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07/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wesley Sneijder wasn't good enough. That's the way Real Madrid felt less than a year ago. Sneijder is one the world's top players, but he is no Kaka. The Brazilian would replace the Dutchman, and Real would return to European glory.
Real had it all mapped out, and Kaka - a FIFA World Player of the Year - would obviously be a much better fit in midfield. Kaka would be the general. And new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, the most expensive part of the nearly $400 million Madrid makeover, would provide the artillery.
Sneijder was dumped. Offered at a bargain price of $19 million (yes, that's a lot of money, but put it into context with Ronaldo's $132 million transfer and Kaka's $86 million price tag). Sneijder quickly found a new home in Italy with Inter Milan.
Of course, Sneijder wanted to remain in Madrid. Every good player has no doubts they can play a key role on a team. Even a team with Kaka, who plays the exact same position as you. Sneijder left disappointed, but determined to return for an encore performance.
No, Sneijder never wanted to pull on a Madrid jersey again. He just wanted one last chance to play in the storied Bernabeu. The Champions League final was to be played there at the end of the club season. It was a long shot for sure.
Nine months after he was sent packing, Sneijder returned to Madrid. He had two trophies already, the Coppa Italia and Italian Serie A crowns. He departed the stadium that May evening with a third, the Champions League title that Real coveted when it cast him off. Funny, considering Sneijder wasn't good enough for Real.
He was Inter Milan. Sneijder was the hamster that spun Inter's wheel. He added a dynamic in midfield the Italians needed to end a 45-year drought in Europe's top club event. There are arguments coach Jose Mourinho provided the influence to change Inter's fortunes, but it wouldn't have happened without Sneijder.
Sneijder didn't provide gaudy numbers. Eight goals and 12 assists in 39 games - that's it. Inter defender Maicon nearly equaled those numbers (seven goals and 12 assists). Ronaldo scored 26 goals in just 28 La Liga games. Barcelona's Lio Messi had 45 goals. Manchester United's Wayne Rooney scored 34 in the English Premier League.
The Dutchman provided the intangibles. The leadership. The hustle. The ability as a star to jell with his team. The willingness to set up others, without too much concern for his own stats.
Ronaldo, along with Messi and Rooney, were watching the Champions League final - Sneijder was playing in it. Which brings us full circle, more than 10 months after his departure from Madrid, to the FIFA World Cup.
Sneijder, again, is the only one still playing. This time for The Netherlands. This time in the final. Remember, he wasn't good enough for Real. The Dutchman has been the most important player for his team in South Africa. And with much more freedom in his Oranje jersey, has five goals.
Sneijder scored twice in the quarterfinals, a 2-1 win over Brazil. It was only fitting the goals were against Kaka's Brazil, which lost a match for the first time in World Cup history when leading at halftime.
The Dutch playmaker scored again in the semifinals Tuesday, leading The Netherlands to a 3-2 win over Uruguay and into the title match for the first time since 1978. Sure, Sneijder was a bit lucky on two of his goals, as the ball found the back of the net after deflections against Brazil and Uruguay.
Sneijder's best luck came last August, when Real Madrid thought he wasn't good enough. It lit a fire under him, and he's proven them wrong ever since. Madrid covets world players of the year (Ronaldo has also won the accolade). However, sometimes even the best player in the world gets overlooked.
FIFA recently combined the sport's two biggest trophies, the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or, and there is just one player in the world who deserves the new FIFA Ballon d'Or when it is given out in January. Whether The Netherlands win or lose, the World Cup final Sunday.
You won't find him in Madrid.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - What was it that Yogi Berra said, "It's like deja vu all
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Why do I have the feeling that I have done this before? By this, I mean a
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Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed forward
Patrick Eaves to a one-year contract.
Eaves, 26, scored 12 goals and collected 10 assists in 65 games last season
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A former
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Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to terms with
free agent center Rob Niedermayer on a one-year contract.
The 35-year-old Niedermayer registered 10 goals and 12 assists in 71 games
last season with New Jers
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Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers signed defenseman Nathan
Paetsch to a one-year contract and re-signed blueliner Jason Garrison to a
two-year deal on Wednesday.
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In the FCS Huddle: Bucknell's Susan making up for lost time >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - That Bucknell's football team is
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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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The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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