Sports Betting News at LinesMaker

Saints’ Williams Allegedly Told Hargrove to ‘Play Dumb’

NEW ORLEANS (NFL/Newsfeed) — For­mer Saints defen­sive end Anthony Har­grove was instructed to deny the exis­tence of a bounty pro­gram by Saints assis­tants Gregg Williams and Joe Vitt in 2010, accord­ing to a signed dec­la­ra­tion Har­grove sub­mit­ted to the NFL. Jason Cole of got his hands on the doc­u­ment, which was sub­mit­ted by the NFLPA in hopes of show­ing that play­ers were only act­ing under orders from coaches to keep the exis­tence of the bounty pro­gram quiet. “Those [exple­tives] have been try­ing to get me for years,” Williams allegedly told Har­grove,... 

Preds’ Season Ends Prematurely

GLENDALE (NHL/Newsfeed) — The Nashville Preda­tors made a series of changes at the trade dead­line in order to beef up their offense and tough­ness — and trans­form them­selves into a fairer fight with the Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Black­hawks and the other elite teams in the West­ern Conference. And for one play­off series against the Red Wings, the plan worked to per­fec­tion. There was just one prob­lem: The Black­hawks weren’t wait­ing for them in the sec­ond round. It was the Phoenix Coy­otes, a team built more like the plucky Nashville teams of the past, who weren’t... 

Groomer’s Slaying a Kentucky Derby Whodunit

LOUISVILLE (HORSE RACING/Barrouquere) The bour­bon had been stashed away and the hats returned to clos­ets by the time some­one found a groomer’s body inside a barn at Churchill Downs, hours after the run­ning of America’s most famous horse race. Other work­ers on the back­side of the track — a dif­fer­ent world from the pageantry seen on race day — were left to won­der if a killer was among them: Why did some­one want 48-year-old Adan Fabian Perez dead? How was the Guatemala native killed? And why did his killer leave him in a barn, a few sta­bles away from where I’ll Have... 

Serena Williams Wins, Venus Bows Out at Madrid

MADRID (WTA/Newsfeed) — Ser­ena Williams beat Elena Ves­nina 6–3, 6–1 to reach the Madrid Open’s sec­ond round, while sis­ter Venus lost 6–4, 6–1 to Angelique Ker­ber on Monday. The ninth-seeded Williams had 13 aces and 40 win­ners against Ves­nina, who was strug­gling with her game on the slip­pery blue clay court. The Russ­ian lost her bal­ance in the sixth game and set up a break point for Williams, who pulled ahead to lead 4–2. Williams’ ninth ace of the match pro­vided a set point for the ninth-ranked Amer­i­can to take the first set and wrap up the match against... 

Harper’s Swipe of Home a Measure of Payback

WASHINGTON (MLB/Newsfeed) — Nation­als out­fielder Bryce Harper showed how to get revenge in a 9–3 loss to the Phillies on Sun­day night. With two outs in the first inning, Cole Hamels hit Harper with his first pitch to the 19-year-old rookie, then acknowl­edged that was his intention. “I was try­ing to hit him,” Hamels said. “I’m not going to deny it. That’s just … some­thing that I grew up watch­ing, that’s what hap­pened, so I’m just try­ing to con­tinue the old base­ball. I think some peo­ple kind of get away from it. I remem­ber when I was a rookie, the... 

Minnesota Pols in Tough Position as Vikings Stadium Vote Nears

ST. PAUL, Minn. (NFL/Newsfeed) — Min­nesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers could have been speak­ing for many of his fel­low law­mak­ers when he strug­gled to describe his posi­tion on a $ 1 bil­lion Vikings sta­dium bill before a vote that could be crit­i­cal to the team’s future in the state. “I won’t vote for it, but I want to see it pass,” the Repub­li­can said in an inter­view late last week on sports radio. With votes sched­uled Mon­day on a huge pub­lic pay­out, 200 law­mak­ers are under pres­sure from plenty of peo­ple who oppose the project — but worry...