Odds & Ends (Jan 11)

Super Bowl XL still is nearly a month away and football fans don't even know who the combatants will be. Nevertheless, the Las Vegas Hilton -- which attempts to be first with the most for bettors throughout the valley -- has posted odds on the NFL's 41st mid-winter extravaganza, to be played Feb. 4 at Dolphins Stadium in Miami. SuperBook Race and Sports Book Director Jay Kornegay, Sports Book Manager Ed Salmons, supervisors Jeff Sherman and Matt Metcalfe and others with ties to the bookmaking business got together and hammered out numbers, just as they did with 2007 BCS odds. Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis, 14-2 and one of eight teams still in contention for the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit, donned the favorite's mantle. The Colts, currently less than even money to cop their first Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 5, broke from the gate as big 5/2 favorites to win the 2007 NFL title and 3/2 shots to capture the AFC. Indy didn't appear in the first 39 Super Bowls. While the Colts -- who lost two of the regular season's final three games -- obviously are viewed by oddsmakers as head and shoulders above the rest of the league, the Pats and Bolts head a list of second-level AFC clubs and Seattle is still the cream of the NFC crop. New England, winner of the past two Super Bowls, and San Diego, which barely missed this season's playoffs, are 10/1 co-second choices to cop the 2007 affair. Both also are 6/1 to dominate the AFC. Pittsburgh is 12/1 to win the Super Bowl and 7/1 to take the AFC. Cincinnati, Denver and Kansas City are 15/1 to rule the loop in 2007 and 8/1 to win the conference. Bearing out the current NFL pecking order is the fact the Seahawks, at 14/1, are rated the NFC's best hope of dethroning their AFC counterparts. Seattle also is a 9/2 choice to win the conference. A slew of NFC clubs are 20/1 to win the Miami Super Bowl and 6/1 to bag the NFC title: Carolina, Dallas, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia and the New York Giants. Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville are 30/1 to snag Super Bowl rings; the Falcons are 10/1 to win the NFC, the Bucs 13/1 and Jags 17/1. Minnesota, Miami and Baltimore went up as 40/1 Super Bowl shots; the Vikings opened at 15/1 to win the NFC and the Dolphins and Ravens at 22/1 to master the AFC. Local favorite Oakland is a 50/1 Super Bowl pick and 27/1 to win the AFC. St. Louis opened at 60/1 and 25/1, while Detroit and Arizona were posted at 75/1 and 30/1. Grouped at 100/1 to win the Super Bowl and 50/1 to claim an AFC championship were Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston, Tennessee and the New York Jets. Green Bay was a 100/1 Super Bowl selection and 40/1 NFC pick. Long shots were the Saints, who will be returning to New Orleans, and the once-mighty 49ers, five-time Super Bowl champions, at 200-1 to capture the Super Bowl and 75/1 to nab an NFC crown. *** Texas, which stunned and dethroned national champion Southern Cal in the 2006 Rose Bowl, is the Las Vegas Hilton SuperBook's fifth choice to capture the 2007 BCS Championship, behind the Trojans and a trio of other traditional national powerhouses. Opening as the 5/1 favorite to claim the 2007 Fiesta Bowl -- site of the national title game -- in Glendale, Ariz., next Jan. 8 is Ohio State, followed by Oklahoma and Notre Dame at 6/1, USC at 7/1 and the Longhorns at 10/1. Among other prominent clubs, Florida opened at 12/1 and Miami (Fla.) at 15/1. Grouped at 20/1 were Michigan, West Virginia, Auburn and Florida State. Penn State went up at 30/1, UCLA at 40/1, Alabama at 50/1 and Tennessee and Georgia at 60/1. UNLV was the listed long shot at 1000/1 and the field opened at 30/1.