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02/16/2012 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forty-nine teams are on the preliminary entry list for this year's Daytona 500. NASCAR released the list on Thursday.
Former NASCAR Cup champions Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott have been added to the list within the past couple of days. Labonte will drive the No.32 Ford for FAS Lane Racing, while Elliott will be behind the wheel of the No.97 Toyota for NEMCO Motorsports.
The top-35 from last year's owner points are guaranteed a starting position for the February 26 Sprint Cup Series season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. The remaining 14 teams will race for the last eight spots.
Sunday's qualifying at DIS will determine the front starting row for the Daytona 500. The remainder of the 43-car field will be decided in the February 23 Gatorade Duels at Daytona -- the twin 150-mile qualifying races.
Last year's Daytona 500 included 48 teams. Twenty-year-old Trevor Bayne won the race in just his second Sprint Cup start.
<< Flyers acquire Grossman
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired
defenseman Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas Stars in exchange for two draft
picks, the team announced Thursday.
Grossman has five assists in 52 games this seas
<< Eskimos ink WR Carr
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Eskimos signed wide receiver Greg
Carr on Thursday.
Carr caught 46 passes for 648 yards and four touchdowns last season with the
Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
"We're very pleased to sign Greg," Es
<< Lions agree to terms with Byron Parker, Stu Foord
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The BC Lions agreed to terms with defensive
back Byron Parker and running back Stu Foord on Thursday.
Parker earned his third All-Star selection last season, tallying a career-high
50 tackles to go with
<< United's Valencia out four weeks with hamstring injury
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United winger Antonio
Valencia injured his hamstring Thursday in a 2-0 Europa League win at Ajax,
and will be sidelined four weeks.
The 26-year-old Ecuadorian was injured as he set
Trio on top at Bogota Open >>
Bogota, Colombia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australia's Peter Lonard and Americans
Brian Smock and Billy Horschel each posted five-under 66s on Thursday to share
the first-round lead of the Bogota Open, the 2012 season-opener on the
Nationw
Sharks acquire Moore from Lightning >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have acquired forward Dominic
Moore and a seventh-round selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft from the Tampa
Bay Lightning in exchange for a second-round selection, previously acquired
from Mi
Wofford to host five, visit South Carolina >>
Spartanburg, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wofford College's football team will play a
particularly tough road schedule this year, including a season-ending road
trip to the University of South Carolina.
In addition to the Nov. 17 game in Columbia,
Tennessee State to play five home games in 2012 >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee State football team will play
five home games this season, including the 50th all-time meeting with Florida
A&M.
TSU will open the season against Florida A&M at LP Field in the 14th
ann
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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