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11/21/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers begin a quick two-game road trip Friday when they face the Sacramento Kings in Arco Arena.
Brandon Roy scored 20 points and Greg Oden had a successful regular season home debut, as the Blazers dominated the Chicago Bulls to the tune of 116-74 Wednesday at the Rose Garden.
The game marked the first meeting between the top pick in the 2008 and 2007 drafts. Oden, who was playing his first regular season home game one year and 144 days after he was picked in 2007, scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 17 1/2 minutes of action. Chicago's Derrick Rose was picked first in the most recent draft and shot just 1-of-8 for six points on the night.
Oden, who sat out his first season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee, received a standing ovation as he entered the game off the bench in the first quarter.
Joel Przybilla added 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for the Blazers, who have won six of eight. LaMarcus Aldridge posted 11 points in the victory.
The Kings were also successful in their last game as John Salmons led five Sacramento players in double figures with 29 points and six assists in the team's 105-96 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in the Big Easy on Wednesday.
Salmons hit a solid 13-of-18 from the floor for the Kings, who snapped a three-game skid as they continue to play without star guard Kevin Martin. Donte Greene, in his first career start, notched 15 points, and Beno Udrih chipped in 14 points and seven assists in the impressive victory.
Brad Miller added 14 points and eight boards for Sacramento, while Bobby Jackson came off the bench to score all eight of his points in the critical fourth quarter.
Martin has missed the past six games for Sacramento with an ankle injury and will be sidelined again tonight. Also, forward Mikki Moore is questionable with a sprained right ankle.
The Kings have won three straight over Portland and four of the last five contests between the two teams.
<< Mavs try for first home win vs. Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mavericks have shown a pulse on the road this season
and will now attempt to win for the first time in Dallas as they welcome the
Memphis Grizzlies to American Airlines Center.
Something has to give tonight as
<< Brand faces old mates as Clips visit Sixers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elton Brand and the Philadelphia 76ers will try to shake
off a disappointing loss when they open a short two-game homestand tonight
versus the Los Angeles Clippers at the Wachovia Center.
Philadelphia entered Wednesday's g
<< Nets visit Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors are back up north and will kick off a
four-game homestand tonight versus the Atlantic Division-rival New Jersey Nets
at Air Canada Centre.
Toronto will also welcome Boston, Charlotte and Atlanta to town
<< Streaking Magic meet Pacers in Indy
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic will shoot for a season high five
straight wins tonight, when they pay a visit to the Indiana Pacers at Conseco
Fieldhouse.
Orlando has won four in a row and eight of its last nine games, including
Tuesd
Trojans seek redemption in clash with Mocs >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 19th-ranked USC Trojans and the
Chattanooga Mocs are set to collide in the second round of the Puerto Rico
Tip-Off in San Juan.
USC led Seton Hall by 15 points at intermission last night and appeared heade
Akron seeks upset of No. 6 Pittsburgh >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Upset-minded Akron has traveled to
Pittsburgh for a non-conference clash with the sixth-ranked Panthers in the
Legends Classic.
The Zips have reason to be confident, as they have opened the season with
back
Pirates hope to tame Tigers in Puerto Rico >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Memphis Tigers of Conference
USA and the Seton Hall Pirates of the Big East Conference are set to clash in
the second round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Memphis, which was the national runner-up
Irish head to Los Angeles to tame Lions >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish
hit the road for the first time this season, as they take on the Loyola
Marymount Lions in the Gersten Pavilion this evening.
This will be Notre Dame's first trip
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.
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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