Sports Betting Blog

It seems to me that the professional leagues in the United States just doesn’t seem to go into the preseason without some sort of lockout. Hockey, baseball, football, basketball, the last four 5 years have had some sort of action of this sort. And it’s getting a little old. Particularly now when the NFL has officially reached a 3-month long lockdown with it’s referees. They say it’s all about money, and perhaps the biggest question here is why, with all the money that the NFL has reported in revenue, can’t they come into an agreement with the officiating crews. Now, time is running up and with less than a day before the NFL season kicks off, no talks are scheduled between the league and the locked-out on-field officials.

So we can make it official. It will be up to the replacement officials to kick off the season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants. During three different days last week the NFL and the NFL Referees Association met together to find a deal, but the parties did not reach an agreement to end the three-month-old lockout. Replacement officials who worked the preseason games will officiate the first week of the season. The league and the NFL Referees Association, which covers more than 120 on-field officials, are at odds over salary, retirement benefits and operational issues.

This are some of the key aspects that need to be solved before we can get the regular officials back in the field. The NFL would like to move away from the traditional pension model from the previous agreement, freezing pensions now and eventually terminating them in favor of a defined contribution model ranging between $16,000 to $23,000 per year. Not exactly your dream 401K. Now, when it comes to salary, there is also a big difference. I mean, big for the referees but it seems to me very little for the organizations as a whole. Last week both sides were approximately $16 million apart on a seven-year deal. NFLRA will emphasize, equals a cost of less than $75,000 per year per NFL team.

The NFL also wants to get more officiating crews. Move from the 18 they already have to the proposed 21 officiating crews. The NFL says this is “extras” would come in to secure their bench and get the training needed for the future. The Referees association see this as an attempt to threat to the continued livelihood and security of it’s current members.  The NFL is stating that under the proposed changes, the pay structure includes annual pay increases that could earn an experienced official more than $200,000 annually by 2018. The NFLRA has disputed the value of the proposal, insisting it would ultimately reduce their compensation.

Now as the first game is just a few hours from kicking off, it becomes evident that the referees are now going to rely heavily on the replacement referees to make some bold and evident mistakes in their officiating either on Wednesday or on the bulk of games coming up on Sunday. If that is the case, they will certainly have more leverage for negotiating their return. On the other hand, if the replacements make a good job, they’ll be forced to stick with what the NFL throws at them in the negotiation.

Somehow the style has changed, and it has changed a lot, but at the end of the day, the Spanish team is just as effective as it has ever been. This is not the fast paced, one pass, showy football that took them to win the EURO 4 years ago, nor is this the elegant and offensively striking game that won them the World Cup in South Africa 2010. In the UERO 2012 Spain has again qualified into the Finals after defeating the Portuguese in a long game that had to go over to the penalty kick shootout to call a winner. After 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes in the extra, neither team was able to break the solid defense and score.

At the end, once the shootout had been completed, Spain won by a 4-2 margin after the penalty kicks and qualified to their third straight mayor tournament final. They will meet the winner between Germany and Italy in the other semifinal. The EURO 2012 Final will be played on July 1^st in the Olympic Stadium of Ukraine. But let’s go back to talk about the game and this new defensive approach introduced by the Spaniard head coach Vicente del Bosque. Against Portugal, the defending champions managed only one quality shot in regulation time, and it wasn’t until the extra time that the Spaniards actually began to show some offensive potential with great shots from Cesc Fabregas, Andrés Iniesta and Xabi Alonso.

The shootout went as follow: Xabi had the first attempt saved by Rui Patricio before Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved Joao Moutinho’s shot to keep it even. Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos then all scored for Spain, while Pepe and Nani answered for Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t get a chance to shoot his penalty.

In the postgame press conference Spain’s coach Vicente del Bosque had a clear overview of what had happened in the game. “Both teams were stronger in defense in the first 90 minutes, but that balance was broken in extra time”. This seemed to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s best chance of reaching the same degree of success that he has achieved at club level with the National team, but it really seems that when the spotlights were on and he had to really be able to deliver for Portugal, he was just not at his best. He was overshadowed by the solid defense that the Spaniards put up, and even though he had a couple of good looks at the goal, all of his shots went a bit too high.

Del Bosque changed his game plan and without much of a warning he finally opted to place a single striker up in the front. Many would have guessed that the job would be given to Fernando Torres, but instead, Del Bosque opted to start Alvaro Negredo. After 55 minutes of play, he was replaced by Fabregas. The Portuguese on the other hand, got plenty of help from Rui Patricio, but they certainly didn’t get the help they expected out of Cristiano Ronaldo. “I think we were better in the first 90 minutes. Then in extra time we were less efficient,” Bento said about the Portuguese performance in the semifinals. “When we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities, Spain got stronger.”

After meeting with at least 6 teams and holding conversations with almost a dozen professional football teams, the bound to be hall-of-fame quarterback, Peyton Maning has decided that he’s going to be taking his talents to new heights. Literally. On Monday morning, Peyton Manning announced that he had told his agent, Tom Condon, to start working out the details of his new contract with the Denver Broncos. It’s going to be less then two weeks since the Indianapolis Colts have announced that they were letting go of Manning, and quite as long since the future of the current Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, has been jeopardized by the rumors that are now confirmed: Peyton Manning is going to be a Bronco.

It seems that the time for all the tebownian madness is quite over now. At least we can say that the Denver Broncos are ready to try a little something more elegant and traditional for when it comes to meeting their quarterback needs. It is still uncertain where he’s going to end up at, but one thing is for sure: as soon as the Peyton Manning deal becomes official, the Broncos are going to do all they can to trade him. Towards the end, Manning had narrowed it down to three teams. He was seriously considering picking the San Francisco 49ers or opting to finish his career with the Tennessee Titans, but at the end, the Broncos seemed to the 4-times MVP as the ideal team to join. It was Manning himself who called the Broncos vice president of football operations John Elway earlier today to make the official announcement. He also called the San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Titans to let them known that he was leaving for the Mile High Stadium.

The Tennessee Titans owner, Bud Adams, was a little disappointed with Manning decision, but he also took a quick chance to show some support for his starting quarterback Matt Hassselbeck. “Now that we move forward, I want our fans to know that our expectations haven’t changed — winning a championship is still the goal. I like our quarterback situation moving forward and we will continue to build the team through free agency and the draft with that goal in mind (…) I also want to commend Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker. They were thrown into a very difficult situation. Matt was very good for us last year…” He said in a press release.

John Elway and Peyton Manning first discussed the overall details of a five-year, $95 million contract during their March 9 meeting in Denver. It will be up to both parties representatives to work out the fine print of the agreement. Because for better or worse, there are still some issues that have to be solved before this can actually be considered a done deal. It is still uncertain what the contract is going to hold in terms of guaranteed money, structure of the deal and what sort of protections the contract will offer in case Mannings prior neck surgery will keep Manning from performing his duties. That is an old and well-known injury, but so far, Manning has passed the Physical examinations of the two other NFL teams he was interested, and at least for now, it doesn’t seem to be such a big issue.

Sometimes they say it is all about the money, that’s what makes the world go round. And it seems that the love affair between quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints couldn’t escape that fate. Despite the rumors that said Drew Brees was a certainly going to stay with the Saints, it has become evident that the two sides of the deal have failed to reach a middle point in the negotiation for the player’s compensation. Considering the risks involved in losing Drew Brees as a free agent this season, the Saints have opted to use their franchise tag on Brees and secure his stay in the club. The franchise tag for a quarterback currently carries a $14.4 million salary cap hit. Still, that figure could easily change and increase significantly later on this off-season when the quarterback cap numbers are re-evaluated by the NFL.

Brees and the New Orleans Saints seemed to be at least $5 million dollars apart when it comes to reaching a price. Particularly for the first three years of the contract. According to the news reports we have gathered, Brees is seeking a contract that averages $23 million per season for the first three years of his deal. To put things into the right perspective, that’s the same amount the Indianapolis Colts are paying Peyton Manning in contract in average for the first three seasons. The Saints on the other hands are offering their quarterback a five-year contract that averages $18 million a year. It seems to be a good overall offer considering that’s pretty much what Peyton Manning and the New England Patriot’s own Tom Brady is making over the same span.

But it seems that for the better part of the negotiation, it is Drew Brees who holds the best hand. His performance since arriving to the Saints in 2006 have been nothing short of amazing. And it’s not just that he’s been putting good numbers, excellent numbers to be more precise. As a matter of fact, the Saints have reached levels of play that seemed unimaginable just a few years before he arrived. Then there is the whole Hurricane Katrina factor. Drew Brees came into New Orleans just a year after the hurricane struck the coast of New Orleans. It has helped to give some faith to the people of New Orleans that their team, formerly known as the Aint’s (because they hadn’t win a thing) went on to unimaginable heights. Not only that but with 28,394 yards, Drew Brees has passed for more yards than any other quarterback in the NFL since he joined the squad in 2006.

Brees was the heart of the 13-3 season with which the Saints moved into the conference finals last season. As if that was not enough, Brees set NFL single-season records with 468 completions, 5,476 yards passing and a completion percentage of 71.2. His prolific passing numbers helped the Saints set a new NFL high for total offensive yards in a season with 7,474. And that’s certainly what’s going to make him have the best hand.