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01/03/2012 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cot Campbell, president of Dogwood Stable, will be presented with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in thoroughbred racing. Eclipse Awards are voted on by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.
"This Award of Merit is a blockbuster for me," said Campbell. "I am surprised, delighted, and very appreciative that it comes my way. It is the highlight of a career that has been exhilarating, to put it mildly."
The 84-year-old Campbell, of Aiken, SC, will pick up the honor at the 41st annual Eclipse Awards on Monday, January 16 in Beverly Hills, CA.
"Very few people are pioneers and trendsetters in their line of business," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "Cot Campbell has been just that with the racing partnership concept -- not only introducing it, but doing it at the highest level and with class all the way."
Pletcher, a five-time Eclipse Award winner, has trained stakes winners for Campbell since 1996.
Campbell is credited with beginning the idea of syndicated racehorse ownership. He founded Dogwood Stable in 1973 and won the 1990 Preakness Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby with Summer Squall. The stable was honored with the 1987 Eclipse Award for champion steeplechase horse Inlander. In 1996, Storm Song, a daughter of Summer Squall, won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was voted champion two-year-old filly.
Campbell announced in November he was going into "semi-retirement," and while he will not form new partnerships in 2012, he will continue existing partnerships.
<< Vols WR Arnett granted release
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee wide receiver DeAnthony Arnett has
been granted his release from the football program, head coach Derek Dooley
said Tuesday.
The Saginaw News reported over the weekend that Arnett, a Michiga
<< Swansea City acquires Sigurdsson on loan
Swansea, Wales (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Swansea City acquired Iceland international
Gylfi Sigurdsson on loan from Hoffenheim on Tuesday for the remainder of the
English Premier League season.
Sigurdsson, 22, previously played in England with Re
<< Wolfsburg signs Medojevic, Hasani
Wolfsburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolfsburg signed a pair of 21-year-old
players Tuesday, as coach Felix Magath tries to lift his side into the upper
half of the Bundesliga standings in the second half of the season.
Wolfsburg signed
<< Gladbach adds German teenager Cigerci on loan
Monchengladbach, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monchengladbach signed Germany
youth international Tolga Cigerci on loan from Wolfsburg on Tuesday.
Cigerci, 19, joins Monchengladbach on a loan deal through the 2012-13 season,
and his new cl
Rutgers WR Sanu declares for draft >>
Piscataway, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rutgers junior wide receiver Mohamed Sanu
declared for the 2012 NFL Draft on Tuesday.
Sanu was the Scarlet Knights' leading receiver this past season, by a wide
margin. He recorded 115 catches for
Hurricanes' Pitkanen has knee surgery >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes announced that
defenseman Joni Pitkanen underwent surgery on his left knee Tuesday.
Pitkanen, who had been out indefinitely with a concussion (last playing at
Calgary on D
Steelers put Mendenhall on IR; Clark out vs. Broncos >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have placed running
back Rashard Mendenhall on injured reserve because of the knee injury he
suffered in Sunday's game against Cleveland.
The Steelers will also not have safe
QPR appeals Barton's red card >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - QPR appealed Joey Barton's red card to the
English Football Association on Tuesday.
Barton was sent off in the first half of a 2-1 loss to Norwich City on Monday
for an apparent head butt, but the player
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.
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Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
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