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08/28/2010 - Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Conor Casey had a goal and two assists in the first 23 minutes and the Colorado Rapids defeated the short-handed Houston Dynamo, 3-0, on Saturday in Major League Soccer at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Casey assisted on Jamie Smith's first goal of the season less than two minutes into the match, set up Omar Cummings' sixth goal of the season in the 16th and added his eighth goal of the year in the 23rd.
Colorado (8-6-7) had just one win in its last 10 games, a 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes thanks to an own goal, but cruised to just its second victory since early June after Houston's Lovel Palmer was sent off in the 10th minute.
Houston (6-11-5) ended a 10-match winless streak last week with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire, but never recovered from Smith's early goal and Palmer's red card. The Dynamo have gone 42 league games without back-to-back wins.
Colorado grabbed the lead inside two minutes when Casey played Smith into the left side of the penalty area with a long pass from midfield. Smith placed the ball perfectly into the bottom-right corner to finish the play.
Palmer was sent off in the 10th minute after he tangled with Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni and kicked the Rapids' captain. Mastroeni received a yellow, but the Dynamo paid a much bigger price.
Casey set up Colorado's second goal with a perfect cross from the right that Cummings just had to direct across the line from six yards out just minutes after Houston went down a man.
After picking up his fourth and fifth assists of the year, Casey increased his goals total by scoring off a rebound. Mehdi Ballouchy forced Dynamo goalie Pat Onstad to stop a rocket from the edge of the box, but Casey was lurking at the back post and headed the ball into an empty net.
Rapids goalie Ian Joyce, making his first MLS start with Matt Pickens out with back spasms, denied Brian Mullan from close range in the 56th to keep Houston from getting back into the match. Joyce finished with fourth saves to earn his shutout.
Colorado can build on the win Sept. 4 when it hosts Chivas USA. Houston hopes to rebound Sept. 5 when it hosts the San Jose Earthquakes.
<< McCown burns Bucs as Jags claim first preseason win
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luke McCown threw the game-winning touchdown
pass and Josh Scobee booted four field goals as Jacksonville came from behind
to beat Tampa Bay, 19-13, at Raymond James Stadium.
David Garrard played deep into
<< Carolina downs Titans as offense continues to struggle
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Goodson returned a kickoff 91 yards for
a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give the Carolina Panthers a 15-7
win over the Tennessee Titans in the third preseason game for each club.
Matt Moor
<< Chacin, Gonzalez pace Rockies over Dodgers
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jhoulys Chacin tossed seven innings of one-run
ball and Carlos Gonzalez powered the Rockies' offense in a 5-3 victory over
the Dodgers.
Gonzalez tripled and hit a two-run homer for the Rockies, winners in
<< New receivers make impact in Vikes win over Seattle
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Javon Walker, signed earlier in the week
after it was revealed Sidney Rice will miss extended time with a hip injury,
caught the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter from Sage Rosenfels to
help gi
Cain's hit in 11th lifts Brewers over Pirates >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorenzo Cain's RBI single in the 11th
inning lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates
in the second contest of a three-game set.
With Wilfredo Ledezma (0-1) on the m
Arizona pummels struggling Giants >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche each
homered and Daniel Hudson continued to impress with seven sturdy innings as
Arizona downed San Francisco, 11-3, in the second of three meetings at AT&T
Par
Millwood dominant as O's blank Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Bell hit a two-run homer and Kevin
Millwood pitched his best game of the season, as the Baltimore Orioles shut
down the Angels, 5-0, in the second test of a three-game series.
Millwood (3-14) ga
Dixon's late score lifts 49ers over Raiders >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Dixon's one-yard touchdown run late in
the fourth quarter helped the San Francisco 49ers take a 28-24 win over the
Oakland Raiders in the third preseason game for both squads.
Dixon finished the ga
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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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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