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LeBron joins Wade, Bosh in South BeachBasketball Betting Lines07/08/2010 - Greenwich, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James made the rumors a reality on Thursday, mirroring fellow free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh by declaring his intentions to join the Miami Heat. After seemingly endless speculation as to where the two-time MVP will land as a free agent this summer, James finally made his choice live from a Boys & Girls Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. James interviewed with a total of six potential suitors last week, but ultimately he chose to leave his home state team - the Cleveland Cavaliers. The New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers also made their pitches to James. Rumors were circulating about James' destination from the moment the Cavaliers' season ended with a loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals. James even said he didn't make his final decision until Thursday morning, but it was certainly helped by Wednesday's declarations from Bosh and Wade to join the Heat. "I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win and to win for multiple years," James said in his decision announcement interview with ESPN's Jim Gray. "Not only just to win in the regular season, to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I want to be able to win championships, and I feel I can compete down there." How the three will be paid remains a mystery, considering as of Thursday night the Heat had just two other players under contract for next season - Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers. The 25-year-old James has played for the Cavs his entire seven-year career and stood to make more money playing for his hometown team, but winning in the short-term was his biggest decision for leaving. The Cavaliers could have offered James a six-year, $128 million contract, while other teams were capped at a maximum of five years and $99 million. James, who was second in the league at 29.7 points per game last season and also averaged 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds, is a six-time All-Star, 2004 Rookie of the Year, a two-time All-Star Game MVP and 2008 scoring champion. Details are still thin on exactly how Bosh will join the club after a seven- year stint in Toronto. It's unclear whether Bosh will sign directly with the Heat or if the two teams will agree to a sign-and-trade deal, which could potentially net the power forward a bigger contract. Wade has played for the Heat his entire seven-year career and already has one title under his belt, in 2006 when he was Finals MVP. "It's about everybody having their own spotlight and doing what's best for the team," James said during his TV interview. "At this point, D-Wade, he's the unselfish guy here. To be able to have Chris Bosh and LeBron James to welcome us to his team...it's not about individuals here. If that was the case, D-Wade wouldn't have asked us to join him. It's about a team and that's what this game is about." James' decision also means a tough road ahead for the Cavaliers in a city that hasn't won a major sports championship since 1964, when the Browns captured the NFL crown. It's the longest drought for any city with at least three majors sports franchises. The Cavs made it to the 2007 NBA Finals before being swept by San Antonio. "It's heartfelt for me," James told Gray about his decision. "It's hard to explain, but at the same time my heart, for the seven years I gave to that franchise, to that city, was everything. I never wanted to leave Cleveland and my heart will always be around that area, but I thought the greatest challenge for me was to move on." James was also asked who will be the coach of the Heat next season, and he immediately said Erik Spoelstra will remain at the helm. Rumors were circulating that Heat president Pat Riley could make a return to the bench to coach another championship team.
<< Blue Jays homer five times, take series vs. Twins
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gonzalez drove in three runs and Brett Cecil pitched seven strong innings, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series. Cecil (8-5) allo
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Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos spun seven scoreless innings and hit his first career home run to send San Diego to a 7-1 win over Washington in the last of a three-game set. Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley and Jerry Hairston
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTINGNCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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. Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com |
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