LeBron's 'Decision' watched by nearly 10M people

Basketball Betting Lines

07/11/2010 -

NEW YORK (AP) -The Nielsen Co. estimates that 9.95 million people watched LeBron James announce on ESPN that he's leaving Cleveland to play for the Miami Heat, making it the third-most-watched program on cable television this year.

``The Decision'' that aired Thursday night ranks behind the 12.3 million who watched the NFL Pro Bowl and 11.2 million who watched an episode of ``ICarly'' on Nickelodeon in January.

The special was of particular interest in Cleveland, where an estimated one in four homes with televisions tuned in.

James' future can't yet compare to Kobe Bryant's present, however. More than 28 million people watched Bryant win his fifth championship last month in the seventh game of the NBA Finals between the L.A. Lakers and Boston Celtics.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 The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Sartluck Basketball Betting News

<< Djokovic lifts Serbia into Davis Cup semis
Split, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic notched a straight-set win over Marin Cilic to lift Serbia to a Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over Croatia. Djokovic posted a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 triumph in the first of Sunday's rev

<< Kanemoto wins The Championship by Lexus
Bando, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Takashi Kanemoto eagled the final hole Sunday to polish off a six-under 66 and win The Championship by Lexus on the Japan Golf Tour. Kanemoto, the third-round leader, finished at 18-under 270 and won by a

<< Davydenko keeps Russia alive against Argentina
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nikolay Davydenko kept Russia alive in its Davis Cup quarterfinal match against Argentina with a victory over Eduardo Schwank in the first of Sunday's reverse singles matches. Davydenko rallied for a

<< Durant guides Roughriders over Lions
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darian Durant threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in Saskatchewan's 37-18 win over the BC Lions in the first regular season game played at Empire Field in 27 years. Durant c

<< Lopez's slam in eighth boosts Mariners over Yankees
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jose Lopez's grand slam in the eighth inning backed a strong start from Felix Hernandez as the Seattle Mariners took a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees in the third of a four-game set. Hernandez (7-5) wen

Yankees PA man Bob Sheppard dies >>
NEW YORK (AP) -The New York Yankees say longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard has died. He was believed to be 99.His death was confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday by team spokesman Jazon Zillo. There were no immediate details.Sheppa

Szavay beats Schnyder again for Budapest crown >>
Budapest, Hungary (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Agnes Szavay of Hungary again thrilled the home crowd by defeating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in the final of the Budapest Grand Prix for the second straight year. Szavay posted a 6-2, 6-4 victo

First-place Tigers set sights on sweep of Twins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have taken over first place in the ultra-competitive AL Central and will close out a three-game set with the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park this afternoon. Detroit maintained its half-game edge on seco

Red Sox, Blue Jays to close out first half with rubber match >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays close out a three- game weekend set in American League East action from the Rogers Centre, with the rubber match to take place this afternoon. Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on

Mets send out Santana in hopes of averting sweep by Braves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having Johan Santana on top of his game would go a long way towards the New York Mets achieving their goal of overtaking the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East. Coming off his best performance of the s

Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

RSS Sports Betting Odds Feeds

Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.