The biggest threat to the U.S. Ryder Cup team

Golf Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While I was busy searching for the best line to describe Miguel Angel Jimenez, someone I don't know beat me to it.

In the Internet age, it isn't hard to believe how it happened.

Sports Illustrated writer Alan Shipnuck posted to his Twitter feed Sunday a text message he received from a friend: "Is Miguel Angel Jimenez actually the most interesting man in the world?"

The answer, of course, is no, although watching the cigar-chewing Jimenez describe his post-round dinners in Switzerland in that distinctive Spanish diction was as interesting as anything in those Dos Equis commercials.

Ponytailed and built like an upside-down pear, Jimenez represents the biggest threat to this year's U.S. Ryder Cup team, which is set to be finalized with Corey Pavin's captain's picks on Tuesday morning.

He is the Overlooked Opponent.

For all the talk about how strong the European side is -- Paul Casey is a top-10 player and not on the team? -- almost none of the discussion has included Jimenez.

In fact, when I asked the only Ryder Cup expert I know if Jimenez should have been considered for a captain's selection had he not made the team on points, his answer was a swift "no."

But why not?

Jimenez became the first player on either the PGA or European Tour to win three times this season when he captured the European Masters on Sunday.

Seven days before, Jimenez tied for third place at the Johnnie Walker Championship to make the European team on points, securing one of the last automatic spots.

Despite having another winning season -- he has also picked up titles at the Dubai Desert Classic and French Open -- Jimenez was basically an afterthought when the European Ryder Cup team was finalized by captain Colin Montgomerie.

All the big names came up: Ryder Cup stalwarts Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington. Rising star Rory McIlroy. Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari.

There wasn't much discussion of the 46-year-old Jimenez. Was it because he only built a 2-7-3 record in three previous Ryder Cup appearances? More ammo for the Overlooked Opponent argument.

We don't know how anyone on the European team will play at Celtic Manor in three weeks, but we do know a few other things.

Westwood, one of the winningest players in Ryder Cup history, is nursing a calf injury and hasn't played four competitive rounds since his runner-up finish at the British Open.

Harrington is having a middling season by his standards and hasn't won since the 2008 PGA Championship. Poulter hasn't posted a top-10 finish since the Masters.

Meanwhile, Jimenez continues to have one of the more noteworthy careers of the last decade. The man they call "The Mechanic" has captured 11 of his 18 career wins since he turned 40.

Another example of his ageless talent? Jimenez flirted with shooting the first 59 in European Tour history last Friday, a bid that was derailed by three straight pars at the end of his round.

Jimenez shot a 61 instead, good for a three-shot lead heading into the weekend. Then he played the final two rounds in the same group with Edoardo Molinari, the 29-year-old surging half of the talented Italian brothers.

In what was basically a match-play scenario between the two players, Jimenez matched Molinari's score in both rounds, protecting his three-shot lead until the end.

Of course, Jimenez was in his element. During the 22 years he has showed up to play at the Swiss mountain resort, Jimenez has stayed in the same hotels, eaten at the same restaurants, enjoyed the support of the same galleries.

"They love me here," he said, drawing on one of his gigantic cigars.

They may love him at Celtic Manor, too, and that should give the American team pause.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

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.


Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Why Sports Betting is so much fun?

Betting Sports

The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)

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Points (or Runs) Scored

Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.

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Future Bets

Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

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Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.