10/24/2008 - St. Petersburg, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scotland's Andy Murray continued his recent strong play with a straight-set victory Friday in the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open.
The top seed and defending champion posted a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory over Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic to earn a spot in Saturday's semifinals.
Murray has lost just once in his last 15 matches, falling to Roger Federer in the U.S. Open final in September. He followed up his first Grand Slam title match by avenging the Flushing Meadows loss to Federer with a victory over the Swiss superstar on his way to the title last week at the Madrid Masters.
Next up for Murray will be third-seeded Fernando Verdasco in a rematch of last year's St. Petersburg title match. The Spaniard advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-2 triumph over Germany's Rainer Schuettler on Friday.
Last year, Murray notched a 6-2, 6-3 win in the final. He is 3-0 lifetime against Verdasco, also beating the 24-year-old lefty in the 2007 Australian Open and earlier this year in the round of 16 at Dubai.
Saturday's second semifinal will feature Romania's Victor Hanescu and Kazakhstan qualifier Andrey Golubev.
Hanescu, who won his first ATP title earlier this year in Gstaad, was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Russian wild card Michail Elgin, who knocked off second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the second round.
Golubev, who beat Russian favorite Marat Safin in the second round, reached the semifinals of an ATP event for the first time with a 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) triumph over Russian-born German qualifier Mischa Zverev.
The 2008 titlist here will collect $171,000.
<< Liverpool out to end Chelsea's home unbeaten run
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Premiership lead will not be the only
thing on the line on Sunday when Liverpool travels to Stamford Bridge to
square off with Chelsea.
The Blues mark of 86 home matches without a loss will a
<< Wolf Pack send Barnes, Jamtin to ECHL
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf
Pack sent forwards Joe Barnes and Andreas Jamtin to their ECHL affiliate, the
Charlotte Checkers, it was announced on Friday.
Jamtin was scoreless with four pena
<< Toronto, San Jose hope to finish on high note
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Jose coach Frank Yallop thought he found
the right mix to turn the expansion club into a playoff team, but after a nine-
game unbeaten run put the club in contention, it lost four of its last five.
The
<< Edmonton sends defenseman back to Springfield
Springfield, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defenseman Theo Peckham has been re-
assigned to the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons after a brief
call-up to the club's NHL affiliate, Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini
announc
Tournament-host Garcia one of three leaders in Spain >>
Castellon, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing on his home course and acting as
tournament host, Sergio Garcia carded a six-under 65 Friday to gain a share of
the lead after two rounds of the inaugural Castello Masters Costa Azahar.
Garcia c
Top two seeds in West tune up for respective playoff runs >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second consecutive season, Chivas USA
and the Houston Dynamo meet in their respective Major League Soccer regular
season finales.
Last season Chivas USA defeated Houston en route to the Western
Wizards, Revs gear up for playoffs >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's Major League Soccer fixture
between the Kansas City Wizards and the New England Revolution at Foxborough
Stadium lost a little steam with the result on Thursday night.
Because of New York
On the brink: RSL gunning for 1st playoff berth at Colorado >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids
have their respective Major League Soccer seasons on the line when they square
off at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night.
With a win or a draw, RSL (10-
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.
MySportsbook.com is a must-have for the smart veteran sports investor who enjoys following the odds almost as much as betting them. Simply put, no one offers more betting options and offers them faster than MySportsbook. This football sportsbook is known for its ability to set the early market odds on events without having to worry about weak lines. Professional players are well aware that getting a crack at the early betting line is worth as much as, and sometimes more than, huge bonuses or reduced prices. MySportsbook's fearless, yet smart bookmaking style is what keeps everyone watching, including most other sportsbooks.
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