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<< O'Neill vows to stay at Aston Villa
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has vowed to remain at Villa Park beyond the end of the season and hopes to have ended continuing rumors about his future with the club. O'Neill has led his side to

<< Markakis, O's take first game of doubleheader over Twins
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Markakis went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored to help Baltimore take a 7-3 win over Minnesota in the opener of a doubleheader at Target Field. Julio Lugo went 3-for-5 with an RBI while Cesar

<< Montanes ousts Federer in Estoril semis
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Albert Montanes will have a chance to defend his title at the clay-court Estoril Open after ousting top-seeded and world No. 1 Roger Federer on Saturday in the semifinals. The fourth

<< Penguins F Guerin returns for Game 5
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bill Guerin will return to action for Game 5 of his club's Eastern Conference semifinal series against Montreal on Saturday. Guerin did not play in the previous two contests wi

Nats edge Marlins >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Renyel Pinto hit Adam Dunn with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to force in the go-ahead run, which held up as the Washington Nationals took a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins in the middle

Blanco's HR in 11th gives Mets second straight late-inning win >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Blanco's first home run as a Met gave New York a 5-4 win over San Francisco in 11 innings, the club's ninth consecutive win at Citi Field. Blanco ended 3-for-5 in place of starter Rod Bara

Sizemore, Tigers take opener of shortened series with Tribe >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Sizemore knocked in three runs and Miguel Cabrera contributed two RBI as Detroit dispatched Cleveland, 6-4, in the opener of a truncated series. Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch each collected

Diamondbacks activate OF Jackson >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks activated outfielder Conor Jackson from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday and optioned outfielder Gerardo Parra to Triple-A Reno. Jackson had been on the DL since Apri

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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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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