Strugglers RBNY, Colorado look to snap skids

Soccer Betting Lines

07/08/2007 - Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It has been a while since both the Colorado Rapids and Red Bull New York have come out on the winning end of an MLS contest.

New York is winless in its last four games, including three losses, while Colorado is coming off of two-straight scoreless draws, but has failed to record a win in seven games. The two struggling teams will try to change things at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday night.

New York will be trying to forget its last outing, a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the Houston Dynamo on Thursday. After recording multiple goals in six-straight games, Bruce Arena's club was held scoreless for the second consecutive match, and now will try to move past its poor form in recent weeks and start to get back its winning ways.

"I think you have to study, because we have too many players who played poorly, and that has to be accounted for," Arena told the club's website. "You can't ignore some of the performances on the field (Thursday). You can't just throw it away. As I said, you have to learn from it and then move on."

If Red Bull is to get back in the win column on Sunday, they will have to work on solidifying a defense that has struggled after a strong start to the season.

New York opened the year by conceding just four goals in eight games, but has since allowed 16 goals in six matches.

"We're in a little bit of a low period, but we're still one of the top teams," said midfielder Claudio Reyna. "We've just got to pick ourselves up and move forward. Sometimes you need a slap in the face to wake up, and this was our hardest slap of the year."

The Rapids are very much in need of a slap in the face as well, coming off of a 0-0 draw with Columbus that extended its winless streak to seven games.

The Rapids have been without a number of players including Kyle Beckerman and Herculez Gomez due to international duty, as well as Pablo Mastroeni, Conor Casey and Mike Petke because of injury. While the return of Beckerman and Gomez is possible for Sunday's game, Mastroeni has been ruled out because of an adductor strain. It is also unlikely that either Casey or Petke will be ready in time for the match.

With so many players missing, head coach Fernando Clavijo has been forced to turn to some younger players for help. Two in particular, Daniel Wasson and Colin Clark, have made the most of their opportunity.

"Colin Clark is giving us a natural left-sided player with a lot of energy," Clavijo said to the Denver Post. "Lack of experience has not enabled him to finish (scoring chances) like an experienced player. Daniel Wasson has big shoes to fill as a defensive midfielder - Pablo Mastroeni and Kyle Beckerman - so he's thrown into a situation which is very difficult. He performed, he worked, he tackled people. Defensively he did a very good job."

Clavijo will have to hope his younger players continue to play well and that he can get back some of his regulars because he will be facing a New York team on Sunday that is poised for a breakout.

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MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.

(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977.  Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.

Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer.  In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season. 

MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite.  After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.

Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions.  They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals.  The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown. 

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

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.

NFL Betting Lines

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