People are reportedly watching less football on TV this season. Theyre betting less on it, too.According to Nevada Gaming Control numbers released last week, $308.5 million was wagered on football, both pro and college, in September at the states regulated sportsbooks. Thats a year-over-year decrease of nearly $6 million, despite a similar number of games.Overall, the amount bet with Nevadas 190 sportsbooks was down 3.9 percent on all sports in September, year-over-year.Its a slight decrease -- but notable after several years of overall growth. For six consecutive years, Nevadas books have enjoyed record handle -- the amount bet -- on all sports. In 2015, $4.2 billion was bet on sports in the states 190 regulated sportsbooks, which are consolidated among roughly a dozen companies. Thats nearly double the amount bet in 2005.Last year, record amounts were bet on both basketball ($1.2 billion) and baseball ($897.3 million). Football, however, saw a small decrease. In 2015, $1.6 billion was bet on NFL and college football, down from $1.7 billion in 2014. That trend appears to be continuing this football season, on top of questions about TV ratings.?It has been a little bit of an off year, MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood said. Not bad, but not double-digit growth like weve been used to the last few years.Football remains king, though. An hour before Game 5 of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians began, more bets had been placed on just the Dallas Cowboys in their night game against the Philadelphia Eagles than had been placed on both teams in the World Series at Caesars sportsbooks.Nevada Gaming Control does not track the betting on the NFL and NCAA football separately, but Rood said the action on the NFL has seen a much sharper decrease than on college football. As of last week, Rood said his NFL handle was down around 8 percent year over year, compared to just a 2 percent on college football. The MGM is one of the largest sportsbook operators in Nevada. Caesars said its handle was down nearly 5 percent in September.[I] attribute a small portion of that to the quality of the prime-time matchups, especially Thursday and Sunday night games, said Bill Sattler, director of specialty games at Caesars Entertainment.The dip in handle has not impacted the books success rate, though. They won $36.9 million on football in September, making it the fourth-most profitable football month ever for the house. The books held a whopping 11.94 percent of the money wagered on football in September. Over the past five years, the hold percentage on football has ranged from 3.3 percent to 6.50 percent. September, the first full month of the regular season, normally has a higher-than-normal hold percentage, but this September was exceptionally high.In fact, the books may have done a little too well in September, leading to the decrease in handle.The books really did well this September, which really affects the rollover, said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports at the Westgate SuperBook. Youre always going to have less handle.Kornegay added that football handle is up at the SuperBook, noting this is the first football season theyve offered mobile sports betting. Khyri Thomas Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Christian Laettner Jersey .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. https://www.cheappistonsonline.com/1616y-christian-wood-jersey-pistons.html . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. Isiah Thomas Jersey . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Terry Tyler Jersey . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Karen Lieu always knew she had a competitive streak, but as a girl, she never found an outlet for it. The sports she tried didnt work for her.I tried to see if I could do gymnastics and did a handstand against the wall. Well, I ended up breaking a few lamps, she said. My parents were furious, so that stopped. Tennis wasnt for me. Id hit the ball out of the court.During the summer of 1992, after graduating from high school, she found her sport. She was watching the Barcelona Olympics when the telecast turned to fencing. Shed seen swordplay in movies but had never seen the sport, with its masked athletes, fierce attacks and electronic scoring systems. She thought it was fascinating.That fall, when she enrolled at Pasadena City College, she found fencing in the class schedule. She signed up, and in the midst of her first class, she was smitten. Soon she was taking two classes at school as well as outside lessons. Within a year, she qualified for and competed in the AAU Junior Olympics.Lieu, 42, competed through college and now takes part in national adult tournaments. She also coaches children and adults, works clinics, organizes tournaments and serves as an official. Lieu, who works for the county of Los Angeles as an operations assistant auditing budgets for the use of Sheriffs officers at county courts, says fencing has been a force in her life since those 92 Games.At 5-foot-4, she can stand tall with a foil in her hand.With any other sport, you had to be a certain size or had to have a certain physical [characteristic], said Lieu, who lives in Rosemead, a suburb east of downtown Los Angeles. For a gymnast, you had to be really flexible and maybe petite in proportion. Volleyball or basketball, you had to be really tall. But in fencing ... if I worked at it, I was able to become good. I worked really hard, and I was able to excel quickly. It was exciting.Fencing round the clockToday, Lieu coaches after school, in the evenings and on weekends at the Beverly Hills Fencers Club in Culver City. Her schedule conforms to her work hours. She trains at night and on weekends -- when she also competes -- and puts in time at the gym on her lunch break.Fencing has taught me to have really good time management, she said with a laugh.In the gym, she works with weights on isolated muscle groups, especially in a surgically repaired knee, to gain strength and quickness and on cardio machines to gain endurance. But she doesnt run.I could lunge as much as I wanted and not get tired, but if you ask me to run a few miles, youd get me really winded, she said. Youre using different muscles in fencing -- for powerful, explosive moves.Since she turned 40, she has competed in the veterans division. Her first year, she was ranked nationally and placed among the top 16 in the nation. Last year, she didnt compete as much because her knee injury flared up. Now fit aggain, she is learning new techniques and hopes to place higher at nationals.ddddddddddddI like to watch a lot of videos, she said, noting that recent Olympic matches from Rio de Janeiro are on YouTube. Fencers from each nation have different styles and tactics she can study and emulate.Nobodys foilLieus weapon of choice is the foil. She has tried the sports other two styles -- saber and epee -- but foil suits her best. The foil is a long, light, thin blade just over 35 inches in length. Matches are as long as three minutes but can end within seconds. Points are scored only with the tip of the blade. The target area is the torso only.Lieu disliked the slashing, more physical attacks in saber (I didnt really like getting hit in the head a lot, she said) and wasnt comfortable with epee, in which the entire body can be targeted.Perhaps what she loves most about fencing is the mental duel. She must be quick, have good technique and be able to physically execute her footwork and blade action with precision. But the chess-match nature of the sport is its most compelling aspect, she said.Whats your move, and whats the other persons move, and your counter move? she said. You have to outwit them.She appreciates the culture of fencing and that its a lifetime sport. In fact, she plans to compete into her 70s. The fencing community is small enough, too, that she has made friends everywhere. One time, she recognized a former Olympian, but that Olympian knew of her because of her years as a coach and competitor.Im like, Wow, you know me! she recalled.The sports impactYears ago, after Lieu injured her knee and had surgery, she went home to her two-story condo and dragged her mattress downstairs so she could sleep on the ground floor while recovering. It was then that her mother finally understood her daughters passion for fencing. Until then, her mom had questioned why she wanted to do a boys sport. She couldnt understand why her daughter put so much time and energy into it.I camped out for two weeks, so I wouldnt have to go up the stairs, Lieu said. And my moms like, Look what this is doing to you! I cried and cried and said, Im not quitting. After that day, she never questioned my love of fencing.Lieu cant imagine what her life would be like if she hadnt come across Olympic fencing on TV back in 1992. The sport has given her so much. When she was little, she says she was an introvert, and fencing helped her grow.In fencing, you have to take the initiative to attack the person, so it gave you courage, so to speak, so Im less introverted, she said. I think that is good to teach kids and adults to deal with obstacles. [You think], Oh, that person I cant beat. OK, Im going to try a different tactic and learn how to overcome. ' ' '