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09/14/2007 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champions Real Madrid are the only team in Spain to take a perfect 2-0 record into this weekend, and they will try to extend that mark to three straight against promoted club Almeria on Saturday at the Bernabeu.
A 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid on the season's opening day was followed by a 5-0 thrashing of quality side Villarreal last time out. With the runners-up in the second division from last season coming to town, Real should have no problem adding to their win total, but Almeria have also enjoyed a positive start to its campaign.
In just its third season ever in Spain's top flight, Almeria opened the season with a resounding 3-0 win at Deportivo, before dropping a close 2-1 contest on home soil against Valencia.
The visitors will be without top striker Alvaro Negredo, who signed from Real Madrid over the summer but has a clause in his contract that prevents him from playing at Bernabeu.
Negredo has scored a goal in both games this season, and his absence will limit the Almeria attack, especially going up against a strong defensive unit like the one that Real boasts.
Despite having a superior team, Madrid must guard against a letdown, which is something that the club struggled with last season, when promoted clubs Recreativo and Levante both left the Bernabeu with wins.
Midfielder Wesley Sneijder is unlikely to play on Saturday after picking up an ankle injury this past week while playing for the Netherlands. Fellow Dutchman Arjen Robben, who signed from Chelsea in August, is close to making his debut with Real, but is not likely to earn a start.
In other action on Saturday, Valencia hosts a Valladolid side that has taken four points from its first two games, and winless clubs Real Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao get together at Estadio San Mames.
On Sunday, Real Betis and Deportivo, who have combined for three draws in four games, meet up at Estadio Riazor, Getafe and Espanyol both go looking for their first win against each other, Villarreal tries to rebound from a five- goal beating at the hands of Real Madrid when they take on Mallorca and unbeaten Real Murcia hosts Atletico Madrid. Levante is coming off of a 0-0 draw with Murcia and visits Racing, Sevilla won its lone contest in La Liga play this season, a 4-1 triumph over Getafe, and hosts Recreativo while Barcelona, who got its first win against Athletic Bilbao last time out, travels to Osasuna.
<< Tottenham faces uphill battle against Arsenal
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham manager Martin Jol is on the
hot seat as his club has won just one of its first five games, and things will
not get any easier on Saturday when Spurs welcome London-rivals Arsenal to
White H
<< Late rallies give Europe life in Solheim Cup
Halmstad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The European team clawed back to earn
halves in the last two matches of Friday's fourballs at the Solheim Cup, but
still trail the Americans by a point, 4 1/2 - 3 1/2.
Annika Sorenstam and Maria Hjo
<< Hanescu ousts Starace in Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hometown favorite Victor Hanescu
toppled third-seeded Italian Potito Starace in Friday's quarterfinal action at
the $400,000 Romanian Open.
The Bucharest native Hanescu, a wild card this week, s
<< Report: Ankiel meets with MLB investigators
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel
met with Major League Baseball officials earlier this week to answer questions
about human growth hormone he reportedly was prescribed by Signature Pharmacy
in 2004
Looking for a quick buck? >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There are two weeks in the NFL season
that gamblers can come out ahead of the game with ease. It also doesn't take
any research or number crunching. All one has to do is put his/her bets in and
sit back and
Rams Stand Between Niners, 2-0 Mark >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The rebirth of the San Francisco 49ers as a major player on
the NFL scene could take place Sunday in the Gateway City, as Mike Nolan's
club seeks to move to 2-0 with a win over the St. Louis Rams.
The 49ers have a chance t
Seahawks open NFC West slate in Arizona >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Seahawks will face their first divisional test
of the young season when the three-time defending NFC West champions head to
University of Phoenix Stadium this Sunday to take on the upstart Arizona
Cardinals.
A
Pats-Bolts Duel Highlights Week 2 >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two popular picks to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLII
will engage in a potentially telling early-season test on Sunday night, when
the New England Patriots host the San Diego Chargers in a rematch of a 2006
playoff thrill
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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