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07/26/2010 -
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) -Andre Dawson left a lasting impression on the ballfield with his true grit and sense of integrity. His eloquent speech upon entering the pantheon of baseball's greatest stars likely won't soon be forgotten, either.
At his induction Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Dawson charmed the audience with a series of jokes, praised the game that gave him a chance in life, chastised those who tarnished its image, and lamented that so many loved ones were not present to share his joy.
``Thank you for welcoming this rookie to your team'' said Dawson, who played for a decade in Montreal before signing with the Chicago Cubs in 1987 as a free agent. ``It's an honor beyond words. I didn't play this game with this goal in mind, but I'm living proof that if you love this game, the game will love you back. I am proof that any young person who can hear my voice right now can be standing here as I am.''
The 56-year-old Dawson, who endured 12 knee surgeries to forge an impressive 21-year major league career, is the 203rd player in the game's long history to be inducted. Selected in his ninth year of eligibility, the man called ``Hawk'' took the podium as Cubs and Expos fans roared their approval.
``I never knew what it felt like to be loved by a city until I arrived in Chicago,'' Dawson told a crowd estimated at around 10,000. ``You gave me new life in baseball. You were the wind beneath the Hawk's wings.''
He then poked fun at several Hall of Famers on the stage behind him.
``Rickey Henderson mentioned last year that when he was young he waited in a parking lot outside the Oakland Coliseum so that he could ask Reggie Jackson for an autograph,'' Dawson said. ``If I recollect, he said Reggie gave him an ink pad with his name on it. In 1977, I met Reggie at a card show. I was very nervous, but I had just been named rookie of the year, so I liked my chances of getting a signed picture. I asked Reggie for an autograph. Rickey, all he gave me was a candy bar with his name on it.''
Dawson, an eight-time All-Star who had 438 homers, 2,774 hits, 1,591 RBIs and 314 stolen bases from 1976-96, then turned serious, warning players not to be lured to the dark side of using performance-enhancing drugs.
``There's nothing wrong with the game of baseball,'' said Dawson, one of just three to hit 400 homers and steal 300 bases. ``Baseball will, from time to time like anything else in life, fall victim to the mistakes that people make. It's not pleasant and it's not right. Individuals have chosen the wrong road, and they're choosing that as their legacy. Those mistakes have hurt the game and taken a toll on all of us.
``Others still have a chance to choose theirs. Do not be lured to the dark side,'' he cautioned. ``It's a stain on the game, a stain gradually being removed.''
Dawson, who finished by paying tribute to his late mother, Mattie Brown, who died four years ago, was part of a class that included former manager Whitey Herzog, umpire Doug Harvey, broadcaster Jon Miller and sports writer Bill Madden.
The ceremony also honored Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty, who sang his classic song ``Centerfield.'' Fogerty wrote the tune 25 years ago and it had been played at the start of induction Sunday for more than a decade.
``I'm truly honored,'' Fogerty said after playing the song on his guitar ``Slugger,'' which is shaped like a baseball bat and went on display later in the day inside the Hall of Fame. ``I wrote that as an 8-year-old boy. That 8-year-old boy right now is saying, 'It ain't getting any better than this.' ``
Herzog, 78, who played eight nondescript years for four teams, managed for 18 seasons, 11 with the St. Louis Cardinals after stints in Texas, California and Kansas City. He guided the Royals to three consecutive playoff appearances in the 1970s and led the Cardinals to the 1982 World Series title just two years after he was hired.
The Cards also made World Series appearances in 1985 and 1987 under Herzog, who finished his managing career in 1990 with a record of 1,279-1,123, a .532 winning percentage.
``Ever since I was elected in December, people have asked, 'What's it feel like to be a Hall of Famer?''' Herzog said. ``Now I can tell you what it feels like. It feels like going to heaven before you die.''
As he has so often in the past, Herzog credited Casey Stengel, the Hall of Fame manager of the New York Yankees and Mets, with much of his success.
``Casey told me so many things that became valuable,'' Herzog said. ``For some reason, he knew that I was going to be a big league manager. When I met Stengel, it was like an enlightening thing because I would go to bed at night, and instead of thinking about girls I would be thinking about what he talked about all day. He had is own language and it took me hours sometimes to figure him out.''
The 80-year-old Harvey, who worked in the National League from 1962 to 1992, called 4,673 regular-season games during his major-league career and also umpired five World Series, six All-Star Games and nine National League Championship Series.
Nicknamed ``God'' during his heyday because of his authoritative, no-nonsense demeanor on the field, Harvey lived up to the moniker on his special day.
Suffering from throat cancer, Harvey recorded his 20-minute acceptance speech in the spring. It began raining while the video was playing, but by the time he addressed the crowd the sun was shining.
``I want you to notice that I stopped the rain,'' he deadpanned in closing.
Harvey, the ninth umpire to be inducted and the first living umpire inducted since Al Barlick in 1989, joked afterward that ``I had less rainouts than anyone else in the world.''
``My only ambition has been to improve the profession,'' said Harvey, who learned from his father and didn't attend umpiring school because he couldn't afford it. ``I've tried to mentor, teaching them everything I know about the game.''
Harvey clearly was touched by the honor and cried while the recording of his speech was played.
``If you're a true baseball fan, you need to visit Cooperstown,'' he said. ``This is home, and you need to touch home. I'll be watching to make sure you do.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Ferdinand looks set to miss the start of the new season despite previous
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a nine-year-old, a
Angels get Dan Haren and a tree falls in the forest >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yawn.
That is exactly the first thought that went through my head when my I-Phone
beeped on Sunday night with the news that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim had
acquired Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Joe Sau
Phillies go for four-game sweep of Rockies >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies will try to complete a four-game
sweep of the Colorado Rockies this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia won its fourth straight game on Sunday, as Jimmy Rollins tied the
contest and then
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Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Appalachian State may have lost two-time
Walter Payton Award winner Armanti Edwards, but it boasts a national-best
seven players on The Sportsbook Betting Lines/Fathead.com Football Championship
Subdivision Preseason A
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Silva tries to bounce back from two miserable
outings this evening when the Chicago Cubs begin a three-game series against
the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Silva, who won his first eight decisions of the seas
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
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Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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