don't talk about it a lot," Cormier told The Sportsbook Betting Lines last week. "It's in the past. It happened, it was a mistake. Anyone who knows me knows that I never meant for it to happen. I was going to finish my hit and I maybe went a little too far. That's just the way I play. I'm not dirty, but I finish my hits, and if I want to be successful in hockey, that's one thing I need to keep doing."
While some argue he shouldn't have been allowed to play in the AHL this season, others contend he served his suspension and paid a steep price for his "crime" already.
"I don't think anybody [in the AHL] has any real negative feelings about him," Chicago Wolves GM Wendell Young told The Sportsbook Betting Lines last week. "He paid the price. He was suspended and missed a lot of hockey this past year because of the incident."
Cormier doesn't seem to have a black mark in NHL front offices either, as the Thrashers made him part of the bounty they acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the blockbuster Ilya Kovalchuk deal on Feb. 4. Further dispelling any character issues is the fact that Cormier was the captain of Canada's silver medal winning World Junior team in 2010.
Now, the debate: should Cormier have to face a criminal charge for an on-ice incident?
Those who know hockey acknowledge that these incidents happen; sometimes players go too far. Is charging players involved in these type of incidents with crimes the answer, or is a lengthy suspension from the sport they love enough? Judging from Cormier's recent comments to The Sportsbook Betting Lines, the latter holds true in this case.
"I have learned that you have to be careful out there," he said. "You have seen many times this year that guys have been taking hits to the head and it's pretty dangerous. When it happens to you, when you hit a guy, you learn to be a little more careful, for sure."
"The one good thing for me was seeing Michael Tam returning to hockey this year," Cormier said. "When he was all right and played, everything was done for me. The main thing for me was him returning healthy and 100 percent.
"Now I'm back playing hockey and it's all behind me. A lot of people learned from this, but now it's behind us and we're stronger and we're going to move forward."
Seems like the lesson was learned, but that's up to the bureaucrats to decide when Cormier is due in court on July 12.
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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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