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10/27/2007 - Basel, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer outslugged Croatia's Ivo Karlovic to advance to the final of his hometown tournament, the Swiss Indoors.
The top-seeded Federer earned a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) victory Saturday in the semifinals and will next meet Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, who earlier had posted a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 triumph over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Federer was unable to break the serve of the 6-foot-10 Karlovic, but was able to prevail in a pair of tiebreakers to reach the final of this event for the second straight year. He beat Fernando Gonzalez to capture last year's crown.
Karlovic, who banged out 16 aces to Federer's 10, failed to convert a set point in the opener and Federer stormed to a 5-2 lead in the first tiebreak. Karlovic won the next two points and soon after staved off a set point for Federer.
Federer gained another set point shortly after and converted with a serve and volley.
The second set stayed on serve, although Federer had a pair of match points that he was unable to convert while Karlovic was serving at 4-5. Again Federer jumped out to an early lead in the tiebreak at 4-1 and was able to finish it off.
Federer is now just one victory away from securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for a fourth straight year. He will be a heavy favorite with the crowd behind him against an opponent that has never beaten him.
Nieminen is 0-7 lifetime against Federer and has never taken a set from the Swiss superstar. The two haven't met since a semifinal encounter two years ago in Bangkok -- a 6-3, 6-4 Federer victory.
Federer, a runner-up in this event in 2000 and 2001, will be gunning for his 52nd career ATP singles title and seventh of 2007. He lost to David Nalbandian in the final last week at the Madrid Masters.
Nieminen has just one career title, winning last year in Auckland, and Sunday will mark his first final of 2007. His best previous finishes this year were semifinal losses in Halle and Marseille. The loss in Marseille came at the hands of Baghdatis.
<< Grosjean, Gicquel make for all-French final in Lyon
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Frenchmen will square off for an ATP
title on their home soil, as veteran Sebastien Grosjean and Marc Gicquel
advanced to Sunday's final at the Lyon Tennis Grand Prix.
Gicquel came out on to
<< Jets place Vilma on IR
Hempstead, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets have placed linebacker
Jonathan Vilma on injured reserve because of a knee injury.
Vilma sat out some of last week's game against Cincinnati and missed practice
this week. He was dec
<< Blackhawks host Thrashers in Windy City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks are getting outstanding play from a
pair of rookies, and hope that trend continues tonight when they welcome the
Atlanta Thrashers to the United Center.
Though Chicago has lost two in a row, its
<< Panthers pay a visit to Predators
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nashville Predators will try to stay on the winning
track this evening against the Florida Panthers at Sommet Center.
The Predators ended a six-game losing streak with Thursday's 3-0 home win over
the Atlanta Thr
Hantuchova, Schnyder advance to Linz final >>
Linz, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniela Hantuchova stormed back from a third-
set deficit to slip past fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova in semifinal action at
the Generali Ladies Linz women's tennis event.
Hantuchova fell behind 1-4 in the de
Indian Blessing cruises in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies >>
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Day two of the 24th edition of the Breeders'
Cup World Championships commenced at Monmouth Park with Indian Blessing
capturing the $2 million Juvenile Fillies.
Indian Blessing, ridden by Garrett Gom
Murray, Verdasco reach St. Petersburg final >>
St. Petersburg, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Murray of Scotland and Spain's
Fernando Verdasco won semifinal matches Saturday and will play for the title
at the St. Petersburg Open.
The second-seeded Murray saved one match point and
Breeders' Cup Juvenile belongs to War Pass >>
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - War Pass, ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, led
every step of the way as the two-year-old captured the $2 million Breeders'
Cup Juvenile for colts and geldings. The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42
3/5 on
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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