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Columnist Jeff Haney: Bettors Favor the Rams -- But Not the 'Over'

The St. Louis Rams continue to be the darlings of the betting public this season, as evidenced by their 14-3 record against the point spread, their 9-0 mark against the number in home games and their latest cover -- Sunday's 49-37 win over the Minnesota Vikings, which also sailed over the 53-point total.

NFL bettors are again lining up to bet on St. Louis in Sunday's NFC championship game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Stardust sports book opened the Rams a 13-point favorite, and they were promptly bet up to 14.

But despite this past Sunday's 86-point effort, bettors aren't convinced the Rams are headed "over" again.

"We opened the (Rams-Bucs) total at 46 points, and it's been bet down to 45," Stardust sports book supervisor Jim Korona said Tuesday. "It's a little surprising the under money came in early (because) when you look at the Rams over the past one or two months the number would appear to be on the low side, especially in a game being played on artificial turf.

"But that's offset by the fact the Buccaneers are very defense-oriented and are going with a rookie quarterback in Shaun King -- so it looks like a high total from the Tampa Bay perspective."

At the Santa Fe hotel-casino, sports book director Steve Klein reports a slight lean toward the under in the game.

"But in a local house like ours, 95 percent of the action comes in during the last 18 hours before game time, so it's really too soon to tell," Klein said.

The Santa Fe also lists the Rams as two-touchdown favorites. In Sunday's AFC title game, Jacksonville is favored by 7 over Tennessee even though the Titans beat the Jaguars in both of the teams' regular-season meetings.

"With the Jaguars-Titans, it depends on how you view their two preceding games," Klein said.

"Some of the bettors here are saying the Titans beat them twice and there's no way they can beat them three times, so they'll lay the points with the favorite.

"The other side says the Titans have their number, so those (bettors) will take the underdog.

"Maybe I'm just being hopeful, but I'm expecting good two-way action on the game."

Korona and Klein said bettors were on the Rams and the over in this past weekend's most heavily bet game, cashing in on straight bets as well as parlay cards.

"At the Stardust we opened the Rams at 7 last week, and the wiseguys (professional bettors) took the plus 7 with the Vikings," said Korona. "(But) by late Saturday, it was 7 minus 120 and it went up to 7 1/2 on game day. A lot of public money came in late on the Rams, and that was the worst decision of the day for the house.

"But (the house) did pretty well on the Buccaneers-Redskins game. We needed the Redskins to cover, and they did -- as it turned out they almost won the game outright (before losing by a point)."

* SUPER BOWL ODDS: The Stardust has the Buccaneers at 7-1 to win the Super Bowl, the longest shot of the four remaining teams. The Titans are listed at 4-1, the Jaguars even and the Rams 5-9.

Part of the reason for the minuscule price on the Rams is that the Stardust has written enough tickets on St. Louis to win the Super Bowl, thank you very much.

Evidently other books have too, because the Rams are as low as a 1-4 choice at some properties.

"We are very exposed on the Rams," said Korona. "But we're not the only ones."

The Rams opened a 200-1 choice and closed at 8-5 in the Stardust futures book.

* NBA WAGERING: It's not often an NBA game goes to overtime and still manages to stay under the total, but if it does happen you can bet the Chicago Bulls are involved.

Such was the case Tuesday night when the Bulls beat the Miami Heat in OT, 92-85. The 177 points were a winner for bettors who played under 178 1/2 or 179.

The game was tied 80-80 at the end of regulation, a low score even for the Bulls, owners of the league's weakest offense (an average of 85 points a game).

So far this season, it seems the oddsmaker cannot set a total low enough for the Bulls: Chicago has played to 22 unders and 12 overs overall, and 13 of its 17 home games have stayed under. ...

During the first week of the season, Stratosphere sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said the Lakers would emerge as the NBA's top team. With LA playing the hottest basketball in the league, Bogdanovich sees no reason to back off of his prediction.

"I think they have the best player in the league in Shaq and the best young player in the league in Kobe Bryant," Bogdanovich said. "Plus their coach (Phil Jackson) has only won, what, five or six titles? They'll continue to be the team to beat."

The Lakers have been bet down to 9-5 favorites to win the NBA championship in futures books.

* OTHER NOTES: A number of Las Vegas sports book directors have noted that college basketball gamblers are winning consistently this season, which is no surprise considering the spread records of some of the traditionally popular "public" college teams: Duke is 10-1 against the points, Syracuse is 7-3 and Indiana is 13-3 after Tuesday night's narrow victory over 16-point underdog Iowa. Top-ranked Cincinnati is covering at a 10-5 clip.

On the bright side for the house, fourth-ranked Auburn is not blowing opponents out the way it was a year ago. The Tigers are 2-8 against the spread. ...

The UNLV basketball team was a 4-point underdog on the offshore line in Monday night's impressive victory at New Mexico. Betting on the Rebels is not permitted in Nevada. ...

Roy Jones Jr. lived up to his billing as upwards of a 20-1 favorite this past Saturday, scoring a unanimous decision over David Telesco in a light heavyweight bout at Radio City Music Hall. ...

Saturday's Shane Mosley vs. Willie Wise junior welterweight bout at the Hard Rock features one of the lowest round propositions you'll ever see: Bettors can wager on whether the bout will go two full rounds. Will go bettors must lay 425, while won't go two is listed at plus 275.

The Hard Rock sports book also has several other round props for the fight, in which Mosley is a whopping minus 4000 favorite over Wise (plus 2500). On the undercard, Vernon Forrest is minus 1500 over "Cool" Vince Phillips (plus 1000). ...

British bookmaker Victor Chandler is offering 6-4 that Tiger Woods will not win a major this year.

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