Man dies on field prior to Dodgers game
Baseball Betting Lines
08/06/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The leader of a church group, identified by the Dodgers as Don Hawkins, that had 4,000 members in attendance at Dodger Stadium died before Thursday's game.
Hawkins suffered an apparent heart attack after collapsing on the field during batting practice. He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital after paramedics performed CPR on the field.
Hawkins' wife and grandson were also in attendance as part of Mormon Community Night, an annual event.
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Hunter pitched into the seventh inning while David Murphy broke a scoreless tie in the same frame with a two-run homer, and Texas went on to top Seattle, 6-0. Elvis Andrus drove in a run later in
<< Correia, Padres blank Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Denorfia hit an inside-the-park home
run and Kevin Correia tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, as the San Diego Padres
defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0, to split a four-game series.
Correia (8-7)
<< D'Backs earn split with Nats
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam LaRoche had three hits and two runs
scored, helping Barry Enright win his third game of the season, as Arizona
doubled up Washington, 8-4, in the finale of a four-game set at Chase Field.
Enrigh
<< Internacional makes Copa Libertadores final
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Internacional lost to fellow Brazilian
club Sao Paulo, 2-1, on Thursday night, but still advanced to the final of the
Copa Libertadores.
Internacional won the first match of the two-legged semifinal s
<< Morelia edges Houston to reach SuperLiga final
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miguel Sabah scored two minutes into the second
half and Mexican club Morelia edged the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, on Thursday night
at Robertson Stadium to advance to the SuperLiga final.
Rafael Marquez Lugo set up
TYSONS CORNER, Va. (AP) -Defending national champion Alabama is No. 1 atop the USA Today preseason coaches' poll.Boise State will begin the season ranked No. 5. The Broncos, like Alabama, finished last season 14-0. They beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.T
USA Today Top 25 Poll >>
The USA Today Preseason Top 25 football coaches poll, with team's 2009 records in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in the final poll of the 2009 season and first-place votes received:Re
Relentless Randle ready to enter Hall of Fame >>
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -John Randle was a trash-talking, twitch-quick defensive tackle who intimidated and distracted opponents on his way to the sixth-most sacks in NFL history, fueled by a competitive drive that pushed an undrafted, undersized player fo
Alabama tops coaches' preseason poll >>
McLean, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending national champion Alabama sits atop
the preseason USA Today coaches' football poll.
Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram returns at running back for the Crimson Tide
and quarterback Greg McElroy is als
Two transfers join Eastern Illinois roster >>
Charleston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Ohio Valley Conference champion
Eastern Illinois opened preseason camp Thursday night by welcoming two
transfers to its roster, Mike Garrity from Illinois and Aki Dionsopoulos from
Fresno State.
G
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
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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