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01/28/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You can forget about blowing the whistle on ageism in sports.
After all, it's not only accepted it's expected.
If you were wondering why the New Orleans Hornets are actively trying to trade center Chris Kaman, understand the former All-Star is about to cross a very important threshold on April 28 of this year -- his 30th birthday.
Thirtysomethings simply do not fit into rebuilding plans and at a Western Conference-worst 4-15 the Hornets are resigned to starting one.
New Orleans, of course, acquired Kaman back in December as part of the blockbuster deal that sent the face of the franchise, Chris Paul, to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Even then most thought the Big Easy was just a transitory stop for the former Central Michigan star with the conventional wisdom believing the Hornets acquired an asset to move before the March 15 trade deadline.
And Kaman remains an alluring piece to a number of puzzles. He's got skill and perhaps more importantly, an expiring deal worth just over $14 million this season.
Already the oldest player on the Hornets' roster Kaman quickly fell out of Monty Williams' rotation in favor of Jason Smith and promising Mexican Gustavo Ayon.
"It's just something (where) we want to play our young guys and we certainly don't want to disrespect Chris at all," Williams told the media before Friday's upset against the Magic. "This is something we want to keep internally. It's certainly not disciplinary and he understands and I talked to him.
"We're going to play Jason Smith, Gustavo Ayon and Al-Farouq Aminu. It's just difficult to play that many bigs and I understand how difficult it is for (Kaman) to not get the minutes he wants."
It didn't stay internal for long. By the third quarter Hornets GM Dell Demps had released a statement.
"We've informed Chris that we are looking into possible trades and he was understanding about the situation," Demps said. "We're working together on this. Chris has been the ultimate professional since he joined us.
"In no way is this a disciplinary action. We had discussions about extending his current contract when he first came to the Hornets, but the organization decided to go in a different direction."
Since Kaman was not with the team on Friday, it was easy to speculate that perhaps he had run afoul of either Williams or Demps. I mean, it's one thing to bench a guy for a youth movement but it's another to jettison him from practice and his teammates.
The "ultimate professional" as Demps described Kaman wouldn't be happy losing minutes, perhaps, but he certainly wouldn't want to stop working either.
New Orleans is trying to spin things as best it can, fueling rumors that the club approached Kaman and his agent, Rob Pelinka, once they settled on the youth movement. From there both sides reportedly agreed that Kaman would be deactivated until a trade is consummated.
On the surface that seems a bit far-fetched but Kaman has certainly been injury prone and giving him mop-up minutes here and there could be a risk to any potential deal, something neither Kaman or the Hornets would want.
Either way, New Orleans isn't exactly going to get a king's ransom for a player that is seemingly on the downside, has lost minutes to a pedestrian player like Smith and could be complaining.
On the other hand, in a league short on competent big man, it's not outlandish to think one or two teams might remember 2007-08, Kaman's breakout season with the Clippers when he averaged 15.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game. And remember as late as '09-10 he averaged 18.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg.
Building for the future is what the Hornets are all about now but others are concerned with competing and renting a 7-footer that can play could pay dividends.
<< Cavs and Pack square off Raleigh
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams continuing to jockey for position
within the ACC meet in Raleigh tonight, as the 19th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers
take on the NC State Wolfpack.
Virginia is an impressive 16-3 this season, but the team
<< No.2 Tigers tangle with Red Raiders
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Missouri Tigers set their
sights on getting back on track, as they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders to
Columbia this afternoon, for a Big 12 matchup at Mizzou Arena.
Frank Haith's Tigers ar
<< Sixth-ranked Bears welcome Longhorns to Waco
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Baylor Bears continue their quest
towards the top spot in the Big 12, as they welcome the Texas Longhorns to
Waco for a conference showdown at the Ferrell Center.
Scott Drew's Bears are 5-2 in-con
<< Blue Devils and Red Storm collide in Durham
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the 14th straight season, the Duke Blue
Devils and St. John's Red Storm will take time out of their conference slates
to meet on the hardwood.
The eighth-ranked Blue Devils are 5-1 in ACC play this season. T
Notre Dame picks up 18th straight victory >>
Queens, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Skylar Diggins had 24 points, six assists and
three blocks, as the second-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish picked up their
18th straight victory with a 71-56 decision over the St. John's Red Storm.
Devereau
Kagawa fires Dortmund past Hoffenheim >>
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shinji Kagawa netted a pair of goals to
lead Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday at Signal-
Iduna-Park, extending Dortmund's unbeaten run to 13 games.
Goals from Kagawa and Ke
Duke hangs on to defeat St. John's >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mason Plumlee finished with 15 points and 17
rebounds, and No. 8 Duke held on for an 83-76 victory over St. John's on
Saturday.
Ryan Kelly scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards for the Blue D
Marquette overcomes slow start, edges Villanova >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Johnson-Odom scored a game-high 26
points and added six rebounds as No. 17 Marquette came back from 18 down to
defeat Villanova, 82-78, at Wells Fargo Center.
Jae Crowder had 20 points and 12 bo
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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