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03/05/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The injury suffered by Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey is still fresh in the mind of many of his teammates, who are getting set to host Burnley at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The promising teenager had his season cut short last weekend when he suffered a horrific broken leg against Stoke City after a late challenge from Ryan Shawcross, and now the rest of the Gunners are using the incident as motivation.
"After the Stoke game we didn't see Aaron because he went straight to the hospital," midfielder Emmanuel Eboue told the league's official website. "I am so, so disappointed about what happened.
"Sometimes in football these things happen but we want always to play for him.
"Burnley is a very difficult game for us, we know that. But we will try our best to win it for Aaron Ramsey."
In addition to winning the game for Ramsey, a victory would also pull Arsenal level on 61 points with league-leaders Chelsea, who will be in action in the FA Cup this weekend.
Arsenal has won three straight games in the league since losing back-to-back contests to Manchester United and Chelsea, and with a favorable schedule the rest of the way, Arsene Wenger's side is confident that they can provide a serious challenge for the title.
Burnley is hoping to just survive relegation over the remainder of the season as the club sits in 19th place, but just one point from safety.
A disappointing home loss to last-placed Portsmouth last time out didn't help the cause, and making matters even worse is the fact that Saturday's game is away from Turf Moor, where the club has earned just one point from 14 away contests.
However, Burnley's Leon Cort feels that his side is capable of taking points away from its trip to London if they go into the match with the belief that they can do it.
"The whole country believes we're going to go there and get wiped clean," Cort told the club's official website. "But if we go there and believe, do what we can do and stay strong as a team, I believe we can cause an upset.
"You can't go there and roll over because they will punish you. Obviously it's going to be a very tough game and our away form isn't great, but we have to go there and keep believing."
With many other Premiership clubs taking part in FA Cup play this weekend, there are only three other matches on the fixture list.
One features second-placed Manchester United visiting Molineux Stadium to face relegation-battling Wolverhampton, with United moving to the top of the league with a win, while bottom-half sides West Ham and Bolton square off at Upton Park, and Everton goes for its third win in four games when they entertain Hull City on Sunday.
<< Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Recaps
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - RaShawn Polk posted 20 points with four
rebounds as Towson cruised past UNC-Wilmington, 91-74, in first-round action
of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
Troy Franklin scored 18 points
<< Lions acquire Corey Williams from Cleveland
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions have acquired defensive
lineman Corey Williams in a trade with the Cleveland Browns.
In addition to Williams, the Lions also received a seventh-round pick in the
2010 draft and sent th
<< Spain, Switzerland tied at 1-1 in Davis Cup
Logrono, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time reigning champion Spain and
visiting Switzerland are tied at 1-1 following Friday's opening singles
in a first-round Davis Cup battle in Logrono.
Stanislas Wawrinka gave the Swiss a
<< Grant fined for improper conduct
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth manager Avram Grant has been
fined $1,500 and warned about his future conduct after angrily confronting
referee Kevin Friend during a Premier League game last month.
Grant admitted a Fo
Milan and Roma square off in top-three clash >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serie A title hopefuls AC Milan and Roma will
square off in the capital on Saturday in a game that features two of Italy's
top three teams.
Milan enters the game four points back of leaders Inter Milan, w
Fixtures begin to pile up for Bordeaux >>
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Bordeaux and Montpellier meet up at
the Chaban Delmas Stadium on Sunday they will do so with both teams level on
51 points at the top of the table, but with the defending champions having
played
United signs veteran midfielder Morsink >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United signed midfielder Kurt
Morsink, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday.
"We are pleased to be adding Kurt to our team," United General Manager Dave
Kasper said. "He is a
Patriots ink LB Banta-Cain to three-year pact >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots signed linebacker
Tully Banta-Cain to a three-year contract on Friday.
Banta-Cain, 29, rejoined the Patriots in 2009 after spending the previous two
campaigns with San Francisco
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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