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02/03/2012 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Joe Vitale to a two-year contract extension.
The deal, which keeps Vitale in Pittsburgh through the 2013-14 season, is worth an average value of $550,000 per year.
Vitale, 26, has recorded three goals and 10 points in 44 games in 2011-12, his first full season in the NHL.
<< Sato signs with Rahal Letterman Lanigan for 2012 season
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing revealed on
Friday that Japanese driver Takuma Sato has joined the team for the 2012 IZOD
IndyCar Series season. Sato will drive the team's No.15 Honda entry.
RLL is runnin
<< Sharapova will lead-off for Russia against Spain
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2012 Fed Cup quarterfinal between host
Russia and Spain will commence Saturday with a singles match between
Australian Open runner-up Maria Sharapova and Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
"I'm
<< Lowly Blue Jackets visit Ducks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets' disappointing season may have
hit a new low point on Wednesday. They hope the return of sniper Jeff Carter
can help turn things around this evening in the finale of a six-game road trip
against the
<< Sixers try to solve Heat in Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers may not possess the star power that
Miami Heat bring to the court, but they have been every bit as good as their
much-hyped counterparts in the early going this season.
Tonight, the Sixers eye a fift
Alpha looms large in Withers >>
Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Local stakes winner Alpha has been made the
even-money favorite in a field of seven for Saturday's $200,000 Withers Stakes
at Aqueduct. After a year's absence the Withers returns as a prep event for
three-y
Abidal inks new Barca deal >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona defender Eric Abidal put pen to
paper on a new contract with the club on Friday, signing a deal that keeps him
at the Nou Camp through at least next season.
It was announced last month that the
Luxemburgo sacked by Flamengo >>
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Flamengo confirmed on Friday that
the club has sacked manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
The 59-year-old was the subject of numerous reports out of Brazil earlier this
week which stated that he was
Rockies extend Belisle >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies extended the contract of
veteran relief pitcher Matt Belisle on Friday.
The deal keeps Belisle in Denver through at least the 2013 season, with a
mutual option for 2014. Financial te
“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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