Rookie Mwanga helps Philadelphia draw Colorado

Soccer Betting Lines

08/14/2010 - Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Danny Mwanga scored his seventh goal of the season and the Philadelphia Union tied the Colorado Rapids 1-1 at PPL Park on Saturday in Major League Soccer.

Mwanga scored in the 73rd minute, 14 minutes after Jeff Larentowicz opened the scoring for Colorado.

Philadelphia (4-10-5) settled for its second straight draw at home and slipped to 0-1-3 in its last four matches in the newly-built stadium in Chester, Pa.

Colorado (7-5-7) failed to build on a win over San Jose last weekend, which is the Rapids' lone win in its last nine matches.

After a slow first 30 minutes, the Union's Alejandro Moreno hit the right post in the 30th minute as he came within inches of his second goal of the season.

Union leading scorer Sebastien Le Toux fired wide left late in the first half, as Philadelphia failed to convert the best two chances in the opening half.

Philadelphia had another chance early in the second half when Mwanga set up Le Toux, but he missed wide left again with his 10th goal of the season in sight.

Colorado converted its first good chance 15 minutes into the second half, when Larentwoicz latched onto a ball just outside the box and drilled a shot inside the right post in the 59th minute for his second goal of the season.

Le Toux turned provider just under 15 minutes later when he ran onto a pass in the left side of the area, held off Colorado defender Marvell Wynne, and found Mwanga in the middle of the area.

Mwanga controlled the ball well with his first touch, then poked the ball past Colorado goalie Matt Pickens from close range. Mwanga, the No. 1 pick in the MLS draft, scored in his second straight match and has all of his goals in his last 11 games.

Pablo Mastroeni wasted a golden chance for Colorado to escape with a road win, as he fired wide right from the edge of the area in the 81st minute.

Philadelphia had two chances in stoppage time to earn its fourth home win, but Le Toux had a penalty appeal denied after he was fouled in the box in the 92nd and Michael Orozco Fiscal had a late goal called back for offside.

Colorado visits the Columbus Crew on Aug. 21 in its next game, while the Union take a five-game winless skid to D.C. United on Aug. 22 for their next match.

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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.

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LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

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