Tennis Star's Landmark Anti-Doping Trial Starts

Tennis Betting Lines

06/19/2007 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A Boston law firm has gone to court today to clear the name of Guillermo Coria, a top-ranked professional athlete who was suspended from the national tennis circuit in 2001 after testing positive for steroids. Coria, the former No. 3 tennis player in the world, is suing a vitamin maker for allowing traces of steroids to contaminate the multivitamin he was taking, causing him to fail a drug test at the height of his career. After failing the test, Coria was suspended from play and lost millions of dollars in sponsorships, appearance fees and prize money. If successful in court, Coria will be the first world-class professional athlete to prove that a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs was caused by product contamination.

The landmark lawsuit, Guillermo Coria vs. Universal Nutrition a/k/a Universal Protein Supplement Corp. and G.E.N. Tech, LLC, accuses New Brunswick, NJ-based Universal Nutrition of negligent manufacturing of its Gaspari Nutrition multivitamin and seeks financial compensation. A jury in the Superior Court of New Jersey begins hearing the case this morning and the trial is expected to last two to three weeks. Coria is represented by Nystrom Beckman & Paris LLP, a litigation firm based in Boston, MA that specializes in complex litigation and trial work.

In February 2001, Coria, a native of Argentina, began taking regular doses of multivitamins manufactured by Universal and distributed by Gaspari. In April of that year, a urine test issued through the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Anti-Doping program revealed trace amounts of nandrolone, a known steroid, in Corias system. The minute traces were inconsistent with steroid usage and did not have any performance-enhancing effects, but they were enough to generate a positive test result. At the time of the 2001 drug test, Coria was 19 years old, at the top of his game and pegged as the next tennis phenom. The positive test results led to a two-year suspension, removing Coria immediately from the national circuit and denying him key sponsorship monies under his endorsement contracts.

In todays proceedings, Coria alleges that Universals negligent manufacturing practices allowed residue from other products containing steroids to mix with the multivitamins, ultimately causing the failed drug test. In 2001, Coria was able to prove his case to the ATP and his suspension from professional tennis was reduced from two years to time served (seven months). But by that point, Coria had already dropped from the top 30 to No. 200 in the ATP standings.

"Corias suspension could not have come at a worse time in his career. He was in his prime teenage years - key to a young stars development - and breaking into the highest levels of the professional tennis rankings," said Gavin Forbes, senior vice president of tennis for IMG Worldwide. "Though his original suspension was reduced to seven months, that seven months translates to years of damage in the tennis world."

"Guillermo not only wants to clear his name, but also wants to ensure that no other athletes experience devastation and career destruction as a result of manufacturing companies negligence," said William C. Nystrom, Esq., the lead attorney on the case. "Though he can never reclaim the time he lost, he can achieve financial compensation and a restored international reputation."

About Nystrom Beckman & Paris LLP

Based in Boston, MA, Nystrom Beckman & Paris LLP is a boutique litigation firm that specializes in complex litigation and trial work. Founded in 2004 by three experienced attorneys from national law firms, NBP has steadily grown to become a "go-to" firm for major corporations, entrepreneurial companies and individuals. Its team of associates, paralegals and support staff are dedicated to handling matters of any size and complexity, achieving outstanding results and exceeding clients expectations.

Wcondenast Tennis Betting News

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.