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07/18/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - What? What? What?
That's my general response when my dear wakes me up in the middle of the night. Be it a noise or my diesel-locomotive snoring, that's my canned response to her.
It's roughly what we all felt Sunday afternoon.
Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open Championship at St. Andrews. The oldest, most prestigious major title, won at the very home of golf, went to a largely unknown man from South Africa.
Sadly, this might have been the biggest yawner of a major championship in my generation, but I've been poked, not by my dear, but by the game of golf. I'm finally awake.
Paul Azinger said it best on ESPN's broadcast: "I hope the viewer wasn't bored with the blowout."
Sorry, Zinger, but we were.
Let's clear some things up first about the boredom.
Oosthuizen's performance was nothing short of brilliant. I just referred to this as the most boring major championship ever, but that was partly due to the amazing display by Oosthuizen.
He owned St. Andrews on the weekend. By Friday afternoon, no one expected Oosthuizen to come out on top. Lee Westwood was there. So was Paul Casey. Mark Calcavecchia might have scared you 15 years ago, but even at 50, he's a streaky guy who could've piled up six birdies on the front nine in round three.
Oosthuizen hung tough. In fact, he did better than that, he attacked. At St. Andrews, attacking is playing to your strength in relation to the course. He drove it spectacularly. His irons were crisp. His putting was generally genius. Oosthuizen flat-out awed us all, including Tom Watson, who applauded as Oosthuizen walked up 18 on Sunday. It seemed like Watson might cry at what he saw.
Oosthuizen was just that good and this is a guy to root for.
He wasn't a country club kid who was destined by the gods or genes to be a major champion. Oosthuizen is the son of farmers from South Africa. He was in Ernie Els' academy for a few years honing his craft.
No, Louie didn't have to ward off Tiger or Phil or Ernie. Casey got close, but Oosthuizen swatted him away like an annoying gnat nipping at your ankle.
And that's when boredom set in.
Where was Tiger? I get that his game is as far down as his personal life, but didn't he dominate St. Andrews twice for a claret jug? He couldn't get his putter working, but Louis Oosthuizen could?
Where was Phil? Does he want to be No. 1 in the world because I'm having serious doubts. Lefty won't ever win a British, but St. Andrews and this week was probably his best chance and all he could muster was a tie for 48th?
Where was Ernie? Didn't he win twice this year?
Westwood? Top threes in four majors in the last three years, but no charge all week?
Rory McIlroy? A 63 then an 80, but at least this 21-year-old kid fought hard to get back into the top five.
Where was the challenge? I get that St. Andrews played difficultly, but Oosthuizen handled it like it was a local muni. He's a top 60 player, however the field and the championship let us down.
Oosthuizen's margin of victory was the biggest since Tiger at the Old Course in 2000. That leads to a very uninteresting tournament and it didn't let down.
Dominating performances draw interest, but not when it's a man very few have heard of. If Tiger or Phil had done this on Sunday, it would've been compelling. What we got wasn't.
Nothing against Oosthuizen, but this will forever be known as the biggest snoozer of a major. Kudos to him for making it that way, but wake me up for the PGA.
What? What? What?
Must have been a noise. Or my snoring.
<< Astros' Oswalt leaves start in Pittsburgh
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left Sunday's game after making a diving catch on a Pedro Feliz line drive in
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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
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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