Every day still a struggle for Hamilton

Baseball Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton relapsed this past week.

The 2010 American League Most Valuable Player met the media on Friday to address the situation. According to Hamilton a family issue led him to downtown Dallas where he had dinner and had "three or four" drinks.

"You guys all know how hard I play on the field," Hamilton said. "When I don't do that off the field. I leave myself open for a weak moment. And I had a weak moment on Monday in Dallas."

Hamilton called teammate Ian Kinsler to come hang out with him. Kinsler then took him home, but Hamilton returned to the bar and had some more drinks, but did not touch drugs, nor did he want to.

"Ian [Kinsler] did not know I had been drinking because once I do drink I can be very deceptive, very sneaky in a lot of ways," Hamilton said.

He's had two drug tests since the incident.

"Anytime I drink there is a point that comes and the switch flips and you never know when it's going to be," Hamilton said. "Whether it's the first three or four or the 15th. That's why its so dangerous."

At the outset it doesn't appear to be as damaging as the time Hamilton slipped up in Arizona back in 2009 when pictures of him with other women at a bar surfaced on the internet.

But, it was a relapse nonetheless and sadly it probably won't be the last.

"It was just wrong. That's all it comes down to," Hamilton said. "I needed to be in a different place. I needed to be responsible ... I was not responsible."

Everyone knows the story with Hamilton. Selected first overall by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999, Hamilton was injured early in his minor league career and fell into a pattern of drug abuse shortly thereafter that ultimately got him suspended from the game.

Tampa eventually cut ties with the outfielder in 2006, leaving him exposed to the Rule 5 Draft where he was selected by the Chicago Cubs before being moved to the Cincinnati Reds later in the day.

Hamilton shined for the Reds in 2007, but was dealt to the Rangers the following winter. Hamilton's comeback really took off in Arlington, as he became an All-Star in 2008, stealing the show with a breathtaking performance in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium that year.

The common denominator in all his past transgressions and his most recent slip-ups has been time away from the game. Injuries at the outset of his career led him to his initial downward spiral and the latest incidents both came in the offseason.

So, here we go again.

You can applaud Hamilton for his honesty, his courage and his willingness to address his addiction without a prepared statement, but you could have also replayed the same press conference he gave after the incident three years ago. It sounded almost the same.

And again, the next time this happens, it will probably be a replay of this one. Yet I'll still continue to root for him because you want him to succeed.

You have to wonder, though, why Hamilton would even go to such a high-profile place. Then again, given his story, which I am sure everyone in the Texas area is probably aware of, why would someone even serve him?

This is a constant struggle for Hamilton, one I can't begin to understand since thankfully addiction is not something that I have had to deal with in any capacity of my life.

As far as baseball goes, the question has to be asked, can the Rangers depend on him long term? Of course there are some out there who are already questioning the Rangers' choice of trying to work out a deal with Hamilton, who

It's a valid argument. Forget the injuries that have plagued him almost all of his career, would you commit the type of money that Hamilton is worth to a player that obviously has demons most people cannot begin to fathom?

When he is on the field, though, he is one of the more dynamic bats in the game, as evidenced by his terrific showing in the Bronx that night and his amazing MVP campaign of two years ago.

But, as he proved this past week, he could always be a drink away from leaving the game forever.

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NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

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