When Jay Rood, vice president of race and sports for MGM, was reviewing his books odds to win the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, he seriously considered making the Dallas Cowboys the favorites -- even ahead of the New England Patriots.Rood stopped just short, trimming the Cowboys odds to win the Super Bowl from 4-1 to 11-5, after their 27-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots are 9-5 at the MGM.Theyre pretty neck-and-neck with the Patriots, if not a little bit better, Rood said of the 9-1 Cowboys, who are close to even money to win the NFC. Theyve won nine in a row and are looking really solid. Its apparent theyre the favorites for home-field advantage [in the NFC].The MGM sportsbook now has Dallas listed at 6-5 to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Dallas began the season at 8-1 to win the conference, behind five other teams.The Cowboys have traditionally been a popular public team to bet, but with quarterback Tony Romo going down with a back injury in preseason, bettors shied away. As of Sunday at the MGM, five teams had attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than the Cowboys.(In fact, more Super Bowl bets have been placed on the Green Bay Packers than on any other team at the MGM and Westgate SuperBook. The Packers fell to 4-6 on the season after a 42-24 loss at Washington on Sunday night, Green Bays fourth loss in a row).With rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott shining, the betting public has begun to gravitate toward the Cowboys in recent weeks, though.It took [the public] a while to get on them, but they have the last three weeks, Jason Simbal of sportsbook operator CG Technology said. The most telling thing was last week, when theyre playing Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, one of the major public teams, and we needed the Steelers.But not everyone was on board the Cowboys bandwagon this week, when they hosted Ravens as 7-point favorites. Earlier in the week, Dallas had been a 7.5- and even 8-point favorite over the Ravens at the MGM. Respected bettors thought that was too many points.The Ravens were a big wiseguy play, Rood said.Other shops werent as lucky and were overwhelmed by public money on the Cowboys, who were one of nine favorites to cover the spread Sunday. All three favorites in the late afternoon kickoffs -- the Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and the Patriots -- covered the spread, turning what had been a decent morning for the house into a losing day for some shops.Not a good afternoon, Simbal said. In our three biggest decisions of the entire day, just on straight bets, not even on parlays, we needed the Eagles, we needed the Rams and we needed the Niners. And we lost all of them. Losing day for us.The Patriots, per usual, delivered the largest blow of the day for the Westgate SuperBook. Twice as much money was bet on New England as was bet on the underdog San Francisco 49ers at the Westgate. New England, which closed as a 12-point favorite, beat the 49ers 30-17.For an afternoon NFL kickoff, that was as much money as weve written on game like that in a long time, Ed Salmons, assistant manager at the SuperBook, said.The New York Giants were one of the most popular picks on parlay cards at the MGM. The Giants, who were seven-point favorites over the Chicago Bears, won 22-16. Giants kicker Robbie Gould missed two extra points.Boxing fight deals six-figure blowAndre Ward defeated Sergey Kovalev on a controversial unanimous decision Saturday night to win three light heavyweight world title belts. Ward, the favorite, winning by decision was the worst-case scenario for the MGM sportsbook. It cost the book a small six-figure loss, Rood said.It also delivered a blow to William Hills Nevada sportsbook, which took a $150,000 bet on Ward at -140 odds on Oct. 24. The bet netted $107,142.85.College football odds & ends-- Alabama opened as an 18.5-point favorite over the Auburn Tigers on Sunday at CG Technology. In the first 15 minutes, the line moved to Alabama -20, after a respected customer placed a $2,000 limit bet on the Crimson Tide. The only other early bet on Iron Bowl as of 6 p.m. PT was a $20 wager on Auburn.-- Ohio State opened as a 7-point favorite Michigan on Sunday at CG Technology. The first bet the book took was a $2,000 limit play on the Wolverines, which dropped the line to Buckeyes -6.5. The Westgate SuperBook also opened Ohio State -7 and attracted some early action on the Wolverines.-- Colorado improved to 10-1 against the spread this season with Saturdays 38-24 win over Washington State. Temple is also 10-1 ATS, the two best ATS records in the nation. Arizona has the worst ATS record at 1-10.-- William Hills Nevada sportsbook took four money-line bets on Texas to beat heavy underdog Kansas straight-up. None were very big, but one bettor did place $120 on the Longhorns to win at -2,400 odds. The bet would have netted $5. William Hill took 11 money-line bets on the Jayhawks at +1,200, the largest a $50 poke that netted $600.-- The Golden Nugget sportsbook in Las Vegas posted an early line on the SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida. The Crimson Tide opened as 20-point favorites. Cheap Nike Air Max 90 . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Cheap Air Max 2018 Shoes . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. http://www.airmaxshoescheaponline.com/ .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Air Max Shoes Online . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. Max 95 Sale China . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. WASHINGTON -- John Tortorella stood in the middle of the ice and bellowed at the top of his lungs: Too slow! Were too slow. Move the puck and skate.Tortorella was imploring Team USA to practice the way he wants them to play at the World Cup of Hockey. The U.S. was built to be big, strong and physical in hopes of beating up a favorite like, say Canada. But to win the tournament, the Americans will need to mix speed, skill and scoring with the old-school Tortorella hockey principles of grinding it out and blocking shots.The teams identity is in-your-face aggressive, while NHL MVP Patrick Kane and talented winger Zach Parise and others will bring the flash and flair as the Americans attempt to avenge a disappointing finish at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.I think a big part of our team and our makeup is our willingness and our physicality, but we also have some skill, Tortorella said. Theres going to be some fast teams here and we do have speed. I think people have kind of got locked in because the way weve gone with our team, yeah, we have some grind to it, but we still have a very quick hockey club here and that has to play into it.Tortorella earned acclaim in 2004 when he coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup with the mantra of safe is death. In subsequent stops with the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and now the Columbus Blue Jackets, the firebrand coach has tried to win by clogging up the middle and demanding players sacrifice their bodies to get in front of pucks.In a best-on-best tournament with star players, Tortorella still wants a buy-in, a commitment to team hockey. The U.S. goal is to be difficult to play against by dictating tempo up the ice and cashing in on the scoring ability of Kane, Pavelski, Max Pacioretty and captain Joe Pavelski.Pavelski believes playing on NHL-size ice in Toronto benefits the U.S., which could get lost on the outside of a wider international rink. It also makes speed imperative.You cant just play a gritty game, said Kane, the Hart Trophy winner with a league-best 1066 points last season.ddddddddddddWith the team in here, the players we have, we want to play a little bit more a physical brand and make it harder on teams to have the puck and when they dont have it, keep it from them and make it harder to get it back. We feel we have all those ingredients in here.U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi didnt want to make an all-star team, either. He wanted to recapture the magic of the 1996 World Cup champions, who beat Canada to win that tournament 20 years ago. He chose gritty players like Detroit Red Wings winger Justin Abdelkader at the expense of better scorers.Like legendary coach Herb Brooks said at the 1980 Olympics, the U.S. doesnt have enough talent to win on talent alone. But it has more than most NHL teams, which presents a challenge on how to handle a group of stars.Tortorella has to manage how much rope he gives those guys, said forward Brandon Dubinsky, who has played for him in New York and Columbus. Kaners not going to play (Tortorellas) type of crash-and-bang game, and he goes out and plays 100 points a year. Youve just got to let that guy play. ... Its just finding a balance but at the same time trying to have an identity as a whole of guys that are just going to go out there and grind away.Even if Jonathan Quick, who will start in goal in the opening game Saturday against Team Europe, is at his best, the Americans need to produce goals. Theyll look to Kane, Parise, Pavelski and Sochi shootout hero T.J Oshie for that but also muck and grind and try to dredge up offense.Theres a time and a place for all of that and establishing ourselves early in games of our physical presence and getting in on the forecheck and our territorial game, center David Backes said. Once we do that, you can let the skill take place when were in the zone and occupying for extended periods of time.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '