09/15/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch entered Sunday's Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway atop the point standings, but after a disappointing 34th-place finish in the first of the 10-race "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship, the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver has fallen to eighth in the standings. He is now 74 points behind new leaders Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, who both finished in the top-five. It's the lowest Busch has been ranked all season.
Busch ran into all sorts of problems during the 300-lap event, including a broken sway bar on the car, a penalty for entering pit road too early and a crash that put him behind the wall for 12 laps.
Greg Biffle surprisingly won at New Hampshire. Biffle grabbed the lead from Johnson with 11 laps to go and then held off two-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Johnson at the finish to snap a 33-race winless streak. As a result, Biffle moved from ninth to third in the standings, 30 points behind the leaders.
With a series-high eight victories, Busch ended the "regular season" last week at Richmond with a 207-point lead. But after the points were re-adjusted for the "Chase," his advantage over Edwards was just 30 markers. Busch has finished worse than 34th in three other races this season -- 36th and 43rd at Pocono and 38th in the spring event at Martinsville.
After New Hampshire, Busch has dug himself a hole, but with nine races remaining in the season, there's plenty of time for him to crawl out of it.
Johnson was in a similar situation two years ago.
Trailing five points behind leader Matt Kenseth, Johnson started the 2006 "Chase" in the second seed, but after a 39th-place finish at New Hampshire, he fell to ninth, 139 markers behind new leader Kevin Harvick. He finished 13th, 14th, and 24th in the next three races and was 156 points behind Jeff Burton. Johnson, however, rebounded in the next five races as he finished either first or second in each of them. He held a 63-point lead heading into the season- finale at Homestead, and then clinched the title by 56 points with a ninth- place finish there.
Johnson almost captured the 2004 inaugural "Chase" championship after overcoming an enormous points deficit. He trailed Kurt Busch by 247 points after the fourth race in Kansas, but went on to win four of the final six races, ending the season just eight point behind the elder Busch for the championship, making it the closest points battle in series history.
Busch has qualified for the "Chase" the past three seasons. Last year, he finished fifth in his final season driving the No.5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Busch started the 2006 "Chase" with a 38th-place finish at New Hampshire and fell six positions. He never recovered and ended the year 10th in the standings.
In his first year with JGR, Busch is by far enjoying his most successful season and should be able to able to rebound in time for the season-ending race on November 16th, as long as he doesn't have another devastating performance this year. The series runs next at Dover, where Busch won in June.
<< Brewers fire manager Ned Yost
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers have fired manager Ned
Yost and named Dale Sveum interim manager for the final two weeks of the
season.
The Brewers are 83-67 and tied for the top spot in the National League w
<< Zambrano named NL Player of the Week after no-hitter
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who
posted the first no-hitter by a Cub in over 36 years, has been named the
National League's Player of the Week for the week ending September 14.
Zambrano, w
<< Browns' Smith has Achilles injury
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have lost defensive lineman
Robaire Smith to an Achilles injury.
Smith suffered the injury in the second half of the team's loss to the
Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night. Browns Coa
<< 37th Ryder Cup Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Depending on whom you ask, the job of
Ryder Cup captain is an overrated one.
Don't tell that to Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo.
With the absences of Tiger Woods and truly competitive matches lately i
Appalachian State stays on top in FCS poll >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Appalachian State continued its
stranglehold on the top spot of The Sportsbook Betting Lines FCS Top-25 poll, announced
Monday.
The Mountaineers (1-1), who had a bye week in preparation for their showd
Around FCS: Grabbing the Spotlight >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FCS fans will long remember this past
weekend for the games that didn't get played, first and foremost a showdown
between Cal Poly and McNeese State.
After seeing Cal Poly go down to the wire in a win over
This Week in Golf - September 18th through September 21st >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - 37TH RYDER CUP - Valhalla Golf Club,
Louisville, Kentucky - It's been two years since the United States was handed
its second consecutive embarrassing nine-point loss to the Europeans in the
Ryder C
Week Three Headlines >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There was a lot to digest following this
past week's action, from embarrassing performances to last-second heroics.
Even the coaches weren't exempt from the action. Here are the top storylines
from week numbe
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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