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<< Kahn prepares for 2nd draft with Timberwolves
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -A year ago, David Kahn didn't have a place to live in Minnesota, let alone a head coach, as he plunged into his first draft as Timberwolves president.Owner Glen Taylor hired Kahn to reshape the franchise less than a month before th

<< Yanks rally to beat D'Backs, take series
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Curtis Granderson went 3-for-5 and hit the game-winning homer in the top of the 10th inning, as the New York Yankees rallied past the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5, in the rubber match of a three- game in

<< Blackhawks trade Byfuglien to Thrashers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playoff hero Dustin Byfuglien has changed teams as the forward was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Atlanta Thrashers as part of a seven-player deal. The Thrashers also acquired forwards Ben Eager and

<< Lee helps Seattle continue pitching dominance in rout of Cubs
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Lee pitched his second straight complete game and Seattle continued its incredible mound presence with an 8-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Michael Saunders belted a two-run homer and drove in four

Ribery to undergo groin surgery >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - France and Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery will undergo groin surgery Friday, his club team announced Thursday. Ribery will undergo a "routine procedure," according to Bayern's website. France was elimin

Germany's Schweinsteiger could miss England match >>
Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger could miss Sunday's FIFA World Cup round of 16 match against England with a thigh injury. Schweinsteiger left Germany's final group stage game a

Pirates designate Eveland for assignment >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates have designated pitcher Dana Eveland for assignment. Eveland appeared in three games for the Pirates, making one start, after being acquired from Toronto on June 1 in exchange

Greece coach Rehhagel steps down >>
Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greece coach Otto Rehhagel resigned Thursday following the country's exit from the FIFA World Cup. The 71-year-old Rehhagel has coached Greece since 2001. He led the country to the Euro 2004 title

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.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.