Nadal, Djokovic move on at BNP Paribas Open

Tennis Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were both second-round winners Saturday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event.

Nadal, the reigning titlist and third seed, eased past German Rainer Schuettler, 6-4, 6-4, to move into the third round. Meanwhile, Djokovic topped American Mardy Fish 6-1, 0-6, 6-2. The second-seeded Serbian needed a little under two hours to record the win.

Additionally, fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Ernests Gulbis. Eighth-seeded Croat Marin Cilic was the highest seed to lose Saturday, as Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat him in 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 fashion.

Tenth-seeded Fernando Verdasco and 11th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero were both straight-set winners. Verdasco took a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ramon Delgado, while Ferrero got past Daniel Koellerer, 6-3, 6-0.

Verdasco's third-round opponent will be 19th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Florent Serra on Saturday. Meanwhile, Verdasco will get 21st-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco, who beat Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 7-5, in the second round.

Americans John Isner, seeded 15th, and Sam Querrey, the 17th seed, were also straight-set winners Saturday and will square off in the third round.

Brian Dabul of Argentina knocked off 16th-seeded Gilles Simon, 7-5, 6-4, and advanced to face Croat Ivan Ljubicic, who defeated American Ryan Harrison, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), on Saturday.

German Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 25th seed, pasted countryman Philipp Petzschner, 6-3, 6-2, Saturday to reach the third round, where he will encounter Djokovic.

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci was a walkover winner against Carlos Moya, who withdrew with a foot injury. Bellucci is set to face Garcia-Lopez in the third round.

Also, 29th-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia advanced after Pablo Cuevas retired early in the first set of their second-rounder. Troicki will get Davydenko in the third.

Mario Ancic, who knocked off 31st-seeded Julien Benneteau on Saturday by a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 score, gets Nadal in the third round.

This week's 32 seeds all received byes into the second round. The top seeds are three-time champion Roger Federer, 2008 titlist and 2007 runner-up Djokovic, two-time champion Rafael Nadal and 2009 Indian Wells runner-up Andy Murray. Nadal beat the U.S. Open runner-up Murray in last year's finale and also titled here in '07.

This week's winner will collect $605,500.

Pokervattle Tennis Betting News

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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.