A's agree to terms on one-year deal with Colon

Baseball Betting Lines

01/24/2012 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics agreed to terms on a one- year contract with pitcher Bartolo Colon on Tuesday.

After not pitching in the majors in 2010, the 38-year-old former Cy Young winner returned last season with the New York Yankees and posted an 8-10 mark in 29 games -- 26 starts -- with a 4.00 earned run average and 135 strikeouts.

Over 14 seasons with the Indians, Expos, White Sox, Angels, Red Sox and Yankees, the two-time All Star has a 161-113 career record with a 4.09 ERA in 357 games -- 351 starts.

Cbaaports Baseball Betting News

<< Olin to be Stephen F. Austin's offensive coordinator
Nacogdoches, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Moses, the 2010 Walter Payton Award winner, has said his former high school coach helped instill a coach's mentality in him. Now Moses will be reunited with Dick Olin at Stephen F. Austin. Olin is

<< Big East adds Navy for football
Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Big East has announced that Navy will join the conference for football only, effective for the 2015 season. Navy's addition will give the Big East 11 football schools. In December, the league brough

<< In the FCS Huddle: FCS players could impact the Super Bowl
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Collins made one of the bigger plays when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in last year's Super Bowl. In two weeks, plenty of former FCS players have the opportunity to be game-

<< Flamengo signs Chilean defender Gonzalez
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Flamengo inked Chile defender Marcos Gonzalez on a three-year contract Tuesday from Universidad de Chile. The Brazilian-born Gonzalez started his club career with Universidad de Chile, and later pla

<< Ovechkin skipping All-Star Game
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee told reporters Tuesday that forward Alexander Ovechkin will not participate in this weekend's NHL All-Star Game. "Because he's a suspended player

PSG's Pastore to miss 3-4 weeks >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSG playmaker Javier Pastore suffered a thigh muscle tear in Friday's Coupe de France win over Sable-sur-Sarthe and will be out of action three to four weeks, the French club said Tuesday. Pastore, 22, was t

Milwaukee's Bennett named MISL Player of Week >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Wave forward Ian Bennett was named the Major Indoor Soccer League's Player of the Week on Tuesday for Week 12. Bennett recorded 15 points in three games as the Wave maintained their lead in the MISL Ce

Report: Tigers win Prince Fielder sweepstakes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have reportedly reeled in the biggest remaining free agent on the market: Prince Fielder. Multiple media outlets are reporting the first baseman agreed to a nine-year, $214 million contract with the

Arlington Million XXX on for August >>
Arlington Heights, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 30th running of the Arlington Million has been scheduled for Saturday, August 18. The 1 1/4-mile turf stakes is the centerpiece of Arlington Park's annual race meet. Won in 2011 by Cape Blanc

Prince goes to Detroit for a king's ransom >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Say what you want about super agent Scott Boras, but in the end he always gets his man his money. The latest example came on Tuesday when Prince Fielder, who some suggested over the weekend may have to set

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.