Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
Vina del Mar, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seeds Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela were both winners on Friday and advanced to the semifinals at the VTR Open tennis event. Monaco, the No. 1 seed from Argentina, overcame a first-set loss to Albert Montanes, the tournament's fifth seed, to take a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory.
He also reached the title contest of this clay-court event in 2010 at Santiago, and 2008.
In other quarterfinal action, seventh-seeded Carlos Berlocq grounded qualifier and fellow Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4, and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy downed Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova earned dominant straight-set wins Saturday to give Russia a commanding 2-0 edge in its Fed Cup quarterfinal against Spain. Sharapova, last week's Australian Open runner-up, rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Silvia Soler-Espinosa in the opener, before Kuznetsova cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Carla Suarez Navarro in a mere 68 minutes.
Sharapova will again be first up in the reverse singles against Navarro. Kuznetsova is then scheduled to meet Soler-Espinosa, although each captain can make changes. The doubles match is slated to pit Ekaterina Makarova and Nadia Petrova for the Russians against the Spanish tandem of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra-Santonja.
The Spaniards are playing in the Fed Cup's World Group for the first time since 2009. They have won the title five times, most recently in 1998 with current captain Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario leading the way.
Biella, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy and the Ukraine are surprisingly even after Saturday's opening singles matches of their Fed Cup quarterfinal. The matchups and home court clearly favored the Italians and Sara Errani gave the hosts the first point with a 6-2, 6-3 thumping of Kateryna Bondarenko. With former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone set for Saturday's second match, it appeared the Italians would have a big edge heading to Sunday.
Enter Lesia Tsurenko.
Schiavone will have a chance to make amends in the first reverse singles match on Sunday against Bondarenko. Tsurenko and Errani are slated to meet in the second match of the day. The scheduled doubles match will pit Errani and Roberta Vinci against Olga Savchuk and Yuliya Beygelzimer.
Mchale Set Crush Disable Into Williams >>
DO I Win Sparks Battle Down I >>
Horned Frogs Adds Double Figures Into Team >>
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back
With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."
Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
Get all your baseball betting lines, MLB lines and MLB team props at the My Sportbook.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your baseball sportsbook needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting