05/08/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City captain Jimmy Conrad fractured his jaw in Saturday's 1-0 win over Columbus but is expected to miss just one week.
Conrad sustained the injury in a collision with Columbus' Ricardo Virtuoso just eight minutes into the game but played the entire match. Instead of having surgery, Conrad has decided to eat soft foods for a month and will be re-evaluated on May 16, according to the team's Web site.
Conrad will miss Saturday's game with CD Chivas USA. Aaron Hohlbein or Tyson Wahl will likely replace Conrad in the starting lineup.
"Every team has to deal with injury and adversity," K.C. Coach Curt Onalfo said on the team's Web site, "but we are confident that both Aaron Hohlbein and Tyson Wahl can fill in for Jimmy for the time being."
Conrad, a defender, also suffered a broken jaw last year and missed seven weeks. Despite the long absence, Conrad was a finalist for Defender of the Year in Major League Soccer last season. He was also a finalist in 2004 and won the award in 2005.
Conrad is also a member of the U.S. National team.
<< Yankees hope for rebound as Rangers come to town
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees target their seventh straight win over
the Texas Rangers this evening, when the two teams kick off a three-game set
at Yankee Stadium.
New York won all three games of their series with the Ranger
<< Bengals sign DE Smith to one-year deal
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals signed defensive end
Justin Smith to a one-year contract on Tuesday.
Smith, who was designated as the team's franchise player back in February,
exercised his option to sign a o
<< Torrid Tigers put streak on the line against Mariners
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers try to extend their winning streak to
eight games when they open a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners this
evening at Comerica Park.
Detroit, which last won eight straight games from May
<< De Rosario named Player of the Week
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario was
named Major League Soccer's Player of the Week after scoring his first two
goals of the season in a 3-1 win over Colorado on Saturday.
De Rosario, who score
Tribe's start among baseball's biggest surprises >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians continue to turn heads with their
impressive play and the team is holding onto a half-game lead in the American
League Central through the first week of May.
Cleveland began the month by sweeping a th
Kim moves to No. 10 following win >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mi Hyun Kim moved up six places to No. 10
in the Rolex Rankings for women's golf after beating Juli Inkster in a playoff
Sunday to with the SemGroup Championship.
Inkster may have lost the playoff, but
Cordero placed on bereavement list >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals placed right-handed
closer Chad Cordero on the bereavement list on Tuesday so he can attend to his
ailing grandmother.
In a corresponding move, the club selected the contract o
Roy headlines NBA rookie team >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy was
the lone unanimous first-team selection for the NBA's All-Rookie Team,
announced by the league Tuesday.
Andrea Bargnani and Jorge Garbajosa of Toronto,
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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