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11/30/2011 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sanctioning body for the IZOD IndyCar Series revealed on Wednesday that Brian Barnhart will no longer serve as race director.
In restructuring its organization, IndyCar will split the responsibilities of president of operations and race director into separate positions. Barnhart will remain head of operations, overseeing the operational and logistical areas of the series. InyCar is reviewing candidates to fill the race director position.
"As our sport continues to grow and we prepare for our first new car in almost a decade, we feel that splitting these roles will help fully service our teams and venues as we prepare for the demands of the 2012 season," Barnhart said in a statement.
Barnhart has served as IndyCar's president of competition and racing operations since 2007. But Barnhart had been under immense criticism by competitors for some of his officiating calls during the 2011 season.
Several drivers in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix complained about the start of the race when a safety truck was still on the track.
Barnhart came under fire in August at New Hampshire, where race officials determined after a brief rain shower that the track was dry enough to resume racing, but drivers, particularly Will Power, pleaded with officials not to restart since there was still moisture on the track. Power crashed on the final restart, and shortly after, he made an inappropriate gesture (finger) to the direction of race control. Days later, Power was fined and placed on probation for the remainder of the season for his gesture.
In the October race at Motegi, Japan, Helio Castroneves was furious with Barnhart after he received a penalty for passing under a local yellow during the final lap. Castroneves later posted on his Twitter account, "Brian Barnhart is inconsistent and even changes the rule book when it is convenient for him and his own personal interests...It is sad to see one person being responsible for bringing down an entire series." Castroneves was also fined and put on probation for his comments.
IndyCar also announced another organizational change. Terry Angstadt resigned his position as commercial division president. Angstadt, who had served in the role since 2007, was instrumental in IndyCar's partnership with series title sponsor IZOD, as well as securing races in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Qingdao, China. The series is scheduled to race in China for the first time next year.
Marc Koretzky will replace Angstadt. Koretzky joined IndyCar in May as director of corporate business development. Angstadt will assist with the transition.
"I'm confident that Brian and Marc will lead our company into a bigger and brighter future in these new roles," IndyCar Chief Executive Officer Randy Bernard said.
The 2012 IndyCar season is scheduled to begin on March 25 in St. Petersburg, FL.
<< Brees, Hall, Peterson named NFC players of the week
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Redskins
cornerback DeAngelo Hall and Cardinals punt returner Patrick Peterson have
been honored as the NFC's top players for Week 12 of the NFL season.
Brees complete
<< Brest midfielder Culm to undergo hip operation
Brest, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jhon Jairo Culm could miss the next two
months for Brest after undergoing hip surgery, the club announced.
The midfielder has been bothered by pain in his hip for weeks and will have a
procedure to rem
<< Johnson, Suggs and Janikowski earn AFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson,
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs and Oakland Raiders kicker Sebastian
Janikowski have been selected as the AFC's top players for Week 12 of the NFL
season.
<< Cubs reach deal with DeJesus
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs have signed outfielder David
DeJesus to a two-year deal with a club option for the 2014 season. Although
financial terms were not released, the pact is believed to be worth $10
million.
DeJe
Is Valentine the right guy for Boston? >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - At first glance Bobby Valentine becoming the new manager of
the Boston Red Sox makes a ton of sense. He's a household name, he lives in
Connecticut, has been an above-average manager in this game and absolutely has
the abilit
Shoulder injury to keep Abbiati out two weeks >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati will
miss the next two weeks of action due to a right shoulder injury.
Abbiati sustained the problem in Milan's Champions League match with Barcelona
last week and he
4-time Pro Bowl DL Chester McGlockton passes away >>
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NFL defensive lineman and Stanford
assistant coach Chester McGlockton died early Wednesday morning. He was 42.
McGlockton was the 16th overall pick by the Raiders in the 1992 NFL Draft and
was a member o
Civil suit filed against Sandusky >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A civil suit against Jerry
Sandusky was filed Wednesday morning in Philadelphia, by a man alleging the
former Penn State assistant coach sexually abused him more than 100 times over
a perio
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.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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