<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had some important dates in my life and here are a few calendar items you\u2019ll want to note in your date book, Blackberry or computer. At least, I think you will.<\/p>\n
January 2<\/em><\/strong>4: It\u2019s fight night on HBO with the main event featuring Antonio Margarito against Shane Mosley, The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds and it is Mosely\u2019s attempt to take Margarito\u2019s WBA welterweight title. Mosely beat De La Hoya in Las Vegas in 2003 but in his victory and taking of the title from De La Hoya accusations were raised concerning Mosely\u2019s use of steroids. Mosely later lost the crown to Miguel Cotto in November 2007 and Margarito beat Cotto in July 2008 to become the welterweight champ. There\u2019s a lot of press behind and around this fight as Mosely tries to prove that he can be an untainted champion.<\/p>\n January 25<\/strong><\/em>: It is the Match des \u00c9toiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey<\/em> better known in the United States as the National Hockey League All-Star Game. The Montreal Canadiens will host the contest. They were chosen because it is the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the team\u2019s founding. This game usually features a whole lot of goal scoring. The average number of goals scored in each of the last six games is 16! That\u2019s 16 per All-Star game! No, it is not a great night for goaltenders. Next year, there will be no NHL All-Star game due to the fact that the XXI Winter Olympic Games will be going on in Vancouver. So catch this classic contest on Versus TV.<\/span><\/p>\n February 1<\/em><\/strong>: Okay, you\u2019re going to say, \u201cOf course I know what that is! It\u2019s Super Sunday!\u201d Okay, you\u2019re partly right. It is the day when all the hype is hyped out and the Pittsburgh Steelers will finally meet the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa, Florida. But haven\u2019t you heard the BIG news? It is the first Super Bowl appearance for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Give me a break! I\u2019m loading up on wings, nachos and beer and watching Cartoon Network when those guys are on. Why can\u2019t the Super Bowl be about the Super Bowl?<\/p>\n February7<\/em><\/strong>: It\u2019s the start of NASCAR\u2019s 2009 Sprint Cup Series, which will run through to November 22. It all starts at Daytona with the Budweiser Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway and it will end in Miami at the Homestead-Miami Speedway after the best of the best duel it out week after week at raceways across America. NASCAR is the most popular spectator sport in America, and it\u2019s worth taking a look at if you\u2019re into wagering. (And if you\u2019re not, then why are you reading this?) By the way, Daytona also hosts the Gatorade Duel on February 12 and the famous Daytona 500 on February 15. There are 41 events in the Sprint Cup Series.<\/p>\n February 25<\/em><\/strong>: That\u2019s opening day in MLB\u2019s Grapefruit League. Scheduled games include the New York Mets versus the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston College Eagles visiting the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves against the Detroit Tigers. Can you feel it? Spring is less than a month away, baby! Or at least spring training is.<\/p>\n March 1<\/em><\/strong>: That\u2019s a big day in NCAA Big East basketball. That\u2019s when Marquette plays Louisville. The way things are shaping up in the Big East that could be a huge game as it\u2019s played with less than a week to go in the regular season. Presently, the Louisville Cardinals are 5-0 in the conference and the Marquette Golden Eagles are right behind them at 4- 0. Or course, depending on how things go up to that point, the February 25 meeting between UConn (5- 1) and Marquette is calendar worthy as is the February 2 contest between the Huskies and Cardinals. Pittsburgh (5- 1), which has already lost a close one to Louisville, plays Connecticut on February 16 and Marquette on March 4. There\u2019s a lot riding on all of those games. How do you spell possible first seed in the NCAA Tournament?<\/p>\n March 15<\/em><\/strong>: Yes, this is the Ides of March<\/em> when Julius Caesar met his demise. This year, it is also the date of Selection Sunday, which is when the 65 teams that will appear in the NCAA Tournament are announced. The tournament starts on March 17 and goes until April 6 when the National Champions are chosen. The Final Four will be played this year in Motown, which is also known as Detroit. It is a great time for college basketball, for sports fans and for bettors.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve had some important dates in my life and here are a few calendar items you\u2019ll want to note in your date book, Blackberry or computer. At least, I think you will. January 24: It\u2019s fight night on HBO with the main event featuring Antonio Margarito against Shane Mosley, The fight is scheduled for 12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[25,636,30,3,637,599],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-handicapping","tag-mlb","tag-nascar","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-sprint-cup-series","tag-super-bowl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1183,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}