Benayoun unsure over Liverpool future

Soccer Betting Lines

05/03/2010 - Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun is unsure whether he will still be at Anfield next season.

The Israel international has been a popular figure on Merseyside following his transfer from West Ham and admits he would prefer to spend the rest of his career with the Reds.

However, Benayoun, who signed a new deal last July that ties him to the club until 2013, said: "It's very difficult to speak now about next season.

"We don't know what changes there will be - players, the staff, so I think it's too early to speak. I don't know personally even if I will be here or I will not be here. A lot of things can happen.

"It's nothing to do with (Rafa Benitez's future). I'm enjoying it here at this moment.

"If it depended on me, I would stay here and retire in Liverpool. The fans are the best in the world, but it depends on a lot of things. It will be very clear soon and we will just have to see in a few weeks."

(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)

Hitboz Soccer Betting News

<< Van Nistelrooy could be left out by Dutch
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy looks set to miss this summer's World Cup in South Africa after being left out the Netherlands' 26-man training squad for the tournament. The 33-year-old former

<< Capps earns monthly closer honor
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps has been selected as the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month for April. Capps finished the first month of the season with 10 saves in as ma

<< British Amateur champ Manassero turns pro
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy's Matteo Manassero, who became the youngest British Amateur champion ever last year, turned professional on Monday in time to make his pro debut at the BMW Italian Open. After being the you

<< Welsh resigns as Hofstra's hoops coach following arrest
Hempstead, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hofstra University announced Monday that Tim Welsh has resigned as head men's basketball coach, just three days after he was arrested for a reported DWI. The school said in a statement that Welsh resign

<< AL West: Mariners' rotation getting healthy, bats still cold
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The imposing starting rotation which Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik dreamt up this offseason is nearly in place. Former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, acquired in an offseason trade from Philadelphia, made h

Columbia names Kyle Smith new men's hoops coach >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbia has named Kyle Smith its new men's basketball coach. Smith has spent 18 years as an assistant coach, including the past nine seasons at St. Mary's in California. He helped the Gaels to a r

McIlroy to No. 9 in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rory McIlroy won for the first time on the PGA Tour on Sunday and moved to No. 9 in the latest world rankings. Ahead of McIlroy, the top eight were unchanged from last week with Tiger Woods followed by Ph

Johnson continues to make his case for England inclusion >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Johnson only has to look as far as his Manchester City teammate, Shaun Wright-Phillips, to see how things could have turned out. Wright-Phillips enjoyed six strong seasons at Eastlands as a City

Hull headed down after draw with Wigan >>
Wigan, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Gohouri's goal in stoppage time confirmed Hull City's relegation from the Premier League on Monday as the Tigers had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Wigan. Hull entered the day all but mathe

ISU G Boozer leaves team after arrest >>
Ames, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa State guard Charles Boozer has decided to leave the team to seek treatment for undisclosed reasons. "I want to apologize for my actions that put Iowa State University in a negative light," Boozer

FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

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.

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.