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07/16/2010 - Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last week's Budapest titlist Agnes Szavay advanced to the semifinals of the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event with a straight set win over Slovenian Polona Hercog.
The seventh-seeded Szavay handled Hercog, 6-1, 6-4, in just 70 minutes on the red clay at Stvanice.
In a minor upset, Lucie Hradecka downed fifth-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-4, 7-5, and the Czech will face Szavay for the right to play in the final.
Eighth-seeded Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and veteran Swiss Patty Schnyder will meet in the other semifinal. Strycova outlasted Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, while Schnyder was a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 winner over Georgian Anna Tatishvili.
Szavay bested Schnyder in last week's Budapest finale for the second time in two years.
<< Celtics to bring back Robinson
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics are reportedly set to re-sign
guard Nate Robinson.
According to the Boston Herald on Friday, Robinson will ink a two-year, $8
million deal with the club that traded for him last season.
<< Sabres agree to terms with Conboy
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres reached a one-year contract
agreement with forward Tim Conboy on Friday.
The 28-year-old winger skated 12 games with Carolina in 2009-10, compiling 34
penalty minutes without recording a po
<< Sun Belt Conference showdown - Troy vs. Middle Tennessee
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Troy has either won or shared the Sun
Belt football title the last four years, but that string could end in 2010 as
Middle Tennessee is primed to take over the top spot. Regardless of which team
wins the tit
<< Soderling advances at Swedish Open
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Swedish stalwart Robin Soderling
survived a scare from Italian Andreas Seppi to advance to the semifinals of
the Swedish Open.
Soderling, the reigning Bastad titlist and two-time French Op
Lightning re-sign Szczechura >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed forward Paul
Szczechura to a one-year contract on Friday.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Szczechura appeared in 52 games last season for the Lightning, rec
Montanes into semis in Stuttgart >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Albert Montanes of Spain rolled over
second-seeded Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup tennis
event on Friday.
Montanes, seeded fifth, cruised over the second-seeded
As the wind blows, scores soar at St. Andrews >>
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After second-round play was stopped
for 66 minutes at the British Open, the wind continued to blow at St. Andrews,
and in the process, sent scores soaring.
With the final group midway through th
EWU home victories would turn opponents red >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In an effort to boost exposure, Eastern
Washington University will literally go in the red this year, replacing the
traditional grass surface of Woodward Field with red artificial turf.
The move is admitte
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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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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