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04/24/2009 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA and FC Dallas square off in a Major League Soccer Western Conference tilt on Saturday at The Home Depot Center.
Chivas USA is coming off a midweek loss at Toronto, its first loss of the season, and will be aiming to get back on track at home on Saturday.
"[Toronto] just seemed to want it more than us, created a couple more opportunities and in the end got the result," Chivas coach Preki said. "It was a tough game under difficult conditions - with strong winds, cold and played on an artificial surface as well. In the end we came up a little bit short - they may have worked harder than us on the night and got the three points."
The Goats still hold the top spot in MLS with a 4-1-1 record, but Seattle is right on their heels.
Dallas (1-3-1) , on the other hand, is second-to-last in the West, with just one win this season. it is aiming to get a result in an effort to move up the table, although it is coming off a 3-2 win over Toronto last weekend.
"I thought our players played well, to pick up three goals," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said. "Defensively, we're still victims of little mistakes, which I think will just take time to get better, but I think all in all that the players were very inspired to get a win. We felt that we should have more than one point in these last few games, and the players were very focused this week in training, I think it was very upbeat. I thought they did a good job on the field, and I'm pleased with the outcome, obviously."
Dallas is relatively healthy heading into the game, with the only injury being to defender Steve Purdy, who is out with a hamstring.
It's a different story for Chivas USA, which will be without forwards Justin Braun, Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo and defenders Bobby Burling, Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn and Ante Jazic and, midfielder Sasha Victorine, and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
<< Fiorentina faces crucial Roma test
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for fourth place continues to heat
up in Serie A on Saturday as fifth-placed Fiorentina hosts sixth-placed Roma
in a match that will go a long way towards determining the fates of the two
teams.
<< Gonzo ousts Verdasco to reach Barcelona semis
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez
upended second-seeded crowd favorite Fernando Verdasco on Friday to reach the
semifinals at the $2.6 million Barcelona Open.
In an all-Fernando quarterfinal he
<< Canada rolls past Belarus in World Championship opener
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dany Heatley and Steve Stamkos each
scored a pair of goals, leading Canada to a 6-1 rout of Belarus in the opening
game of the 2009 World Hockey Championship.
Heatley added an assist for Canada, w
<< San Jose, Seattle hope to get back on track
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes travel to Seattle for
their first ever meeting with the expansion Sounders FC on Saturday night.
The 'Quakes will be aiming to get back in the win column after going 0-1-2 in
their l
Mavs' Terry wins Sixth Man Award >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry captured
the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Terry received 576 of a possible 605 points, including 111 of a possible 121
first-place votes from a panel of sports
Blue Jays place Ryan, Romero on DL; recall pair of pitchers >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays have added pitchers Brian
Burres and Bryan Bullington to the major league roster after B.J. Ryan and
Ricky Romero were recently placed on the disabled list.
Ryan, the team's closer,
Wild G Backstrom undergoes hip surgery >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom
underwent successful hip surgery on Friday and will have a recovery timetable
of about 12 weeks.
According to the team's website, Backstrom had a labral d
Langer and Lehman team for share of Legends lead >>
Savannah, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Lehman, playing in his first Champions
Tour event, and Bernhard Langer teamed for an 11-under 61 on Friday to share
first with Fuzzy Zoeller and John Jacobs after the first round of the Legends
of Golf
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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