Bears hibernate. Football fans estivate – the summer equivalent of taking a long nap in the snow. But instead of shutting their systems down during the offseason, sharp handicappers are learning about what’s on tap for 2008.

You can’t throw a virtual brick without hitting a web page dedicated to college football. Even conventional sources like ESPN and FOX provide their readers with useful content – it might be buried under headline stories about the crazy things that happen in dorms, but the Web leaves plenty of room for those niche stories about what’s happening on the field.

We’ve just been through a very informative glut of spring practices. Players and prospective players from across Division I took to the gridiron in April; their progress was documented more heavily this year than ever before, driven in part by the handicapper’s thirst for information. By studying this information now, a sharp capper will start the 2008 college football season with a sizeable knowledge gap over the betting public.

Earlier this month, the state of New Jersey passed a bill calling for a public vote on the legalization of professional sports betting in Atlantic City casinos. The bill’s sponsors want to amend the proposed legislation to allow for betting at three horse tracks (including Monmouth Park, home of the 2007 Breeders’ Cup) and for out-of-state college games. The vote would take place during the November elections if the bill passes the state legislature.

The bill’s chances don’t look good. Point shaving by impressionable young players is an ongoing topic in the college ranks, especially in basketball. It’s less of an issue in the pro leagues; these athletes are making at least six figures, while college players are restricted from just about every dollar they could be making beyond their scholarships. Even with college sports taken out of the equation, the NFL is adamantly opposed to turning “human players into roulette chips.” As opposed to human sacrifices.

The college floodgates are opening. Odds are available this year not only on NCAA football and basketball, but baseball and hockey, too.

Some handicappers prefer to focus on one sport, or even one team. But if you’re willing to expand your area of expertise, you’ll find some of the softest lines available on the sports with the lowest action. That would obviously be baseball and hockey in both the professional and college ranks.

Sharp baseball handicappers are used to making good money – the sport lends itself to betting because of its mechanical nature, which can be boiled down statistically and evaluated with relative accuracy. Combine that with the smaller NCAA baseball market, then go even deeper with some of the lesser-known programs in the nation, and you should find some pillowy-soft betting lines.

Still, if you know the slightest thing about hockey, you know more than most people south of the 49th Parallel. Exploit that knowledge gap.