Roughriders hang on to top Lions in season opener

Football Betting Lines

07/04/2009 - Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darian Durant threw for 313 yards and had a rushing touchdown to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 28-24 win over the British Columbia Lions in the season opener for both clubs.

Durant went 18-for-32 with three interceptions and added 35 yards on the ground for the Roughriders (1-0), who finished last season with a 12-6 record but lost to the Lions in the Western Semi-Final game. Hugh Charles had 14 carries for 34 yards and a score.

Buck Pierce threw for 186 yards on 17-for-33 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions and added a touchdown on the ground for the Lions (0-1), who went 11-7 last season and lost to Calgary in the West Final. Emmanuel Arceneaux had three catches for 40 yards and a score.

The Roughriders got the first score of the game as Durant's 10-yard touchdown run gave the team a 7-0 lead a bit over five minutes in, and Jamie Boreham got a single on the ensuing kickoff.

The Lions answered later in the first as Ryan Phillips stepped in front of a pass and took it into the end zone from 60 yards out to make it an 8-7 game.

A 37-yard field goal off the foot of Luca Congi late in the first quarter gave Saskatchewan an 11-7 lead.

A bit over four minutes into the second quarter, Charles took the ball into the end zone from two yards out and on the Lions' ensuing drive, Stuart Foord recovered a Paul McCallum fumble and took it into the end zone from 12 yards out for a 25-7 lead.

With close to two minutes left in the first half, British Columbia cut into its deficit as Arceneaux caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Pierce to make it a 25-14 game going into the break.

With under two minutes to play in the third quarter, Pierce ran the ball into the end zone from six yards out, but the two-point conversion failed and it was a 25-20 game heading into the final 15 minutes.

A single from British Columbia a bit over a minute into the four quarter made it a four-point game, but a 22-yard field goal off the foot of Congi with a bit over eight minutes to play gave the Roughriders a 28-21 lead.

The Lions had a golden opportunity to tie the game late in the fourth as a blocked punt gave the team the ball in Saskatchewan territory, but the Roughrider defense held tight and British Columbia was only able to get a 38- yard field goal from McCallum with 2:01 to play.

The British Columbia defense held Saskatchewan on the ensuing possession to give the offense one last chance, but the Roughriders defense stood tall to hang on for the win.

Game Notes

Martell Mallett had six carries for 63 yards for British Columbia...Weston Dressler caught seven passes for 156 yards for Saskatchewan...The Roughriders defense has nine sacks in the game.

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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.

Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.