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07/15/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics and forward Paul Pierce have reached an agreement on a new contract.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Boston Herald reported last week the two sides agreed to a deal for four years, with options for the club and Pierce after the third year.
"I am very excited to be back in Boston," said Pierce. "I have always said that I would love to retire as a Celtic and re-signing here will allow me to do that. I would like to thank Danny [Ainge], Doc [Rivers], the ownership group and the rest of the organization. I'm thrilled that they kept the core intact and look forward to getting back on the parquet with my teammates so we can bring Banner 18 home to Boston."
Pierce opted out of his contract for next season and became an unrestricted free agent when the NBA free agency period started on July 1. Pierce was due to make $21.5 million in the final year of his previous contract, and the Herald reports that he will make less than that in 2010-11 to give the Celtics a better financial position.
"Paul has been a cornerstone of our franchise for the last decade and we could not be more pleased that he is returning to the team," said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge.
Pierce, who will be 33 before next season begins, averaged 18.3 points and 4.4 rebounds over 71 games during the 2009-10 campaign. He upped that to 18.8 ppg and 6.0 rpg during the playoffs, helping Boston reach the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.
Boston selected the Kansas product with the 10th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. He owns career averages of 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
<< Top hurlers to clash in Dodgers-Cardinals opener
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw pitched well
enough to be an All-Star, but ultimately did not join four of his teammates in
Anaheim for the Mid-Summer Classic.
Despite the snub, Kershaw will look to get his sec
<< Phillies head to Chicago riding win streak
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies had an up-and-down first half,
and it was no different for the club over the season's final week before the
All-Star break.
They do come out of the hiatus with some momentum, and the Phillies will
<< First-place Braves open second half against Brewers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have done everything possible in this
season's first half to potentially make Bobby Cox's last year as manager a
special one.
Seeking to give their manager one more championship before he retires at
sea
<< Rangers open second half at Fenway
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers enter the season's second half in good
position to end an 11-year playoff drought. The Boston Red Sox, on the other
hand, still have some work to do in order to secure a fourth consecutive trip
to the postse
In the FCS Huddle: Stony Brook intriguing on, off the field >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the NIT came to Stony Brook in March,
the Seawolves' football players were in attendance. Similarly, when Stony
Brook hosted NCAA men's lacrosse in May, the football players were there.
The Seawolves,
Rondo, Chandler and Robin Lopez named to USA Basketball team >>
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was
among three players added to the 2010-12 USA Basketball team, chairman Jerry
Colangelo announced on Thursday.
Also selected were centers Tyson Chandler of th
Spurs, Clippers to play preseason game in Mexico >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers
will square off against one another in a preseason game in Mexico City on
October 12, 2010, the NBA announced Thursday.
The event will mark the 19th time
Canadiens sign Desharnais >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward
David Desharnais to a one-year contract.
Desharnais led Hamilton, Montreal's American Hockey League affiliate, in
scoring last season with a franchise-reco
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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