05/11/2008 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs scored goals to help Manchester United retain the Premiership title with a 2-0 win over Wigan at The JJB Stadium on Sunday.
United entered the day level on 84 points with Chelsea, but held the edge in goal differential, meaning three points at Wigan would be enough to hold onto the title.
The Red Devils were given an opportunity to take the lead in the 31st minute when Wigan's Emmerson Boyce brought down Wayne Rooney inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot.
Ronaldo stepped up and cooly deposited his 31st goal of the season into the lower right corner, sending Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland the wrong way.
Wigan looked dangerous at times and stayed within a goal until the 80th minute, when Giggs put the title out of reach by taking a pass from Rooney at the top of the box and beating Kirkland to make it 2-0.
The Welshman came on as a substitute in the second half, giving him 758 appearances for the club, which ties him with United legend Sir Bobby Charlton.
Although the afternoon was nervy at times for Sir Alex Ferguson's men, it was Chelsea who had a tougher time dealing with the pressure, drawing 1-1 at home against Bolton.
Second-half substitute Andriy Shevchenko put the Blues on top in the 62nd minute, but Bolton stole a point in stoppage time with a goal from Kevin Davies that leaves Chelsea two points off the pace.
Chelsea captain John Terry had to be taken out of the game early in the first half after colliding with goalkeeper Petr Cech. The Englishman suffered an arm injury and was stretchered off, leaving his status for the Champions League final against United on May 21 in doubt.
Things were just as dramatic at the other end of the table as the relegation strugglers each came up with big efforts.
Birmingham came into the day trailing by one point, but they recorded an impressive 4-1 win over Blackburn with two goals from Cameron Jerome.
The club was headed down, however, when it discovered that Reading had pounded last-place Derby 4-0, leaving one relegation spot remaining.
Fulham could secure safety with a win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park, but the game entered the final 15 minutes without a goal. A draw would not be enough to keep Fulham up, but they came through with a 1-0 win as Jimmy Bullard's free kick was nodded into the back of the net by Danny Murphy in the 76th minute, completing an improbable comeback by the Cottagers to remain in the top flight.
Reading and Birmingham will now join Derby in the bottom three, while Fulham is safe after winning four of its last five games.
Everton claimed the last UEFA Cup spot with a 3-1 win over Newcastle, 10-man Manchester City was crushed 8-1 by Middlesbrough in what could be City manager Sven Goran-Eriksson's final game with the team, while Arsenal downed Sunderland 1-0, Liverpool won 2-0 against Tottenham and Aston Villa played to a 2-2 draw with West Ham.
<< O's select contract of Cintron
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles selected the
contract of infielder Alex Cintron from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday.
Baltimore signed the 29-year-old Cintron to a minor league deal on March 31.
He batted .288
<< Yankees place Betemit on DL
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees placed infielder Wilson
Betemit on the 15-day disabled list Sunday.
Betemit left Saturday's 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning
with a strained right hamstring.
Bet
<< A's activate Harden from DL to start against Texas
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics activated oft-injured
pitcher Rich Harden from the 15-day disabled list Sunday, in time to start the
team's series finale with the Texas Rangers.
Harden was placed on the DL for the si
<< Djokovic tops Wawrinka to Rome final
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic rallied to
beat Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka to win the $3.5 million Italian Masters on
Sunday.
Djokovic, who disposed of world No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarterfin
Fever knocks Recapturetheglory out of Preakness >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Recapturetheglory, fifth in the Kentucky
Derby, has been declared out of the Preakness Stakes after showing a fever
Friday night.
"We took his temperature last night (Friday)," assistant trainer
Inter held by Siena, Roma cuts lead to one point >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan failed in its second attempt to
secure a third straight Serie A title, finishing 2-2 with Siena at the San
Siro while Roma beat Atalanta 2-1, cutting Inter's lead to just one point with
one gam
Yankees-Tigers postponed due to heavy rain >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's scheduled series finale between the
New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers was postponed due to rain.
No make-up date for the game was announced.
Diamondbacks' Johnson scratched from start >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Randy
Johnson was scratched from his scheduled start against the Chicago Cubs on
Sunday due to wet weather conditions.
Edgar Gonzalez was tabbed to start in Johnson's pl
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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