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03/12/2010 - Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A new day brought only more weather problems for the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open, which still wasn't halfway through the first round when play was suspended Friday because of darkness.
Rain continued to pose a problem at the Trump International course, which has seen more than a foot of the wet stuff since last weekend.
Skip Kendall reached five-under par through his first nine holes to take a one-shot lead over two players, but only half of the field had even teed off following two stop-and-start days.
On Thursday, only 18 players hit shots before play was suspended for the day because of rain. The first round resumed for 21 minutes Friday morning before being stopped again.
After a nine-hour delay, golfers were sent back on the course at 4:35 p.m. local time and got in only two hours of play before the round was suspended yet again because of darkness.
Norway's Henrik Bjornstad discovered his new tee time was 5:34 p.m. and said on his Twitter page: "Waited all day to play 3 holes? What a joke." He actually finished four holes and went one-over par on them.
The plan is to resume the first round Saturday morning at 7:10 a.m. local time -- 6:10 a.m. (et) -- although the Weather Channel is forecasting even more rain for the area.
The PGA Tour said the already sodden course received six-tenths of an inch of rain Friday. That came after it got 6.6 inches on Thursday and more than five inches over the previous six days.
"A complete mess," Bjornstad tweeted.
Kendall birdied three of the eight holes he completed Friday in between stoppages. He had eagled his first hole, the par-four 10th, before play was halted on Thursday.
Richard S. Johnson, who was through eight holes, and Kevin Streelman, who has played seven, were tied for second place at four-under par. Omar Uresti reached the back nine at three-under.
Ten players were tied at two-under par, while John Daly was among a large group knotted at one-under. Only 66 players in a full field had finished at least one hole.
"Just got in from a wet round -- watching some television and goin to bed," Daly, who had an eagle and a bogey, said on his Twitter page. "[My tee time is] at 7:10am."
Hopefully, his finger were crossed.
<< Chiefs sign veteran center Wiegmann
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs have signed
veteran center Casey Wiegmann.
The 14-year pro spent the last two seasons with Denver and started in all 32
regular season games. He has gone the last eight
<< Blake advances at BNP Paribas Open
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former top-five American James Blake was
an easy first-round winner Friday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP
World Tour Masters event.
Blake cruised past Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-2
<< Redskins bring in RB Johnson
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins signed running back
Larry Johnson on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not announced, but a report in the Washington Post says
the contract is for three years and a total of $12 million
<< Bucs ink LB Alston
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced the
signing of linebacker Jon Alston on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Alston spent the last three seasons with Oakland. He recorded 23 tackles in
LeBron returns against Sixers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James was in the Cavaliers'
starting lineup on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers, returning from a
two-game absence.
James missed a loss to the Bucks last Saturday and a win over the Spurs o
Stanford women drop Arizona, gain Pac-10 semis >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nnemkadi Ogwumike tallied a game-high 25
points with 10 rebounds as No. 2 Stanford downed Arizona, 72-52, in the
quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Jeanette Pohlen scored 15 points and Kay
Packers sign Pro Bowl S Collins through 2013 >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers announced Friday that
the team has signed safety Nick Collins to a multi-year extension through the
2013 season.
Collins had been a restricted free agent, and the team previously
Packers ink DT Pickett to extension >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers signed nose tackle Ryan
Pickett to a long-term extension through the 2013 season on Friday.
Pickett, 30, who has spent the last four seasons of his nine-year career with
the Packers, t
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.
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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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