Blake officially hangs up skates after 20 seasons

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06/18/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Jose Sharks defenseman Rob Blake announced his retirement on Friday after 20 NHL seasons.

The 40-year-old notched seven goals and 30 points with a plus-14 rating and 60 penalty minutes in 70 regular-season games last season for San Jose, his second with the club. He added a goal and two points in 15 playoff tilts as the Sharks were swept in the Western finals by Chicago.

Since breaking into the NHL during the 1989-90 season with Los Angeles, Blake has compiled 240 goals, 777 points and 1,679 minutes in penalties over 1,270 career games.

"I was very fortunate to play 20 years in the NHL," said Blake. "I would like to thank [Sharks general manager] Doug Wilson and the San Jose Sharks for allowing me this opportunity to say thank you to the teammates and organizations that have helped make this a very memorable journey. I also want to thank my family for all of their support throughout my career."

The Canadian was the recipient of the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman in 1998 while playing for the Kings and won a Stanley Cup in 2001 as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

Blake is just one of 24 players who can claim to have won a World Championship (1994 and '97), Olympic gold medal (2002) and Stanley Cup (2001).

"What Rob Blake has accomplished over the course of his hockey career speaks for itself," said Wilson. "The standard that he helped bring into our dressing room will be felt by our organization and players for years to come."

An All-Rookie Team choice in 1991, Blake also made seven All-Star Game appearances. He was also a Norris Trophy finalist in 2000 and 2002, and was selected as a First-Team NHL All-Star in 1998 with three Second-Team selections.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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