Sports Betting By The Numbers: August 30th, 2010

No.1- The 2010 United States Open tennis tournament begins this week at Arthur Ashe stadium in New York.  On the men’s draw, Rafael Nadal is the recipient of the top seed, looking for his first career U.S Open victory.  His previous best finishes included back-to-back semifinal appearances  in 2008 and 2009.  Nadal has been ranked No.1 in the world since June 21, and has 41 career singles titles.  On the other side of the draw, Caroline Wozniacki of Denamark is the top seed for the women.  The No.1-ranked women’s player in the world made it to the finals of the U.S Open Open a year ago, but lost to Kim Clijsters.  She looks to take that next next to her first-career Grand Slam title.  Tennis betting lines have set Clijsters as the betting favorite however, despite the top-seed Wozniacki.

3- Week one of the 2010 College Football Season will present three match ups between preseason top-25 teams.  Oregon State will take on TCU in a Pac-10 vs Mountain West clash.  The Horned Frogs are ranked sixth in the country, after navigating their way through and undefeated regular season a year ago.  In an SEC/ACC contest, LSU will face North Carolina in a neutral site at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night.  Both conferences makes up roughly half of the teams ranked in the preseason. Rounding out the slate of ranked-games in the opening weekend is a clash of top-10 opponents in Boise State and Virginia Tech.  The Broncos of Boise State have achieved their highest preseason ranking in school history, installed as the third-ranked team in the country.  College football betting lines have a complete list of teams and odds.

65- Tiger Woods moved up from 112 to 65 this weekend in the FedEx Cup points standings by virtue of this 12th-place finish at the Barclay’s tournament.  Woods easily made the top-100 who qualify for the next tournament in Boston on Thursday.  Woods shot out of the gate on Thursday with a 6-under round of 65 to take the lead after 18 holes, but struggled on Friday and Saturday.  However, the No.1-ranked player in the world closed strong on Sunday with a round of 67 to climb his way up the leader board and secure his spot.

35- The Chicago White Sox retired Frank Thomas’ No.35 over the weekend.  Thomas was a staple in White Sox baseball history throughout the majority of his career.  Of his 521 career home runs hit, 448 of them were in a White Sox uniform.  During his time in Chicago, he batted .306 from 1990-2005.  It was declared “Frank Thomas Day”, as he was joined by many of his old teammates and coaches to celebrate the occasion.