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03/14/2010 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wayne Rooney scored two more goals to increase his Premier League-leading total to 25 and Manchester United defeated Fulham 3-0 on Sunday at Old Trafford to reclaim first place.
Arsenal and Chelsea passed United with wins on Saturday, but Rooney scored one minute after halftime and added his 32 in all competitions in the 84th.
Dimitar Berbatov, who assisted on Rooney's second goal, added his 10th Premier League goal in the 89th to seal United's 21st win of the season.
"The start to the second half was crucial and we got a good one to put us in a good position. After that our confidence grew," United coach Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV.
Rooney handed United the lead less than one minute into the second half after a great give-and-go with Nani. Rooney had the ball in the middle and passed to the left to Nani, who threaded a pass through four Fulham players to get the ball back to Rooney for an easy finish to the bottom right.
Berbatov set up the second goal after he drove into the area from the right to slip a pass through three Fulham players to Rooney, who slotted to the left to beat Mark Schwarzer for the second time.
"The second was the star goal really," Ferguson said. "The work by Berbatov was fantastic football and he just laid it on a plate for Wayne, who took it well."
Substitute Ji-Sung Park delivered a cross to Berbatov in the 89th, and he dove to head the ball inside the right post from five yards for the third goal.
Fulham lost for just the second time in its last seven matches, but still sits in the top half of the standings in 10th. American Clint Dempsey, who returned in Thursday's Europa League match, made his first start since suffering a knee injury earlier this year.
Adam Johnson scored in the 91st minute as Manchester City escaped the Stadium of Light with a 1-1 draw against Sunderland.
Johnson latched onto a corner kick on the far side of the area in injury time, and lofted a perfect shot into the upper-left corner.
Kenwyne Jones scored in the ninth minute for Sunderland, and Craig Gordon made seven saves before Johnson left him no chance in the final seconds.
City is in fifth place, two points behind Tottenham for fourth and a berth in the Champions League. Sunderland is seven points clear of relegation in 14th.
<< Power wins bizarre IndyCar season-opener in Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power survived a spectacular
opening-lap crash and then endured heavy rain before making a winning pass on
Ryan Hunter-Reay in the closing minutes to win the season-opening Sao Paulo
Indy 30
<< Pacers-Bucks, Box
INDIANA (94)Granger 8-18 11-11 29, Murphy 4-11 5-6 14, Hibbert 1-5 4-4 6, Watson 5-11 2-2 15, Rush 5-14 2-3 13, McRoberts 0-0 0-0 0, D.Jones 0-2 2-2 2, Price 1-7 4-4 6, S.Jones 3-4 3-4 9. Totals 27-72 33-36 94.MILWAUKEE (98)Delfino 1-4 2-2 5, Mbah
<< O's Roberts to see back specialist
Sarasota, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts was
scheduled to fly back to Baltimore Sunday to have his ailing back examined.
Roberts developed a herniated disc in his back while working out in the
offseas
<< Capitals-Blackhawks Sum
Washington 0 0 3 1-4Chicago 2 1 0 0-3First Period-1, Chicago, Toews 21 (Hjalmarsson, P.Kane), 7:00. 2, Chicago, Toews 22 (Sharp, P.Kane), 16:54 (pp).Second Period-3, Chicago, Madden 10 (Keith), 6:54.Third Period-4, Washington, Laich 22 (Gre
Temple tops Richmond to win A-10 crown, gets NCAA bid >>
Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Fernandez led all scorers with 18
points, as 17th-ranked Temple held on to claim its third straight Atlantic 10
Conference title with a 56-52 win over Richmond at Boardwalk Hall and earn an
automat
Bucks edge Pacers to complete season sweep >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerry Stackhouse finished with a team-high 20
points off the bench, as the Milwaukee Bucks escaped with a 98-94 win over the
Indiana Pacers at the Bradley Center.
Andrew Bogut donated a double-double with
Caps lose Ovechkin but beat Blackhawks with furious four-goal rally >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicklas Backstrom scored twice, including the
winning goal at 3:10 of overtime, as the Washington Capitals rallied to beat
the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-3, at United Center.
Backstrom, Brooks Laich and Eric Feh
Kiessling leads Leverkusen over Hamburg >>
Leverkusen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stefan Kiessling scored twice and Bayer
Leverkusen rebounded from its first loss of the season to beat Hamburg 4-2 on
Sunday at the BayArena.
Leverkusen opened the season unbeaten in 24 straight before
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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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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