Everton cruises past Hull City

Soccer Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikel Arteta scored his first two goals of the season, Landon Donovan added a goal and an assist, and Everton defeated Hull City 5-1 on Sunday at Goodison Park.

Arteta, limited to six EPL matches due to injury, scored both in the first and Donovan scored in the 82nd and assisted on Jack Rodwell's goal in the 86th.

Everton, which got its other score on an own goal, moved to eighth. Hull City, which is 0-11-4 on the road, remains in the bottom three.

Hull had a chance to open the scoring just five minutes into the match, but as Richard Garcia settled a through ball from Nick Barmby, Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard charged off his line and deflected his shot attempt just as it left his boot.

Ayegbeni Yakubu should have fired Everton into the lead in the 13th, but drove a 16-yard shot off the right post.

Yakubu made up for the miss four minutes later when he sent a pass in from the right to the far post, where Arteta ran onto the ball and hit a volley inside the near post to beat Hull goalie Boaz Myhill.

Everton was handed a chance to put the match away in the 28th when Yakubu was fouled in the area, but his weak penalty attempt was easily handled by Myhill.

Hull responded with the tying goal three minutes later through 19-year-old Tom Cairney. The young midfielder chested down a pass just outside the box and hit the ball before it reached the ground to unleash a dipping shot over Howard to the far post.

Everton was back in front within 10 minutes when George Boateng settled a pass in the area, then dropped the ball to Steven Pienaar, who rolled the ball with a back pass to Arteta for an easy finish.

Richard Garcia headed an Arteta cross into his own net six minutes after half, then Donovan came off the bench to finish off the victory in what could be his last match at Goodison.

Donovan, who will rejoin the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS soon, set up Yakubu for a chance he sent over the bar in the 74th but then added a goal and an assist.

Everton played a ball in from the left, and it slipped just by Rodwell in the center of the area and arrived to an open Donovan at the far post. Donovan hit the ball powerfully off a bounce, drilling it back inside the far post in the 82nd.

Donovan had another chance minutes later from a similar spot, but sent a pass back into the middle to Rodwell, who did well to finish just inside the right post.

The United States star joined Everton on loan in January and has two goals and three assists in just nine matches.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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