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04/07/2007 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire have a bit of a history, especially recent history. Last season, the Revolution knocked the Fire out of the playoffs in a penalty kick shootout in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference semifinals.
Now, to open their 2007 MLS regular season, Chicago has a chance for a little revenge as it hosts New England at 8:30 p.m. at Toyota Park Saturday night. It will be the 28th meeting between the two teams with New England holding the advantage, 12 wins to 10.
"First and foremost, our minds are to really get a good start to the season, it really doesn't matter who we play in the opening game," Fire head coach Dave Sarachan said. "Our guys are really chomping at the bit to get the season underway. Obviously playing New England in the first game adds a little bit to it.
"You know we don't really like one another as teams so there is a real rivalry that has been created and our guys certainly remember the last team they faced last season. It is not really something we talked about. I wouldn't say that it is going to be that much of an added motivation but clearly the level of concentration will be up knowing it is against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs," Sarachan added.
Chicago is also excited to be opening its season at home after starting 2006 on the road for the first two-plus months of the season while its new soccer specific stadium, Toyota Park, was being completed.
"Last year was really a unique year as we were on the road for 2 1/2 months to start, so having a game right off the bat is exciting for us," Sarachan said. "(The temperature) is supposed to be in the high 20s (Saturday) night and I am hoping that won't deter too many from coming to the game but I anticipate a good showing. It doesn't matter in terms of numbers, the quality of the fans here is so great so whatever the numbers should be, we are going to have a real exciting building (Saturday) night."
Fire faithful are also on a bit of a high after the team filled its designated player slot this past week with Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco who is expected to join the team on July 1.
Until Blanco joins the squad, Chicago is hoping to get some offense from young players like Justin Mapp, Chris Rolfe, Chad Barrett and Brazilian Thiago. That should be no easy task this week with Matt Reis - one of the better goalkeepers in MLS - in the opposing net.
"We think we have the firepower that can get goals for us," Sarachan said. "It is like the old joke that famous Yankee player said, 'Hit it where they ain't.' Shoot it where he can't get it is one way to look at it. If our guys get good looks at goal, obviously it is going to take a great shot to beat Matt Reis so we have to be patient to finish those opportunities. He is capable of big saves so hopefully we can really pick our spots and keep a good amount of possession and when we do take strikes at goal, we have to make sure they are good enough to beat a good goalie like Reis."
Up top, the Fire will look to shut down the New England offensive attack by limiting the chances of former MLS MVP Taylor Twellman and company.
"Clearly it all revolves around Taylor," Sarachan said. "He is a guy who is arguably as good a target guy as there is in this league. In the history of our games, he finds space and finds a way to get chances at goal and if we can minimize that to zero that gives us a much better opportunity to keep a clean sheet. They rely on a lot of service and if we can take away that strength and deal with guys like Taylor it gives us a real opportunity to keep them off the board."
Longtime captain Chris Armas and fellow midfielder Diego Gutierrez will team up with defenders CJ Brown, Jim Curtin, Logan Pause and Osei Telesford to try and shut down the New England attack.
"We obviously want to get off on the right foot and make it an entertaining game in game one and our attacking players are responsible for that," Sarachan said. "We just hope that at the end of the day our number is higher than their number on the scoresheet."
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Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Clark knows it will probably take a major
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Chicago Fired up to face Revs >>
Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution and the Chicago
Fire have a bit of a history, especially recent history. Last season, the
Revolution knocked the Fire out of the playoffs in a penalty kick shootout
in the
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.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
MySportsbook.com Favors Fighting Irish to win College Football betting odds
According to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, on January 8, the Fighting Irish faithful may be toasting their 14th national title in Arizona – Notre Dame’s first national championship in close to 20 years.
Although MySportsbook.com has listed Notre Dame as the 5-1 favorite to win thecollege football College Football betting, fans in Columbus do not need to cancel their tickets to Glendale just yet. The Ohio State Buckeyes, listed right behind the Irish at 7-1, are also heavy favorites to win college football’s most coveted prize, while West Virginia, USC and the 2007 National Champion Texas Longhorns - all listed at 8-1 – are strong contenders as well.
MySportsbook.com has also posted gambling odds on the conference championships for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC. In the ACC – it could be anyone’s title, particularly for the two schools from the Sunshine State. Florida State and Miami, both listed at 2-1, are favored to win the ACC Championship Game odds, with the ‘Noles hoping to finish in the nation’s top 10 for the first time in five years, and the ‘Canes looking to avenge their 10-7 loss against FSU in last year’s ACC Championship betting.
Moving west to the Big 12, MySportsbook.com has betting lines listing Texas as 7-5 favorites to repeat as conference champions, even though the Longhorns lost their national championship-winning quarterback Vince Young to the NFL. In the south, the Auburn Tigers – led by Heisman-hopeful senior running back Kenny Irons – have been given the best odds to win the SEC Championship odds at 5-2.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.
| Notre Dame Ohio State West Virginia Texas USC Florida California Auburn Oklahoma Iowa Louisville Florida State Michigan Miami (FL) LSU Penn State Virginia Tech Nebraska Tennessee Georgia Arizona State Oregon Clemson Texas A&M Texas Tech Alabama Arkansas Boston College Michigan State Maryland South Carolina Colorado Purdue Georgia Tech TCU UCLA Arizona Pittsburgh Iowa State Wisconsin North Carolina State Virginia North Carolina Fresno State Hawaii Northwestern BYU Oregon State UNLV Field (Any Other Team) |
5-1 7-1 8-1 8-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 18-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 25-1 40-1 40-1 50-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 70-1 70-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 150-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 250-1 250-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 400-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 1000-1 1000-1 40-1 |
| Miami (FL) Florida State Virginia Tech Clemson Georgia Tech Boston College Maryland Virginia North Carolina State North Carolina Wake Forest Duke |
2-1 2-1 3-1 7-1 15-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 500-1 |
| Texas Oklahoma Nebraska Texas Tech Colorado Iowa State Texas A&M Kansas State Missouri Kansas Baylor Oklahoma State |
7-5 9-5 9-2 12-1 14-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 35-1 100-1 100-1 |
| Auburn Florida LSU Georgia Tennessee Arkansas Alabama Mississippi South Carolina Mississippi State Kentucky Vanderbilt |
5-2 11-4 4-1 6-1 7-1 7-1 9-1 20-1 28-1 75-1 100-1 300-1 |
For complete NCAA football odds please visit Mysportsbook.com.
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