We’re halfway into the NFL preseason, and we haven’t seen much from the first-stringers. But we’ve seen a few things of note.

The early signs aren’t good for the Cleveland Browns. Already on the radar as a potentially overvalued team at 25-1 to win the Super Bowl, the Browns first unit was shredded on Monday night in an eventual 37-34 loss to the New York Giants. Worse, five players were injured. Quarterback Derek Anderson (concussion) was among them; he may have hurt his hand, as well.

The Philadelphia Eagles (also 25-1) deserve a look as a potentially undervalued team, but wideout Kevin Curtis suffered a hernia injury that will keep him out for at least the start of the season. That might leave the Kansas City Chiefs (125-1) as the most tempting underdog to follow. The Chiefs have finally cleared out the deadwood after last year’s 4-10 campaign. The Super Bowl is a bit much, but going over six wins isn’t.

So we’ve got the New England Patriots in their usual position as the preseason Super Bowl favorites at 7-2. They’ve won three championships in seven years of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, which makes these odds a steal if they can keep up this pace. Then again, three years have passed since their last one.

Here are the odds for the guys that have won the Super Bowl since 2005:

Pittsburgh Steelers: 18-1
Indianapolis Colts: 15-2
New York Giants: 20-1

The salary cap has done a real number on the idea of a “dynasty” in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys (6-1) won three in four years back in the 1990s and haven’t won since. The Denver Broncos (50-1) haven’t been the same since John Elway led them to back-to-back championships. Especially in this ultra-competitive league, past results are not necessarily indicators of future success.

Except when they are. Damn, those Patriots are a good football team.

Marquez is coming off a disputed split decision loss in March to Manny Pacquiao, Ring Magazine’s No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound boxer. That high-profile fight ensures a healthy HBO pay-per-view buyrate for Sept. 13; the fight itself might not be so pretty. Marquez is the –325 favorite with Casamayor fighting from behind at +250. It’s expected Casamayor will force the pace in this matchup, which is saying something at age 36. Expect a slow dance that will go the full 10 rounds.

Campbell has a mandatory fight with Joan Guzman (–205) that should be more entertaining, and will be made available on Showtime.

Opening night is in 83 days. Are you ready, LeBron?

The NBA released its 2008-09 schedule today and the opening matchup features a double header on Tuesday, Oct. 28th with the defending champion Boston Celtics taking on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Greg Oden and the Portland Trail Blazers versus Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. A star-studded night of basketball to be sure.

For more information on some of the other exciting games taking place during the opening week, plus other cool double headers scheduled to take place over the coming NBA season, click here.

Heading into Thursday’s opening round of the 2008 Reno-Tahoe Open, you could have gotten 5-2 odds on Michelle Wie. Which is to say, she was part of the betting “field” at 5-2 for this relatively minor event – Ben Crane and John Merrick were the co-favorites at 20-1.

Wie is getting slapped around in the media for taking the sponsor’s exemption to play with the men. Some of her fellow golfers questioned her decision (or, quite possibly, the decision of her manager-parents) to skip the Women’s British Open. The blogosphere is kicking it up a notch, painting Wie as a joke and a failure.

Well, here’s the punchline: Wie went into the clubhouse at the Montreux Golf and Country Club at 1-over par for the first round. That’s tied for No. 77 out of 132 golfers, leaving Wie a serious contender to make the cut on Friday. I guarantee Steve Elkington (also +1) isn’t laughing.

Heavyweight: Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno
Welterweight: Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins
Welterweight: Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
Light Heavyweight: Andre Gusmao vs. Razak Al-Hussan

Folks, that ain’t chopped liver. Kongo’s last two fights were a win over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and a split decision loss to Heath Herring, who is on the main card at the Target Center. Evensen is 10-2 in MMA action and won all three of his bouts for Bodog Fight. Then you have familiar faces like Saunders and Rollins from The Ultimate Fighter 6. Would it kill Zuffa to show these fights?

As in life, the NFL teams with the most money have a big advantage over the rest of the pack – even with the salary cap. But having money and knowing what to do with it are two different things.

Jerry Jones seems to know what he’s doing. His Dallas Cowboys became the richest franchise in all of pro sports last year, according to Forbes magazine. They moved up from third in the NFL rankings thanks to their new stadium, which will open in 2009. That’s $325 million going from the pockets of Arlington taxpayers into the franchise, bumping its value up to $1.5 billion.

The Washington Redskins used to top the rankings; they’re second now at a mere $1.467 billion. FedExField is only 11 years old, but owner Dan Snyder was reportedly talking to D.C. officials last year about building on top of old RFK Stadium. Maybe someday Snyder will figure out how to turn those profits into a good football team.

The weekend slate of MLB games has been mixed up a bit. Teams have shuffled their pitching rosters in order to get their aces an extra start before the All-Star break. Messing up a pitcher’s routine is a great way to submarine his betting value.

Tim Lincecum already got hosed when he had to pitch Tuesday instead of Wednesday and the Giants lost 7-0 to the Mets. He’s got the assignment on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley against Ryan Dempster and the Cubs.

Meanwhile, Dustin McGowan’s rotator cuff injury puts the Blue Jays under the gun this weekend. Brian Tallet has to go into Yankee Stadium Sunday after throwing 17 pitches in relief Thursday. Tough assignment.

We’ve also got Homer Bailey coming up from the minors to pitch Sunday for the Cincinnati Reds in place of Aaron Harang. Bailey has a 4.31 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 15 starts for AAA-Louisville. His opponents: CC Sabathia and the Brewers.

“We’ve been struggling for a long time, and it has just gotten worse,” New York-based tennis coach Gene Mayer told the Canadian Press. “We just are producing no players.”

Tell that to the women. The Williams sisters are on pace for yet another finals showdown; they’ve won six of the last eight championships between them. But it is true that American tennis has dried up otherwise. All the great players who came out of Florida’s training academies in the 1980s – including international stars like Monica Seles who became Americans – are part of tennis history now.

Getting the infrastructure back up and running will help. But this is really more about the rise of the rest of the world rather than the decline of the American empire.

The roles will be reversed for Sunday’s championship. Germany had its hands full against Turkey in the semifinals, while Spain cruised past Russia in soggy conditions. It’s not the first sluggish performance by the German 11; as a result, they check in as +140 underdogs. Spain has played beautiful soccer for the most part and deserves its status as –180 faves.

There’s just one fly in the ointment for Spain. David Villa, still leading the Golden Boot race with his four goals, will miss the final after straining a muscle while taking a free kick against Russia. However, the Spaniards played brilliantly without Villa during Thursday’s semifinal, scoring all three of their goals during the second half. Achtung, baby.