Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
09/09/2010 -
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -Kentucky linebacker Danny Trevathan saw running back Derrick Locke dart through the hole during one practice this summer and waited for the shifty 5-foot-9 speedster to sprint for the sidelines.
Wrong.
Heading out of harm's way is so last year.
Instead of darting for safety, Locke dipped his shoulder and tried to split the ``22'' in Trevathan's jersey. The move surprised Trevathan, who has four inches and 25 pounds on his teammate. Locke's legs kept churning until well after the whistle blew.
``We have some battles out there,'' Trevathan said.
And these days, Locke wins more than he probably should.
While developing a reputation as a home-run threat during three sometimes spectacular, but often injury plagued years, the senior is trying to become the kind of polished all-around back the Wildcats have lacked since Rafael Little left following the 2007 season.
Locke showed flashes of both during Kentucky's season-opening 23-16 win over Louisville, piling up 104 yards and two touchdowns as the Wildcats rolled over their rivals.
He scored on a dazzling 32-yard run on his first carry of the season, spinning past a Cardinal defender so effortlessly it looked like a video game. Late in the fourth quarter with Kentucky holding a tenuous seven-point lead, he picked up five tough yards for the decisive first down that let the Wildcats run out the clock.
He handled the ball 27 times in all, including three receptions and a kickoff return, a sure sign the cracked bone in his left forearm sustained during a mo-ped accident in the offseason is long gone.
``I feel like I can handle a few runs back-to-back-to-back,'' he said. ``I want to be out there first and make big plays but I'm not going to try to be Superman.''
Maybe not, but Locke won't be the only little back trying to make big plays on Saturday when the Wildcats (1-0) host Western Kentucky (0-1).
Hilltoppers running back Bobby Rainey is coming off a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown on 30 wearying carries in a 49-10 loss to then-No. 8 Nebraska.
Coach Willie Taggart just laughed when asked if he was trying to punish the 5-foot-8, 190-pound Rainey by sending him so frequently into the teeth of a defense that's regularly among the nation's best.
``That's a bunch of baloney,'' Taggart said. ``He gets it done. That wasn't the plan to be honest with you, but if that's what it takes to win a ballgame, we'll do it.''
And Rainey will gladly accept the challenge.
``I felt like I was back in high school,'' Rainey said. ``I just have to keep pushing.''
To keep the undersized WKU defense off the field, Rainey might not have a choice. Taggart didn't intend to give Rainey the ball so often. Once he saw how effective Rainey was at extending drives, Taggart simply kept at it.
It left his star pretty sore on Sunday. By Monday Rainey was already asking for the ball again. It's the kind of competitiveness Taggart loves, the same kind he saw in former Stanford star Toby Gerhart, who Taggart mentored while serving as running backs coach for the Cardinal before returning to his alma mater.
``Bobby's really patient, he allows his blocks to happen before he makes his cuts and runs fast through the hole,'' Taggart said. ``That is kind of where he's similar to Toby. And he's stronger than you think. The first guy usually doesn't tackle him.''
That's not exactly good news for the Wildcats, who gave up 190 yards rushing to Louisville last week, including an 80-yard touchdown run by Bilal Powell.
``We just got to wrap him up,'' said Kentucky coach Joker Phillips. ``We can't let him get started because he's got that type of speed.''
That goes double for the Hilltoppers. WKU surrendered 289 yards on the ground against the Cornhuskers, and Locke has the speed to match anyone in Nebraska's talented backfield.
``That guy can run,'' Taggart said with a whistle.
Especially now that he's healthy. Locke's sophomore season was cut short by a knee injury, and though he led Kentucky with 907 yards rushing last year, he admits the fear of getting hurt again was always out there.
When he'd get hit, he'd immediately think ``please tackle me.''
``I did that a lot last year,'' Locke said. ``That can't happen this year.''
It's why he tried to show Trevathan what he was made of during camp. He did it again against the Cardinals, grinding out the tough yards when the easy ones weren't there.
``He'd step on people's feet, he was trying to get more yards than what usually does,'' said fullback Moncell Allen. ``He's a small guy but he's got a big heart like he's one of the big backs.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Lakers' Barnes booked on domestic violence charge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Sacramento County authorities say Los Angeles Lakers guard Matt Barnes has been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran says deputies arrested Barnes after responding to what was terme
<< Padres sweep Dodgers to pad NL West lead, Giants next in town
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cory Luebke pitched six shutout innings to
earn his first major league win, and the San Diego Padres swept a three-game
series from the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-0 victory.
Luebke (1-1) made just his
<< Crisp leads A's past Mariners
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coco Crisp belted a two-run homer and singled
in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Oakland
Athletics overcame an early deficit to beat Seattle, 4-3, in the rubber match
of a th
<< Hudson, Drew help Diamondbacks avoid sweep
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Hudson pitched seven solid innings and
Stephen Drew fueled Arizona's offense, as the Diamondbacks took a 3-1 win over
the San Francisco Giants to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
Hudson (5-
Report: Brady involved in car accident >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was
reportedly involved in a car accident Thursday morning in Boston.
WEEI-AM cited sources as saying Brady was "shaken," but did not go to a
hospital.
The
2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 9th >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
QUARTERFINALS
Russia vs. USA, 11 a.m.
Lithuania vs. Argentina, 2 p.m.
Saints, Vikes kick off NFL season with championship-level rematch >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints will begin the first title defense in
their 43-year history on Thursday night, when Drew Brees and company host Brett
Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL's 2010 lid-lifter from the Louisiana
Supe
Serie A needs Milan to succeed >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In case you haven't noticed, Italian
soccer is not exactly flourishing.
Yes, the national team won the World Cup four years ago, and Serie A side
Inter Milan became the first Italian team to win
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.
Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting