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Henry to New York exactly what MLS needsSoccer Betting Lines07/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In one of the worst-kept secrets in soccer, French striker Thierry Henry will be announced as Red Bull New York's second designated player at a press conference on Thursday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. What does the signing of the former Arsenal and Barcelona star mean to New York and Major League Soccer? Everything. Not only will signing the 32-year-old star add a big name to help Red Bull and MLS gain some long-term traction in the New York market, but it will immediately put MLS in the news cycle after the dramatic World Cup exploits of the United States national team put soccer's popularity in America at an all- time high. The fact that New York is able to add one of the top scorers in English Premier League history, a player only three years removed from being Arsenal's captain, is a major coup for MLS. Don't believe me? Ask Henry's buddy, Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, also part-owner of the 2011 MLS Expansion Vancouver Whitecaps. "He's played at some of the biggest clubs in the world," said Nash at Red Bull Arena on Saturday. "He's had a fantastic time at Arsenal, a fantastic time at Barcelona and when you've been a professional soccer player at the highest level with all those expectations since you're 17, sometimes you welcome a change." Nash went on to talk about how much Henry loves New York and the United States, and how much he can add to MLS. "I think we're lucky, too, because Thierry's still a world-class player," he said. "We've seen players come over before who've shown how great they were but not necessarily every night. I think he's still capable of playing at the highest level of this game. It's amazing that he's willing to come over here at this stage of his career, to be honest." Not since the Los Angeles Galaxy signed David Beckham prior to the 2007 season has MLS scored such an international star. In a league where the Galaxy have cornered the market in both points and headlines (even with the long-term Achilles injury to Beckham), New York now has an opportunity to balance out the spotlight with its own star, in the first year of its brand-new soccer-specific stadium. Prior to the 2010 MLS season, New York's other designated player, striker Juan Pablo Angel, told The Sportsbook Betting Lines he was "excited about [opening Red Bull Arena] because I'm sure it will change the perspective of the game in this region." Now with Henry, and the Red Bulls reportedly closing in on a third DP, that perspective should continue to evolve. "Getting top-quality, experienced players is obviously going to help us continue what looks like a decent year for the club," New York general manager Erik Soler told media on Saturday. "We're going to get a good player in and we'll have to take it from there and see. It will lift the whole team and make everybody even sharper and better, and it will be a great experience for us."
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Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A trio of unseeded women, including Slovenian Polona Hercog, posted first-round wins Monday at the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event. Hercog humbled German Tatjana Malek 6-4, 6-2 on the red clay at
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ESPN's Berman honored with Pete Rozelle Award >>
Canton, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - ESPN host Chris Berman has been recognized as the 2010 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Radio- Television Award. The award recognizes long-time exceptional contributions t
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALKNFL Football Trash TalkTrash 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. |
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