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02/19/2007 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Murray defeated Ivo Karlovic in an exciting final at the SAP Open on Sunday to successfully defend his title in San Jose.
In their first-ever meeting, Murray battled back to down the big-serving Karlovic, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) to take home the $65,850 first-place prize.
Murray had to overcome 26 aces by Karlovic, who dropped his serve remarkably just once in 51 games and had a tournament-best 87 aces heading into the final.
Murray topped Lleyton Hewitt in the final last year here to secure his first title. With the impressive victory, Murray became just the fourth active player on the ATP Tour to successfully defend his first-career title, joining Mario Ancic, Ronald Gasquet and Paradorn Srichaphan as the only players to achieve this feat.
The third-seeded Murray surpassed the top-seeded Andy Roddick, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 to reach the final of the $416,000 event.
Karlovic, who was seeking his first-career title, downed sixth-seeded German Benjamin Becker, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 to advance to Sunday's final.
Despite the loss in the final, this week was a remarkable turnaround for Karlovic, who turns 28 at the end of this month. He's coming back strong from a left knee injury that sidelined him for most of the second half of last year. His ranking of No. 103 will rise sharply next week.
<< No. 10 ASU tops UCLA
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Briann January had a career-high 22 points
with nine assists and six steals, and the 10th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils
downed UCLA 80-69.
Emily Westerberg and Danielle Orsillo added 12 points apiece
<< Halak, Canadiens edge Blue Jackets
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves in his NHL debut
to guide the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at
Nationwide Arena.
Saku Koivu, Michael Ryder and Francis Bouillon all scored for t
<< No. 12 Vandy blows by South Carolina
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caroline Williams scored a career-high 26
points, and No. 12 Vanderbilt cruised to an 83-65 victory over the South
Carolina Gamecocks.
Carla Thomas scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for
<< Howell takes down Mickelson in Nissan playoff
Pacific Palisades, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charles Howell III got up and down
for par on the third playoff hole Sunday to defeat Masters champion Phil
Mickelson and win the Nissan Open.
Mickelson birdied the 17th hole in regulation
Kings top Ducks in shootout >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lubomir Visnovsky scored in the sixth round of
the shootout, to lift the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim
Ducks at the Honda Center.
Visnovsky added a goal and an assist in regulation and
Bryant leads West to easy All-Star game win >>
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, dished out six
assists and had six steals to lead the West to an easy 153-132 win over the
East in the 56th annual All-Star Game at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Bryant was nam
Morrison stars as Canucks edge Avs >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Morrison scored two goals and picked
up an assist to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 victory over the Colorado
Avalanche at General Motors Place.
Matt Cooke added a goal and two assists for
Mets ink Sandy Alomar Jr. to minor league deal >>
Port St. Lucie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have signed catcher
Sandy Alomar Jr. to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring
training.
The 40-year-old Alomar played in 27 games last season with the Los An
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts 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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