NCAA College Football: Washington State vs. Oklahoma State

Posted by admin on September 3rd, 2010 | Comments Off

The Washington State Cougars will take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys to kick off the new season. This matchup looks like it heavily favors one side more than the other and the same can be said about the college football odds for both the teams.

Oklahoma State is a solid team in the NCAA most seasons. Last year was no exception. They managed to win 9 games last season while posting solid offensive and defensive numbers. They will be a big contender in the Big 12 this season as Texas tries to overcome the loss of quarterback Colt McCoy. It will be imperative that every team hoping to dethrone Texas starts off with a lot of noise.

Washington State had an absolutely awful season last year. They were truly the weak link in one of the top conferences in all of college football. They did not manage to win a single game within their conference in 2009. In fact, they only brought home one victory during the entire season, finishing with a record of 1-11.

To the credit of Washington State, they did have a tough schedule. While Oklahoma State only had to play 2 games against top 25 teams, the Cougars played 5. They dropped all 5 of those games and struggled throughout the season. The Cougars will need to have at least a solid showing against Oklahoma if they hope to reverse their fortune. They will be underdogs, but a close game will go a long way towards giving the team confidence.

This game will take place on Saturday September 4th. This will take place at 7 pm Eastern Time.

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Neymar cautioned by Menezes regarding Chelsea deal

Posted by admin on August 19th, 2010 | Comments Off

Neymar been cautioned by Brazil’s Coach Mano Menezes against joining Chelsea. The Coach says that, with Santos, the teenager will benefit from continuing his education.

The forward, who recently scored on his senior debut for the Brazilian national side, it is believed Chelsea have failed with a £24 million. However, to the value of £29.6 million, Neymar does have a release clause set in his contract.

Santos has threatened to report the Premier League club to FIFA for what they described as “harassment”. The whole process of Chelsea’s pursuit of the player has angered Santos. However, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck strenuously denied the charge.

Whether Neymar views a move to Stamford Bridgge as the correct step for his career or not, it is expected that he will decide this week, but at present, Menezes hopes the 18-year-old remains in his home country.

Menezes said, “All understand Neymar’s situation and what must be going on in his mind. However, thinking about Brazilian football, his remaining with Santos would be beneficial. The team is on top and it would very good for Neymar to say with them for a longer period.”

To sign Neymar, it is understood that Chelsea will redouble their efforts. The forward says he will take into account the view of his national boss. It also seems that he is interested in a move to the Premier League.

Neymar said, “I don’t know if I will stay or depart but I don’t wish to leave a championship team like Santos to be placed on the reserve team of Chelsea or any other foreign team. It would be better to stay. I will take into consideration Mano’s advice before making my decision.”

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NFL Season Preview: Indianapolis Colts

Posted by admin on August 5th, 2010 | Comments Off

The Indianapolis Colts were once again one of the best teams in the NFL in 2009 and look to bring similar success to the table in 2010. The Colts have been near the top of the league for years and it is no mystery why.

Football betting star, Peyton Manning is proving to be one of the greatest players to ever play in the NFL. Manning is a good enough player to carry the team through the ups and downs of the season.

Manning has not had a quarterback rating under 95 since 2002 and he has only had one year in his career under 84. That year was his rookie season. He has thrown for more than 4000 years in all but two seasons of his career and has never thrown for less than 26 touchdowns in a season. It is pretty clear what the Colts are going to get from Manning in 2010.

The Colts have always been great on offense. The question each year is whether or not their defense will be tough enough to go deep in the playoffs. One question that will come up is whether or not Dwight Freeney will be able to come back at full strength.

Many remember the issues that Freeney’s ankle had in the playoffs last year. Freeney is one of the best defensive players in the game when he is healthy and makes all of the difference for the Colts on defense. His health will be a key factor for the Colt’s success in 2010.

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South African team loses sponsor – Rugby

Posted by admin on July 25th, 2010 | Comments Off

Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team have lost its major sponsor.

At the end of 2010, Sasol Ltd announced Tuesday it is ending its sponsorship of South Africa’s World Cup winning rugby team. Sasol Ltd makes motor fuel from coal. This decision took place after the company could not come to terms on a new deal with the sport’s governing body.

For sports betting favorites, Springboks, the loss is a huge blow. The team won the 2006 Rugby World Cup, the 2009 Tri-Nations against Australia and New Zealand, and beat the British & Irish Lions 2-1 during last year’s test series, under Sasol’s sponsorship.

In November 2004, Sasol’s six-year deal replaced previous sponsor SABMiller Plc, which was valued at 150 million rand ($20 million). South Africa’s sevens rugby team and its ‘A’ and under-20 sides will be affected because of the loss of sponsorship.

Sasol’s Senior Group Executive, Lean Strauss, said, ““We’re very proud of our association with the Springboks and had certainly hoped our significantly increased offer would have found traction with the union.”

South African Rugby Union spokesman Andy Colquhoun said, “We didn’t meet on the valuation so that’s essentially where it broke down.”

For the 2011 season, as the governing body, SARU will now start looking for a new sponsor and it said in a separate statement, “in due course,” it will make an announcement,

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2010 British Open Championship: Ernie Els

Posted by admin on July 14th, 2010 | Comments Off

Ernie Els is one of the bigger names on the PGA Tour. For years he was seen as one of the top rivals to Tiger Woods and deserved the respect as he won 3 Major Championships during Tiger’s dominance of the sport. This includes his victory at the British Open in 2002. The British Open start Thursday, so let’s look at the success of Els at the tournament.

Out of all of the Major Championships this is certainly the tournament for Els. Even though we can look and say that Els has won 2 U.S. Opens, I believe that he has seen even more success at the British Open.

Els is a perennial contender for the Championship. In 1992 he started playing in the tournament and saw immediate success. He finished 5th and 6th in his first two years of the tournament and really set the tone for what type of golfer he would be in Major Championships.

He continued his success in 1996 where he finished in 2nd place and followed up with a top 10 finish in 1997. Although this represented a solid start for Els, he still had not reached his stride in his play at the British open.

In 2000 Els entered into that stride. He finished in 2nd place in 2000 and started a streak of 3 straight years within the top 3 golfers at the tournament. This included his victory in 2002. His success continued in 2004 with yet another second place finish. This made it 4 out of 5 years for Els with at least a top 3 finish at the British Open. His success has only continued as he has been in the top 10 of the tournament for 4 straight years entering 2010. Since 2000 Els has finished 8th or better 8 times. This includes 6 finishes of 4th or better in the tournament. As the British Open approaches Els will definitely be one of the golfers to watch.

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July 1 Recap: 2010 Wimbledon

Posted by admin on July 4th, 2010 | No Comments »

All eyes were on Centre Court, which featured both women’s semifinal matches, on July 1 of the 2010 Wimbledon. Because there were three surprise semifinalists, this was an unusual Thursday of Wimbledon’s second week. In fact, two of them were unseeded.

Between number 21 seed Russian Vera Zvonareva and unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, was the first semifinal match. Pironkova got off to a great start and in 32 minutes, she claimed the first set 6-3. The Russian had all of the momentum on her side to start off the third set, which she won easily 6-2. A former top 10 player, Zvonareva, ultimately used her experience to win the match against Pironkova, who has never been past the second round at a grand slam. Zvonareva will now appear in her first ever Grand Slam final.

Between Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, the second semifinal match was held. The young Czech, unseeded and only 20 years old had nothing to lose in her best ever Grand Slam performance. Meanwhile, all of the pressure was on the defending champion, Serena. The match was very competitive and closer than expected, for a set and a half. Serena won the first set 7-6(5), which last for about an hour. The left handed Kvitova really went toe-to-toe with Serena, for most of the match. However, at 2-2 in the second set, Serena took control of the match and eventually won it 6-2. Serena was very intense and took plenty of time between every point, throughout the entire match. Serena is now seeking to win her fourth career Wimbledon championship.

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UFC 116: Heavyweight bout:  Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

Posted by admin on June 30th, 2010 | Comments Off

Jon Madsen and Karlos Vemola will fight each other at the upcoming UFC 116 event in Las Vegas.

This fight will carry a lot of hype around it as it approaches. Neither of these two fighters has lost a fight in their career and they will have the opportunity to hold ground as they face off on July 3rd.

Vemola, UFC betting odds favorite, will be making his UFC debut after spending all of his time in England. To this point in his career, Vemola has never let a match even go to the 2nd round up to this point in his career. He has gone 7-0 and has won those matches with three knockouts and four submissions in the first round.

Madsen is 5-0 to this point in his career and will be taking part in the 3rd UFC match of his career. He has not shown the same ability to win matches by knockout or submission to this point as his two UFC victories have come by decision. This being said, it may not be a bad thing that Madsen has not dominated his opponents early as he takes the mat against Vemola.

It is unclear how Vemola will fare if a match goes the distance as he has never been tested to this point. If Madsen can keep the match going to the 2nd and 3rd round, he may hold the advantage over Vemola as he has gone the distance before. Either way, this should be a good one as these two undefeated fighters square off at the MGM Grand.

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NCAA Sanctions imposed against USC: NCAA College Football

Posted by admin on June 17th, 2010 | Comments Off

On USC for its dealings with now New Orleans Saints running back, Reggie Bush, the NCAA recently has imposed sanctions. By the NCAA, Bush was cited as having received a vehicle, limousine services, cash, hotels and airline tickets, furniture, appliances, and free rent while playing for USC.

By the NCAA, these are some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed. The sanctions include four year of probation and public reprimand, beginning June 10, 2010 and ending June 9, 2014. The university will also face post-season bans for the 2009 and 2010 men’s basketball program and post-season bans for the 2010 and 2011 football program.

For the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the university must also relinquish all wins from football, all wins from men’s basketball for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and all wins from women’s tennis from November 2006 to May 2009. The 2008 NCAA tournament was also included, the relinquishment of the men’s basketball wins. Therefore, the university must also give back $206,200 it received for participating in the 2008 tournament.

The sanctions also include a loss of 10 scholarships for football for the next three years and a loss of 1 men’s basketball scholarship for the next two years and also include reductions to the number of NCAA scholarships the university will receive. The numbers of days, the school is allowed to recruit for men’s basketball has also been reduced. They will lose 20 days, taking them down to 110 recruiting days for the next season.

A few other various penalties include a one year show-cause penalty on assistant coach Todd McNair. Reggie Bush, O.J. Mayo, and Rodney Guillory, a booster, must disassociate themselves from the NCAA, three men’s basketball recruits have been released from the letters of intent they signed and a $5,000 fine on the university. Finally, prohibitions on all non-university personnel have been given, on much of the involvement they are allowed with the men’s basketball and football teams, including no access to team practices or to sidelines during games.

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The APBA Gold Cup hydroplane race gets underway

Posted by admin on May 29th, 2010 | Comments Off

On the Detroit River, the APBA Gold Cup hydroplane race is finally a go after sponsors and participants alike feared that it would be canceled. The Gold Cup race, bet on sports favorite game, has been plagued by financial trouble and is one of the most prestigious of all motor sports. The Grosse Point Yacht club and the Detroit area business community has continued to donate and raise funds for this historic event and it has been announced that the race would proceed.

The American Power Boat Association was founded and a year later the first race was run on the Hudson River, it was called the Gold Cup Challenge and was won by a 59 foot boat and an average speed of just 24 miles per hour, in 1903. For many years the previous winners boat club hosted the event and the venue changed. In the 1920s the race was switched and Detroit became the home for the prestigious event.

The H1 unlimited hydroplanes can attain speeds in excess of 200 mile per hour, weigh just under seven thousand pounds and are powered, primarily, by turbine engines that produce up to 3000 hp. Including carbon fiber, resin laminate, fiberglass and honeycomb aluminum, the hulls are constructed of modern composite materials.

By as Bill Muncey, Ron Musson and Dave Villwock, over the years these boats have been piloted in such notable boats as Miss Bardahl, Atlas Van Lines and Miss Budweiser.

On July 9 – 11, the 2010 event will be held.

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Cincinnati Reds – History – MLB

Posted by admin on May 19th, 2010 | Comments Off

As charter member of the American Association (AA) in 1882, the Cincinnati Reds began play. Then they were known as the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

The first team fully encompassed of pros in 1866, the Red Stockings was formed.

The Cincinnati Reds as we know them now were the third team to play in Cincinnati as the Red Stockings. A second Red Stockings team in 1880 was a charter member of the NL but it was expelled. In the American Association, the third Cincinnati Red Stockings team played its first eight years.

The Reds in 1919 won their first NL pennant. In 1919 World Series, the infamous series, they defeated the Chicago White Sox and increased their MLB odds by notches.

When it was revealed that purposely the White Sox had thrown the World Series in a gambling scheme, it dulled the excitement over the 1919 World Series to an extent.

They captured another NL pennant after 20 years and another World Series after 21 years. As NL Champions, Cincinnati repeated it in 1940.

The nickname “Redlegs” was adopted by Cincinanati in 1953 and remained the same until 1958 when they back to being the Reds.

After winning the 1940 World Series, in franchise history (35 years), the Reds, MLB lines star, would go on their longest World Series drought.

The Cincinnati Reds during the 70’s, came the best stretch, when they were known as “The Big Red Machine.”

The NL Pennant was won again in 1972 but in an exciting seven-game series, they lost to the Oakland Athletics.

The years 1975 and 1976, with back-to-back World Series wins, is regarded as the best for the Big Red Machine.

Red Sox Carlton Fisk’s famous 12th inning shot made the 1975 World Series memorable one, when the 12th inning shot hit the foul pole that forced a game 7. Cincinnati, in 1976, won on an RBI single by second baseman Joe Morgan in game 7.

The unheralded Reds surprised the major leagues by leading the NL from wire-to-wire, under the new manager Lou Piniella in 1990. The franchise got their fifth World Series b them.

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