Galaxy, Colorado ready for Round 3

Soccer Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy square off in a Major League Soccer fixture on Saturday, they certainly won't be strangers. It will be the third time in all competitions that the two Western Conference clubs have met this month.

The teams kicked off the month with a league fixture on April 4 at The Home Depot Center - which was won by the Rapids - before playing in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier three days later, which was also won by the Rapids.

Now Colorado (2-2-1) will be aiming for the trifecta with Saturday's match at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

A key to that happening could be striker Conor Casey, who scored all three of the Rapids' goals in the win to open the month. Casey is tied atop MLS with four goals in five games.

"We saw at the end of last season that Conor gets a run of games and he starts to hit the back of the net regularly," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "Same thing [this year]: good preseason, training regularly, playing regularly, and he's finding the back of the net again. He's a very good center forward not only in this league, but I would imagine, his time in Europe, had it not been for some injuries, might have been more productive."

The Rapids return home after a 1-1-1 road swing that was capped off by a 1-0 loss at Houston.

"I was very pleased with the character and commitment for probably two-thirds of the game," Smith said. "I thought the opening 20 minutes belonged to Houston. That was a little expected giving the way their form had been coming into today. We turned the tables in the second period. It was very exciting. Sadly, that one goal in the opening 20 minutes was enough to see us off."

Not only will the Galaxy be searching for their first win against the Rapids this season, but their first win overall after starting the season 0-1-3. They are coming off back-to-back draws with the latest being 1-1 at San Jose.

"I thought our guys showed a lot of character and some quality at times [against San Jose]," Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena said. "Not only got a point but positioned ourselves to steal it end the end with a chance or two. I was encouraged by our guys effort. We have some young guys who are still learning, but it's all part of the process. I think for the first time going on the road this year it was all right."

The Galaxy will be without defender Leonard Griffin while forward Edson Buddle and midfielder Kyle Patterson are questionable, all with injuries. Defender Todd Dunivant and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts are both listed as probable with injuries of their own.

The Rapids will probably be without defender Ty Harden, while defender Corey Gibbs, and midfielder Jacob Peterson are questionable, and defender Ivan Guerrero and forward Omar Cummings are probable, all with injuries.

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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

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