07/04/2008 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Fire coach Denis Hamlett admitted after last week's 0-0 tie against the San Jose Earthquakes that his strikers "need to finish."
The Fire, who scored 20 goals in their first 10 games, failed to score in their third straight match. At least this time Chicago earned a draw, but its skid is starting to bother Hamlett entering Saturday's match at the Columbus Crew.
"Our strikers that we have are getting themselves in good spots and getting good looks, and if you're going to be critical," Hamlett said, "they need to finish those plays."
Chicago hasn't scored in a Major League Soccer match since 27th minute of 2-1 loss to D.C. United almost a month ago, a stretch of 243 consecutive minutes.
The Fire's four game winless skid - which includes three losses - has the club closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference than the top.
"We aren't finishing on our chances - it makes it a lot harder to win games and I feel that we need to press more," Hamlett said. "Right now we are not getting goals and it makes winning games harder."
It's tough for Hamlett, in his first year as head coach of Chicago, because his club has so much offensive firepower. Chad Barrett - who scored the team's last goal - leads the Fire with five goals and has chipped in three assists.
Mexican icon Cuauhtemoc Blanco has four goals and six assists, John Thorrington has three goals and Chris Rolfe and Tomasz Frankowski each have two goals.
Blanco, who last scored on May 25, knows Chicago just has to "keep on working hard." Considering the Fire have allowed a league-low 11 goals, they may only need one goal to win most games.
"Things aren't going well," Blanco said. "We've got to look ahead into the next game and go from there."
That "next" match is at Columbus, which has rebounded from its own scoring skid - which lasted 370 minutes - to score eight goals during its current three-game unbeaten streak.
During the recent run, six players have scored, led by two apiece by Alejandro Moreno and Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
"You go through your scoring droughts, but we have so many offensive weapons." Crew defender Danny O'Rourke said. "We're a dangerous offensive team."
Columbus won at Kansas City, 3-0, and then earned a 3-3 draw at the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Crew extended their run last week at home with a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids.
The Crew's win over the Rapids was their fifth at home this year - which equals last season's total.
Columbus coach Sigi Schmid is pleased with the team's performances at home, and with eight more home games left believes success at Crew Stadium will determine if the team makes the playoffs.
"If my math's right, we have eight more games [at home], so we definitely want to beat what we had last year," Schmid said. "One of the things we talked about at the beginning of the season is if we had three more points at home, we would have been in the playoffs [last season].
"So now, it's a matter of going and getting those three points."
<< It's in the Cards: Cubs' Zambrano makes return
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano will
start Friday's matchup, the opener of a three-game set with the St. Louis
Cardinals, after a two-week stint on the disabled list with a strained right
shoulder.
Zambr
<< Clauson wins first Nationwide pole at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bryan Clauson captured his first career
Nationwide Series pole for this evening's Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona
International Speedway. The No.40 Chip Ganassi Racing driver circled the famed
2.5-mil
<< Leafs agree to terms with Grabovski
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs signed newly acquired
centerman Mikhail Grabovski to a one-year contract on Friday.
Grabovski, 24, was obtained on Thursday from the Montreal Canadiens in
exchange for the ri
<< Fisher protects European Open lead
Ash, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ross Fisher shot a four-under 68 on Friday to
remain in the lead after two rounds at the European Open.
Fisher, who scorched the London Golf Club for a course-record 63 on Thursday,
stood at 13-under 131 ov
Messi wants to play in Italy >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona ace Lionel Messi would like to
try his luck in Italy's Serie A in the future, as talk of a summer exit from
the Camp Nou continues to rumble on.
The 21-year-old Argentina forward has bee
Bayern Munich banking on Podolski >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann is
determined to bring out the best in Germany forward Lukas Podolski next season.
The 23-year-old impressed for his country at Euro 2008, having struggled to
m
Brewers light up Gorzelanny, Pirates in win >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.J. Hardy hit a two-run homer as part of
a five-run outburst in the fifth inning en route to a 9-1 Brewers victory over
the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game set.
Hardy hit the home run
Boyle waives no-trade clause, headed to San Jose >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks acquired defensemen Dan
Boyle and Brad Lukowich from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for
defensemen Matt Carle and Ty Wishart.
The Sharks also gave up a first-round pi
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 won’t 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 doesn’t focus only on your opponent’s 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. Where’s 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, don’t 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 won’t be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, I’m 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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting