Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/01/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks were the first two teams to attempt to woo LeBron James to join them for the next stage of his superstar career.
Both teams met with James in Cleveland on Thursday. The Nets spoke with him first as a contingent of six, including owner Mikhail Prokhorov and head coach Avery Johnson, who made an hour-and-a-half presentation to the two-time MVP, according to the New York Post.
The Knicks were up next, spending about two hours with James. Five team executives, including owner James Dolan and general manager Donnie Walsh, explained that James was very non-committal in the meeting.
It has been reported that James would like to make his decision by Monday, and he is scheduled to meet with the Heat and Clippers on Friday, the Bulls on Saturday and the Cavaliers on Sunday.
It has been speculated that James' decision will trigger a domino effect on much of the remaining star-studded free agent class.
One of those premier free agents is Dwyane Wade, who returned to his hometown of Chicago to visit with the Bulls on the first day of free agency. He has spent his entire career with the Heat, and is expected to meet with them next week, according to a report in USA Today.
Chris Bosh, who some think is the most likely to depart his former team -- the Toronto Raptors -- met with the Heat in Chicago, per the USA Today report. Bosh had already visited with the Houston Rockets just after midnight on Thursday.
Meanwhile, according to a report by ESPN, Hawks forward Joe Johnson is likely to return to the club after being offered a six-year contract worth $119 million. The report also said Johnson is expected to meet with the Knicks and Heat, although neither can offer as much money as Atlanta.
<< Nominees for 2011 NASCAR HoF class revealed
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Thursday announced its 25 nominees
for the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class.
Jerry Cook, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Fred Lorenzen and T. Wayne Robertson were
new names added to the nominee
<< Wild sign C Cullen
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild have signed forwards
Matt Cullen and Eric Nystrom to a pair of three-year contracts.
Cullen collected 16 goals and 32 assists over 81 games with Carolina and
Ottawa last season.
<< Padres reinstate Stairs, Stauffer from DL
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres reinstated outfielder
Matt Stairs and pitcher Tim Stauffer from the 15-day disabled list Thursday.
Stairs was dealing with a strained right knee, while Stauffer suffered with
append
<< Na Yeon Choi leads Jamie Farr
Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Korea's Na Yeon Choi shot a seven-under
64 to take the first-round lead Thursday at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning
Classic.
Choi had eight birdies and one bogey on the Highland Meadows course to ta
Pirates slip past Phillies >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel McCutchen got his first win of the
season and Jose Tabata chased home the eventual go-ahead run in the fourth, as
Pittsburgh captured a 3-2 win against the Phillies to open a four-game series
at PNC
Sweeney, Cahill lead A's past O's >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Sweeney went 4-for-5 with two RBI and
two runs scored as Oakland took an 8-1 win over Baltimore in the rubber match
at Camden Yards.
Jack Cust had two hits, scored twice and drove in two while Clif
Roughriders down Alouettes in wild OT in Grey Cup rematch >>
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darian Durant threw for five touchdowns,
including the game-winning TD pass to Weston Dressler in the second overtime,
as the Saskatchewan Roughriders rallied past the Montreal Alouettes, 54-51, in
a remat
Legendary Chargers head coach Coryell passes away >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former San Diego Chargers head coach Don
Coryell passed away Thursday at the age of 85.
He passed away at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa near San Diego. The cause of
death was not released, but his heal
MySportsbook.com is considered one of the finest online sportsbook according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.
MySportsbook is offering a free printable NFL football office pool sheets. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury. Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your nfl football pool sheets needs.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting