Gonzo ousts Verdasco to reach Barcelona semis

Tennis Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez upended second-seeded crowd favorite Fernando Verdasco on Friday to reach the semifinals at the $2.6 million Barcelona Open.

In an all-Fernando quarterfinal here on Day 5, the Chilean Gonzalez toppled the Spanish Verdasco 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on the red clay at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. "Gonzo" moved on in 2 hours, 17 minutes with the help of seven aces, compared to zero for Verdasco. The Chilean also recorded one more key service break (4-3) in the tight contest.

Gonzalez will face another Spaniard, David Ferrer, in Saturday's semis. The fourth-seeded and 2008 Barcelona runner-up Ferrer grounded sixth-seeded fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. Robredo titled here in 2004 and was the 2006 runner-up to Spanish stalwart Rafael Nadal, who handled Ferrer in last year's popular all-Spanish finale here.

Robredo leads the ATP World Tour with 17 clay-court victories (17-4) so far this season.

The other semi will pit the world No. 1 and four-time reigning Barcelona champion Nadal against third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko. The Russian Davydenko advanced Friday with a come-from-behind 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2 victory over ninth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek. Davydenko hadn't beaten Stepanek since October of 2004, having dropped three straight against the tough Czech.

Nadal moved into the semis on Thursday when his scheduled quarterfinal opponent, seventh-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, pulled out of the draw due to a right hip injury after winning his third-round encounter against 10th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

The high-flying Nadal will meet Davydenko for a sixth time, as the Spaniard holds a 3-2 advantage in their lifetime series. Davydenko has won two of the last three meetings, with the victories coming on hardcourts, but Nadal is a perfect 2-0 in their clay-court clashes.

Nadal has won 23 straight on red clay, a surface he is 140-4 on since 2005. He's 23-1 here in Barcelona.

The reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic titlist Nadal is fresh off his fifth straight Monte-Carlo championship, having beaten Serbian star Novak Djokovic in last week's title tilt in Monaco.

This week's champ will pocket $370,000.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.

Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.

Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

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.