Bears making waves on first day of free agency

Football Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears have scheduled a press conference on Friday afternoon, at which time they are expected to introduce their newest free agent acquisitions.

Reports indicate the team has agreed to long-term deals with defensive end Julius Peppers, running back Chester Taylor and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna.

According to ESPN, Peppers has agreed to terms on a six-year contract that could be worth as much as $40 million during the first half of the deal. The 30-year-old is coming off a season with Carolina in which he played under the franchise tender, recording 10 1/2 sacks, two interceptions, five forced fumbles and a touchdown in 16 games.

Peppers, who was the second overall pick of the 2002 NFL Draft out of North Carolina, has spent his entire eight-year career with the Panthers. He missed only six regular season games during his stint with Carolina and has reached double-digits in sacks six times.

Widely viewed as the marquee free agent of this offseason, Peppers has totaled 81 sacks, six interceptions, 30 forced fumbles and two touchdowns in 122 regular season games.

Taylor, also 30, reportedly signed a four-year deal worth $12.5 million, with $7 million guaranteed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Toledo product recently finished his fourth season in Minnesota and third straight as the backup to two-time All-Pro Adrian Peterson. He ran for 338 yards on 94 carries last season and caught 44 passes for 389 yards, totaling two touchdowns.

His best season came in 2006, when he was the primary back for the Vikings. In 15 games, Taylor carried the ball 303 times for 1,216 yards -- both career- highs -- and ran for six scores. Through 123 regular season games in eight seasons with Minnesota and Baltimore, the durable Taylor has totaled 4,396 rushing yards, 2,094 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns.

Manumaleuna, who turned 30 in January, has apparently agreed to terms on a five-year contract as per the Chicago Tribune. Manumaleuna spent the past four years with the San Diego Chargers after playing his first five seasons with the St. Louis Rams. His first head coach in the NFL was Mike Martz, who is the Bears' new offensive coordinator.

The Arizona product is mostly known as a run blocker. He had just five catches for 13 yards last season and has caught only 110 passes for 965 yards with 12 touchdowns in his nine-year career.

Wsuperbowl Football Betting News

<< Croats jump on Ecuador for 2-0 Davis Cup lead
Varazdin, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic were a pair of opening singles winners, as host Croatia pounced on Ecuador for a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five Davis Cup first-round affair. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic got the ho

<< Patriots ink LB Banta-Cain to three-year pact
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots signed linebacker Tully Banta-Cain to a three-year contract on Friday. Banta-Cain, 29, rejoined the Patriots in 2009 after spending the previous two campaigns with San Francisco

<< United signs veteran midfielder Morsink
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United signed midfielder Kurt Morsink, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday. "We are pleased to be adding Kurt to our team," United General Manager Dave Kasper said. "He is a

<< Fixtures begin to pile up for Bordeaux
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Bordeaux and Montpellier meet up at the Chaban Delmas Stadium on Sunday they will do so with both teams level on 51 points at the top of the table, but with the defending champions having played

<< Milan and Roma square off in top-three clash
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serie A title hopefuls AC Milan and Roma will square off in the capital on Saturday in a game that features two of Italy's top three teams. Milan enters the game four points back of leaders Inter Milan, w

Red Bulls sign Estonian midfielder Lindpere >>
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York signed Estonian midfielder Joel Lindpere, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday. "Joel is an experienced midfielder who can play in many different positions," Red Bull New Yor

MLS, players' union to meet next week >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer and its players' union announced on Friday that talks would resume next week in Washington, D.C. to continue collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The two sides have also ag

Als' Trestman selected as CFL's top coach >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman has been selected as the Canadian Football League's coach of the year for the 2009 season. In his second year at the helm with Montreal, Trestman led the Alouet

Lions release CB Buchanon, DT Jackson >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions announced Friday that they have released cornerback Phillip Buchanon and defensive tackle Grady Jackson. Both veterans came to Detroit last offseason and started consistently in 2009 for t

Southern Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Constantine scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds, as Elon upended Davidson, 66-59, in first-round action of the Southern Conference Tournament. Chris Long had 15 points and four assists, while

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.