Huber, Petrova reach U.S. Open doubles final
Tennis Betting Lines
09/10/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A second-seeded tandem of American Liezel Huber and Russian Nadia Petrova posted a semifinal victory Friday at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Huber-Petrova reached the women's doubles finale with a 6-3, 6-2 spanking of seventh-seeded Yung-Jan Chan of Taipei and Jie Zheng of China at the National Tennis Center. Huber was a mixed doubles champion, alongside fellow American Bob Bryan, here on Thursday.
The 34-year-old Huber is a four-time Grand Slam women's doubles champion, including a U.S. Open title, alongside Zimbabwe's Cara Black, back in 2008.
Huber and Petrova will meet a sixth-seeded pairing of American Vania King and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova in Sunday's finale, with the winning team claiming $420,000.
On Thursday, King-Shvedova topped a ninth-seeded pairing of Black and Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. King and Shvedova captured the Wimbledon championship in July.
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Celtic welcomes Hearts to Parkhead on Saturday the Hoops will not only be trying for their fourth win in four games to start the season, but also to keep manager Neil Lennon's record in charge
<< South Carolina CB Culliver cleared
Columbia, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Carolina senior cornerback Chris
Culliver will be back on the field when the Gamecocks host 22nd-ranked Georgia
on Saturday.
Culliver, who earned Second-Team All-SEC honors as a junior safety
<< Milan ready to unveil Ibrahimovic against Cesena
Cesena, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan made a big statement in its 4-0
opening-weekend win over Lecce, while defending champions Inter Milan and
runners-up, Roma, both were held to 0-0 draws.
Now, Milan is set to add to its big
<< Gaming: Ride the Sun Belt train for another week
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After the first Five-Star play of the
season proved victorious (Arkansas State plus the points at Auburn), let's roll
with another Sun Belt Conference squad, this time against a Big East foe.
Florida Int
<< Lille hopes for spark in derby match with Lens
Lens, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With four successive draws to start the Ligue
1 season, Lille's Ludovic Obraniak is hoping that Saturday's derby match with
Lens at the Felix-Bollaert Stadium will be enough to help his team raise its
level o
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 stalwart Rafael Nadal and former top-ranked superstar Roger Federer are on a collision course to meet in Sunday's men's final at the 2010 U.S. Open. The two tennis greats have never met he
Ronaldo set for Madrid return >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid will be boosted by the earlier-
than-expected return of Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday when the club gets set
to host Osasuna.
Ronaldo suffered an ankle injury in Real's 0-0 draw with Mallorca
Zamora signs new Fulham deal >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fulham announced on Friday that the club
has signed striker Bobby Zamora to a new four-year contract.
The 29-year-old Zamora was a big part of Fulham's run to the final of the
Europa League last se
Bryans capture third U.S. Open title >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded twin Bryan brothers,
Bob and Mike, captured their third career U.S. Open men's doubles title on
Friday.
Playing in their fourth U.S. Open final, the 32-year-old Bryans improved
Spurs lose Defoe for three months >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham was dealt a big blow on Friday as
it was revealed that striker Jermain Defoe is set to miss the next three
months after undergoing ankle surgery.
Defoe was already set for a groin operation
Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back
With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."
Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
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.
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