10/15/2008 - Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was an easy second-round winner at the $600,000 Zurich Open.
The third-seeded former world No. 1 Williams handled Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-4 in a second-round affair Wednesday on the indoor hardcourts at Hallenstadion.
Williams' next opponent will be Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone, who handled Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 7-5 in Wednesday's singles nightcap.
The first round concluded with a trio of matches on Day 3, as Italian Flavia Pennetta pasted Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-1, Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik whipped wild card and Swiss crowd favorite Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3 and Swedish qualifier Sofia Arvidsson came from behind to oust Austrian Sybille Bammer 0-6, 7-5, 6-4.
This week's top seeds are red-hot world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, who is seeking her fourth title in four events, and French Open champ and Aussie Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic. Jankovic captured her latest title in Moscow last week, by beating Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final, and was last month's runner-up at the U.S. Open.
On Thursday, Jankovic will battle Italian Flavia Pennetta and Ivanovic will take on France's Marion Bartoli in the second round.
This week's winner will claim $95,500.
<< Caddies and bosses to do battle in Skills Challenge
Aventura, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2008 version of the ADT Skills Challenge
will feature a significantly different motif, as four PGA Tour veterans will
team with their caddies in the annual event on November 3.
The quartet of Greg No
<< Leafs' Hollweg gets three-game suspension
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League announced Wednesday
that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Hollweg has been suspended for three
games without pay.
The penalty was automatic after Hollweg earned his fourth g
<< Wild place D Zidlicky on injured reserve
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild placed defenseman Marek
Zidlicky on injured reserve with an ankle injury on Wednesday.
Zidlicky suffered the injury in an exhibition game against the Chicago
Blackhawks on Septe
<< Richardson, Cahoon among CFL weekly award winners
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal Alouettes receiver Jamel
Richardson and slotback Ben Cahoon highlighted the list for the top
players in the CFL for Week 16.
Richardson was awarded offensive honors after ha
News and Notes on the Breeders' Cup Classic >>
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is the official race order for
the 25th Breeders' Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing's most
prestigious global event, to be held on Friday, October 24 and Saturday,
October
Cardinals claim P Manning from Nats >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals claimed reliever
Charlie Manning off waivers from the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old lefty made his major league debut this past season for the
last-place
Report: Colts RB Addai out two-to-four weeks >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts will reportedly be
without running back Joseph Addai for two-to-four weeks while he rests a
slightly torn hamstring.
The NFL Network reported Wednesday that Addai, who was
Around FCS: Mickey being Mickey >>
Philadelphia, PA. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Those of us who are baseball fans,
particularly in Boston, Cleveland and now Los Angeles, are well aware of the
saying "Manny being Manny," in regards to Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez.
But in FCS, we have
“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.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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.
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