PSG resumes Ligue 1 play without Pastore
Soccer Betting Lines
01/27/2012 - Brest, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSG has continued its spending spree with the signings of Brazilian defenders Alex and Maxwell, but will be without its most expensive addition, Javier Pastore, on Saturday at Brest.
Pastore, acquired for approximately $55 million in the summer from Palermo, is out three to four weeks with a muscle tear suffered last Friday in the Coupe de France.
Maxwell was signed earlier this month from Barcelona, and Alex followed him to Paris on Friday from Chelsea. The latest additions push the club's signings to around $125 million under their new Qatari owners.
With a three-point cushion over Montpellier atop Ligue 1, PSG has used its new players to emerge as the dominant team in France. But a tricky trip to Brest - which has not lost at home - awaits this weekend.
"Everywhere we go this year, people are waiting for us," said PSG midfielder Clement Chantome. "They are unbeaten at home so we know what to expect."
PSG was eliminated from the Coupe de la Ligue and the Europa League, leaving a Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France crown as the remaining targets.
With Carlo Ancelotti perfect since taking over with a pair of Coupe de France wins and one Ligue 1 win, the pressure will be on PSG not only to remain atop the standings and advance in the Coupe, but to excel week-to-week.
"What's really new about PSG is that now we're an ambitious club that wants to go all out to win titles," said Chantome. "What has arrived at the club is a very promising potential. I'm ambitious, I know what's expected of me and all I want is to get out there and win titles with this club."
PSG has not lost in its last eight in all competitions, so Brest will have one huge mountain to climb this weekend to remain unbeaten at home.
Montpellier visits Nice on Saturday, when defending champions and third-place Lille hosts St. Etienne. Auxerre hosts Nancy, Lorient hosts Sochaux, Lyon hosts Dijon, and Toulouse hosts Caen in Saturday's other matches.
On Sunday, Evian hosts Bordeaux, Valenciennes hosts Ajaccio, and Rennes hosts Marseille in a battle of top-six clubs.
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers signed free-agent veteran center Francisco Elson on Friday. The signing provides the Sixers depth in the frontcourt as Spencer Hawes and rookie Nikola Vucevic have battled inj
<< WR Nicks among Giants to miss practice
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem
Nicks missed practice for a second straight day Friday because of a sprained
shoulder.
Nicks, the team's second-leading receiver, said he has a sprained AC join
<< Real Madrid goes for fifth-straight win vs. Zaragoza
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid welcomes Real Zaragoza to the
Bernabeu in La Liga action Saturday as the first-place club looks to secure
its fifth-straight league win.
The leaders enter the weekend with a five-poin
<< Trojans' Dedmon out with torn ACL
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Southern California head coach Kevin
O'Neill announced on Friday that forward Dewayne Dedmon was diagnosed with a
torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee as is likely out for the
remaind
<< Racing legend Foyt forced to skip Rolex 24 at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Foyt will miss this weekend's Rolex
24 at Daytona after being hospitalized due to complications from recent knee
surgery.
Foyt, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was scheduled to serve as G
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Dolphins new head coach Joe Philbin chose his coaching staff on Friday, naming Mike Sherman as offensive coordinator and Kevin Coyle as defensive coordinator. Sherman has spent the last four years as the
Browns hire Childress as OC >>
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns named former Minnesota
Vikings head coach Brad Childress offensive coordinator on Friday.
Childress becomes the first offensive coordinator under Browns head coach Pat
Shurmer.
Amon
Wade back after 6-game absence >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will make his return
to the lineup on Friday night against the New York Knicks.
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Cremins taking medical leave of absence >>
Charleston, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - College of Charleston men's basketball coach
Bobby Cremins announced Friday that he is taking a medical leave of absence.
Per Cremins' request, associate head coach Mark Byington has been named
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Stanley alone in front at Farmers Insurance Open >>
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Stanley posted a four-under 68 Friday to
take sole possession of the lead after the second round of the Farmers
Insurance Open.
Stanley, a first-round co-leader, finished 36 holes at 14-under 130
FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash 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.
2007 NFL Football Betting Preview
“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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