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02/08/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant missed Monday's game against San Antonio due to a sprained left ankle.
It's the second straight game Bryant has sat out. He was also absent on Saturday when the Lakers won in Portland, 99-82.
Bryant, who is averaging 28 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season, had played in 235 straight games before sitting Saturday. Last week, he became the Lakers' all-time leading scorer, passing Jerry West. Bryant (25,246) is now 33 points shy of Reggie Miller (25,279) for 13th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
The Lakers were also missing center Andrew Bynum from Monday's game. He's out with a bruised right hip.
<< Duke uses balanced attack to dismantle UNC
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keturah Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell each
scored 12 points in a balanced attack for eighth-ranked Duke, which crushed
18th-ranked North Carolina, 79-51 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Krystal Thomas added
<< Richards caps Flyers' comeback win over Devils
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Richards tallied the game-deciding
power-play goal late in the third period, as Philadelphia recovered from a
two-goal deficit to top New Jersey, 3-2, at Wachovia Center.
James van Riemsdyk a
<< Sharks use Clowe's third period goal to beat Leafs
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryane Clowe's goal in the third period lifted
the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada
Centre.
Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski each had a goal for the Sharks, who have won f
<< Cliff Lee undergoes foot surgery
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners lefty Cliff Lee underwent
surgery last Friday to remove a bone spur in his left foot.
Lee, who was acquired from Philadelphia in December, is not expected to be
ready for workouts wh
Carter and Orlando stay hot with win over Hornets >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vince Carter scored 34 of his season-high 48
points in the second half, rallying Orlando to a second straight victory,
123-117 over the New Orleans Hornets.
Carter scored nine during a 19-0 rally in
Jayhawks capitalize on turnovers to top Texas >>
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Morris posted 18 points, eight rebounds
and four assists, as No. 1 Kansas overcame a poor shooting performance by
clamping down defensively on the 14th-ranked Longhorns to earn an 80-68 Big 12
victory
Stewart, Yip help Avs upend Blues >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Stewart had a goal and two assists as the
Colorado Avalanche downed the St. Louis Blues, 5-2, at Pepsi Center.
Brandon Yip had two goals while Paul Stastny added a goal and an assist for
the Avalanche
Lombardi's career night propels Phoenix over road-weary Oilers >>
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matthew Lombardi had a career-high five-point
night with a pair of goals and three assists, as Phoenix blew out Edmonton,
6-1, for its seventh win in eight games.
Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 33 shots for t
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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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