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09/03/2010 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Landon Donovan and manager Bruce Arena both agreed after last week's loss to the Kansas City Wizards that the Los Angeles Galaxy were "outcompeted."
Davy Arnaud had a goal and an assist to lead K.C. to a 2-0 victory at The Home Depot Center, handing the Galaxy (13-5-4) their second home loss this season.
"I think that we got outcompeted. All this was about tonight was fighting and scrapping and we lost that fight. I think that was the difference in the game; they played harder," Arena said.
"I think we were outcompeted. It has to be clear that the next time we step on the field each and every player has to have a better effort," Donovan said.
L.A. returns to MLS action Saturday against the Chicago Fire and Donovan feels the Galaxy need to rebound from their embarrassing performance at Toyota Park this weekend.
"We don't mind playing well and competing well and giving up a goal at some point and losing a game. That's not the issue. The issue is, you don't want to get outcompeted, especially on your home field," Donovan said.
"That's a little embarrassing and we can't let that happen."
Since starting the season on a 12-game unbeaten streak, including 10 wins, the Galaxy are just 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. L.A. has lost three of its last four, although the lone victory was at Red Bull New York.
L.A.'s grip on the top record in MLS could slip away this week, as Columbus is just two points back entering its game against D.C. United. L.A. defender Todd Dunivant felt it was important to revert back to early-season form soon.
"We have to be more of a scrappy team, a blue-collar team. We've gotten away from that. I think that we've listened too much to the hype of being in first place and gotten a little complacent," Dunivant said.
Arena will be without Chris Birchall due to yellow card accumulation, but L.A. is in much better shape than Chicago in that category, as the Fire's Freddie Ljungberg is also out through accumulated cards.
The Fire are also without midfielder Marco Pappa and defender Deris Umanzor, who are with the Guatemala and El Salvador national teams, respectively.
Although L.A. maintains a firm grip on a playoff spot, Chicago (6-7-6) faces a battle to reach the postseason. The Fire have lost two straight, but also have an edge on the rest of MLS because they have played the fewest matches at 19.
Chicago's clash against L.A., the first of six in September for the Fire, also marks the first match for veteran Brian McBride since he announced Friday he plans to retire at the end of the season.
<< Twins promote P Fox, two others
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins have purchased the
contract of pitcher Matt Fox from Triple-A Rochester.
The right-hander is slated to start Friday's series opener against the Texas
Rangers. It will be his major
<< Carpenter tops Power for first IndyCar pole at Kentucky
Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ed Carpenter earned his first pole in the IZOD
IndyCar Series after edging points leader Will Power in Friday's qualifying
for the Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
Carpenter, making just his thir
<< Rangers activate Nippert from DL
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers made a series of roster
moves on Friday, including activating pitcher Dustin Nippert from the 15-day
disabled list.
Nippert landed on the DL on July 20, one day after he was struck i
<< Red Bulls hope to end RSL's home streak
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York travels to take on Real Salt
Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night in Major League Soccer action.
Both teams are in second place in their respective conference tables, with RSL
holding
Rapids not taking Chivas for granted >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids will continue their
playoff push on Saturday when they host Western Conference cellar-dwellars,
Chivas USA at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Colorado enters the weekend in fifth p
Granderson, Yanks win seventh straight >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Curtis Granderson doubled twice and drove in
three runs, as New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, in the opener of a
three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Brett Gardner hit an RBI triple and scored
NCAA reverses decision; Masoli to play for Ole Miss in 2010 >>
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will
be able to play for the Ole Miss Rebels this season after the NCAA overturned
a previous decision that stated the signal-caller must sit out a year.
Masoli enro
Diamondbacks bring up veteran P Hampton >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks purchased the contract
of 15-season veteran Mike Hampton on Friday from Triple-A Reno.
Hampton was signed by the club on August 21 after making 21 starts for Houston
last season, going
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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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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