12/03/2008 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shiho Oyama, ranked 42nd in the Rolex Rankings, fired an eight-under 64 on Wednesday to take the first-round lead of the 90-hole LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.
Amateur Mika Miyazato shot a six-under 66 and is alone in second.
Mollie Fankhauser and Amy Yang are knotted in third place at minus-five, while Jeehae Lee is alone in fourth place at four-under 68.
Michelle Wie's attempt to get back on to the LPGA Tour began Wednesday and she availed herself nicely. She shot a three-under 69 in the first round and is tied for sixth place.
The first 72 holes are played on both the Legends and Champions courses at LPGA International, while players play only the Champions course during the final round. The cut will reduce the field to the low-70 players and ties after 72 holes.
Oyama started on the 10th tee at the Champions Course and tallied only one bogey and that came at her second hole, the 11th. She rattled off nine birdies, including four in her last six holes.
"My iron play was terrific today," said Oyama, who has recorded 12 top-10 finishes in 25 events on the LPGA of Japan (JLPGA) circuit, including a win at the Masters GC Ladies. "I had a good time with Paul, my caddie, out there. He helped me out a lot reading the greens, so we got a decent start and I feel pretty good.
"This is the strongest tour in the world and I wanted to get up to the next stage and compete on the highest level."
Wie was joined in sixth by Stacy Lewis, who picked up an unofficial LPGA Tour victory in 2007 at the NW Arkansas LPGA Championship, and Audra Burks.
Maru Martinez, Chella Choi, Onnarin Sattayabanphot, Carolina Llano, Eunjung Yi, Ashleigh Simon, Lean Wigger, Young-A Yang and Anna Grzebien share ninth place at two-under 70.
The low-20 scores and ties will earn LPGA Tour cards for 2009.
<< Rice accepts bid for Texas Bowl
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rice University accepted a bid to the Texas
Bowl on Wednesday.
The Owls finished the 2008 season with a 9-3 mark, including a 7-1 record in
Conference USA.
It is the second bowl selection for the s
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Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors fired head coach Sam
Mitchell on Wednesday, as announced by team president and general manager
Bryan Colangelo.
"This is a difficult but necessary step the franchise must
<< Colts LB Brackett sidelined with leg injury
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts linebacker and
defensive captain Gary Brackett will miss at least a couple of weeks with a
fibula injury to his right leg, head coach Tony Dungy said Wednesday.
Brackett, wh
<< Udinese through to next round with win over Zagreb
Udine, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Udinese remained perfect in Group D play in
the UEFA Cup as the Italian side booked a spot in the next round with a 2-1
win over Dinamo Zagreb at the Stadio Friuli on Wednesday.
Fabio Quagliarella put
Vikings sign DT Kennedy >>
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after defensive tackles Pat
Williams and Kevin Williams were among six players suspended four games for a
violation of the league's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances,
the Min
Clemson accepts invite to Gator Bowl >>
Clemson, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clemson accepted an invitation to the Gator
Bowl on Wednesday, having parlayed a strong end of the season into a New
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The Tigers went 4-1 over the final five games of the season,
Rays P Percival undergoes back surgery >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays closer Troy Percival
underwent back surgery this week and is expected to be ready by opening day
for the American League champions.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Watkin
Southern Miss accepts bid to New Orleans Bowl >>
Hattiesburg, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Southern Mississippi
accepted a bid to the New Orleans Bowl on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles, who finished the season with a 6-6 record, will face the
Sun Belt champion -- either
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.
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