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Line of Scrimmage: Big Ben, bad choices, and more free agencyFootball Betting Lines03/08/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Roethlisberger now has as many sexual assault allegations on his resume' - two - as he has Super Bowl titles. Wanna wager which category gets to No. 3 sooner? I'm no gambler, but I bet those odds would be something close to neck-and-neck in Vegas. Whether you believe the second allegation of sexual misconduct against Roethlisberger in an eight-month span or you don't, what is not worthy of debate is the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback's profound stupidity. While Andrea McNulty's civil case over a 2008 rape allegation against Roethlisberger was still ongoing, he apparently made the wonderful choice of pointing himself, with his entourage and a host of college-age females, to the otherwise unattended back room of a dance club in Milledgeville, GA. It was there that a 20-year-old coed charges the quarterback assaulted her in a women's restroom early Friday morning. The fact that Roethlisberger would place himself in such a position, so soon after he was pointing his finger and warning us to believe him while calling McNulty a liar last summer, should have exhausted all of his credibility with thinking people. To many of us, McNulty's claims - which were made more than a year after the alleged incident and never included a criminal complaint - looked spurious. Now, anyone with the ability to complete a connect-the-dots puzzle intended for a four-year-old is open to revisiting, and perhaps revising, their skepticism over McNulty's truthfulness. Once again, to the detriment of the victim in this latest case, what we have here is likely to amount to a "he-said, she-said" scenario in which Roethlisberger's well-coached buddies and handsomely-paid attorneys help him to skate on the charges, if he's charged at all. The alleged victim won't have the luxury of Roethlisberger's money, fame, or ability to shift the public focus from this case by throwing a football 70 yards for a touchdown. But whether the case results in criminal charges, an NFL suspension or anything else, hopefully this latest incident helps us arrive at a firm conclusion, which can be put simply: Ben Roethlisberger is not a good guy. Should that really be a revelation in our post-Kobe Bryant, post-Tiger Woods, and post-Michael Vick world? Of course not, but unlike any of the above three shamed athletes, Roethlisberger has always worn his self-righteous Godliness on his sleeve. Like so many athletes who trot out the point-at-the-sky, postgame- prayer-circle bollocks, it's all an affectation that is not to be taken seriously. It's also an affront to anyone who uses faith and virtue as something other than the shallow veneer that it is for Roethlisberger, to all the good Christians and genuinely upstanding folks of all religions who actually live by their principles, rather than just making a show of them for TV cameras, as Roethlisberger does, before boozing it up with drunken college girls. Jesus is not, in fact, Roethlisberger's co-pilot. Or maybe the Son of man just had the night off in Milledgeville. A handful of notes from the first weekend of NFL free agency, which thankfully, are to be taken far less seriously: BOLDIN FROM THE BLUE: After days of speculation (including some from this space) linking the Baltimore Ravens with unrestricted free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, the Ravens instead pulled the trigger on a different wide receiver, albeit one that has considerably less baggage than Owens. Baltimore acquired Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin on Friday, sending 2010 third- and fourth-round draft picks to the Cardinals, and also acquiring Arizona's fifth-round selection in the upcoming draft. After making the deal, the Ravens handed Boldin the type of financial arrangement he couldn't seem to finagle out of the Cardinals over the past few years, a four-year, $28 million contract including $10 million guaranteed. The 29-year-old Boldin is slated to fill the No. 1 receiver role formerly held by Derrick Mason, an unrestricted free agent who is now highly unlikely to re- sign with Baltimore. Remember that the 36-year-old Mason briefly retired last summer before returning to the team, and could revisit the retirement option unless he gets a substantial offer on the open market. IN KAMP: So much for the Jacksonville Jaguars being too financially strapped to make a splash in free agency. Jack Del Rio's club pulled the rug out from under the likes of the Seahawks and Eagles by inking the second-best pass rusher in the 2010 free agent class, ex-Packer Aaron Kampman. The Jags reportedly inked Kampman to a four-year, $26 million contract with $11 million guaranteed. The 30-year-old Kampman, a two-time Pro Bowler, had just 3.5 sacks in nine games for Green Bay last season before being lost for the season with a knee injury. But the former Iowa standout, who was serving as a outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme after playing his entire career as a traditional hand-on-the- ground defensive end, was largely seen as a fish out of water in the new system. He should be a major credit to a 4-3 Jacksonville defense that posted a league-low 14 sacks last season. Also over the weekend, the Jaguars signed ex-Chargers special teams ace Kassim Osgood, a standout college receiver who is expected to be given a shot at wideout in Jacksonville. OTHER NOTABLES: Two moves filed under "not at all surprising" were the Falcons' signing of ex-Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson and the Dolphins' acquisition of former Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby. Robinson, the best unrestricted corner in this free agent class, was given $25.5 million guaranteed in order to shore up the weakest part of the Atlanta defense a year ago. Dansby, a consistent playmaker during his time with Arizona, inked a five-year deal including $22 million guaranteed. After trading Boldin, watching Dansby defect to the Dolphins, and losing safety Antrel Rolle to a ludicrously outsized deal with the New York Giants, the Cardinals made an addition to their roster by trading for Jets safety Kerry Rhodes. Arizona dealt a fourth-round pick in 2010 and a seventh-rounder in 2011 to the Jets, for whom Rhodes had been in the doghouse at various portions of the 2009 season. Whatever you think of Rhodes' abilities, count on the Cardinals getting more out of that deal than the Giants will get out of the massively overrated Rolle.
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Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Wofford Terriers make their first-ever appearance in the title game of the Southern Conference Tournament tonight as they tangle with the Appalachian State Mountaineers for the right to move on to the NCAA T
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2010 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Preview >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Of the 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, 12 have been invited to participate in the league tournament which begins on Tuesday night. The first round will take place at campus sites of the higher seeds.
2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Preview >>
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Mighty Caps host sliding Stars >>
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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