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Clippers invade Rip City to take on BlazersBasketball Betting Lines02/16/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers invade Rip City on Thursday to take on a Portland Trail Blazers team that expects to be without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge for a second consecutive night. The Clips returned to Staples Center last night after a successful Grammy Road Trip and blitzed the lowly Washington Wizards, 102-84. Blake Griffin had 23 points and 15 rebounds in that one as Los Angeles beat the Wizards for a seventh straight time. Caron Butler added 21 points and Chris Paul scored 16 with nine assists in the win, including an alley-oop pass to DeAndre Jordan for a one-handed dunk that punctuated LA's ninth victory in 12 games overall. "We didn't play well at the start and they did," said Paul. "We need to come out with more energy and that starts with me." The Clippers, who lead the Lakers by two games in the Pacific, are 7-6 as the road team on the season. The Blazers, meanwhile, persevered without Aldridge, who sprained his left ankle in Portland's 124-109 home loss to Washington on Tuesday, edging Golden State, 93-91, in Oakland last night. Jamal Crawford made the game-winning free throws in the final minute of that one as Portland survived a seesaw battle. Gerald Wallace chipped in 24 points, Nicolas Batum had 17 and Crawford finished with 14 for Portland, which snapped a two-game skid. Marcus Camby posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. "They were not going to lose this game," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "Our execution was pretty good coming down the stretch." The Clippers have lost six straight and 20 of their last 24 overall in the Pacific Northwest, including a 105-97 setback on Jan. 10. Portland, however, has lost three straight in the Rose Garden after starting the season a gaudy 11-1 on its home floor.
<< Bulldogs and Broncos battle in WCC affair
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Desperate to put an end to a 13-game slide, the Santa Clara Broncos have the unenviable task of entertaining 24th-ranked Gonzaga in West Coast Conference action at the Leavey Center tonight. Santa Clara, wh
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<< Jackson State to open season at Mississippi State
Pacers aim to continue dominance over Nets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly struggling Indiana Pacers will attempt to right the ship Thursday when they shoot for a 10th consecutive win over the New Jersey Nets. Early in the season the Pacers, who are kicking off a three-game homestand
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALKNFL 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. |
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