{"id":3000,"date":"2008-12-11T11:41:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-11T16:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/thursdays-bears-saints-headline-great-betting-card\/"},"modified":"2008-12-11T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-11T16:41:00","slug":"thursdays-bears-saints-headline-great-betting-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/thursdays-bears-saints-headline-great-betting-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday&#8217;s Bears-Saints Headline Great Betting Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Bears and Saints will both be looking to improve their playoff outlook on   Thursday when they meet in <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1   \/><st1:CITY><st1:PLACE>New Orleans<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:CITY>. Here&#8217;s your Daily   Sports Roundup.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O \/><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Gridiron Spotlight<\/strong><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>The Bears enter the week a single game behind the Vikings in the NFC North   division standings with a 7-6 record (<st1:DATE Year=\"2001\" Day=\"6\"   Month=\"6\">6-6-1<\/st1:DATE> against-the-spread).   <st1:CITY><st1:PLACE>Chicago<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:CITY> took a 20-3 lead into   halftime against the Jaguars last week and cruised from there to a 23-10   victory. Kyle Orton went 20-of-34 for 219 yards passing that day with a pair of   touchdown strikes and an <span class=SpellE>INT<\/span>, while Matt Forte ran for   69 yards on 21 carries.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>The Saints find themselves in last place in the NFC South division right now   despite a 7-6 mark (and a lucrative 9-4 record ATS). <st1:CITY><st1:PLACE>New   Orleans<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:CITY> kept themselves in the conference&#8217;s Wild Card   picture with a 29-25 win over the Falcons last week. Drew <span   class=SpellE>Brees<\/span> threw for 230 yards and two <span   class=SpellE>TDs<\/span> in that victory, while Pierre Thomas rushed for the   game-winning score during the fourth quarter.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>Oddsmakers have <st1:CITY><st1:PLACE>Chicago<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:CITY> set as a   3-point home favorite for Thursday night, with the game&#8217;s total at 45 points by   <a href=\"http:\/\/www.betus.com\/ats\/10499\/sportsbook\/\">BetUs Sportsbook<\/a> . The   Bears are 5-8 on the OVER\/UNDER so far this season, while the Saints are sitting   at 8-5 <span class=SpellE>OU<\/span> through their first 13 contests.<\/p>\n<p>The MasterLockLine has the top industry side and total on this game.   Headlining is the No. 1 service since Nov. 1 in all three categories: all   sports, NFL and college\/NFL combined is out of Savannah, GA. Saturday they sweep   with Navy, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Hawaii and over, and Virginia Tech. Sunday his   Rivalry Game of the Year is on the on the Detroit Lions was part of a 5-1 NFL   day with Baltimore, San Francisco, Kansas City and Chicago under. Monday Night   Rivalry Game of the Year Carolina, clients barely broke a sweat. <span   class=GramE><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: bold\">Playoff Payoff Game of the   Year on Saints\/Bears<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = U1   \/><u1:P><\/u1:P>.<\/span><\/span><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: bold\"> <a   href=\"http:\/\/www.offshoreinsiders.com\/index.php?Page=Packages\"><font   color=#0000ff>Click now to purchase<\/font><\/a> sports betting picks from the top   sports services or you can get <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masterlockline.com\/\"><font   color=#0000ff>more information<\/font><\/a> and <span class=GramE>a free   sports<\/span> pick &nbsp;<\/span><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Notable Events<\/strong><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>The NBA&#8217;s top matchup on Thursday night takes place out west, as the Utah   Jazz play host to the Portland Trail Blazers.   <st1:STATE><st1:PLACE>Utah<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:STATE> knocked off Minnesota 99-96   on the road last time out, and they beat   <st1:CITY><st1:PLACE>Portland<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:CITY> 103-96 when the teams last   met on November 5. The Blazers were edged 109-108 at home by the Magic in their   last contest, despite getting 30 points from Brandon Roy and 25 points and 13   boards from <span class=SpellE>LaMarcus<\/span> Aldridge. Greg <span   class=SpellE>Oden<\/span> was held to two points in that defeat.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>There are just two other games on the NBA&#8217;s schedule for Thursday night, as   Boston hits the road to play Washington, and Dallas gets a visit from the   Bobcats.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Rest of the Schedule<\/strong><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>The NHL offers up eight games on Thursday, including the San Jose Sharks at   home against the Anaheim Ducks. Also on the slate: Tampa Bay at Montreal,   Carolina at Philadelphia, Nashville at Columbus, the Islanders at Pittsburgh,   Florida at Edmonton, Minnesota at Phoenix, and then St. Louis at Los   Angeles.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>Finally, a slow night in college basketball on Thursday sees only one ranked   team in action, with No. 15 Villanova playing host to St. Joseph&#8217;s at The   Pavilion.<o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><strong>News from the Wire<\/strong><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><span class=SpellE>Niners<\/span> running back Frank Gore (ankle) is expected   to come down to a game-time decision this weekend . . . Bills quarterback Trent   Edwards (groin) might have to give way to embattled J.P. <span   class=SpellE>Losman<\/span> once again this week . . . Redskins running back   Clinton <span class=SpellE>Portis<\/span> is expected to see a full workload this   weekend despite a very public spat with head coach Jim Zorn over the last couple   of days\u2026C.C. Sabathia is a New York Yankee, what a shock. <span   class=SpellE>A.J<\/span>. Burnett is next\u2026Jason Richardson, Raja Bell, and Boris   <span class=SpellE>Diaw<\/span> headline a major trade between the Suns and   Bobcats\u2026<span style=\"COLOR: black\">Manny <span class=SpellE>Pacquiao&#8217;s<\/span>   victory over Oscar De la Hoya was a huge success selling 1.25 million <span   class=SpellE>PPVs<\/span>\u2026Petty Enterprises releases Bobby <span   class=SpellE>LaBonte<\/span> and is seeking a merger\u2026Corey <span   class=SpellE>Pavin<\/span> is the 2010 Ryder Cup captain for the United   States\u2026Tim <span class=SpellE>Tebow<\/span>, Colton McCoy, and Sam Bradford   headline the Heisman Trophy finalists. Graham Harrell was a noticeable name not   among the hopefuls announced yesterday. <\/span><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p><strong>A Peek at the Future<\/strong><o:P><\/o:P><\/p>\n<p>Friday&#8217;s NBA slate features notable <span class=SpellE>matchups<\/span>   Philadelphia at Cleveland, New Orleans at Boston, and Orlando at Phoenix . . .   the Rangers and Devils will renew their on-ice rivalry with a game in New Jersey   on Friday night, while Ottawa and Washington meet in a capital clash . . .   Maryland hosts Delaware State in college hoops on Friday night, while Iowa will   take on rival Iowa State.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.offshoreinsiders.com\/\"><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>OffshoreInsiders.com<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bears and Saints will both be looking to improve their playoff outlook on Thursday when they meet in New Orleans. Here&#8217;s your Daily Sports Roundup. The Gridiron Spotlight The Bears enter the week a single game behind the Vikings in the NFC North division standings with a 7-6 record (6-6-1 against-the-spread). Chicago took a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/thursdays-bears-saints-headline-great-betting-card\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thursday&#8217;s Bears-Saints Headline Great Betting Card<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}