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08/18/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Favre officially announced his return to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2010 season, his 20th as a professional in the NFL.
Favre has been on the brink of retirement for several years, but has chosen to return to Minnesota a season after leading the team to an overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints. It was initially reported that he was set to finally call it a career, but eventually decided to give it another go.
"It was very tough, obviously. I can make a case for both playing/not playing," Favre said at Wednesday's press conference. "It was really about the team. Believe me, when I left New Orleans, a big part of me was -- I don't want to say done, but the fact that we lost that game -- it's hard to make people understand."
In each of the last two offseasons, a major injury nearly forced Favre to retire. After 2008 with the Jets, Favre needed surgery on the biceps of his throwing arm, but came back to throw for 4,202 yards with 33 touchdowns for the Vikings last season. He needed surgery to remove scar tissue and bone spurs in his ankle this offseason, and, although the surgery wasn't as successful, he decided it was healthy enough to play.
"I needed surgery three years ago on my ankle. It's a chronic ankle," Favre said. "I had a visit with Dr. (James) Andrews last Thursday. Surprisingly, a new spur had already surfaced in the new X-ray. Fact is, it's just something I have to deal with. There is a little bit more range of motion since the surgery, but we're not talking about a lot."
Favre practiced for the first time on Wednesday and said he hopes to play in Minnesota's next preseason game against San Francisco on Sunday.
"I would like to (play Sunday). I took a lot of reps today," Favre said. "I'm not real excited about getting hit anytime soon, but that's part of it. I think there's no substitute for calling plays in the huddle in a real game environment, and the only way I'm going to get the speed of the game down is being in games."
Head coach Brad Childress was non-committal on whether or not Favre would play Sunday, but he was excited to have him back in the fold.
"(Favre) said, 'It's taken me 19 years to get to this point,' and I said, 'Maybe you finally got it.' I think the sky's the limit," Childress said. "Everybody always has to play around a quarterback, but he's got a good team around him, and he doesn't have to do it himself."
Additionally, the chance to win was something Favre couldn't pass up.
"The expectations are high here, as they should be," Favre said. "From my standpoint, I can't make any guarantees. I'm going to do everything I can. Whatever it takes for us to win. The bottom line -- I'm not here to set any records -- I've done it all, there's nothing left to prove. So, once again, it's really about these guys.
"I don't want to fail. I'm just being honest."
He also added that this year, the last of his contract, will be the final year of his professional career.
"After this year, I'm done. This is the last year of my contract," Favre said. "It was obviously a tough decision to come back. I can't say I'm going to do anything different than I did last year. I'd love to think that I'll play better. I'll do everything I can to help this team win."
The long-time Packers great who holds the NFL record for touchdown passes with 497, Favre has been the lone mainstay at signal-caller over the last 1 1/2 decades. Since the 1993 season, Favre has been under center for all 16 games every year, leading his teams to 10 seasons of 10 wins or more, including a Super Bowl title with Green Bay in 1996. Including playoffs, Favre has started 309 consecutive games, by far a record.
In what has surely been a Hall of Fame career up to this point, Favre has a 181-104 regular season record as a starter. The 181 wins are an NFL record, as are his 69,329 regular season passing yards and 5,855 playoff passing yards.
<< Report: Cubs and Braves working on deal for Derrek Lee
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cubs and Braves are reportedly working
toward a deal that would send first baseman Derrek Lee to Atlanta.
Lee has been bothered by a lower back issue and was not in the lineup for
Wednesday's game
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Albany, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is
unsure if he will play in Saturday's preseason game against Pittsburgh after
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require
<< Henin done for 2010
Brussels, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An elbow injury she suffered at Wimbledon
will force former world No. 1 star Justine Henin to miss the rest of the 2010
WTA Tour season.
The Australian Open runner-up hurt the elbow when she took a sp
<< San Jose's Hernandez receives additional fine, suspension
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major League Soccer Disciplinary
Committee issued an additional fine and one-game suspension to San Jose
Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez on Wednesday for actions taken against
forward
Hilbert returns to Isles >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders signed center Andy
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The 29-year-old Hilbert returns to the Islanders after spending the 2009-10
season with the Minnesota
Giants disable P Ray >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants have placed
reliever Chris Ray on the 15-day disabled list with a right intercostal strain
and activated left-hander Jeremy Affeldt from the 15-day DL.
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Mavs re-sign veteran Tim Thomas >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Mavericks re-signed veteran forward
Tim Thomas on Wednesday to an undisclosed contract.
The Mavs are the versatile journeyman's seventh NBA team spanning a 13-year
career in the league, having
Rays sweep AL West-leading Rangers, keep AL East race hot >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Longoria went 3-for-4 with a solo
homer, two run-scoring doubles and knocked in four, as the Tampa Bay Rays
completed a three-game sweep of the American League West Division-leading
Texas R
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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