08/19/2008 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time defending Major League Soccer champion Houston moved into first place in the Western Conference for the first time all season Saturday and coach Dominic Kinnear didn't care if it took an ugly win.
Allowing two goals in the opening 25 minutes of the first half at home? Kinnear can live with that. After all, Houston scored four goals before halftime and held on defeat Real Salt Lake, 4-3.
"We won, we are on top of the conference, and we are happy about that," Kinnear said.
"The results were the most important thing to come out of [the match]."
Houston, which has the fewest losses in MLS with four, will now try to open its lead when it hosts last year's conference champions Chivas USA on Wednesday at Robertson Stadium in the first of two matches for both clubs this week.
Houston leads Real Salt Lake by two points, but the entire conference is within eight points.
The Dynamo obviously weren't pleased with allowing three goals to RSL. Houston had allowed just one goal in its previous five MLS matches and has allowed just 22 goals all season - second in MLS to Chicago's 16.
But like Kinnear, Dynamo goalie Pat Onstad was just glad to escape with the win and first place.
"Give our guys credit. We were down one-nothing, we stuck to it, and we just started creating opportunities with the ball," Onstad said.
Houston, which has won its last three and is unbeaten in six straight, will try to extend its run without striker Brian Ching. He was called up to the United States national team for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala.
Ching had a goal and an assist in last week's win over Real and leads the team with nine goals and is tied for the team lead with four assists.
Chivas also has to deal with a loss to the U.S. team. Midfielder Sacha Kljestan is also with the Americans for the match in Guatemala. Kljestan leads the team with five goals and is tied for the team lead with four assists.
With Jonathan Bornstein, Makel Galindo and Ante Razov among 11 players on the injured list for Chivas, it's a big blow to lose a healthy Kljestan.
Chivas is also still adjusting to new goalie Zach Thornton, who has allowed six goals in three games since replacing Brad Guzan earlier this month. Guzan moved to Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
Chivas is sixth in the West, but still just six points behind Houston. A couple of wins in the next few days could erase the team's recent frustrations.
Chivas hosts the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday and Houston visits Red Bull New York on Sunday.
<< D.C. to test improving defense against New England
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United has been impressive in its last
10 matches in Major League Soccer, and will try to build on its recent success
Wednesday against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.
United is 7-2-1
<< Craft to start at QB for UCLA
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel has decided
to start redshirt junior Kevin Craft at quarterback for the season-opener on
September 1 against Tennessee.
Craft spent two years -- one as a redshirt -- at Sa
<< Bengals take another chance on Henry
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals signed troubled wide
receiver Chris Henry on Tuesday.
The Bengals released Henry on April 3 after his fifth arrest since the club
made him their third-round pick in the 2005 NFL Dr
<< Marlins open trek with three games in San Francisco
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins begin a very important stretch of road
games when the struggling National League East contenders head to San
Francisco's AT&T Park tonight for the first of three straight matchups with
the
Fiorentina's Mutu dislocates elbow >>
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has suffered
a fresh blow after dislocating his elbow while preparing for international
action with Romania.
The 29-year-old discovered last week that he has been order
Arsenal's Rosicky sets record straight >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky has
attempted to nip a potential dispute with teammates in the bud by clarifying
comments he made to the media in his native Czech Republic.
Rosicky, who is cur
Crean officially signs 10-year deal with Indiana >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana University made it official with
new men's basketball coach Tom Crean on Tuesday, signing the former Marquette
mentor to a 10-year contract.
Crean left Marquette in April to join Indiana, and
Red Sox great Yastrzemski hospitalized >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski was
hospitalized Tuesday morning after experiencing discomfort and chest pains.
The Red Sox said the Hall of Famer is undergoing evaluation and testing at
Massach
Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value
If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture. Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).
For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot. The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.
TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.
"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,' it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."
"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.
Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash. Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.
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.
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