05/07/2007 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko will have groin surgery on Tuesday, which means that he will not take part in the club's FA Cup final contest against Manchester United on May 19.
The procedure was originally scheduled for after the season, but the Chelsea medical staff decided to push it up.
The 30-year-old Ukrainian will also miss the team's final two Premiership matches, a Wednesday game against newly-crowned champions Manchester United and Sunday's final league contest against Everton.
The injury forced Shevchenko to miss the team's Champions League semifinal return leg against Liverpool and also the club's 1-1 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.
Shevchenko was a highly-touted signing this past summer from AC Milan, but his season was filled with plenty of disappointment. After struggling badly in his early days with Chelsea, he rebounded to score 14 goals in all competitions.
<< Indians shelve Westbrook
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians have placed pitcher
Jake Westbrook on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left
abdominal muscle.
The move is retroactive to May 3, a day after he left a start ag
<< Boca rallies for draw to move within three points of top
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boca Juniors moved a little closer
to league-leaders San Lorenzo on Sunday as they earned a point in an
entertaining 3-3 draw with Argentinos Juniors.
San Lorenzo dropped a 2-1 decisio
<< All that Jazz and more on an exciting NBA weekend
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Talk about excitement. San Antonio and Phoenix started what
should be a classic best-of-seven series, while the Bulls and Pistons renewed
their playoff rivalry and the Jazz earned the only Game 7 victory of the
opening
<< Knee injury sidelines Russia's Akinfeyev for months
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both CSKA Moscow and the Russian National
Team took a hit on Sunday as keeper Igor Akinfeyev tore knee ligaments while
playing in a Russian Premier League match against Rostov.
The 21-year-old netminder
Jaguars cut CB Carroll >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars waived cornerback
Ahmad Carroll on Monday, two days after he was arrested on weapons and drug
charges.
Carroll signed with the Jaguars in October of last season after he was cu
Peer, Li win first-rounders in rainy Berlin >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thirteenth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer and
14th-seeded Chinese Na Li snuck in first-round wins Monday at a rainy German
Open. Fifteen matches were on the Day-1 schedule, but only four were completed
at LTTC
This Week in Golf - May 10th through May 13th >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR -
THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida - A new
date on the schedule and revamped course are two marks for this week's Players
Championship.
Previously played a
Stanley Cup Playoff Preview - Buffalo vs. Ottawa >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres, this year's Presidents' Trophy winner,
nearly had their backs against the wall in their last playoff series, but were
able to fight their way out of the predicament and reach the Eastern
Conference finals
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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