Demeanor debate: Tide serious, Longhorns giddy

NCAA Football Betting Lines

01/06/2010 -

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) -Alabama coach Nick Saban showed up to media day for the BCS championship game wearing a cream-colored suit and a tie with diagonal stripes. Texas coach Mack Brown appeared in a burnt-orange, short-sleeved polo shirt with a big ol' Longhorn logo on it.

Saban got up and left when the horn went off indicating his 60 minutes were done. Brown lingered, spinning a few more stories, shaking a few more hands.

Crimson Tide players talked about being on a business trip. Longhorns players went around interviewing each other and goofing off while taking pictures with the BCS trophy.

Over back-to-back sessions in the same ballroom Tuesday, the difference in demeanor between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas was easy to spot.

Whether it will mean anything Thursday night is hard to say, especially considering both coaches have won national titles in recent years.

But it's clear that any breakdown of this matchup needs to include serious vs. giddy alongside things like SEC vs. Big 12 and smashmouth offense vs. spread offense.

``I think Coach Brown said it best: 'We need to come in here and have fun and do what we've been doing all year. Don't make it any bigger than it is,''' Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy said. ``That's kind of my mentality and our team's mentality.

``When we're out there focused and having fun, that's when we're playing to the best of our ability,'' McCoy continued. ``That's exactly what we need to do headed into this game, because we are focused, we are prepared.''

Maybe the Longhorns can relax because McCoy and nine other players have been here before.

While none played in the 2006 Rose Bowl that determined the national championship, they were all watching from the sideline as Vince Young wiped out a late deficit to pull off an upset of No. 1 Southern Cal.

Young persuaded Brown to loosen up throughout that '05 season. Considering how things turned out, it makes sense that he's stuck with a carpe diem approach.

So, actually, his casual approach is just another day at the office. He's handling things in California the same way he does in Austin, all in hopes that players approach the biggest game of their lives as if it's just No. 14 on their schedule.

``Coach Brown just wants to make sure that everybody knows that we don't have to do anything other than what we've been doing every week,'' wide receiver Jordan Shipley said. ``Just go out and play football.''

Then again, the same can be said for Alabama.

Saban is all-business and proud of it, treating the media session as nothing more than the 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. slot on his agenda.

``At this point, it's almost like getting on a flight,'' he said. ``It takes a long time to board and check your bags and all that kind of stuff, but now we're ready to take off. You've got to go through your checklist and make sure you get it right and do it right and get ready to go out there and play your best game of the year.''

Several times this week, Saban has talked to his team about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, the ``Miracle on Ice'' squad.

Considering the Tide is favored, his message could be to avoid the fate of the Soviet Union team that was upset. Instead, it's been about coming together like that group of unheralded Americans at Lake Placid.

``He's been talking about that movie and that team a lot this week to make sure that we're staying focused on this goal of what we need to do,'' linebacker Cory Reamer said, ``and not straying too far away from it with all the distractions that we have around us.''

But is Saban having any fun?

``I think he's enjoying his work,'' Reamer said. ``I think he's enjoying the process and the fact that we're here playing for this big of a game. He's enjoying preparing and getting the team ready for it. I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun afterward when we win.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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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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