March Madness 2010

Brut Sun Bowl

Dec. 31, 2010. 12 pm MST

El Paso, Texas, Sun Bowl

Oklahoma 31 - Stanford 27

The Sun Bowl was first played on January 1, 1935, as a fund-raising event for a local service club, to benefit underprivileged children and to finance improvements to the El Paso High School Stadium. It has grown into El Paso's number one national attraction and is second only to the Rose Bowl in longevity. On October 18, 1934, at a meeting of the El Paso Kiwanis Club, Dr. Brice Schuller suggested that the club sponsor a football game on New Year's Day, matching an El Paso High School All-Star Team against a worthy opponent. The motion was passed unanimously. It was decided to ask for public suggestions as to the name of this annual game, and the name "Sun Bowl" was submitted by Dr. C. M. Hendricks, who became the first Sun Bowl Association president. The following year, a week-long schedule of events was added to the Sun Bowl festivities, and four other local service clubs (Rotary, Lions, Optimist and Active 20-30) joined the Kiwanis in coordinating the entire "Sun Carnival" calendar. In 1936, New Mexico State and Hardin-Simmons were invited to play, and the Sun Bowl has been a college game ever since.

Over the years, many great collegiate stars who went on to illustrious football careers in both the college and professional ranks have participated in the Sun Bowl. Some of these athletes include Ara Parseghian, Merlin Olsen, Tony Dorsett, Barry Sanders, Billy Stevens, Charlie Johnson and Jesse Whittenton. Another famous Sun Bowl participant was Burt Reynolds, who was a member of the 1955 Florida State team.

Today, events held in conjunction with the Sun Bowl include the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic, the FirstLight Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade and the State Farm Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament. During the early years of the Sun Bowl, it was a tradition to match the Border Conference champion against the best available opponent. Today the Sun Bowl matches teams from the tradition-rich Big Ten and Pac-10 Conferences.

Football Betting News

Chicago Bulls vs. Orlando Magic 8:00 ET

Posted on 3/11/2010 12:00:00 AMby North Shore Sports, INC

The first leg of TNT’s Thursday night NBA betting telecast takes us to sunny Orlando, FL where the Magic (45-20, 34-30-1 ATS) will look to keep on rolling when they welcome in the Chicago Bulls (31-32, 30-31-2 ATS) for their third and final meeting of the 2009-10 NBA season.

The Bulls saw their current losing streak extend to five in a row both SU & ATS when they fell at home to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. Dwight Howard and the Magic rattled off their sixth win in a row their last time out when they pasted the Los Angeles Clippers 113-87 as lofty 12.5-point favorites.

Bookmaker.com currently has Orlando tagged as hefty 12.5-point favorites for this sports betting battle with the game ‘total’ set at 204.

The Bulls looked to be a team on the rise right out of the All Star break as they secured SU wins and covers in six of seven games. However, they’ve fallen upon hard times as injuries to Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, and Taj Gibson have seen them drop each of their L/5 NBA contests both SU & ATS. Tuesday night’s trouncing at the hands of the Jazz fall them fall out of the Eastern Conference Playoff race for the first time in months; they now find themselves on the outside looking in a half-game in back of the eighth seeded Miami Heat.

The Bulls recent slide hasn’t been because of the offense; it’s averaging 100.4 PPG its L/5 outings with PG Derrick Rose averaging 26 PPG and 6.2 APG during that stretch. Where they have faltered however is at the defensive end of the court where they’ve surrendered a whopping 115 PPG. It also hasn’t helped that they’ve lost the rebounding battle by decisive margins in three of those games. The absence of C Noah is really being felt by Head Coach Vinnie Del Negro’s squad.

The Magic are currently firing on all cylinders under the watchful eye of Head Coach Stan Van Gundy. His men have rattled of six straight NBA wins, and made their betting backers happy in four of those outings. They currently hold the #2 overall seed in the Eastern Conference 3.5-games in front of the Boston Celtics and five-games in back of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As a whole, Orlando is a very balanced outfit. It currently boasts the 11th ranked overall scoring offense (101.7 PPG) and ranks seventh in the league from beyond the arc converting at a 36.3 percent clip on the year. Defensively, the Magic owns the top ranked FG percentage defense allowing opponents to convert at a paltry 43.6 percent clip, and they rank 6th overall in points allowed (95.3 PPG). They also hold the 3rd best rebounding margin in the league at +2.78 rebounds per game. If only they could hit their free throws (72.7%)!

Orlando’s toyed with the Bulls for awhile now, but the 2009-10 season series stands a game apiece after Chicago won outright 101-93 as short home pups in January. The Magic blew their doors off in the United Center in the second go round 107-87 as 4.5-point favorites.

The Magic have failed to cover in each of their L/4 TNT appearances, but they’re 5-1 ATS the L/6 times they faced a Central Division opponent. Chicago is 6-1 ATS the L/7 times they faced a +.600 opponent on the road, but a sad 9-25 ATS its L/34 NBA battles vs. a Southwest Division opponent.

Will the Bulls be able to snap their current losing streak and pick up a solid win as huge underdogs, or will the Magic secure their seventh win in a row and blow the Bulls out of Amway? If you got a handle on this one, log into your Bookmaker.com account and stake your claim in the action!