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Brownout in ClevelandBasketball Betting Lines05/24/2010 - Philadelphia, PA - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This is hardly the first time a superstar has been placated. Despite already owning an NBA championship, Paul Westhead was fired early in his third season as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers back in the early 1980s after Magic Johnson spoke out about the team's fractured locker room. Pat Riley succeeded Westhead and Magic's Lakers went on to win four more NBA titles. Fast-forward to the present. You knew someone was going to have to pay for the sins of underachieving in Cleveland. Did you really think it was going to be LeBron James? Armed with the two-time reigning MVP, Mike Brown's Cavs were expected to win the franchise's first championship at some time over the past two seasons. The club won 66 and 61 regular-season games, respectively, over those years but were ousted by Orlando in the conference finals last spring and suffered a humbling second-round loss to Boston in this year's postseason. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Cavaliers' playoff hiccups was the fact that they had home-court advantage in both setbacks. Winning year after year in the NBA is just not feasible. Losing in Game 7 to a Larry Bird-led Celtics team in Beantown was certainly no shame. Falling to a Magic-fueled Lakers club at the old Forum in Inglewood was almost expected. But, losing with home-court advantage is something the ghosts LeBron is chasing just don't do. Kobe Bryant's Lakers are a gaudy 24-1 in playoff series when the pivotal game was scheduled for LA and they are about to improve on the mark over the next week or so. Those who point to Kobe having Shaquille O'Neal for the majority of that time should understand things have only improved since Shaq left Hollywood. The Lakers were 15-1 with home-court advantage when Bryant and Shaq were together with the Lakers, the only loss being in the finals to Detroit in 2004. Since O'Neal's exit, Kobe's teams are 9-0 with home-court and are about to make it a perfect 10 as Bryant attempts to wins his fifth NBA championship Michael Jordan was even better. Give M.J. the hammer and he never, ever failed to perform. Jordan's teams were an astonishing 23-0 when they had home-court advantage. With James' impending free agency looming, removing Brown, a former Coach of the Year, is another attempt to entice the King to remain with the organization by increasing his already-sizeable power base. Many in Cleveland have reported that James has already vetoed a handful of trades general manager Danny Ferry has wanted to pursue. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl that James would like to go to an organization as a package deal with his hand-picked mentor, Kentucky coach John Calipari. "After a long and deep analysis of all of the factors that led to the disappointing early ends to our playoff runs over the past two seasons, we concluded that it was time for the Cavaliers to move in a different direction," Cleveland majority owner Dan Gilbert said when announcing the firing of Brown. He might as well have said -- "LeBron, who do you want to coach your team?" For whatever reason, people like to make excuses for James. They point to the balky elbow he carried into this year's postseason. They downgrade his supposed shaky supporting cast. They talk about the numerous off-court distractions that follow him around. Now, you can another to the ever-growing laundry list -- poor LeBron suffered at the hands of a "pedestrian" coach. "The expectations of this organization are very high and, although change always carries an element of risk, there are times when that risk must be taken in an attempt to break through to new, higher levels of accomplishment," Gilbert said. "This is one of those times." Change can be good or bad. Its only guarantee is that it is inevitable and James should understand every time an excuse is removed from the equation that is his career, the noose tightens around him. Sooner or later, the fingers will stop pointing at others and start pointing at James himself, whether he is playing in Cleveland, New York or Chicago.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn 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. MySportsbook.com Favors Fighting Irish to win College Football betting odds According to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, on January 8, the Fighting Irish faithful may be toasting their 14th national title in Arizona – Notre Dame’s first national championship in close to 20 years. Although MySportsbook.com has listed Notre Dame as the 5-1 favorite to win thecollege football College Football betting, fans in Columbus do not need to cancel their tickets to Glendale just yet. The Ohio State Buckeyes, listed right behind the Irish at 7-1, are also heavy favorites to win college football’s most coveted prize, while West Virginia, USC and the 2007 National Champion Texas Longhorns - all listed at 8-1 – are strong contenders as well. MySportsbook.com has also posted gambling odds on the conference championships for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC. In the ACC – it could be anyone’s title, particularly for the two schools from the Sunshine State. Florida State and Miami, both listed at 2-1, are favored to win the ACC Championship Game odds, with the ‘Noles hoping to finish in the nation’s top 10 for the first time in five years, and the ‘Canes looking to avenge their 10-7 loss against FSU in last year’s ACC Championship betting. Moving west to the Big 12, MySportsbook.com has betting lines listing Texas as 7-5 favorites to repeat as conference champions, even though the Longhorns lost their national championship-winning quarterback Vince Young to the NFL. In the south, the Auburn Tigers – led by Heisman-hopeful senior running back Kenny Irons – have been given the best odds to win the SEC Championship odds at 5-2.
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| Notre Dame Ohio State West Virginia Texas USC Florida California Auburn Oklahoma Iowa Louisville Florida State Michigan Miami (FL) LSU Penn State Virginia Tech Nebraska Tennessee Georgia Arizona State Oregon Clemson Texas A&M Texas Tech Alabama Arkansas Boston College Michigan State Maryland South Carolina Colorado Purdue Georgia Tech TCU UCLA Arizona Pittsburgh Iowa State Wisconsin North Carolina State Virginia North Carolina Fresno State Hawaii Northwestern BYU Oregon State UNLV Field (Any Other Team) |
5-1 7-1 8-1 8-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 18-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 25-1 40-1 40-1 50-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 70-1 70-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 150-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 250-1 250-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 400-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 1000-1 1000-1 40-1 |
ODDS TO WIN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Miami (FL) Florida State Virginia Tech Clemson Georgia Tech Boston College Maryland Virginia North Carolina State North Carolina Wake Forest Duke |
2-1 2-1 3-1 7-1 15-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 500-1 |
ODDS TO WIN BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Texas Oklahoma Nebraska Texas Tech Colorado Iowa State Texas A&M Kansas State Missouri Kansas Baylor Oklahoma State |
7-5 9-5 9-2 12-1 14-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 35-1 100-1 100-1 |
ODDS TO WIN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Auburn Florida LSU Georgia Tennessee Arkansas Alabama Mississippi South Carolina Mississippi State Kentucky Vanderbilt |
5-2 11-4 4-1 6-1 7-1 7-1 9-1 20-1 28-1 75-1 100-1 300-1 |
For complete NCAA football odds please visit Mysportsbook.com.
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