McCourty signs with Patriots

Football Betting Lines

07/28/2010 - Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots have signed first-round draft pick Devin McCourty.

Terms of the deal for the former Rutgers cornerback were not disclosed, but the Boston Globe reported it to be a five-year pact.

The Patriots selected McCourty with the 27th overall pick in April's draft. All of New England's draft choices have now agreed to contracts.

McCourty was a First-Team All-Big East choice in 2009, finishing second on the Rutgers defense with 80 tackles to go along with 10 pass breakups and one interception. The 5-foot-10, 193-pound McCourty finished his career with the Scarlet Knights recording 238 stops and five fumble recoveries.

He had six picks during his career and also blocked seven kicks while adding a kickoff return for a touchdown on special teams.

The Patriots also released linebacker Shawn Crable, who they selected in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

Crable was inactive for the first half of the 2008 season and finished the year on injured reserve, where he spent all of last season.

Footballfantasybetting Football Betting News

<< Young powers offense as Twins complete sweep of Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delmon Young hit a three-run homer and Jason Repko added a solo shot, as the Twins completed a three-game sweep of the Royals with a 6-4 win. It wasn't the same result as the past two days, when M

<< Ducks sign first-round choice Fowler
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Cam Fowler, their first-round draft choice, to a three-year entry-level contract. Per team policy, no financial details of the deal were released. The 18-year-old

<< Bengals sign Dunlap
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals have reportedly signed rookie defensive end Carlos Dunlap. The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Cincinnati's second round pick has signed for four years. Last season w

<< Cardinals option P Salas, promote P MacDougal
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have optioned pitcher Fernando Salas to Triple-A Memphis and recalled pitcher Mike MacDougal from the same club. Salas has bounced back and forth between the major and minor league

<< USA Basketball names 15 finalists for 2010 World Championship squad
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - USA Basketball announced Wednesday the 15 finalists for its 2010 USA World Championship Team. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo selected the finalists from a group that assembled in Las Vega

Lee, Norris help Astros take series against Cubs >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee slugged a pair of two-run home runs to back the solid pitching of Bud Norris in Houston's 8-1 win over Chicago to close a three-game set. Lee had his 19th career multi-homer game for the Astros,

Hendrick Motorsports >>
Promoted Marshall Carlson to president and COO.

Formula One >>
Agreed on a 10-year contract to continue the Monaco Grand Prix.

Saints sign TE Graham, QB Ramsey >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints signed tight end Jimmy Graham and quarterback Patrick Ramsey on Wednesday. Graham, a third-round pick out of Miami-Florida, played in 13 games for the Hurricanes last season

Clippers re-sign Butler >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have re-signed forward Rasual Butler, the team announced Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Butler, 31, averaged a career-best 11.9 points in 82 games for th

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.

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

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.

NFL Betting Lines

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.