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10/09/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's the fifth race of the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup" and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are threatening to make the championship their own private contest.
NASCAR
Nextel Cup
Bank of America 500 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
For those who survived the mayhem of Dover and the Kansas Speedway and the "Big One" at Talladega with their championship hopes still in tact, it's on to the Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Of the 12 "Chase for the Nextel Cup" competitors, only three or possibly four still have a realistic chance at the championship.
Gordon leads the "Chase" just as he led the series for most of the season. Beginning in week five, Gordon was the points leader every week through race No.25. He has been either first or second in the standings for 28 of 30 weeks.
At Lowe's Gordon has a solid record. He owns four of his 80 career Nextel Cup wins on the Charlotte, NC track and 15 top-10s in 29 starts. That's a good record, but it pales next to the record of his teammate Johnson.
The No.48 Chevrolet driver has made 12 starts on the 1.5-mile oval named after his primary sponsor and has earned five wins and 11 top-10s. His average finish is an amazing 6.2. He swept the spring and fall events in both 2004 and 2005. Johnson is just nine points behind Gordon.
Clint Bowyer has also survived the past wild weeks with his championship dreams still alive. Bowyer has been consistent all season long and in the four "Chase" races has continued that streak. His worst finish is a 12th at Dover and he collected the first win of his Nextel Cup career in the "Chase" opener at the New Hampshire International Speedway. Still, an 11th-place finish at Talladega left him 63 points behind the leader.
Two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart is hanging on to his championship hopes by a thread. For Stewart, a 39th-place finish at Kansas may be the race that kills his title. He stands 154 points behind Gordon on the fringe of competitiveness.
But Stewart can still dream of a title because in 2006 Johnson showed him how it could be done. Johnson fell 156 points back before storming to victory. But putting together five consecutive top-two finishes like Johnson did in 2006 does not happen very often.
In 2005, Stewart put an eight-race streak together which included five wins and six top-two finishes. This year he won three out of four races from mid-July to mid-August so he is certainly capable of making a run like that.
Behind Stewart, Harvick sits fifth in the championship, but a distant 202 points behind. On top of that, the Richard Childress Racing driver has not been on top of his game since early in the year when he won at Daytona and the Nextel All-Star Challenge.
In fact, the RCR camp is struggling to figure out why four of their engines, including Harvick's, came apart at Talladega. Harvick managed to limp his No.29 Chevy to the checkered flag on seven cylinders, but three RCR-powered cars failed - Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kasey Kahne, who disappeared in 2007, won last year's Bank of America 500 beating Johnson to the checkered flag by 1.624 seconds. The No.9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2007 after winning a series-high six times in 2006. He also had 19 top-10s last year versus just six in 2007. This would be a good time for Kahne to set a tone for the remainder of the season and show that he will be back in 2008.
Unfortunately this is the Lowe's Motor Speedway and it is "owned" by Johnson and the No.48 team. Don't be surprised if he makes another trip to Victory Lane.
Busch
Dollar General 300 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
The Busch championship has been over for weeks, it just hasn't been made official yet. Carl Edwards built a huge lead early on and will cruise to his first title any day now. The No.60 Roush Racing Ford driver owns a 696-point lead over David Reutimann with five races left on the schedule.
If he leaves this week's race with a 644-point margin, he only has to start the final four events to win the title. If he builds his lead to 780 points, he can take the rest of the season off and still win the championship.
Veteran Jason Keller will attempt to break one of the series' longtime records this Friday night. If he qualifies for the Dollar General 300, he'll become the all-time leader in starts at 418. He is currently tied with Busch Series legend Tommy Houston, who will drive the pace car. Over Keller's 16-year career he has accumulated 10 wins, 11 poles and 161 top-10s.
Houston's 15-year career included 24 wins, 18 poles and 198 top-10s. Houston was born in Hickory, NC and won nearly 150 NASCAR Late Model Sportsmen division races before the Busch Series was created. He is the uncle of Teresa Earnhardt.
<< Not a Welcome Flashback for Ravens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It felt like 2000 all over again. Trent Dilfer was in the
house. The Baltimore Ravens couldn't score. Brian Billick's team played great
defense. And they won.
Only thing was, after the Ravens' so-ugly-you-couldn't-look 9-7
<< Isles sign Berard
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders announced Tuesday
that they have signed veteran forward Brian Berard to a one-year deal after
the 30-year old earned a spot following an invite to training camp.
Berard, who ca
<< Kansas State reports possible NCAA violations
Manhattan, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas State is being investigated by the
NCAA for possible rules violations in its football program.
Kansas State director of athletics Tim Weiser said the university has informed
the NCAA of possible vi
<< Flyers sign defenseman Fitzpatrick
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers announced Tuesday
that they have signed defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick to a one-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 32-year-old Fitzpatrick playe
Spotlight is on Stastny >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When people talk about the future of
hockey it doesn't take long for Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin's names
to come up in the conversation.
However, if Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche is able
Jags continue stellar run defense >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars must have been playing some old
hits from Martha and the Vandellas in the locker room at Kansas City's
Arrowhead Stadium this past Sunday.
If so, the hit song "Nowhere to Run" would have been a per
Sorenson penalized for Talladega rules violation >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reed Sorenson and the No.41 Target Chip
Ganassi Dodge team has been penalized for failing post-race inspection after
Sunday's race at the Talladega Superspeedway.
The car was found in violation of
Rookie running back leads Colts to 5-0 mark >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In case you didn't catch the name of the Indianapolis Colts
running back who wears No. 36 on Sunday, it's Kenton Keith.
Keith is a first-year player out of New Mexico State who was thrust into the
starting lineup as an inj
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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