09/06/2008 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen King scored the game-winner and Jon Busch posted his league-leading 10th shutout as the Chicago Fire defeated Red Bull New York, 1-0, on Saturday at Toyota Park.
King - who shares his name with famous author Stephen King - took advantage of a scary mistake by New York's defense late in the opening half and Chicago got a couple big saves from Busch.
Chicago (11-7-5) has lost just two times in its last 11 games and is tied with New England for second place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference. New England lost to first-place Columbus, 4-0, on Saturday.
New York (8-7-8) had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped and is 11 points out of first.
Chicago had the first scoring chance in the seventh minute, but Mike Banner's header was cleared off the line by New York defender Diego Jimenez. Banner did well to take a quick shot on goal with Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway off his line, but Jimenez raced in to head the ball out and prevent a goal.
New York also nearly turned its first chance into a goal. Dave van den Bergh found Juan Pablo Angel alone in the penalty area in the 18th minute, but his shot was deflected by the fingertips of Busch and off the crossbar.
The Red Bulls' next chance was in the 24th minute when Dane Richards used his speed to get space down the right, but he fired wide of the left post from 14 yards.
Chicago's Brian McBride countered in the 34th minute by chesting down a cross in the area before firing toward the left post, but Conway dove to deflect the ball wide.
The Fire didn't waste their next chance, though, taking advantage of a mistake by Jimenez to grab the lead before halftime. Jimenez won the ball near the top of the area, but then oddly kicked the ball back into the middle of the box.
King was the only player near the ball and he settled it about 16 yards out, then dribbled in and easily beat Conway to the right post in the 36th minute. King's goal was his second of the season.
Brandon Prideaux had a chance from a few steps inside the box 15 minutes into the second half for Chicago but fired wide of the left post, and McBride shot wide of the right post from about 15 yards minutes later.
Banner had a chance to put the match away later in the second half but despite dribbling around a defender in the area, was denied on a close-range effort by Conway.
New York started to gain more possession late in the second half, but Angel's chance in the 82nd minute was the last good scoring opportunity. Angel drilled a shot just wide of the right post from a tough angle.
The Bulls will try to rebound Sept. 13 when they host Real Salt Lake. Chicago visits Colorado on Sept. 14.
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Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Cust tallied two homers and three RBI
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The teams were supposed to play a day/night doubleheader but Tropical Storm
Hanna
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Patterson caught eight pas
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Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Daniel was near perfect behind center
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In less tha
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St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Wellemeyer threw a season-high eight
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Wellemeyer (
Soriano clubs three HRs, Cubs snap six-game skid >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alfonso Soriano clubbed three homers
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Houston's Oswalt dazzles in one-hitter against Rockies >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roy Oswalt threw his first shutout of the
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portion of a three-game series at Coors Field.
Oswalt (14-9) gave up just one hi
Nats blow lead in ninth, but top Braves in extras >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elijah Dukes hit a pair of solo homers and
Ryan Langerhans had a pinch-hit go-ahead homer in the 10th inning, as the
Washington Nationals edged the Atlanta Braves, 8-5, in the third contest of a
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No. 17 South Florida nips UCF in OT >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Grothe threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to
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Grothe completed 23-of-40 passes for 346 yards w
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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