 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Italy still has work to do against SlovakiaSoccer Betting Lines06/23/2010 - Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All four teams are still alive as Group F enters its final day of play on Thursday, but Italy has plenty of work to do in order to reach the knockout round, which was unthinkable at the start of the tournament. The defending champions were the clear favorites in what most experts believed was the weakest group in South Africa, but they must now beat Slovakia at Ellis Park Stadium in order to secure themselves a place in the last 16. A 1-1 draw with Paraguay to start the tournament was not a bad result, but Italy's stunning 1-1 deadlock against New Zealand has led midfielder Daniele De Rossi to realize his team must improve to avoid a major disappointment. "We'll have to improve quickly, because otherwise we won't be going far," the Italian midfielder said. "We weren't at our best and we can do a lot better than that. It's not a problem with our forwards - it's the whole team that didn't play well. We spent most of the game in their half and had some good chances, but it wasn't enough." If Italy has been well below par to this point, Slovakia has been even more disappointing, losing 2-0 to Paraguay after a 1-1 draw with New Zealand. Slovakia seemingly had three points in the bag in its opener, but a goal from New Zealand's Winston Reid deep into stoppage time forced it to settle for a draw before a lackluster effort against Paraguay. "I really don't know what our problem is," Slovakia midfielder Miroslav Stoch said after the Paraguay defeat. "We are making a lot of mistakes, especially at the back. We knew they would be a difficult side to beat but we couldn't make enough openings." If Slovakia wants any chance of advancing, it better start to make a few openings because it will need a win over Italy as well as a loss or draw by New Zealand to go through. Italy can still book a place in the next round with a win, but its chances of topping the group have greatly diminished, meaning a second-round match with the Netherlands could await.
<< Riders great Ron Atchison passes away
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Wednesday the passing of Ron Atchison. He was 80. Atchison joined the Roughriders in 1952 and played in 237 regular season games with the franchise until retiring in 1968
<< Bulls name Thibodeau head coach
<< Lack of patience puts three-year-old to stud
<< England advances on Defoe's goal
<< Donovan's stoppage-time goal puts USA through
Surprising Kiwis hope to seize chance vs. Paraguay >>
Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Group F was widely considered to be the weakest group at this summer's FIFA World Cup, and while the action on the field has not always been scintillating, it has been unpredictable. Italy was wid
Lawrence Taylor indicted on rape charges >>
Denmark, Japan clash with knockout spot on the line >>
Redskins' Haynesworth vows to attend training camp >>
Rams sign Oshiomogho Atogwe >>
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn 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. |
|
