Brees brings home MVP to the Big Easy
Football Betting Lines
02/08/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a city that has struggled in both the world of sports and in day-to-day life, Drew Brees has brought a smile to the faces of the New Orleans residents.
The party will be rocking for the next few days in the Big Easy and Brees will be the guest of honor as his performance in Super Bowl XLIV garnered him the Most Valuable Player award.
With Mardi Gras less than 10 days away, New Orleans doesn't need any excuse for a good time, but Sunday's 31-17 win over Indianapolis and Brees' MVP award gives the city even more of an excuse and helps to further erase the memories of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster that destroyed much of the city and even damaged the Superdome where the Saints play.
Moreover, it gives a franchise that was once known as the 'Aints and whose fans wore brown paper bags over their heads a chance to lift those heads high.
"We played for so much more than just ourselves," Brees said. "We played for our city, we played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for all the entire Who Dat? nation who was behind us every step of the way. We've been blessed with so much and just to have this opportunity is unbelievable."
On the game-winning drive, Brees went 7-for-7 for 44 yards with a two-yard strike to Jeremy Shockey followed by a two-point conversion toss to Lance Moore giving the team a 24-17 lead with 5:42 to play.
Tracy Porter's 74-yard interception return for a touchdown on the Colts' ensuing touch sealed the win.
For the game, Brees went 32-for-39 with 288 yards and two touchdowns with a 114.5 quarterback rating. His 32 completions tied a Super Bowl record.
On his other touchdown pass, it was a 16-yard short screen pass to Pierre Thomas that gave the Saints a 13-10 lead early in the third quarter after the team opted for an onsides kick, which they recovered, to start the second half.
The game featured two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in Brees and Peyton Manning, who is a four-time league MVP and won the MVP in a Super Bowl XLI victory over Chicago.
However, it was Brees who was flawless in this game as he never turned over the ball and Manning's late interception doomed any chances of the Colts winning the Super Bowl for the second time in the past four years.
Originally a second-round pick of San Diego in the 2001 draft, Brees spent his first five seasons with the Chargers and had productive years, but after the 2005 season he refused a contract offer by the Chargers and opted to sign with New Orleans.
"I felt like coming to New Orleans was a calling and that God puts you in positions for a reason," Brees said. "At the time you may ask yourself, 'I'm not sure, but I trust you.' I know that me coming to New Orleans and having an opportunity there was definitely a calling and it was an opportunity not many people get in their entire life to be able to come to a city like that that had just been devastated by a natural disaster."
Since then he has exploded in the bayou as he has thrown for over 4,300 yards and 26 touchdowns in each of his four seasons with New Orleans. In 2008, he had a 5,069-yard performance with 34 touchdowns, garnering the Offensive Player of the Year award.
"Four years ago, who ever thought this would be happening," Brees said. "When 85 percent of the city was under water, all of its residents evacuated to places all over the country, most people not knowing New Orleans would ever come back or if the organization as a team would ever come back."
This past season he guided the team to wins in the first 13 games and the Saints finished with a 13-3 record as he threw for 4,388 yards and 34 touchdowns.
He then went on to lead the Saints to a 45-14 pasting of Arizona in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs and a 31-28 overtime win over the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game.
Miami Gardens, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raise your umbrella and your Hurricane glass to the New Orleans Saints, who are Super Bowl XLIV champions because they were flat-out better than the Colts in an incredible, exhilarating upset victory that ca
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The third-seeded Bellucci downed the second-seeded Monaco 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 in
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<< Who Dat? Super Bowl champs! Saints rally to beat Colts
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Drew Brees connected with Jeremy Shock
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heading into the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV.
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash 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.
Super Bowl XLIV Odds
Super Bowl XLIII isn't even a week old yet and oddsmakers have already released Super Bowl XLIV odds.
Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl 43, the New England Patriots are 8/1 favorites to win Super Bowl 44.
Bet Super Bowl XLIV Future Odds
With their 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers became the latest NFL champion. But believe it or not, oddsmakers from online sports book MySportsbook.com don't have the Steelers the favorites to win Super Bowl XLIV next season.
That honor belongs to the New England Patriots, who are 8/1 favorites to win despite not even qualify for the postseason in 2008. The Pats also have a major decision to make regarding what to do with Matt Cassel, who played well in Tom Brady's (knee surgery) absence last year but is also a free agent this offseason.
Ironically, the Steelers aren't even oddsmakers second choice to win Super Bowl 44, as the Dallas Cowboys are listed right behind the Patriots at 9/1 despite not making the playoffs themselves. Clearly oddsmakers think the public will hop back on the Cowboys' bandwagon considering the immense talent they have and the opening of a brand new stadium.
After Dallas, then comes Pittsburgh at 10/1, but they share those odds with the New York Giants, who won Super Bowl XLII. The Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers round out the top six teams at 12/1, while the Baltimore Ravens (14/1), Tennessee Titans (16/1), Carolina Panthers (18/1) and Philadelphia Eagles (18/1) complete the top 10.
The NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals got no love from oddsmakers as they were established as a 30/1 long shot to win next year's Super Bowl. They share those same odds with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – two teams that didn't even qualify for the postseason. Other long shots are the Kansas City Chiefs (100/1), Detroit Lions (100/1), St. Louis Rams (75/1) and Oakland Raiders (75/1).
To see a complete list of all the team's odds to win Super Bowl XLIV, check below.
NFL TEAM FUTURE ODDS TO WIN SUPER BOWL XLIV
New England Patriots 8/1
Dallas Cowboys 9/1
New York Giants 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 10/1
Indianapolis Colts 12/1
San Diego Chargers 12/1
Baltimore Ravens 14/1
Tennessee Titans 16/1
Carolina Panthers 18/1
Philadelphia Eagles 18/1
New Orleans Saints 20/1
Atlanta Falcons 25/1
Denver Broncos 25/1
Green Bay Packers 25/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 25/1
Minnesota Vikings 25/1
New York Jets 25/1
Arizona Cardinals 30/1
Chicago BearS 30/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30/1
Buffalo Bills 35/1
Houston TexaNS 35/1
Miami Dolphins 35/1
Washington Redskins 35/1
Seattle SeahawkS 50/1
Cleveland Browns 55/1
Cincinnati Bengals 60/1
San Francisco 49ers 60/1
Oakland Raiders 75/1
St. Louis Rams 75/1
Detroit Lions 100/1
Kansas City Chiefs 100/1
Odds as of: 2/2/09
Bet Super Bowl XLIV Future Odds
To visit this online sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.