11/23/2008 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's only fitting that the best team in the East Division takes on the first-place team in the West Division to decide the '08 Grey Cup champion.
Montreal finished first in the East, then defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 36-26 in the conference final to advance to its sixth Grey Cup championship since 2000. However, the Alouettes head into this contest having won just one CFL title, that coming in 2002.
Special-teams player Larry Taylor led Montreal past Edmonton, returning two punts for a record touchdowns in the game. Taylor scored on returns of 64 and 97 yards and finished with a CFL-record 203 yards on six returns.
Anthony Calvillo, named the CFL's outstanding player this week, was 20-of-32 passing for 295 yards and a touchdown. Calvillo finished the season with 43 TD passes and was second in passing with 5,633 yards.
Montreal will definitely have the home-field advantage for the Grey Cup, with the game being played at Olympic Stadium. And with upwards of 65,000 spectators expected to be on hand, the Alouettes will also have the benefit of having a raucous crowd firmly behind them.
Calgary qualified for its first Grey Cup game since 2001 - when it beat Winnipeg at Olympic Stadium _ by downing the B.C. Lions 22-18 in the West Division final.
Quarterback Henry Burris, the West Division candidate for the outstanding player award, had 236 yards passing and a touchdown and also scored one himself.
Burris has had a brilliant season to date. The 10-year veteran established career highs with 5,094 yards passing and 39 touchdowns for Calgary. He was also the CFL's leading rusher among quarterbacks with 595 yards.
However, it was defensive end Mike Labinjo who was Calgary's top performer against the Lions. The former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker had three sacks and eight tackles - two huge ones for losses coming on a crucial goal-line stand - as the Stampeders managed to keep B.C. from scoring a touchdown in the West final.
The numbers: Montreal was 7-2 at home during the regular season but 3-5 against West Division teams and 0-2 versus Calgary. The Stampeders were 6-3 on the road and 7-1 against Eastern clubs.
Keys to the game: There was no more potent offense in the CFL this year than Montreal, which led the league in scoring (32.4 points per game), total yards (429 per game), pass attempts (712) and completions (495). The Alouettes' offensive line contributed to that success, allowing just 22 sacks, which was lowest in the league.
Montreal guard Scott Flory was also honoured this week, being named the league's outstanding lineman.
Calvillo will also have three pretty good receivers to throw to. Jamel Richardson (98 catches, 1,287 yards, league-high 16 TDs), Ben Cahoon (league- best 107 catches, 1,231 yards, seven TDs) and Kerry Watkins (84 catches, 1,178 yards, 10 TDs).
Calgary's strength will also be its offense, which also includes the CFL's leading receiver (Ken-Yon Rambo, 100 catches, 1,473 yards, eight TDs) and top running back (Joffrey Reynolds, 1,310 yards).
Both teams have good defenses. Calgary gave up an average of just 21.5 points per game to lead the CFL but Montreal surrendered just 23.5 points per game as well.
Special-teams are also solid on both sides. Calgary kicker Sandro DeAngelis was the CFL scoring leader with 217 points while Montreal's Damon Duval was second with 206 points.
So while the Alouettes will have the home crowd behind it, the Stampeders will have a team that established itself during the regular season as the league's best. The fact this game is being played in Montreal is the only reason why it should be close.
Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Calgary 35, Montreal 30.
Last week's record: 1-1; Season record: 43-33.
<< Hard check forces Colorado D Foote to depart early
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado's Adam Foote left Saturday's
game against the Los Angeles Kings after a scary check left the defenseman
momentarily motionless on the ice.
Late in the second period, Foote skated into the right co
<< Blair leads Pitt to blowout of IUP
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeJuan Blair dropped a game-high 27 points
on 13-of-14 shooting and grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds in just 21 minutes of
floor time as the sixth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers cruised to an 86-60 win
over In
<< Sooners slam Red Raiders to boost national title hopes
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sam Bradford threw four touchdown passes, and
fifth-ranked Oklahoma rose to the occasion to keep their national championship
hopes alive, while dashing Texas Tech's title aspirations with a 65-21 blowout
of the
<< O'Neal, Suns too much for Portland
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shaquille O'Neal registered 19 points with a
game-high 17 rebounds as Phoenix topped Portland, 102-92, at US Airways
Center.
Amare Stoudemire had 17 points and nine boards for the Suns, who snappe
Avs top Kings in shootout >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marek Svatos scored the game-winner in the
shootout of Colorado's 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
Peter Budaj picked up the win after recording 27 saves for the Avalanche,
who had won three
Sharks dominate Caps >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryane Clowe scored twice, Rob Blake recorded
four assists and Brian Boucher was once again solid in net with 19 saves as
the San Jose Sharks dominated Washington, 7-2.
Patrick Marleau, Devin Setoguchi,
Bad break for Dodgers' Billingsley >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Young Dodgers ace Chad Billingsley
suffered a broken left fibula Friday after slipping on a patch of ice outside
of his home in Reading, Pennsylvania.
The 24-year-old sustained a spiral fractu
FSU pounds No. 22 Maryland in College Park >>
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida State's Chris Ponder ran 14 times
for 81 yards and a score, and passed for 143 yards and a touchdown to lead the
Seminoles to a 37-3 road win over No. 22 Maryland at CCB Field at Byrd
Stadium
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.
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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