Maybe not. The smartest guy I know in the offshore world says the following:

“Initially everyone figured Pinnacle/Henry would be the last ones to cave in. Count me among them.

But when you take a step back, and look at the big picture, it's no so shocking.........Here's an Ivy League educated guy who has made tons of dough over the years, first as a member of the computer group and then at Pinnacle. Of all the US books that have tried to get into the European market, he was the most successful. Visit any UK based site where the players all bet on soccer, tennis, snooker and whatever, and you'll find Pinny as one of the most recommended books.

It's just the smart thing to do.

So he makes $15 million next year instead of $50 million. Why would an intellgent guy like that let greed come into the picture.”

Pinnacle was the best book out there and this is a tremendous disappointment. But there are other solid shops. For information on other low juice sports books, including a special offer from from Cascade, visit http://www.consumerbet.com/rsb.html

On to football. The running game is important, right? The Falcons averaged 183.7 rushing yards per game on 5.5 yards per rush. These numbers were league bests by over 20 yards per game and over a half-yard per carry. The Vikings allowed the fewest rushing yards in NFL history. Neither team is in the playoffs.

This wouldn’t excite me were I a Dolphin fan. News reports indicate that the candidates who have interviewed for the vacant Miami Dolphins job include Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner and Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey. There are a lot of folks in Chicago and Atlanta that would celebrate such a hire with great enthusiasm.

Get ready for a lot of “K-ball” analysis this week analyzing Tony Romo’s dropped snap. Nice excuse, but they’ve been using the hard balls for 7 years now, and have been particularly serious about it for the past 4. Though players are no longer allowed to admit their “pet balls” into the game, there hasn’t been a decrease in kicking efficiency. In fact, kickers and punters have only gotten better. The K-ball is no excuse.

Both the Patriots and Chargers have solid offenses that make significant offensive production likely. They also have enough defensive playmakers to make it very difficult for the offenses to get into the end zone. This suggests that more drives will end in field goals than is usually the case. In San Diego, where weather simply isn’t a factor, we’ll look for over 2½ field goals prop to have some value in the Pats/Chargers game.