The NFL fantasy football sleepers certainly have serious ramifications for sports bettors. However, the main reason that professional gamblers are coming off a remarkable opening week of sports picks is the availability of the preseason primer.

Here is the Week 2 NFL initial look for sports bettors.

Thursday, August 19

Colts vs. Bills

Bill RB Fred Jackson is out. He rushed for 1,062 yards last year, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Marshawn Lynch, who split time as starter, is also out. This means that rookie C.J. Spiller will be rushed into more playing time. He carried four times for just 16 yards in the NFX opener.

After Spiller, it’s Chad Simpson, who played sparingly for the Colts. In 25 games in his NFL career, he has 30 carries for 147 yards. Behind him is a rookie free agent, Joique Bell.

Saturday, August 21

NY Giants-Steelers

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will play and may start. As usual Head Coach Mike Tomlin was glib when asked about his playing time.

Raiders vs. Bears

NFL preseason odds players will want to note that as bad as Chicago’s starting QB Jay Cutler is, it gets worse behind him. Potential backup Todd Collins rejected a contract offer, Caleb Harris is out and rookie Dan LeFevour not ready for significant role.

Dolphins vs. Jaguars

Dolphins OG Nate Garner is out. He started eight games last year and was projected to be the backup at RT.

Lions vs. Broncos

Detroit will be without LB Jordan Dizon for the season. Versatile and projected as a key backup, he started the first preseason game. He was a top-notch special teams player.

Cowboys vs. Chargers

Dallas starting RT Marc Colombo is out. Alex Barron is also out meaning youngsters Robert Brewster and Sam Young are the fill-ins. Dallas top pick WR Dez Bryant is out.

Jets vs. Panthers

Though Carolina WR Steve Smith is back practicing, he won’t play.

Monday, August 23

Cardinals vs. Titans

Arizona superstar receiver Larry Fitzgerald is out. Of course they lost No. 2 WR Anquan Boldin in the offseason and starting QB Kurt Warner retired. This makes Steve Breaston the No. 1 receiver and Early Doucet, the No. 2.

For more information: Preseason week two picks from the world’s best handicappers are on the OffshoreInsiders.com Network.

Betting and fantasy football expert Shea Mathews updates the sleepers in this years NFL fantasy draft as pro gamblers enjoy another winning NFL betting week. To say the least, Eli Manning bloodied face was nothing compared to the bloodletting of sportsbooks.

The Vegas odds to win the major 2010 Emmy Awards are up.

Courtesy of OddsShark.com: Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Yankees get a visit from the Tigers, the Giants look for a victory over the Phillies, and the Fever and Liberty meet on the WNBA court.

Meeting up on the diamond . . .

The American League schedule for Tuesday features Seattle at Baltimore, Texas at Tampa Bay, the Angels at Boston, the White Sox at Minnesota, Cleveland at Kansas City, Toronto at Oakland, and Detroit at the Yankees. Justin Verlander (13-7, 3.72 ERA) is slated to start for the Tigers in that last matchup, while New York hands the ball to CC Sabathia (15-5, 3.14 ERA). Righthander Verlander dominated the Rays in his last trip to the mound, surrendering just one run on six hits over his six innings of work, and fanning seven. Lefthander Sabathia is coming off a victory over the Royals in which he gave up three runs on 10 hits over 8 2-3 innings of work. Sabathia fanned three that day.

Over in the National League on Tuesday it’s then Florida at Pittsburgh, Washington at Atlanta, the Mets at Houston, San Diego at the Cubs, Milwaukee at St. Louis, Cincinnati at Arizona, Colorado at the Dodgers, and San Francisco at Philadelphia. Barry Zito (8-6, 3.44 ERA) is set to take on Roy Oswalt (7-13, 3.34 ERA) in that Giants/Phillies matchup. Lefthander Zito is on a string of three straight no-decisions, giving up four runs on 10 hits over 6 1-3 innings of work against the Cubs last time out. Righthander Oswalt blanked the Dodgers on five hits in seven innings in his last start, while striking out five.

Top expert picks on today’s card…

The Center of the Handicapping Universe is 8-3 the last 11 with small favorites and underdogs in MLB. The NFL Specialists are 5-1 the last six exhibition games. Now get six winners including a Dandy Dog Wise Guy winner. Wise Guy plays from GodsTips are widely accepted by virtually every bookmaker, Vegas runner, pro bettor, Vegas insider, oddsmaker, and fellow handicappers alike as the strongest pick in sports gambling.

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Rounding out the Roundup . . .

As well, there are six WNBA games on tap for Tuesday, with Chicago at Atlanta, Tulsa at Connecticut, Washington at San Antonio, Minnesota at Seattle, Phoenix at Los Angeles, and Indiana at New York. The Fever (21-10 SU, 18-13 ATS) have won five straight games, knocking off Connecticut 79-66 last time out. The Liberty (19-11 SU, 16-13-1 ATS) have won eight straight games, and they pounded Phoenix 107-69 in their most recent game; Cappie Pondexter led the way for New York with 28 points that day.

Emmy Awards 2010 odds…

All these odds are courtesy of BetUs sportsbook.

Sun, Aug 29, 2010 EST

In previous articles (see links below), fantasy football and rotisserie baseball players are making money daily with predictions on Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Randy Moss, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre and others.

Now that we’ve covered the fantasy football staples – our top quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers – it’s time to delve deeper.

Which sleeper picks should NFL betting players keep a close eye on for 2010? Here are a few names to consider; some are more obvious than others.

Note: A rookie doesn’t automatically equal a sleeper. Ryan Mathews, C.J. Spiller and Jahvid Best were all highly touted draft picks and won’t come cheaply in drafts. They’re not sleepers.

QUARTERBACK

Chad Henne, Dolphins

Any quarterback who adds Brandon Marshall to his target list will get a huge spike in production. Independent of Marshall, I also think Henne simply has some game. I really like his arm.

Josh Freeman, Buccaneers

Tampa Bay will stink this year but that doesn’t mean it will be an utter fantasy graveyard. Josh Freeman turns over the ball too much but he’s also a gifted athlete who will add to his fantasy points with his rushing totals. He could be a respectable QB2 or spot starter.

RUNNING BACK

Arian Foster, Texans

Foster’s value is rocketing so quickly that he barely qualifies as a sleeper now. Ben Tate is out for the season, meaning Foster only has to hold off Steve Slaton for touches. Hello, fantasy value and hello, Houston Texans NFL futures.

Bernard Scott, Bengals

Scott isn’t set to have a big role in Cincinnati’s offense. However, Cedric Benson is injury-prone, so Scott could be thrust into the starting role at any moment. He has the explosiveness to excel if that happens.

Donald Brown, Colts

Joseph Addai has the Colts’ starting tailback job but (a) he gets nicked up often and (b) the Colts have publicly discussed expanding the sophomore Brown’s role in 2010. Any Colt skill player is worth a pick.

Michael Bush, Raiders

Hopefully, Bush gets a more extended look as Oakland’s featured back than Darren McFadden will. Bush is simply more of an NFL-type, with a lower center of gravity and better toughness.

WIDE RECEIVER

Mike Wallace, Steelers

Wallace is another guy barely clinging to sleeper status (like Johnny Knox, whom I can’t call a sleeper anymore), as he’s a popular choice among fantasy sports betting players. All you can hope is that his pedestrian 2009 numbers and Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension scare your opponents into thinking Wallace is a fantasy backup.

Jordan Shipley,  Bengals

Shipley only popped onto my fantasy radar this week. He’s having a great camp, showing quickness and toughness, and he’s playing well enough that the Bengals may cut the banged-up Antonio Bryant. If they do, watch out for Shipley.

Dexter McCluster, Chiefs

McCluster doesn’t have anything close to a starting job with the Chiefs. But he’s an exciting receiver/running back cut from the same cloth as Percy Harvin and he’s arguably been Kansas City’s best player at camp. Maybe the Chiefs will find a way to work him into their offense?

Mike Williams, Buccaneers

Rookie receivers are always risky picks but the Buccaneers (and sports betting podcasts) can’t stop raving about Williams at camp. He’s been Tampa’s best pass catcher by far. He could really elevate Josh Freeman’s sleeper payout.

Golden Tate, Seahawks

Tate could be a nice steal depending on your league’s scoring system. He probably won’t score much but, if your league counts return yards, Tate could be, well, golden, as the lowly Seahawks will get scored on plenty.

TIGHT END

Zach Miller, Raiders

Miller was already a relevant fantasy tight end in Oakland despite having no one throwing to him. Now, he gets Jason Campbell, a competent NFLer known for deferring to his tight end more than any other position. Does that mean Miller could be a top-five fantasy tight end in 2010?

For more information: Also get Shea Matthews of ScoresOddsPicks.com breaking down the fantasy football wide receivers, the top fantasy sports running backs and the marquee position, the top rotisserie football and fantasy quarterbacks

OffshoreInsiders.com CEO Joe Duffy is so bitter that the US News college rankings don’t have his alma mater California University of PA at the top of the list, he’s going to take it out on the sportsbooks, showing no mercy after he eviscerated the oddsmakers over the weekend.

Matt Rivers, who was the winningest handicapper ever—nobody came close—on a large network of sites and has a baseball free picks winner up as well.

True, professional gamblers made a fortune betting NFL preseason football week 1, but they will tell you that the best ROI is in MLB betting.

From Grandmaster Sports Handicapper Joe Duffy and GodsTips.

SAN DIEGO (GARLAND -114) Cubs (Wells)

The Padres are 7-1 the last eight. The Cubs are 4-15 their last 19. The Padres in their last seven games are hitting .287 with an OBP .360. The Fathers are 14-8 the last 22 with Jon Garland +6.6.

The Cubs have lost four straight with Randy Wells and six of this last seven starts -4.4 units.  In his last three starts his ERA is 8.44 and his WHIP is 1.750.

Padres are 8-2 in their last 10 road games vs. a team with a losing home record, 24-7 in their last 31 vs. a team with a losing record.

Cubs are 3-13 in their last 16 home games vs. a team with a winning road record, 1-12 in their last 13 when their opponent scores 5 runs or more in their previous game, 1-7 in Wells’ last 8 starts after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game.

The pick: San Diego -114

For more information: The Center of the Handicapping Universe is 8-3 the last 11 with small favorites and underdogs in MLB. The NFL Specialists are 5-1 the last six exhibition games. Now get six winners including a Dandy Dog Wise Guy winner. Wise Guy plays from GodsTips are widely accepted by virtually every bookmaker, Vegas runner, pro bettor, Vegas insider, oddsmaker, and fellow handicappers alike as the strongest pick in sports gambling.

All six winners are underdogs or small favorites. Click now to purchase GodsTips

Matt Rivers has a free pick winner for Tuesday is on the Detroit Tigers +160.

Detroit is getting healthier and with their ace and stud in Justin Verlander on the hill I’ll back Jim Leyland’s Tee-grays here. No doubt CC Sabathia is awesome and extremely difficult to hit but it’s not like Verlander can’t go out there and dazzle as well.

After losing a pair in Kansas City and not exactly hitting the cover off of the ball last night I think I can say that the Bombers haven’t been bombing of late. Sure the Yankees are great and if they come to play are always formidable with Arod, Jeter, Tex, Cano and others but after getting Carlos Guillen and a few others back to help out Miguel Cabrera I’ll take this price back.

The visitors from MoTown have had a rough rough last few months as they have plummeted all the way from first place to below .500 but with a lot of the pieces backand after prevailing last night they can more than compete tonight in the Bronx behind Verlander.

A solid enough team with a stud on the hill plus a price such as this one has to be played no matter for how much, period.

Free pick: Detroit +160 at BetUs

For more information: Cliff Lee and the Rangers defense imploded a bit there late in my first losing day in almost a week. Right back to the winning ways today with three plays on the diamond that will equal right around a million more stars of profit.

900,000* baseball 3Pack: 300,000* each; Milwaukee-St. Louis, Cincinnati-Arizona and Chicago-Minnesota. Click now to purchase Matt Rivers

It’s the Cincinnati Bengals-Dallas Cowboys Hall-of-Fame Game from Canton, Ohio to kick of the NFL odds. Cincinnati is laying three-points, though shop around as it’s 2.5 at some NFL sportsbooks. The total is at 32.5.

Among the top sports service NFL picks is the side from GodsTips and the Hall-of-Fame Game total from the Power of 620 sports services behind every selection, the MasterLockLine at OffshoreInsiders.com

The free pick section has the official betting preview and more.

The Republican Party’s self-induced mad dash for
irrelevancy is headlined by their reckless disregard for the Golden Rule of
winning elections: first solidify the base.

The Party of Lincoln’s negligence commenced with George W.
Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”. Conservatives preach tough love, but Bush
distorted the “compassionate conservatism” redundancy into an oxymoron by
defining “compassion” using the glossary of Jimmy Carter.

With the aid of a Republican Congress, Bush benevolently
spent like a drunken Kennedy. His renunciation of conservative principals of conscientious
expenditure failed miserably not only in courting the left hell-bent on
destroying him, but disenfranchised conservatives of every ilk.

But Bush and the Republicans’ implosion was just in its
infancy.

Speaking of aliens, the President from the once
law-and-order party adopted a do-nothing course of action when it came to preventing
illegal aliens from journeying across the Rio Grande.
If only crossing a Manhattan
intersection could be done with such ease.

A new low point was achieved in the Terri Shiavo circus.
Once a “family values” party, religious insurgents demanded that the
excruciating life and death decision involving the brain-damaged comatose women
should be decided not by her next-of-kin, but by a bunch of empty suits inside
the Beltway.

While the Reaganites allowed Christian jihads to seize
occupancy of the conservative movement, the rest of the party distanced
themselves by nominating John McCain for President, the most center-left
entrant in modern Republican history.

Lagging miserably in the polls, McCain skyrocketed once he
threw a bone to traditional conservatives and chose Sarah Palin as his running
mate. While her gaffes made her easy fodder for the left-leaning “if you can’t
beat them, destroy them” media, it was centrist McCain who permitted Barack
Obama to achieve the impossible.

Liberal Barack Obama successfully courted abandoned Reagan
conservatives by convincing them that he would cut taxes for middle-class Americans
more than McCain would.

But Barney Frank has pulled the granddaddy of them all in
dismembering the disremembered conservative movement. Somehow, someway, the
unapologetic left-winger has positioned himself to the right of most
Republicans on gambling civil liberties.

Personal responsibility and creating new streams of tax
revenue was once etched-in-stone bare essentials of the Republican Party and
remains basic principles in the non-religious nutter dieing wing of
conservatism.

Fully legalizing the legitimate pastime of online gambling,
while relishing in the cash flow that would funnel into the economy, should be embraced
by the Republicans.

Yet so-called Republicans such as John Kyl and Bill Frist
have declared mutiny on traditional conservatism and hijacked it to the point
where estranged Reaganites acknowledge that Barney Frank represents their
constituency much more than the derelict traitors who deceitfully call
themselves Republicans.

Republicans are oblivious to how they alienated their base
with spendorama “compassion”, a see-no-evil approach to illegal immigration,
and allowing a left-wing presidential candidate to abduct their lower-taxes
mantra.

By voting for full legalization of online gambling,
they have an opportunity to return to their pro-business, anti-government
intrusion roots. But consistent with their political death wish recent history,
Republicans have allowed a progressive Congressman from Massachusetts
to shanghai and pirate what should be a conservative calling card.

Ronald Reagan once said that that he didn’t leave the
Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left him. Now posthumously, the
Republican Party has done the same.

Barney Frank is now the knight in shining armor to
dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. Republican enablers have assured this
Armageddon lasts well beyond the next mid-terms.

Supporting online gambling could be the Republicans last
chance to court back conservatives. Here’s betting they instead choose to
subvert themselves further into irrelevancy.

The author Joe Duffy is CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com,
the most respected sports betting site on American sports.

The world’s top March Madness picks and predictions site OffshoreInsiders.com presents
a look at the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament from the standpoint of
beating the bookmakers.

All quoted records are against the spread unless
over/under records are specified. For the latest Big Dance Vegas odds and
betting line check out the college
basketball odds.

Radford-North Carolina

North Carolina
is 26-6 off an straight up loss and 40-18 in nonconference games. They are 0-7 against teams with a
winning record.

USC-Boston
College

USC is 5-0 overall. Boston
College is 22-8 on neutral courts
and they’ve covered five straight NCAA Tournament games.

Butler-LSU

Butler is
37-15 in nonconference games. The Tigers are 5-0 off
a double digit home loss, but 1-7 on neutral courts.

Michigan-Clemson

Michigan is
3-7 their last 10 on neutral courts.

Morgan
State-Oklahoma

Morgan State
is 3-9 nonconference games. Oklahoma
is 0-5 against teams with a winning record.

Akron-Gonzaga

Gonzaga is 2-6 in the NCAA Tournament.

Western
Kentucky-Illinois

The Hilltoppers are 16-5 on
neutral courts and 40-17 their last 57 nonconference
games according to the sportsbooks. Illinois

Binghamton-Duke

The Blue Devils have dropped four straight Big Dance
games.

Minnesota-Texas

The Golden Gophers come in on a 4-11
slump. Texas is 3-7
against teams with a winning record.

Cal State Northridge-Memphis

Memphis is
11-2 their last 13 against teams with a winning record. The Matadors are 7-2
off straight up win.

Maryland-California

California 1-5 overall run.

Mississippi
State-Washington

Mississippi State
is 6-0 overall. Washington is 7-0
off a loss.

Northern
Iowa-Purdue

Northern Iowa is 7-2 to the Big 10
yet 2-10 their last 12 nonconference overall. Purdue
is 0-6 to the Missouri Valley.

Texas A&M-BYU

Texas A&M is 10-1 off a ATS
loss and 46-22 opponent winning percentage of .600 or greater. BYU 1-6 off ATS
loss.

Chattanooga-Connecticut

Connecticut
has dropped seven straight NCAA Tournament games.

Robert Morris-Michigan State

The Spartans are 9-0 off straight up loss.

For March Madness 2009 picks, predictions and spread
winners, it’s always OffshoreInsiders.com

With the whole world watching, March Madness
betting produces moments that live on forever in sports lore, Among those
moments are amazing comebacks – improbable rallies that have people saying “Oh
my God, did you see the game?” around the water cooler the next day. Let’s
check out some of the most memorable comebacks in March Madness betting
history.

WHEN: 2007 South regional matchup

WHO: Ohio
State over Xavier

HOW: In one of the wildest March
Madness betting comebacks in recent memory, favorite Ohio
State trailed by 11 points with
just over seven minutes to play. But the Buckeyes fought all the way back and
tied the game with Ron Lewis’ buzzer-beating three-pointer before edging Xavier
78-71 in overtime.

WHEN: 1989 Southeast Regional
matchup

WHO: South Alabama
over Alabama

HOW: Imagine how much you’d have
won if you took a halftime sportsbook
line on South Alabama, who trailed by 16 points? They
fought all the way back and won 86-84 thanks to a three-point dagger by Jeff
Hodge with five seconds remaining.

WHEN: 1983 Championship final

WHO: North
Carolina State
over Houston

HOW: How often do online betting
fans see a favorite blow a six-point lead with three minutes to go? It happened
in 1983, when NC State stole the championship from Houston
with an improbable comeback capped by a wild Dereck Whittenberg shot that was caught and converted into an
alley oop by Lorenzo Charles. NC State 54, Houston
52.