11/21/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes will try to earn their first three- game winning streak of the season when they welcome the sliding Phoenix Coyotes for tonight's meeting at RBC Center.
The Hurricanes are in the midst of a four-game homestand and have earned victories in the first two tests of that residency. After posting a shootout victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday, Carolina followed with another close win against Montreal on Tuesday.
Ray Whitney's power-play goal in the third period proved to be the game-winner on Tuesday as the Hurricanes notched the 2-1 decision over the Canadiens. Cam Ward also turned in a strong outing with 28 saves as Carolina improved to 5-4-0 as the host team this season.
Sergei Samsonov also scored for Carolina, which has won back-to-back tilts following a three-game skid. The 'Canes last three-game winning streak came from March 16-20 of last season.
The Hurricanes will complete their homestand Sunday against Nashville before hitting the road for a test at Florida on the following night.
The Coyotes, meanwhile, have lost three straight games on the heels of a three-game winning streak. Phoenix will now try to end the slide in this evening's opening test of a four-game road trip despite the fact that the club is just 3-5-0 as the visiting team this season.
Chicago posted the most recent victory over the Coyotes, beating Phoenix in a shootout Tuesday night in Arizona. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp both lit the lamp in the shootout, as the Blackhawks recorded the 3-2 decision at Jobing.com Arena.
Toews was able to beat Ilya Bryzgalov through the legs in the shootout, and Sharp followed with a shot that beat the goaltender stick side. Nikolai Khabibulin saved both Phoenix attempts, including a great glove save off Peter Mueller to secure the win.
Zbynek Michalek and Shane Doan both scored for the Coyotes, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit but still couldn't pick up a game in the win column. Bryzgalov allowed two goals on 40 shots in the loss.
Doan, who has spent his entire 13-year career with the Phoenix/Winnipeg franchise, played in his 900th game.
Phoenix has won four straight meetings with the Hurricanes, including two in a row in Raleigh. Carolina's last win over the Coyotes came at home on November 12, 2002.
<< Jazz pay a visit to San Antonio
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz head south to the Alamo City in search of
their third consecutive win Friday when they meet the San Antonio Spurs at the
AT&T Center.
C.J. Miles scored 25 points to lead Utah to a 105-94 comeback
<< Lakers welcome Nuggets to Staples Center
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top dog in the NBA's Western Conference, the Los
Angeles Lakers, welcome the red-hot Denver Nuggets to Staples Center on
Friday.
The Lakers improved to a gaudy 9-1 on Thursday when Kobe Bryant scored
<< Hornets return to Ford Center to face Thunder
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Hornets return to the Ford Center Friday as
they take on the woeful Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Hornets played 71 home games at the Ford Center in the 2005-06 and 2006-07
seasons in the wake of the destruc
<< Bruins aim to stay hot versus Panthers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The scorching Boston Bruins will aim for their eighth
victory in nine games when they welcome the Florida Panthers for tonight's
meeting at TD Banknorth Garden.
The Bruins are known mainly for their defensive discipline, b
Blues host Ducks, try to end home slide >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will attempt to halt their home losing
streak tonight, as they host the Anaheim Ducks at Scottrade Center.
The Blues are 4-4-1 as the host this year, but have dropped three straight and
five of their la
Heisman Showdown >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There are still a couple of weeks left in
the 2008 college football season and with it, the Heisman Trophy remains up
for grabs. The list of candidates has dwindled down significantly over the
last m
Streaking Ajax confident ahead of AZ test >>
Alkmaar, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marco van Basten's Ajax side is
brimming with confidence as they head to DSB Stadion to face fourth-place AZ
Alkmaar on Sunday.
After taking just seven points from its first five games under V
Aston Villa takes aim at top four >>
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In recent seasons, Arsenal, Chelsea,
Liverpool and Manchester United have had a near stranglehold on the top four
places in the Premiership, but Aston Villa is poised to challenge those
heavywe
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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