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05/13/2010 - San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Matt Jones posted a six-under 66 Thursday to take a one-shot lead after one round of the Texas Open.
Jones, who is looking for his first PGA Tour title, is coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes.
Paul Stankowski, whose last PGA Tour title was in 1997, is one stroke off the lead at minus-five. J.B. Holmes headlines a group at four-under 68. He was joined there by Matt Weibring, Steve Lowery and Charley Hoffman.
Jones stumbled out of the gates with a double-bogey on the par-four first. He settled in with four straight pars before catching fire on the AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio.
The Australian rolled in a putt from off the green at the sixth and came right back with a 12-footer for birdie on seven to get back to even-par.
After four straight pars around the turn, Jones chipped in for birdie on the par-four 12th and made it two in a row when he birdied the 13th from just inside 15 feet.
Jones then rolled in a six-footer for eagle on the 14th to jump to minus-four. He joined Stankowski in the lead with a six-foot birdie putt on the 16th, then took the lead by himself with a birdie putt of a similar length on the 17th.
"I started off with a double, which wasn't the start I wanted, but the first hole is not an easy starting tee shot out there at all. It's very narrow," Jones stated. "After that, it was just a battle to get back to even-par on the front nine and then made about a 30-footer for par on 11, which kind of kept me going, and from there on I had four birdies and an eagle."
Stankowski played the back nine first and carded a bogey on the 11th to start his round. He atoned for that mistake with a birdie on the par-three 13th.
The two-time winner on the PGA Tour came back with birdies on 15 and 17 to make the turn in minus-two.
On the front side, he birdied one of the first five holes, to go with four pars. Stankowski converted consecutive birdie chances from the sixth to jump to five-under.
"I feel really good about the things I'm working on with my instructor. I had the same teacher since 1991 and had been floundering the last six years through injuries, but the last two years I was healthy and playing awful golf and so I needed a change," Stankowski said. "I hired my new instructor in February and I am really encouraged. It hasn't been the greatest of starts this year, but it has been a very solid start."
Brett Wetterich carded a three-under 69 and was joined in seventh place by Joe Durant, Steve Flesch and Arjun Atwal.
NOTES: Adam Scott, who is playing this event for the first time, headlines a group tied for 25th at minus-one...Ernie Els, who tops the FedEx points list, carded an even-par 72, while Sergio Garcia was one shot back at plus- one...Defending champion Zach Johnson needs a great round Friday just to make the cut after he struggled to an eight-over 80 in the first round, which left him tied for next-to-last place in the 155-player field...Will MacKenzie withdrew after shooting an 85 Thursday.
<< Munoz leads by one in Alabama
Mobile, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Azahara Munoz fired a seven-under 65 Thursday to
grab a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Bell Micro LPGA Classic.
Munoz, a tour rookie, is not only looking for her first win, but also her
firs
<< Both conference finals to start Sunday
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League announced that both
the Eastern and Western Conference finals will begin on Sunday.
In the West, the top-seeded San Jose Sharks will host the Chicago Blackhawks
in Game 1 at 3 p.m.
<< Hillman dismissed as Royals manager; Greinke gets first win
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alberto Callaspo hit a three-run homer and
Zack Greinke threw six effective innings to pick up his first win of the
season, as the Kansas City Royals snapped a seven-game losing streak with a
6-4 vi
<< Longhorns' Ward, Williams granted medical waivers
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Longhorns guard Varez Ward and forward
Shawn Williams have each been granted a medical hardship waiver by the Big 12
Conference for the 2009-10 season.
As a result, Ward will be a redshirt sophomore
Celtics advance to East finals; LeBron faces big decision >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics are moving to the Eastern
Conference finals for the second time in three years. LeBron James is headed
to the off-season again without a championship and has possibly played his
last ga
Saborio brace pushed RSL past Houston >>
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alvaro Saborio scored two goals to help lead Real
Salt Lake past the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer action at Rio Tinto
Stadium on Thursday night.
Robbie Findley, a call-up for the U.S. national team's
LeBron falls short again >>
BOSTON (AP) -A comeback seemed in LeBron James' grasp, until he fumbled it right away.There will be no title this year in Cleveland.And now James will have to decide if it's time to go look for it elsewhere.Helped by James' costly turnover early in
Zimmerman powers Nats over Rockies >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman homered twice and drove in a
career-high six runs to help the Washington Nationals to a 14-6 rain-
shortened victory over the Colorado Rockies in the first of a four-game set at
soggy C
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.
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook betting credit cards
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