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03/01/2009 - Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 11th-ranked Missouri Tigers and the 15th- ranked Kansas Jayhawks will battle in a Big 12 Conference showdown with major title implications.
Missouri head coach Mike Anderson deserves consideration for national coach of the year honors, as his team was just 16-16 a year ago. Right now, the Tigers are 24-4 overall, and a victory today would give the school a dozen Big 12 wins for the first time ever. Missouri is currently riding a seven-game win streak that includes Wednesday's 94-74 triumph over Kansas State.
Considering the fact that Kansas is 12-1 in conference action, first place is on the line today. The Jayhawks have recorded four straight wins to move to 12-1 in Big 12 action, and they knocked off Oklahoma in the most recent outing last Monday in an 87-78 final. What makes KU's success particularly impressive is that all five starters are gone from the team that captured the national title less than a year ago.
Missouri defeated Kansas in a 62-60 final last month, but the Jayhawks own a 166-94 edge in the all-time series.
Missouri boasts an outstanding duo that consists of DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons. Carroll is scoring 17.1 ppg this season on the strength of his 57.1 percent shooting from the field, and he is pulling down 7.1 rpg. As for Lyons, he checks in with 14.3 ppg on 50.4 percent field goal efficiency. Thanks largely to the efforts of those two players, the Tigers are generating 82.6 ppg while limiting foes to 65.4 ppg on 40.8 percent shooting from the floor. In the 20-point romp over Kansas State on Wednesday, Carroll led a balanced attack with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Lyons and Laurence Bowers added 16 points apiece, while J.T. Tiller posted 15 points and six assists. Missouri played tremendous team defense, limiting the Wildcats to 37.3 percent shooting while forcing 21 turnovers.
The only current member of the Kansas team that made a consistent and significant contribution to last year's national title run is Sherron Collins, and he now takes a back seat to no one. Collins is scoring 18.3 ppg for Bill Self's squad, and he is dishing out 4.9 apg as well. Cole Aldrich pitches in 15.0 ppg, and he is pulling down 10.7 rpg to complement his 71 blocks. Aldrich, who is just a sophomore, is shooting 61.4 percent from the field. Those two players help Kansas post 77.4 ppg, and outstanding team defense has limiting opponents to 64.8 ppg. Both Collins and Tyshawn Taylor exploded for 26 points in the victory over Oklahoma on Monday. Aldrich was a force in that tilt was well, as he racked up 15 points and 20 rebounds without Oklahoma standout Blake Griffin in the lineup due to injury. A 28-19 edge in points from the foul line and 16 forced turnovers helped lead the way to the win.
<< Brodeur, Devils host rival Flyers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur will get his third start in four days since
returning from a 50-game absence when his first-place New Jersey Devils host
the rival Philadelphia Flyers in today's Atlantic Division clash at Prudential
Center.
<< Ajax doubles up on Utrecht for third straight win
Utrecht, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ajax won its third successive game in
the Eredivisie on Sunday as Gregory Van der Wiel and Jan Vertonghen scored
goals in each half to give the Amsterdam side a 2-0 win over Utrecht at the
Stadion
<< Spurs and Blazers tangle in Portland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers return to the Rose Garden Sunday
for the first of a two-game homestand when they host the Southwest Division-
leading San Antonio Spurs.
The Blazers, who are 2 1/2 games behind the Denver Nuggets
<< Lakers shoot for season sweep of Suns
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers hope to build on their massive
Pacific Division lead Sunday and finish off a season sweep of the second place
Suns in Phoenix at US Airways Center.
The Lakers, who routed Phoenix in LA, 132-106, on S
Blackhawks try to end slide in home test against Kings >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to avoid their longest
losing streak of the season when they welcome the Los Angeles Kings for
today's battle at the United Center.
The Blackhawks have lost three straight for the third time
Golden Eagles visit Cardinals in pivotal Big East battle >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams still in the thick of the Big East
title race clash at Freedom Hall today, as the eighth-ranked Marquette Golden
Eagles tussle with the sixth-ranked Louisville Cardinals.
The Eagles' title hopes to
Nationals GM Bowden resigns >>
Viera, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals senior vice president and
general manager Jim Bowden resigned from his position Sunday morning. No
immediate replacement was named.
In a statement, Bowden said false allegations
Pens try to stay hot in Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will shoot for their first three-
game winning streak since mid-November when they visit the Dallas Stars for
this afternoon's interconference matchup at American Airlines Center.
The Penguins, who
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.
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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