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02/03/2012 - Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlo Ancelotti is perfect in four matches in charge of PSG and the rebuilt French club hosts Evian on Saturday in search of their sixth in their last seven games overall.
With more than $100 million spent on transfers last summer, and reinforcements added this winter in Brazilians Alex, Maxwell and Thiago Motta, Ancelotti will have enough firepower to remain atop Ligue 1.
Ancelotti, who spent his three previous managerial stints at Chelsea, AC Milan and Juventus, remains cautious because "our main rivals are Montpellier, but I am wary of Marseille, who have so much quality and experience."
PSG leads second-place Montpellier by three points, while Marseille sits nine points off the pace in fifth place.
But even with his new side off to a great start, Ancelotti realizes a lot can happen in the last 17 matches of the season.
"Everything is going well. I have a squad of young and motivated players who treat me with respect, without doubt because I have won lots of titles," said Ancelotti.
"But I still want to improve my relationship with the players. I like to speak with the players, enjoy myself with them sometimes. In football, there is a time to concentrate on work and a time when you need to relax."
Evian sits mid-table, but just four points above the drop zone as it looks for its first road win of the season at the Parc des Princes.
Montpellier is also at home Saturday against Brest, while surging Ajaccio will try to make it five straight wins when it hosts Nice.
In Saturday's other matches, Dijon hosts Valenciennes, Nancy hosts Rennes, St Etienne hosts Lorient, and Bordeaux hosts Toulouse. Due to severe weather, the times for many of the matches have been adjusted, and some could be postponed.
Marseille has six wins during a seven-game undefeated run ahead of its Olympic clash with Lyon on Sunday. Lyon sits one point ahead of Marseille in fourth.
Although PSG has established itself atop the table, Lyon coach Remi Garde will not concede the title.
"There are several teams that can win the title but I don't think any one side really stands out," he said. "I don't hide my desire to one day win the French title.
"We want to go all the way and I hope we will be competing for the title right down to the wire."
Caen hosts Auxerre, and Sochaux hosts defending champion and third-place Lille in Sunday's other matches, which are also in danger of being postponed due to the extreme cold blanketing Europe.
<< Report: Rays win arbitration case against Niemann
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rays have won their arbitration case
with towering right-hander Jeff Niemann, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.
The 6-foot-9 Niemann, who turns 29 later this month, will earn $2.75 million
this
<< Dortmund downs Nurnberg to take Bundesliga lead
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrio scored in
the second half as Borussia Dortmund downed Nurnberg, 2-0, on Friday to return
to top of the Bundesliga.
Defending champion Dortmund broke a three-way tie on poin
<< Snow threatening weekend schedule in Italy
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy snow in Italy is threatening to wreak
havoc with the 22nd round of Serie A fixtures this weekend as one match has
already been postponed and others have been moved.
Four midweek matches were post
<< Youzhny reaches Zagreb final four
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny
was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Friday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis
tournament.
Youzhny needed 2 hours, 42 minutes to stave off eighth-seeded massive-serving
Magic suspend Glen Davis 2 games >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic suspended forward Glen Davis
two games for conduct detrimental to the team, general manager Otis Smith
announced Friday.
Davis, who was acquired during the offseason via a trade with
D.C. United waives forward Brettschneider >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United waived 22-year-old forward
Blake Brettschneider on Friday after just one season with the club.
Brettschneider was picked 21st overall in the 2011 Supplemental Draft by D.C.,
and played in 1
Ronaldo poised to lift Real Madrid against Getafe >>
Getafe, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - La Liga leading-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and
his Real Madrid team face Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez on Saturday,
and if history is any indication, the Portuguese superstar could be in line
for an
Oden has yet another knee surgery >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden
underwent successful knee surgery on Friday.
The athroscopic procedure was performed in Vail, Colorado and cleaned out
debris inside his right knee.
Oden
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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