Argos WR Copeland out with dislocated elbow

Football Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Argonauts wide receiver Jeremaine Copeland will be out indefinitely after dislocating his left elbow.

Copeland suffered the injury during the first drive of Saturday's surprise 37-22 victory over defending-champion Montreal. He underwent an MRI exam on Monday which confirmed the severity.

The 10th-year pro import out of the University of Tennessee had racked up 21 catches for 320 yards and one touchdown in his first year with the Argos after coming over from Calgary in an offseason deal.

Onlinexasino Football Betting News

<< Pedroia returns from broken foot
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was activated from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday, paving the way for his return to the lineup for the first time since June 25. Pedroia had missed almost

<< France bans Anelka for 18 matches
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World Cup rebel Nicolas Anelka was banned for 18 matches by the French Football Federation on Tuesday following his conduct at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The Chelsea striker was sent home from th

<< Braves activate Prado from disabled list
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have activated infielder Martin Prado from the 15-day disabled list. Prado is penciled into Tuesday's lineup hitting third and playing at third base after spending the season playing

<< Berdych, Fish post wins in Cincy
Mason, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych reached the third round, while hot American Mardy Fish posted an opening-round victory Tuesday at the $3 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, a U.S. Open S

<< Favre arrives in Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A plane carrying Brett Favre has landed in Minnesota and the quarterback could be ready to join the Vikings for the 2010 season. Minneapolis television stations carried Favre's arrival live. Favre's p

Lightning sign LW Bergenheim >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning added depth to the forward position by agreeing to a one-year contract with free agent forward Sean Bergenheim on Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed. "We are happy

Vols want to eliminate UNC game from 2011 schedule >>
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Tennessee wants to eliminate a trip to North Carolina from its 2011 football schedule, even if it means paying a $750,000 buyout of a contract with the Tar Heels.The two schools have a contract to play in Chapel Hill, N.C., in

Rangers bring in Cora on minor league deal >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Alex Cora, the team announced Tuesday. Cora played in 62 games for the New York Mets this season, but was released and became a

Mariners' Bradley has knee surgery >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners outfielder Milton Bradley is expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday. Dr. Timothy Kremchek, the Reds' team physician, performed the surgery on

This Week in Auto Racing August 18 - 22 >>
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR roars into "Thunder Valley" as all three of its national touring series run under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway this week. The IZOD IndyCar Series heads to California's wine country

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.

Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.