NASCAR tweaks format for all-star race

Autoracing Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Concord, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR is making a slight adjustment to its annual Sprint All-Star Race by adding a mandatory four-tire pit stop for all teams prior to the start of the final 10-lap segment.

NASCAR officials made the announcement Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the all-star event will be held on May 22.

Starting this year, all drivers must pit for four tires once the field completes one lap behind the pace car prior to the start of the fourth segment. The order in which the cars exit pit road is how they will line up for the 10-lap shootout with only green-flag laps counting.

"We saw last year just how competitive this format can be, with Tony Stewart battling Matt Kenseth for the win on the final couple of laps," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said. "With the addition of the four- tire pit stop, there is going to be even greater competition between the pit crews on who can get their driver serviced and out the quickest. I think the fans are in for quite a show."

Last year, the all-star race featured a 10-lap shootout as its final segment for the first time since 2001. Stewart passed Kenseth with two laps remaining to win the event for the first time in his 11th appearance.

The remainder of the format for this year's race will remain the same.

The opening segment will be 50 laps with a mandatory green-flag pit stop on lap 25, at which time teams must pit and take on four tires. The caution flag will be displayed for an additional pit stop following the end of the first segment.

Segment two is 20 laps with the caution flag displayed at the end of the second portion for an additional pit stop.

After running 20 laps in segment three, teams will have a 10-minute break when they may make normal adjustments to their cars. The finishing order after the third segment determines the field's lineup for the pace lap prior to the start fourth segment.

The eligibility standards also will remain the same. Race winners from either the 2009 or 2010 season through May 16, or any past champions of the all-star event or Cup Series (over the previous 10 years) are eligible for the race.

The top-two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, a 40-lap preliminary race, and the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote all advance into the all-star race lineup. Joey Logano won the fan vote last year.

Wwwfreescoreboard Autoracing Betting News

<< Portland fires VP Penn
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers announced on Wednesday that Vice President of Basketball Operations Tom Penn has been relieved of his duties. "We felt it was in the organization's best interest to

<< Report: Rangers manager Washington tested positive for cocaine
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington reportedly tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season. According to a report from SI.com, Washington failed the test last July, but has passed all his t

<< Eagles cut ties with OL Andrews
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Eagles released offensive lineman Shawn Andrews on Wednesday. "We appreciate the efforts and contributions of Shawn while he was in Philadelphia," said head coach Andy

<< Harvick looking for another win at Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, March 20. Race: Scotts Turf Builder 300. Site: Bristol Motor Speedway. Track: .533-mile oval. Start time: 2:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 300. Miles: 159.9. 2009 winner: Kevin Harv

<< NASCAR's March Madness begins with Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, March 21. Race: Food City 500. Site: Bristol Motor Speedway. Track: .533-mile oval. Start time: 1:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 500. Miles: 266.5. 2009 winner: Kyle Busch. Television

Seton Hall fires hoops coach Gonzalez >>
South Orange, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seton Hall has fired head men's basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez. Gonzalez was in his fourth season with the team, which ended its season Tuesday with an 87-69 loss to Texas Tech in the f

Canucks winger Samuelsson to miss up to 3 weeks >>
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -Canucks winger Mikael Samuelsson will be out up to three weeks with an undisclosed upper body injury during Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to the Islanders.Samuelsson left during the third period of a contest that also sa

Bears release Vasher >>
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -The Chicago Bears have released former Pro Bowl defensive back Nathan Vasher.Vasher, selected in the fourth round of the 2004 draft out of Texas, played six seasons with Chicago and made 19 interceptions, including eight in 2

DE Edwards reaches 4-year deal with Bills >>
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -Free agent defensive end Dwan Edwards has signed a four-year contract with the Buffalo Bills.The team announced the deal Wednesday.A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press early Wednesday morning tha

Bears release CB Vasher >>
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears released long-time cornerback Nathan Vasher on Wednesday. Vasher, who was a fourth-round pick by the Bears in 2004, has spent the last six seasons in Chicago. He signed a cont

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

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.

FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.