11/30/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will kick off a five-game road trip this afternoon against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Portland is 4-6 away from the Rose Garden this season and will also visit New York, Washington, Boston and Toronto on its trek out east. It has won three straight overall and five of its last six games, including Friday's 101-86 triumph over the New Orleans Hornets at home.
Brandon Roy finished with 25 points, 10 assists and six rebounds to carry Portland past the Hornets. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 points and grabbed seven boards for the Trail Blazers, who finished off a perfect three-game homestand.
Steve Blake and Nicolas Batum had 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the victory. Greg Oden scored just one point but pulled down eight rebounds for Portland.
The Pistons will wrap up a four-game homestand on Sunday and are 5-2 in the Motor City this season. In Friday's 107-97 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, Allen Iverson scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Pistons despite not starting after missing practice on Thursday,
Detroit head coach Michael Curry called for the Thanksgiving practice session in order to give the Pistons more playing time with Iverson, who the club traded for earlier in the month. Iverson missed the morning session, but entered Friday's game and led his team in points and assists, with seven.
Walter Herrmann added 16 points off the bench and Jason Maxiell finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for the Pistons, who have won two in a row.
Portland and Detroit split a pair of meetings last season, but the Pistons have won five of seven and seven of the last 10 matchups in the series. The Blazers have won seven of 10 in Motown.
<< Rockets try to stay hot on the road in Denver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets shoot for their fifth straight road win
tonight when they take on the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
Houston has won four in row away from home and is 7-3 as the visitor this
season. In Satur
<< Nets close out trek at Phoenix
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets will wrap up a four-game road trip out
west tonight with a showdown against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center.
New Jersey is 2-1 on the trek after back-to-back wins, including Saturday's
105-88
<< Lakers wrap up homestand vs. Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers will try to close out a perfect
five-game homestand tonight versus the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center.
Los Angeles is 4-0 so far on the residency and improved to 8-1 as the host
with Fri
<< Sorenstam leads International team to Lexus Cup title
Singapore (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Annika Sorenstam made her last appearance in an
LPGA Tour sponsored event a memorable one.
Sorenstam, the International team captain, defeated Asian team captain Se Ri
Pak, 3 & 2, as the International t
Sliding Thrashers invite Blues to town >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Not much has gone right for Atlanta since matching a
franchise record with five straight wins earlier this month. The Thrashers
will close out their November schedule today as they try to avoid a sixth loss
in seven games whe
Stars, Oilers meet in Big D >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling teams will meet today in Texas, as the
Dallas Stars welcome the Edmonton Oilers for a battle at American Airlines
Center.
The Stars are last in the NHL with just 18 points on the year and have lost
fo
Ducks head east to face Hurricanes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks will shoot for a fourth straight victory
when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes for this evening's interconference
matchup at RBC Center.
The Ducks posted their second three-game winning streak of the mo
Kangaroos appear to be easy prey for 17th-ranked Gators >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 17th-ranked Florida Gators welcome the
UMKC Kangaroos to Gainesville for a non-league clash.
UMKC lost three of its first four games, but the team has rebounded for
victories in two of the last three ou
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 won’t 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 doesn’t focus only on your opponent’s 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. Where’s 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, don’t 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 won’t be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, I’m 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.
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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