11/22/2008 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States men's national team was drawn into Group B on Saturday along with reigning World Cup winners Italy, five-time World Cup winners Brazil and African Cup of Nations winners Egypt for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
The Confederations Cup is June 14-28 in South Africa. The U.S. opens the event against Italy on June 15, then faces Brazil on June 18. The Americans finish group play on June 21 against Egypt.
Tournament hosts South Africa will open the event against Iraq on June 14. The two teams were drawn into Group A along with current European champions Spain and New Zealand.
The U.S. is playing in its fourth FIFA Confederations Cup tournament, having appeared most recently in the 2003 event in a group with Brazil, Turkey and Cameroon.
The Americans reached the semifinals of the 1999 tournament, edging Germany and New Zealand in group play before losing to hosts Mexico in the semifinals.
<< NHL Pacific: Boucher proves his worth to Sharks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When goaltender Evgeni Nabokov went down with a lower-body
injury, the San Jose Sharks listed him as day-to-day. Six games later, and the
33-year-old has yet to return to the net.
With the way backup Brian Boucher has been
<< Hibernian snaps scoring drought in win over Motherwell
Motherwell, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hibernian's scoring troubles
evaporated in a big way on Saturday at Fir Park Stadium as the team put
together a comprehensive 4-1 win over Motherwell.
Hibs entered the match having g
<< U.S. to open final Cup qualifying stage vs. Mexico
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States men's national
team continues their bid to qualify for their sixth straight World Cup finals
against Mexico on Feb. 11, it was disclosed Saturday when the final round draw
for
<< Chicago finalizes Blanco's loan to Santos
Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Fire finalized an agreement for
the loan of Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco on Friday to play with Santos of
the Mexican Primera Division for the 2008 Apertura playoffs.
"The Chicago Fire is
Canucks G Luongo leaves game vs. Pittsburgh >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo
left Saturday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins with an apparent left leg
injury.
With 15:06 left in the first period, Luongo made a pad save but immediately
City thumps Arsenal; Chelsea, Liverpool, United held >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It was not a great day to be one of
England's Big Four as Arsenal's troubles continued in a 3-0 pounding at the
hands of Manchester City, while Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were
held to
Spain grabs 2-1 Davis Cup final lead against host Argentina >>
Mar del Plata, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In Saturday's pivotal doubles
rubber, a tandem of lefthanders Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco topped a
duo of Agustin Calleri and David Nalbandian in four sets to give visiting
Spain a 2-1 l
Pettersen leads ADT Championship >>
West Palm Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suzann Pettersen shot a four-under 68
on Saturday to move atop the leaderboard after the third round of the ADT
Championship.
Before the third round, the field was cut to the top 16 and scores we
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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