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07/09/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC puts its home unbeaten streak on the line on Saturday when they welcome the Colorado Rapids to BMO Field.
TFC has yet to taste defeat at home this season after Dan Gargan rescued a point for the Reds last time out with an 84th-minute equalizer to help them claim a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo.
The result was the third successive draw for Toronto, but it also extended the teams unbeaten streak to seven games, leaving them in third place in the Eastern Conference table.
The game was an ill-tempered affair that featured two TFC players, Julian de Guzman and Amadou Sanyang, both being sent off, meaning that both will miss out on Saturday's game along with defender Emmanuel Gomez, who is out with a knee injury.
One player who could be available to head coach Preki is striker Maicon Santos, who was signed on Friday after being released by Chivas USA earlier this past week.
"We are delighted to welcome Maicon on board," said manager and director of soccer Mo Johnston. "Preki knows this player inside and out, and speaks very highly of him both on and off the field. He's a target man, strong, and packs a very good shot."
TFC will hope that Santos can aid a struggling attack that has produced just one goal in its last three games.
The Rapids are unbeaten in their last six games, but they have drawn their last three, including a 1-1 deadlock with Red Bull New York last time out.
Colorado is currently third in the Western Conference table, but defender Scott Palguta voiced his frustration after last week's result, which came at home.
"When we are at home, that's not a point gained; it's two points lost," he told mlssoccer.com. "We were obviously very dominant and hopefully we can keep that going and maybe next week [against Toronto] make it into a win somehow."
Midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy will be kept home because of immigration problems, leaving head coach Gary Smith with a tough decision to make on who will fill the shoes left by Ballouchy, who has scored two goals and assisted on three others in 12 games this season.
<< Panthers sign third-rounder Edwards
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers have signed third-round
draft pick Armanti Edwards.
Edwards was taken 89th overall in April's draft after a successful four-year
run as quarterback at Appalachian State. The Panthers
<< Giants place reliever Runzler on DL, recall Martinez
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants placed reliever Dan
Runzler on the 15-day disabled list on Friday with a dislocated left kneecap
The 25-year-old left-hander suffered the injury in Thursday's win over the
Milwau
<< Hawks sign rookie G Crawford
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have signed rookie guard
Jordan Crawford.
The Hawks acquired Crawford in a draft night trade from New Jersey last month.
The Nets took the Xavier product with the 27th pick.
Crawford
<< Fish swims into Newport semis
Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Mardy Fish was a hard-fought
quarterfinal winner Friday at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
The American Fish came from behind to dismiss Canada's Frank Dancevic 6-7
(6-8), 6-4, 6-4 on th
Bucs ink G Vincent >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added some depth to the
offensive line position on Friday by signing veteran guard Keydrick Vincent to
a two-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The 32-year-old spent
Raiders ink two from draft class >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders have signed offensive
linemen Jared Veldheer and Bruce Campbell, two members of the team's 2010
draft class.
Veldheer, taken 69th overall in the third round, started 46 games
Rain stops U.S. Women's Open >>
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy rainfall and lightning in the area forced
the suspension of Friday's second-round play at the U.S. Women's Open at
Oakmont.
Sophie Gustafson birdied the first hole, her only hole on Friday, to move in
fr
Ducks send D Eminger to Rangers >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks have acquired forwards Aaron
Voros and Ryan Hillier from the New York Rangers in exchange for nomadic
defenseman Steve Eminger.
Voros registered three goals and four assists in 41 game
MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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.
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