With the UEFA Champions League draw in order, the futures market has opened up for the winner of the Champions League. For anyone who does not know, the UEFA Champions League is a soccer (European Football) competition amongst the top teams in Europe. This is a league of leagues, so to speak. Rather than wait until league play begins, one can typically find great soccer odds when placing bets through the futures market. The futures market allows a potential bettor to speculate on who will win the Champions League prior to the start. Often, you can latch on to a great team at great odds. If they win the league outright, you will be rewarded appropriately.

Overview of Soccer Odds for the 2010 UEFA Champions League

Barcelona are the chalk at four to one. FC Barce are the defending champions of Europe, having defeated 2008 Champions League winners Manchester United for the crown of Europe’s best club team. Feared striker Leo Messi leads Barcelona towards attempting a repeat victory in their title defense.

Real Madrid commands 9 to 2 odds, despite the consistent track record of underperforming and disappointing. Real have bought and paid for an entire squad of all-star footballers, including a record signing of Manchester United standout Cristiano Ronaldo for $80 million. While there is no doubt Real Madrid hold what can be billed as the greatest collection of footballers in club soccer today, there are questions as to whether there is enough footballs to go around, as there are many an ego to make happy on this squad. When a lone club has the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, Benzema, Raul, and Guti, Xabi Alonso in their pool of starters – it is difficult to keep everyone happy.

Next up on the UEFA Champions League soccer betting depth chart are English Clubs Chelsea (six to one), Arsenal and 2008 European Champions Manchester United (each coming in at 8 to 1 odds). Not even considered a contender a few weeks back, Arsenal played their way into the competition at the expense of Celtic. Despite losing key members of the club, Arsenal have regrouped and look sharp, to say the least. Of the three English sides mentioned, Chelsea look the strongest, which is reflected in their 6 to 1 odds.

Perhaps the best value in the CL Pool comes from Italy in AC Milan at 25 to 1, or Juventus at 22 to 1. Despite the long soccer odds of these clubs though, it is difficult to envision the 2010 Champions League crown leaving Spain. The smart money is on either FC Barce or Real Madrid to win. At 4 to 1 and 9 to 2 respectively, these clubs provide reality and value in their soccer odds to win the UEFA Champions League crown in 2010.

Too early to start talking NCAA basketball betting? Hardly. Gambling enthusiasts are already hungry for articles and tidbits to kick off their off-season scouting heading into some of the best betting sports has to offer. Will UNC still dominate? Who’s this year’s sleeper? How much of an eye should we be keeping on UL? The questions are endless at this time of year, but perhaps the most looming question, one that’s been out there for a couple years now, is what’s going on with Duke?

Used to be you could bet Duke with your eyes closed, no matter the spread, and if they lost it was a huge upset, not something to add to a pattern of disappointing performances.

So why the slide from greatness? Well, one could argue Duke hasn’t gone anywhere, and is still on top of the pack, but the truth is they have, and the numbers don’t lie. Last year Duke started losing when it mattered most, and finished the season a very “not great” 30-7.

Some are claiming the problem, of all things, lies with Mike Krzyzewski. That’s right, the crystal clean image coach who’s been with Duke through all of it’s recent storied history, is the target of accusations he’s not spending enough time recruiting, and thus Duke is hurting as a result. Mostly an involvement in Team USA has pulled Coach K away from the college off-season process, and as a gambler, I’d be concerned. There doesn’t appear to be a savior on the horizon or waiting to step up after graduations. Sure, Duke still has a solid core, but against the other elites, I wouldn’t waste my time betting like it were 6 or 7 years ago.

Look no further than Brandan Wright to see how UNC and other teams are now getting the players that historically would’ve been lining up to go to Duke. It’s eerily similar to Nebraska’s slide from greatness in college football, although possibly more damaging here at Duke since the coach responsible for the team’s ascension is still in place.

The NCAA Basketball Odds recommendation here is not to assume Duke can even cover the spread in a gimme game these days. They’ll surprise even themselves with how sloppy and unfocused they can become, and negative press sticks with you for a while, even if it’s during the off season. Look elsewhere for the safe bets this year, it’s not going to be found in Durham.

I’ll be the first one to say Favre’s decision not to play for the purple warriors stunned me. Not that I was going to start betting heavily on the Vikings one way or another this year, but in some key matchups against the NFC and beyond, this will certainly have wide implications on a week-to-week gambling basis.

Who fills his shoes? Where does this leave the Vikings? Do they have to tear up their plans and start fresh so close to the start of the NFL season? How can any gambler take a change on a team so in flux? These are all good questions, and it’s our job to sift through the reports and get down to the heart of what shape this team will take when Week 1 rolls around.

Yes, the Vikings are still talented and boast perhaps the most explosive back in the league right now in Adrian Peterson, and yes, they were NFC North champs last year, and could still return to the playoffs even in an improved division, but what about the spot Favre didn’t fill? Are you really going to put money on a team led by Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels? They’ve both shown brief flashes of football betting dominance and leadership, but not enough to carry a playoff-hungry team on their back. So Minnesota very well may look to make a move still, but for the time being these are their options.

And neither options is that appealing to the team. Understandably, both players have been irritated with the whole Favre situation, so there’s that stigma going into the pre-season. And the frustration wasn’t just against the ownership. Peterson and others were openly lobbying for Favre to come. Everybody knows business is business, but still, it’ll take a few weeks to shake away the memories there.

The bottom football line is teams will not respect either QB, and it’s going to make things harder for Peterson to get going with huge games now. There’ll be more incompletes and short-yardage runs than there were last year, and it ultimately could put the Vikings in a hole early in the season. Unless the spread is a no-brainer, I wouldn’t take a chance on these guys to win. To lose is another story, though. Who knows, maybe Jackson will surprise us and the Vikings won’t miss a beat, but betting enthusiasts are wisely and collectively looking elsewhere now that big Brett isn’t in the picture.

The All-Star break has come and gone, so it’s back to betting on games that really matter. The season has flown by this year, but maybe that’s because all the races are still pretty tight. There’s no runaway best team in the league in 2009, sorry Dodgers and Red Sox fans. Anyone’s beatable.

Cubs at Phillies: If the Cubs are serious about actually competing this year, it’s getting to be that put up or shut up time. And that not only starts with the manager, but with one of the team’s so-called leaders Carlos Zambrano. He’s 5-4 with a 3.8 ERA, but his most disappointing statistic has to be fewer than 90K’s so far this season. And a ho-hum 1.3 WHIP. He’s also 2-3 in his last 5 starts, so he’s heading in the wrong direction and facing a hungry and rejuvenated Phillies team. Whether you think the signing of Pedro Martinez was a good idea or not, they did get him for a steal at $1M. Pitching in this game, though, will be Cole Hamels, whose stat line looks very similar to Zambrano, but with an ERA a full point higher. I don’t think it’ll matter much, though, as the Cubs have been spinning in offensive circles lately. They’re a pathetic 14th in the NL in batting average. Wait for it….wait for it…..”wait ’til next year!” Zambrano’s primed to fall apart and you might even start to hear trade rumors. Phillies -160, Cubs +145. Take the Phillies.

Tampa Bay at Chicago: My baseball betting assessment of the Rays as a fluke still holds water, as it’s unlikely they’ll even qualify for the playoffs unless they start tearing it up in their own division the second half of the season. Odds are we’re going to see the Red Sox and Yankees from the AL East and Wild Card, and then the Central and West are anyone’s guess right now. Chicago is part of that anyone’s guess, at least for the moment. They went on quite a run leading up to the All-Star break before dropping two of three in their own private hell that is the Metrodome. We get a great pitching matchup of Shields vs. Buerhle, with big Mark looking for redemption after getting shelled by the Twins. The Sox are 4 back in the loss column, and they have the Twins gnawing at their heels. This is usually that make or break time for them, and there are rumors Quentin might make it back sometime soon. If he can stay healthy and recover his swing, the Sox will be a team to watch in their division. All isn’t lost for Tampa, they’re only 3.5 back of the Yankees themselves, but they have to play with the consistency of the last month or so than the first month of the season. The Sox tend to struggle against the Rays balanced attach, and even with their ace on the mound, it’s difficult to see them as the favorite. The line will give them a slight edge, -115 to +110, but I say bet the Rays.