Celtics roll the dice with West
Basketball Betting Lines
09/02/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat may have dominated the offseason headlines, but the Boston Celtics are still the top dogs in the East.
After taking the Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the NBA Finals last season, the veteran-laden Celtics could have gone in two different directions. Coach Doc Rivers' contract was up, while veteran sharpshooter Ray Allen was a free agent and All-Star forward Paul Pierce could have opted out of his deal.
Basketball chief Danny Ainge could have pulled the plug and got started on the inevitable rebuilding process, or convinced the band to get back together to take one more stab at capturing the franchise's 18th NBA championship.
Ainge made his decision, booked the Hard Rock and convinced Rivers to return, while re-signing Allen and securing a still formidable but declining Pierce for another four seasons.
With his core four of Allen, Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo back in the fold, Rivers certainly knows he has a contender but his club has already forfeited the make-believe mantle of favorite in the much-improved East. That now belongs to Pat Riley and the Heat, who brought in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade.
To fend off the Heat and solve the Lakers puzzle, the C's needed to sure up a shaky bench. Ainge has brought in veteran big men Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal to hold down the fort in the middle while Kendrick Perkins recovers from tearing the medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee during Game 6 of The Finals.
Meanwhile, his latest move was bringing back troubled veteran guard Delonte West, the 24th overall by the Celtics back in 2004.
The 27-year-old West, who signed a non-guaranteed deal, spent the last two- plus years in Cleveland with James but was limited to 35 games in 2009-10 and 64 games a year earlier while dealing with an array of personal problems that included depression, along with legal issues stemming from an arrest on weapons charges in September of 2009.
After being stopped for a traffic violation while riding a 3-wheeled motorcycle, police found a Beretta pistol, .357 Magnum and a Remington 870 rifle in a guitar case West was carrying.
An underrated swing guard, West originally blamed the indiscretion on his failure to take his prescribed medication for bipolar disorder. He eventually pleaded guilty this past July to traffic and weapons charges, and was sentenced to electronic monitoring, unsupervised probation, and 40 hours of community service as well as psychological counseling.
The NBA piled on, suspending the St. Joseph's product for 10 games.
"I think we're getting Delonte at a good time in his life," Rivers wrote on Twitter. "He knows who he is now."
Rivers also understands bringing West in could go boom or bust. A healthy, well-adjusted West could provide solid minutes behind both Rondo and Allen, giving Boston one of the most impressive three-guard rotations in the league. On the other hand, a brooding, distant West could upset the balance of a delicate locker room.
"Chemistry is a delicate thing. I understand that, and I'm as cautious as anyone with it. I guarantee you, I'll be keeping my eye on it,"' Rivers told AOL FanHouse on Wednesday. "I don't know yet if we can make it work. It is going to be interesting, that's for sure."
Crans Montana, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy's Matteo Manassero fired a seven-under 64 Thursday to grab a one-stroke lead after the first round of the European Masters. The 17-year-old Manassero put together his best round as a profes
<< Penguins F Staal to miss start of training camp
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jordan Staal
will miss the beginning of training camp with a foot injury.
Despite the ailment, Staal is expected to be ready for the regular season.
Staal suffered a lacer
<< CFL Eastern Division: Rivalries are back after break
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Labour Day approaches in Canada and, in the
CFL, that means rivalries take over for the most-anticipated weekend of the
regular season. The Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are set to
complete the
<< QB Gilbert had clear path to take over at Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -Garrett Gilbert has hardly played since high school and in his only meaningful college game, he threw four interceptions as Texas lost the national championship to Alabama.When Gilbert takes the field Saturday to lead No. 5 Texas
<< UTEP gets good news about RB Buckram injury
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -Texas-El Paso running back Donald Buckram has a bruised knee and may be able to play against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Saturday's season-opener for both teams.Buckram was carted off the field during practice Wednesday, a scary sigh
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden left Thursday's start against the New York Yankees with cramping on a hot day at Yankee Stadium. Braden exited in the sixth inning with Oakland trailing, 1-0. T
Cane Pace kicks off Triple Crown series >>
Freehold, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pacing's Triple Crown gets started on Labor
Day with the running of the $300,000 Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. Eight
three-year-old pacers have been entered for the one-mile stakes.
The Triple Crown
Deutsche Bank extends sponsorship through 2012 >>
Norton, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deutsche Bank has exercised a two-year option to
remain as the title sponsor of the PGA Tour playoffs event at the TPC Boston
through 2012.
The Deutsche Back Championship debuted in 2003, marking the return o
Beckham targets Sept. 11 clash vs. Crew for return to MLS >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham, who has
been out all season after he tore his left Achilles tendon on March 14 while
playing for AC Milan, is nearing his return to Major League Soccer.
"The doctors' o
Oak Tree to race at Hollywood Park in 2010 >>
Inglewood, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 Oak Tree racing meet will be
conducted at Hollywood Park. The announcement became official on Thursday.
"It's an honor to run the Oak Tree stakes races at Hollywood Park," said
Martin
FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL 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.