Bradley asks for help from Mariners' management

Baseball Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Outfielder Milton Bradley, sometimes a lightning rod for controversy, has asked the management of the Seattle Mariners for help after he was pulled from the game by manager Don Wakamatsu in Tuesday's contest against Tampa Bay.

The Mariners decided to start Ryan Langerhans in left field instead of Bradley Wednesday. Bradley struck out with the bases loaded in the sixth inning Tuesday and is hitting just .214 this season and has 24 strikeouts in 70 at- bats.

"This morning Milton Bradley asked if he could have an opportunity to sit down with Don Wakamatsu and myself," Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "He's going through some things in his life right now that are very personal and very emotional. Therefore, Milton has asked us if we could be of assistance to him, if there was any way that we as an organization could help him get through this period of time. We will do everything we can to help Milton. We will join together as an organization and help him receive the assistance that he needs."

Bradley was traded from the Cubs to the Mariners last offseason. On the heels of his first-ever All-Star appearance in 2008, Bradley inked a three-year, $30 million deal with the Cubs. However, as has been the case in almost everywhere Bradley has played, things did not go smoothly for him, as he feuded with manager Cubs manager Lou Piniella, his teammates and the fans.

Bradley's troubles last season were nothing new. He had an altercation with Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge which led to his trade from the team to the Dodgers in 2004. In 2005, he accused Dodgers' teammate Jeff Kent of being racist. Bradley then tore his ACL in 2007, while being restrained by Padres manager Bud Black during an altercation with first base umpire Mike Winters.

"Milton came to us for help," Wakamatsu said. "I think that's a step in the right direction. I think this is a critical point where he finally came out and said he needs some help and we're happy to be there for him."

While with the Rangers, Bradley also attempted to confront Kansas City Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre in the press box following a game due to what he believed were unfair comments made on the air.

"Milton is very remorseful of some of the things that have happened in his recent past and feels very badly about it, but the fact that he has stood up and asked for us to help him is an extremely important step for him as a young man," Zduriencik said. "Milton has spoken to his teammates and has asked for their help, their understanding and their assistance."

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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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