There are far fewer betting options available than there were a couple of years ago in tennis, as many mysterious early round tournament exits by Eastern European tennis players had suspicious wagering patterns. Translation: offshore sports books were getting killed with heavy bets against (mostly) Russian players who went out early.

Now the AP reports from Austria: “A court in Korneuburg, a town outside Vienna, issued a subpoena for Georgian tennis player Irakli Labadze to offer sworn testimony about his first-round loss to Austria's Julian Knowle at last year's Raiffeisen Grand Prix in St. Poelten. Knowle, an unseeded doubles specialist, beat the fourth-seeded Labadze 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.”

Turns out a buddy of Labadze held a winning ticket worth $23,000 following the gigantic upset, which took place in May of last year. Actually, he’s still holding it, as the European bookmaker smelled a rat and refuses to pay off. The tennis world has done a good job keeping this stuff under the radar screen of the media, but there’s a story there for someone.

While we’re tipping the media off with story ideas, I wonder if any reporter has investigated what Barry Bonds hat size is today and what size it was ten years ago? There’s got to be an old Pittsburgh Pirate clubhouse type with an axe to grind out there isn’t there?

How about that Atlantic Division race between the Celtics and the Sixers? Two sub-.500 (and would be sub-.400 out west) teams are battling to become an embarrassing divisional winner. They decided to kill what little flow and team play each team enjoyed by trading for Chris Weber (Sixers) and Antoine Walker (Celtics) right before the trade deadline. Look for these individualistic, jaded veterans to completely disrupt their team’s offenses and hinder the development of the solid young players on each team’s roster.

Sniping already and it is only spring training, that is one crazy Sox/Yankees rivalry, isn’t it? Not according to Doug “It’s My Ball and I’m Going Home” Mientkiewicz, the rent-a-first baseman that Boston employed for their championship drive last season. Commenting on the rivalry, Mientkiewicz says "That wasn't all it was cracked up to be as far as I was concerned . . . I still say the Twins/White Sox series were just as intense as that one."

And the Florida International/Denver Belt Conference matches those overrated North Carolina/Duke and Michigan State/Wisconsin rivalries in the hoops, don’t you think, Dougie?

If you’ve been calling 1-770-649-1078 you know that on most days our free telephone hotline has no advertising. Zip, zilch, none. Our hotline is an old-fashioned “comp phone” that you can call every game day for a free 24-hour recorded message. Win or lose, you’ll get some good information on the teams and learn something in the process. Both the team and the big picture knowledge is something you can take into the future, win or lose, so make the call to 1-770-618-8700 part of your regular routine.

Conventional wisdom is that Miami and Virginia Tech are surprisingly good in their first year in the ACC. Maybe. But the ACC is a three-team league, with North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest head and shoulders ahead of their conference rivals. Georgia Tech, Virginia, Maryland, and NC State have all been dreadfully disappointing and the newcomers have shown they can compete with the “mediocre majority” in this overrated circuit. So why not back Virginia Tech at NC State on Saturday. NC State has had a series of big games heading into this one, and even with the revenge motive of a 1-point loss in Blacksburg, the disappointment lingers after dropping their spotlight home game against hated UNC. Points worth taking in a game that could go either way and we’ll look for the “sticky” Techsters to hang around against the underachieving Wolfpack in this one.

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