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07/17/2010 - Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Swedish stalwart Robin Soderling and Nicolas Almagro will square off in the Swedish Open final after each won their respective semifinal matches on Saturday.
Soderling lost the first set for the second consecutive day before rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, who was 31-6 on clay this year coming into the match.
Soderling, the reigning Bastad titlist and two-time French Open runner-up, has gone the distance in each of his three matches in this tournament.
He will be looking for his sixth career ATP crown on Sunday in a battle against Almagro, who cruised past Spanish countrymate Tommy Robredo, 6-1, 6-3 on the red clay at Bastad Tennis Stadium in just over 68 minutes.
Robredo, seeded fifth, had won here in 2006 and 2008, but was no match for Almagro, who has yet to win on the tour this year, but has done so five times previously in his career.
Soderling is 3-2 all-time against Almagro, though the latter won in straight sets in Madrid earlier this year.
<< Braves aim to bounce back against Brewers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose any ground in the
competitive National League East Division. Tonight they have a good shot at
bouncing back with Tim Hudson on the mound in the third test of a four-game
series
<< Cards send Wainwright to hill vs. Dodgers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Wainwright will try to become just the second 14-game
winner in the major leagues and remain perfect at home when he leads the St.
Louis Cardinals into the third test of a four-game series tonight versus the
Los Ang
<< Richard, Padres resume series vs. D'Backs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard was bailed out by his offense the last time
he took the mound. The San Diego Padres hope that Richard won't need the help
when he gets the nod tonight in the second installment of a three-game series
versus
<< Mets try to rebound against homestanding Giants
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets are hoping something will give when they
take on the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in the third installment of a
four-game set at AT&T Park.
New York has lost the first two games of this set
Astros vie to continue mastery of Buccos >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros can continue a season's worth of success
against the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight, when the teams get together for the
middle game of a three-game series at PNC Park.
Houston made it seven in a row aga
Marlins ace Johnson squares off with Nats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Johnson can match a Washington pitching gem with one
of his own tonight, when the Florida Marlins ace takes on the Nationals in the
second test of a three-game series between NL East Division foes at Sun Life
Stadium
Angels, Mariners continue set at Big A >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have owned the Seattle
Mariners this season and they will try to continue that dominance tonight as
the squads resume a four-game set at Angel Stadium.
Following last night's 3-2 res
Twins hope to make up more ground vs. White Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins will try to make up some more ground on
the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, as the teams continue a four-game
set tonight at Target Field.
Last night, Joe Mauer had two hits, including a bi
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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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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