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04/10/2008 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nathan Gerbe recorded a hat trick and added an assist, as Boston College reached the championship game by defeating North Dakota, 6-1, in the Frozen Four.
Ben Smith and Dan Bertram each posted a goal and an assist for the Eagles (24-11-8), who will play the winner of the Notre Dame/Michigan game later on Thursday. Boston College will be making its third straight appearance in the title game. Last year, the Eagles lost to Michigan State, 3-1. In 2006, Boston College fell to Wisconsin, 2-1.
Brian Gibbons collected two helpers, while John Muse stopped 29-of-30 shots to pick up the win.
Jake Marto scored the lone goal for the Fighting Sioux (28-11-4), who were making their fourth consecutive trip to the Frozen Four. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux allowed six goals on 27 shots in defeat.
This marks the third straight year that North Dakota was ousted by Boston College in the semifinals.
The Eagles exploded for four goals in the first period.
Boston College grabbed a 1-0 lead when Andrew Orpik scored 7:08 into the first. A North Dakota turnover at its offensive blue line led to a 2-on-1 for the Eagles. Kyle Kucharski slipped the puck to Orpik in the slot and he slid the disc underneath the pads of Lamoureux.
Gerbe made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at the 13:14 mark. Gerbe raced down the left side and snapped a shot from the circle that went between the legs of Lamoureux.
Gerbe lit the lamp again with 4:47 remaining, as his shot squeezed through Lamoureux and trickled across the goal line.
A costly gaffe by the Fighting Sioux behind their own net led to Pat Gannon throwing the puck out to Bertram, who ripped home a shot with 15 seconds left in the opening stanza.
Gerbe completed the hat trick with a power-play goal at the 6:37 mark of the middle stanza and Smith found the back of the net at 11:58 to give the Eagles a commanding 6-0 lead.
Marto broke Muse's shutout bid with 1:16 to play in regulation.
Boston College hasn't won the title since 2001.
<< Rose and Immelman lead Masters; Woods four back
Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman both posted
rounds of four-under-par 68 on Thursday to share the opening-round lead of The
Masters at Augusta National.
Tiger Woods, who proclaimed that the single-season
<< Real Salt Lake happy to host D.C. United so early
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake had to be excited when it
learned it would host D.C. United in its third game of the season, at least if
history repeats itself.
Although no other clubs are excited to see the back-to-back
<< Another pole for Newman at PIR
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Newman captured the pole for Saturday
night's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway. The No.12
Alltel Dodge circled the flat one-mile oval in 26.975 seconds (133.457
m.p.h.)
<< Millwood, Rangers cool off O's
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Millwood threw seven strong innings,
and Josh Hamilton drove in two runs to help Texas top Baltimore, 3-1, and snap
the Orioles' six-game win streak.
Millwood (1-2) allowed one run on three hits a
Cubs finish sweep of Pirates >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Fontenot and Geovany Soto both hit two-
run home runs and Jon Lieber provided 4 1/3 innings of scoreless long relief,
as the Chicago Cubs finished a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 7-3
victory
Self staying at Kansas >>
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Self will remain as Kansas' head
basketball coach, ending speculation he would depart for the vacant job
at Oklahoma State.
Self, 45, announced his decision at a news conference Thursday
Kostitsyn brothers lead Canadiens over Bruins in Game 1 >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Kostopoulos registered a goal and an
assist, as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-1, in Game 1
of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals series at the Bell
Centre.
Zetterberg propels Red Wings past Predators in series opener >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henrik Zetterberg scored the game-winning goal
6:54 into the third period and added an empty-netter in the final minute, as
the Detroit Red Wings opened their best-of-seven Western Conference
quarter
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.
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)
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