Report: Titans file lawsuit against Kiffin, USC
NCAA Football Betting Lines
07/26/2010 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee Titans have reportedly filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California and head coach Lane Kiffin in the wake of the hiring flap surrounding Kennedy Pola.
On Saturday, USC announced the hiring of Pola as offensive coordinator. Pola was also hired to be the Titans' running backs coach in January, and the lawsuit contends the university and Kiffin "maliciously" interfered with the contract that was already in place, this according to the Tennessean.
The lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, cites breach of contract and stated, in part from an excerpt in the paper, "as a result of USC and Kiffin's tortuous conduct, Tennessee (Titans) football has been damaged in an amount proven at trial."
Almost immediately following the announcement by USC on Saturday, Fisher, a former USC player, fired away at Kiffin, saying there was "a lack of professionalism" and that he was "disappointed in Kiffin's approach."
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Ravens rookie linebacker Sergio Kindle will miss all of training camp after suffering injuries to his head when he apparently fell down two flights of stairs at a private residence in Austin,
<< Hawks ink free agent Josh Powell
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks bolstered their forward
position on Monday by signing free agent forward/center Josh Powell.
Per club policy, terms of the contract were not announced.
"I look forward to joining a f
<< Saints sign second-rounder OT Brown
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints have signed
offensive tackle Charles Brown, their 2010 second-round draft choice, to a
four-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal were announced.
The 6-foot-5, 2
<< Ravens sign second-rounder DT Cody
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens have agreed to terms
with second-round draft choice Terrence Cody on a three-year contract.
The 6-foot-4, 349-pounder was the 57th overall selection in April's draft.
He was a con
<< Dolgopolov, Chela win Umag openers
Umag, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov
and eighth-seeded Argentine veteran Juan Ignacio Chela were a pair of first-
round winners Monday at the Croatia Open.
Chela charged past Spain's Ruben Ramir
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins added some depth to the defensive line position on Monday by agreeing to terms with veteran tackle Montavious Stanley. Details of the contract were not disclosed. Stanley, a five
Dodgers P Kershaw drops appeal, will serve suspension >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton
Kershaw has dropped the appeal of his five-game suspension and will begin
serving it Tuesday when the team opens a three-game series in San Diego.
The southp
Golf Course Review - The Quarry Golf Club >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FACTS AND STATS: Course Architect: Keith
Foster (1992-94). Year Opened: 1994. Location: San Antonio, Texas.
Slope: 128. Rating: 72.4. Par: 71. Yardage: 6,740.
Hole-by-Hole:
1 - Par 4 388 Yds 10 - Par
Pats ink pair of second-round picks >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots have signed their 2010
second-round draft selections, tight end Rob Gronkowski and defensive lineman
Jermaine Cunningham.
Terms of the contracts were not released.
Gronkowski was ta
Orioles' Wigginton has suspension reduced, drops appeal >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Orioles infielder Ty Wigginton had
his three-game suspension reduced by one game, Major League Baseball announced
on Monday.
Wigginton, who agreed to drop his appeal, was originally slapped with
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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