Niners ink draft picks Davis, Mays, Bowman

Football Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers have signed three of their first four picks from April's draft, including first-rounder Anthony Davis.

In addition to a five-year deal for Davis, an offensive tackle from Rutgers, the Niners also came to terms on four-year contracts with second-round pick Taylor Mays and third-round selection Navorro Bowman. Mays is a safety out of Southern California, while Bowman is a linebacker from Penn State.

Davis, chosen with the 11th overall pick, started 32 of the 38 games he played for Rutgers. He was a Third-Team All-American as a junior last year and earned First-Team All-Big East honors as a sophomore when he made the transition from guard to tackle.

Mays led the Trojans with 96 tackles in 2009 and finished his four-year collegiate career with 276 tackles and five interceptions.

Bowman skipped his senior season to enter the NFL after totaling 93 tackles, including a team best 17 for a loss, with three sacks, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries last year.

Trifectas Football Betting News

<< K.C. hopes to build on win vs. Man United in league play vs. TFC
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It has been a disappointing season to so for the Kansas City Wizards, but the Major League Soccer club is hoping it can use a 2-1 win in an exhibition against English premier League side Manchester United

<< Rapids, Dallas both gunning for points in Western showdown
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids host FC Dallas at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Major League Soccer action on Saturday night. The Rapids (6-5-5), who are winless in six league fixtures, should have their hands f

<< Sounders aim to continue winning ways against 'Quakes
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC will go for their third straight win on Saturday when they visit Buck Shaw Stadium to face the San Jose Earthquakes. The Sounders followed a 1-0 win over D.C. United with a 2-1 vi

<< Hilliard, Tyree retire as Giants
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former New York Giants receivers Ike Hilliard and David Tyree each signed contracts this week to retire as members of the organization. Hilliard played in 98 games, starting 92, during his career

<< Crew chief Letarte extends contract with HMS
Pocono, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Letarte, the crew chief for four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, has signed a multi-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports. Letarte and HMS made the announcement Frida

AL Central: Twins putting the heat on Chicago >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins continue to prove that it takes more than high-profile personnel moves to compete for a postseason berth. While the Detroit Tigers inked Johnny Damon and Jose Valverde in the offseason, Minnesota stayed

Revs searching for league success against Union >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England has won four straight games without allowing a goal, but just one of those matches was in Major League Soccer. The Revolution hope to build on their SuperLiga success in league play Saturday at PPL Par

Youzhny ousted in Gstaad quarters >>
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was a quarterfinal upset victim Friday at the Swiss Open Gstaad. Qualifier Yuri Schukin upended his world No. 14 fellow Russian Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 12

Dolphins sign ex-Saints DE Grant >>
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins have signed defensive end Charles Grant. Terms of the deal were not released, but the Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday that the contract is for two years and is worth $4.5 milli

Packers ink first-round pick Bulaga >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers have signed first-round draft pick Bryan Bulaga. The Green Bay Press Gazette is reporting that the offensive lineman has signed a five-year deal worth $14.75 million, with $8.76 million

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.