Just a few quick notes from today. I haven’t been watching any traditional sports all day. Instead, I spent the day at the Calgary Stampede, the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’. There I was watching the rodeo and the chuckwagon races – like I did several times throughout the last 10 days. Today was the final day, and that meant that championships were given out in earnest. The rodeo gives away $900,000 in the six traditional events (calf roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, barrel racing, and bull riding for you city slickers) in less than an hour – exciting stuff. The chuckwagon races are a true and bizarre spectacle – one of those things that everyone should see at some point in their life. There is also a betting aspect, albeit a very informal one. There is no legal betting on the chuckwagon races, but virtually everyone there does betting of some time with those with them, and there are a few different ways to set up a very pleasing an potentially lucrative bit of action – friendly, but hopefully not too friendly. Calgary is sometimes a good place to live and sometimes not so much, but during the 10 days of the Stampede every July it shines.
Sports Betting Section
MADDUX'S WINNING PICKS
MADDUX'S LIVE ODDS
SITE FEATURES
Month: July 2009
I don’t understand where Manny’s head is at right now. He threw a tantrum yesterday after getting struck out and got himself chucked out of the game. He was in a bad mood all day and didn’t seem to understand why the New York crowd was booing his every move. What does he expect? It’s like the guy has no sense at all of what he did – he seems like he just got a free 50 day vacation. Idiot.
2010 is supposed to be the NBA offseason to watch because of all of the top notch free agents, but this year has been one of the most exciting and action-packed we have seen in a long, long time. 2010 will be hard-pressed to live up to this drama. The major contenders all see their time as now, and that has unleashed a major arms race at the top. Great stuff. Here are six collected thoughts and questions about what has transpired:
I just came back from being out and out of touch with the news all day to hear about what happened to Steve McNair. Needless to say I was shocked and more than a little saddened by it all. I became a fan of McNair very early in his career and in strange circumstances. For some strange reason, a game between Grambling and Alcorn State was shown on TV in 1992 – an odd occurrence, though one slightly more common when Eddie Robinson was around. The game was a thrill ride shootout and I couldn’t help but watch it despite knowing nothing about either team. On the final play of the game, the hobbling sophomore QB forAlcorn State, who was coming back from a leg injury, made a heroic dash for the end zone to score the winning TD. That was McNair, and I was hooked. The guy was incredible.
In the first section of this two-part blog on new NFL coaches, I considered five teams’ chances of making the post-season with a new head coach at the helm. Those five, the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, I concluded all had the opportunity to earn a shot at the Super Bowl. The final six, I believe, have either less of a chance or little to none of securing a post-season berth. Here they are.
There are 32 teams in the NFL and about 33% have new coaches! Head coaches tend to be tough guys to figure out—part disciplinarian, part guru, part psychologist and part military general—successful coaches can be contradictory enigmas. Although last season was all about the quarterback shift as rookie and vet signal callers changed the fates of various teams, this season is about massive shake ups is in the coaching ranks. Of course, it’s almost a cliché to say that an owner can’t fire an entire team so they simply fire the coach, creating a scapegoat. That being said, in this two-part blog I’ll take a look at each of the new coaches. First, I’ll start with the five who have the best shot at getting their team into the playoffs in their first at the helm season.
There’s a lot going on in the world today, so let’s touch on a bunch of it briefly:
Aroldis Chapman – This is the Cuban left handed pitching savant who defected from the Cuban national team while at a tournament in the Netherlands this week. The hype is huge on this guy – they are calling him the left-handed Stephen Strasburg. He seems to intend to come to the majors, and there will surely be a Dice-K-esque bidding war for his services. There are some strange elements to the story. First, he is being reported as being 21, yet when he pitched at the World Baseball Classic he was listed as 26. He also wasn’t particularly good against major league talent at the WBC – 5.68 ERA in almost seven innings. That’s obviously a small sample size and all, but it gives you reason to at least pause in the face of the hysteria.
Betting News
Online Sportsbooks
