Thompson, Spieth advance at U.S. Junior

Golf Betting Lines

07/21/2010 - Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stroke play medalist Curtis Thompson and defending champion Jordan Spieth both won their first-round match play encounters Wednesday at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.

Thompson, of Coral Springs, Florida, topped 14-year-old Scottie Scheffler, 3 & 1. Spieth, from Dallas, Texas, cruised past Chelso Barrett, 7 & 5 at Egypt Valley Country Club.

Thompson was actually behind the 64th-seeded Scheffler on three different occasions and was all square after 14 holes. The 17-year-old Thompson won the ensuing three holes to lock up the win.

"On 12 and 13, you could tell that he wasn't hitting as good shots as he was hitting earlier in the round," Thompson said. "I knew when I got to 15 - he's only what 13, 14 [years old] - I knew I could have him there because that hole is 470 [yards] and it was into the wind today. He had 3-wood and I had 8-iron. There's a difference."

Spieth, 16, is attempting to become the second player in history to win multiple Junior Amateur championships after Tiger Woods, who won three in a row from 1991-93.

Next up for Spieth will be Robby Shelton in round two of match play Thursday. Shelton beat Ben Crancer on Wednesday, 3 & 2.

Gavin Hall, the 15-year-old who set a course record with a 62 on Tuesday, beat Brandon Ng, 3 & 2.

There were also a few upsets as Devon Purser beat Shugo Imahira, 1-up; Adam Ball defeated Marcel Puyat, 4 & 3; and Sam Straka got by Brian Jung, 1- up.

The second and third rounds of match play will be Thursday, the quarterfinal and semifinal matches are scheduled for Friday and the 36-hole championship final is slated for Saturday.

Mscauslot Golf Betting News

<< Pirates C Doumit leaves Wednesday's game
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit left Wednesday's game against Milwaukee after feeling light-headed and nauseous following a first inning collision at home plate. The Brewers loaded the bases for

<< Medalist Kang escapes with narrow victory at U.S. Girls' Junior
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stroke play medalist Danielle Kang squeezed past 17-year-old Colombian Alejandra Cangrejo, 1-up, in the first round of match play Wednesday at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Kang, of Tho

<< Report: Georgia WR Green under investigation
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green is the latest target of an NCAA investigation revolving around a Miami party hosted by sports agents. According to TMZ, Green allegedly attended a party at the Fontai

<< CFL Previews - July 22-24 - Week Four
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (1-2) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (2-1) DATE & TIME: Thursday, July 22, 7:30 p.m. (et). GAME NOTES: Ranked fifth in the most recent power rankings in the CFL, the Montreal Alouettes

<< Finger injury sidelines David Lee for world championships
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Golden State Warriors forward David Lee will miss the upcoming world championships due to an injured middle finger on his right hand. Lee, who was acquired in a sign-and-trade deal from the New York Knicks

Phillies P Moyer to have elbow examined >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer returned to Philadelphia on Wednesday to have his left elbow examined. The 47-year-old Moyer is scheduled to see team doctors Thursday. He threw only 18 pitches before l

Nolasco beats Rockies again >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gaby Sanchez hit a three-run homer and Ricky Nolasco was solid in eight innings on the mound, as the Florida Marlins handled the Colorado Rockies, 5-2, in the third test of a four-game series at Sun Lif

Alvarez homers twice as Pirates crush Brewers >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delwyn Young homered and drove in five runs and Pedro Alvarez went deep twice for a second straight night to power Pittsburgh past Milwaukee, 15-3, in the third meeting of a four-game set. Young fi

Tigers snap seven-game skid behind Scherzer, Laird >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Max Scherzer turned in seven scoreless innings and Gerald Laird hit an early two-run blast as Detroit snapped a seven-game skid by topping Texas, 4-1, in the finale of a three-game series from Comerica Park.

Former manager Ralph Houk dies >>
Winter Haven, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ralph Houk, who managed the New York Yankees to consecutive World Series championships in 1961-62, passed away Wednesday at the age of 90. Houk, who played as a backup catcher for the Yankees fr

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.

Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .