Simao calls it quits on Portugal career

Soccer Betting Lines

08/27/2010 - Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portugal winger Simao Sabrosa announced on Friday that his international career has come to an end.

In a letter to the Portuguese Football Federation, Simao stated that he was retiring for "personal reasons" and that he felt it was time to create room for new players.

The 30-year-old Atletico Madrid man was the most capped player on Portugal's roster at the World Cup in South Africa, having made 85 appearances with 22 international goals.

The announcement comes just one week before Portugal opens its Euro 2012 qualifying campaign at home against Cyprus.

Horaeracing Soccer Betting News

<< X-rays on hand of Colts LB Brackett negative
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett will not face significant time off, after X-rays taken on his right hand were negative. The Indy Star reported on Friday that a source close to the

<< Canada Basketball sets roster for Worlds
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Canada Basketball announced Friday its final 12-man roster for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The roster includes NBA players: Joel Anthony of the Miami Heat and Andy Rautins of the New York Knicks.

<< Bordeaux signs Tunisia midfielder Ben Khalfallah
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bordeaux signed Tunisia midfielder Fahid Ben Khalfallah from Valenciennes on Friday. Ben Khalfallah, 27, signed a four-year contract with Bordeaux, which needed to replace playmaker Yoann Gourcuff in mi

<< Blackburn signs striker Mwaruwari
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blackburn signed former Manchester City and Portsmouth striker Benjani Mwaruwari to a one-year contract Friday. Mwaruwari, 32, was signed on a free transfer. The Zimbabwe international was released by

<< Inter remains the team to beat in Serie A
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan has dominated Serie A over the past four seasons, and after a summer transfer period that has been extremely uneventful, the Nerazzurri will enter the season as favorites to retain their title.

Quagliarella joins Juve on loan >>
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus announced on Friday that the club has signed Italy international striker Fabio Quagliarella on loan from Napoli. Juve will pay Napoli $5.8 million to take Quagliarella on loan for the upcoming

Stakhovsky, Istomin land in New Haven finale >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ninth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky was an easy semifinal winner while 15th-seeded Denis Istomin battled to a three-set win Friday to reach the final at the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcou

Bodine tops in truck qualifying at Chicagoland >>
Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Bodine will start on the pole for Friday's EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Camping World Truck Series race after posting the fastest lap in qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway. Bodine, the last driver to make

Baltimore P Johnson reinstated from 60-day DL >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles reinstated pitcher Jim Johnson from the 60-day disabled list on Friday. Johnson has been on the 60-day DL since May 28, and hasn't pitched since April 30 against Boston due to right

United, Chivas square off at The HDC >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and Chivas USA square off in a battle of Major League Soccer bottom-feeders on Sunday night at The Home Depot Center. Both teams sit at the bottom of their respective conference tables w

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.