The St. Louis Rams are looking at another dreadful season in 09′. They are one of the worst teams in the NFL – just a few short years ago the Rams were one of the most exciting teams in the history of the league.
The Rams hit rock bottom in 08′ with a record of 2-14 — worse then the 07′ season when they went 3-13. The last winning season for the Rams was in 03′, they went 12-4 winning the NFC West division. If it wasn’t for the Detroit Lions, Oakland raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, the Rams would be the worst franchise of the last 5 years.
The St. Louis fans are good fans that will support a team – they don’t deserve the product that is being produced on the field. I can only imagine what it would be like, but thankfully I’m not a Rams fan.
While nearly winning, the fact that the team only scored 7 points doesn’t bode well for the Rams’ offense. Unfortunately for Steven Jackson, he gets no help.
Marc Bulger has a few good seasons with the Rams – in 06′ Bulger threw for over 4,000 yards and 24 touchdown passes with only 8 interceptions. The last two seasons for Bulger have been less then stellar with more interceptions then touchdown passes.
It is doubtful the Rams will go winless like the Detroit Lions “accomplished” in 08′ – the Rams are not looking at many wins either. It’s hard to find bright spots with the Rams. The only player that the Rams can be proud is RB Stephen Jackson – Jackson has carried the Rams the last few seasons – a running back alone doesn’t win football games.
The NFL has had fast turn arounds before – many feel this isn’t possible with the Rams. The Dolphins in 07′ went 1-15, 08′ the Dolphins went 11-5. Whether that was a fluke or not the turn around was accomplished.
With nothing to lose, the Rams should draft a top quarterback in 2010, as their future may hinge on this position.
Get involved in some more great conversations on the Rams forums at RootZoo Sports, the best sport forumss online
Donovan McNabb is the face of the Philadelphia Eagles. The storied veteran is now in his 30s, but he’s nearly as effective as he’s ever been. With Brett Favre still playing, it shows that even on the wrong side of 30, QBs can still be effective.
Vick could be a distraction and not worth the trouble. Until Vick does something on the field he isn’t worth talking about. I think he has potential to get back to a stud QB, but it’s going to take time and a lot of hard work.
The Eagles have been one of the most successful NFL franchises in the last decade and consistently make the playoffs. With McNabb’s injury Kevin Kolb has been excellent in both of his starts throwing over 300 yards in each game.
The benching of McNabb was the turning point of the 08′ season and gave the Eagles the spark they needed. The eventually lost in the playoffs but the optimism to advance further in the playoffs in 09′ is there.
The Eagles have a good running game with Brain Westbrook and LeSean McCoy with average receivers. The Eagles never had a really number one receiver since Terrell Owens, that didn’t end well as we all know.
New Orleans won easily by a score of 48-22. The Eagles are now 1-1 in a very competitive division, where every win will matter.
The Eagles are contenders to win the NFC East and possibly the NFC conference. Many believe Michael Vick will not be a major factor in the success in the Eagles – who will be is McNabb and how healthy he can stay during the course of the season.
The team should be lucky to have such an opponent in week 3, for a game they couldn’t win would present serious challenges down the road. Will we see more of Michael Vick or will they continue with Kolb? I’d imagine Kolb continues as Vick’s probably still a bit rusty.
For more Eagles talk, head on over to the Philadelphia Eagles forums and chat on the best football forum online, all at RootZoo Sports.
The NY Yankees are the 2009 MLB champions. Having beaten the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6, they denied the defending champions of another title.
I live in New York, and while I’m a fan of the Mets, I do happen to root for my city any time my team isn’t in the postseason (and that seems to be quite often).
When you have the biggest payroll in baseball, one could say that a World Series win should be expected. The Yankees went on a spending spree during the off season, adding some huge names to the mix.
Hank Steinbrenner made some bold moves for a team that had just spent hundreds of millions on dollars on the development of a brand new stadium. Everyone in New York was ready for another victory.
Amazingly, some of the original player from the championship Yankees teams were still in New York. Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, Rivera, and others patiently waited for another shot.
Their newly acquired players played at the level that many had expected of them. CC Sabathia pitched in vintage form through most of the year, getting better when it counted most. Andy Pettitte and AJ Burnett were very reliable, especially in the playoffs. Mark Teixeira was the best home run hitter in the American League.
And in a surprising twist Alex Rodriguez was one of the Yankees’ most clutch players in the postseason. A player constantly criticized for failing to contribute when it mattered finally came through for his team.
Many doubted them through the course of the season and thought they would flop in the playoffs. Others thought the Phillies were simply too strong. In the end, they did what they had set out to do.
Congratulations to the Yankees on a magnificent 2009 season. You undoubtedly earned what you got.
This writer also writes about berber carpet prices and carpet cleaning prices.
The San Diego Chargers are one of the most talented teams in the NFL that has yet to win a Super Bowl. They have all the right pieces in place but have yet to get over the hump.
The Chargers have perhaps the easiest division to win, the AFC West – with the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos there are no serious threats at all to challenge for the division title. Anything less than a Super Bowl appearance will be a disappointment for the franchise.
Starting with Philip Rivers, who is coming off of a career year that saw him breakout in 2008, the passing game has been great, thanks to Vincent Jackson at wide receiver and Antonio Gates, one of the best tight ends in football.
The defense hasn’t lived up to their potential just yet though. Things could turn around and in order for the Chargers to have a big year, it must happen soon.
After almost losing to the Raiders during their opening game, the San Diego Chargers came from behind in a dramatic fashion, sniping the game from the Raiders. This was a game that the Chargers were expected to win by and large, and they almost let it slip.
Turner’s career record is under .500 and if he can’t lead the Chargers to a strong playoff run with the talent the Chargers have, he might be looking at the wanted ads at the end of the season.
The AFC is extremely difficult to win this year – Baltimore Ravens have an offense for the first time, the Indianapolis Colts have Peyton Manning and always a threat, the New York Jets are improved with a top-notch defense, the New England Patriots have a healthy Tom Brady again, and the Pittsburgh Steelers should be a contender.
I do believe their offense is powerful, but not enough to make up for the weak defense. For this team to compete and live up to their expectations, the defense needs to improve immediately.
Come join the fun at RootZoo Sports and discuss the latest Chargers news on their San Diego Chargers forums. Make sure to check out the latest NFL polls as well.
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The Minnesota Vikings are one of the favorites in the NFC to represent the conference in the Super Bowl. This is even truer now that Brett Favre is the Vikings quarterback.
All that season to be a distant memory because the Vikings are off to a fast start with Favre playing very well. If Favre can stay healthy for all 16 regular season games and the playoffs the Vikings have a great chance at becoming Super Bowl champions.
Through two weeks of the NFL season, the Vikings are really looking good. Of course, one could argue that their two wins both came against weak teams. Even so, they have a chemistry of champions already.
Favre isn’t the only man who needs to play his best for the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, Adrian Peterson will have to have a career year and play like a man possessed. Peterson’s role will be important as the season moves into the colder months, granted the Vikings play in a dome but traveling to Green Bay and Chicago in the winter isn’t fun.
With the NFC North being the competitive division that it is – winning the NFC North won’t be a cake walk. The Chicago Bears are much improved from a season ago despite the loss of Brian Urlacher and the Green Bay Packers will give the Vikings a challenge all season long.
Adrian Peterson looks like the best running back in the NFL, and more importantly, Brett Favre is playing efficient football at the quarterback position. Jared Allen’s also stepping it up and looks like the best defensive end in the league.
More than efficient, in fact. Favre has completed 37 of 48 passes (77.1 percent), and has thrown 3 TDs without throwing a single interception through the first two weeks of football. This gives Favre a QB rating of 110.2.
The Minnesota Vikings hated Bret Favre but he can be their hero if he manages to help them win a Super Bowl come February. He’s off to a very strong start and it doesn’t seem like he’s hated in Minnesota anymore.
Discuss the latest on the Vikings at RootZoo’s Minnesota Vikings forum and be sure to play their daily sports futures.
There’s not much ‘middle ground’ when it comes to the desirability of betting NFL preseason games. The overly conservative handicappers suggest that its a poor wagering opportunity, while the ‘boiler room’ sports touts try to suggest that short of a fixed game there’s no more sure thing than preseason football. There’s a degree of truth in both views. Handicapping preseason NFL football is a unique discipline unto itself, but with knowledge and caution it can be a profitable endeavor.
First, let’s examine the case against preseason NFL wagering. Clearly the biggest argument against it is the simple fact that the games don’t count. Though spots will exist during regular season games when the motivation and preparation of individual teams may vary, in theory both teams want to win. That’s not always the case in preseason football, since different coaches have different goals. Some might want to just evaluate their personnel, others might want to establish a winning attitude, and all coaches want to keep their stars from getting injured. Factor in all of the variables and conflicting agendas, the preseason naysayer would argue, and there are just too many unknowns to consider taking a financial position on.
The preseason NFL betting enthusiast would suggest, however, that it is the uncertainty that characterizes these games that makes for such a strong wagering opportunity. For example, in a matchup between a championship level team and a losing team you often see strongly divergent approaches to the game. Successful teams have more to worry about in terms of player injuries, fewer areas in which they need to evaluate talent, and more continuity in the areas of coaching and team chemistry. They often view preseason games as a chore, and have little interest in their outcome as long as they keep their superstars healthy.
NFL ‘doormats’, meanwhile, have a markedly different agenda to their more successful counterparts. They’ve often got heated competition for starting positions or key back up roles. They’ve often got new coaching staffs that players want to impress. Most significantly, they’re in great need of establishing a winning attitude. A win against an elite team in a ‘meaningless’ preseason game often has a much greater value to this type of team than to a playoff contender.
Even teams that put a low priority on preseason games don’t want to lose them all. For this reason, a longterm winning situation has been to bet on teams that lose their first two preseason games outright. Over the past twenty years, 0-2 teams in this spot have produced a winning percentage right around 60%.
Perhaps nothing determines a team’s approach to the preseason more than the philosophy of the head coach. Some coaches simply hate to lose anytime they line ‘em up to play football, and as a result their teams are usually good preseason bets. Bill Parcells was famous for the preseason focus of his teams. Not surprisingly, many who worked with Parcells earlier in their careers are now carving out their own records of preseason success. This sort of dominance isn’t lost on the linesmaker and a coach like the Giants’ Tom Coughlin (a former Parcells assistant) will have his ATS success will definitely been factored into the pointspread. Still, a motivated team that wants to win is always worthy of consideration.
The smart preseason handicapper makes use of the Internet, and more specifically uses it to follow the local sports media of NFL teams. During NFL preseasons, teams’ beat writers are anxious to write stories and need to fill articles but have little in the way of “real” news to write about. As a result, a handicapper can frequently find valuable details like a coach’s goals for the game, playing time for key players, and specific strategies that will be implemented. Occasionally, coaches will come out and say that they’re more interested in evaluating certain players for certain positions than they are in the outcome of the game. A thorough evaluation of this type of media coverage can often produce not only teams to play “on”, but teams with priorities other than winning to play “against”.
In closing, the best advice is to not be afraid of wagering on preseason football, but to not get too excited about it either. It’s a good chance to grind out a small profit, but definitely not the moneymaking opportunity of a lifetime. There will be plenty of other”and better”football wagering opportunities down the road. Discipline and self-control is always in your best interest when betting on sports, and that certainly is the case in the preseason NFL.
Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer specializing in casino gambling, fine dining and sports betting. He has appeared on a number of TV and radio programs offering strategies for successful NFL football betting. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet llama. He is currently writing a biography of former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon.
The Indianapolis Colts came into the 2009 season with high expectations. Always a competitive team, anything short of a Super Bowl may be seen as a disappointment in their minds.
The Colts travel to Miami to face the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. The Dolphins, winners of the AFC East in 2008, opened up their season on a sour note with a loss in Atlanta to the Falcons and will look to rebound from their week 1 loss.
The Colts are loaded on offense with WR Reggie Wayne, WR Pierre Garcon, WR Anthony Gonzalez, TE Dallas Clark, RB Joseph Addai, RB Donald Brown and of course QB Peyton Manning.
While Joseph Addai had a down year in 08′, many expect him to regain his form from 07′ and be a major contributor this season. Rookie RB Donald Brown should be able to help Addai get some breathing time during games.
Peyton Manning looked great during the first week of the NFL season, there’s no doubt about that. He connected with Reggie Wayne like they did in 2007, and made use of the rest of his receivers too. However, Anthony Gonzalez, the team’s number two wide receiver, was forced out of the game with injury and will probably miss the remainder of the year as a result. Since the team no longer has Marvin Harrison, this is ample cause for concern.
This is a tough loss for a Colts team that is suddenly not too deep at the wide receiver position for the first time in several years.
Additionally, the effectiveness of Joseph Addai still comes under question after he followed up a great 2007 season with a disappointing 2008 campaign that saw him falling short of expectations and struggling.
The Monday night game at Miami is a must win for the Indianapolis Colts. Expect Manning to rise to the occasion, that’s usually what he does!
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“Given to Monsieur and Madame four peters, two forms, value eight and a half moutons, where with to buy a pack of cards” – so reads an entry dated May–,-79 in the account books of Joanna, Duchess of Brabant. It takes a while to familiarize a novice’s awkward fingers with what must be one of the most popular and widely known (through film and fiction if not through real life) modern online and high-tech casino games. And in the giddy atmosphere of first live games one may never realize that the glossy polygons – an as yet unruly freak-show of royal Siamese twins – have not in fact always been as they seem to have always been since forever, since you first saw a dog-eared pack on your grandma’s table.
The very first playing cards seem to have originated in Central Asia. The first known reference to cards is a 10th or 11th century record of paper dominoes, printed to represent all of the 21 combinations of a pair of dice, used in other games in China. The earliest found artifacts come from 9th century China. Scholars associate the first straight-sheet paper cards with the first use of straight writing paper as opposed to paper rolls (being one of the many ancient Chinese inventions so obvious now to any sane modern) and with the earliest book printing.
In quite modern form, playing cards were likely introduced in the late–th century into Europe by Egyptian Mamelukes. Consisting of 52 cards, four suits (polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups), and three court cards which depicted abstracting design rather than persons, this was the typical Mameluke deck. Only wealthy Europeans could, at the time, afford the hand-made cards. Around–00 the technique of applying woodcuts (used until then to decorate fabric) to paper and mass production followed suit. There are records of professional card makers in the period between–18 and–50. Currently, one of the most flourishing world-wide industries is card production.
In the 15th century the number and style of suits varied; some decks had five suits with hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns which were standard suits in Germany. These are still used today for a distinctive set of card games in Southern Germany. Besides the standard deck, I remember the German suits from my childhood. Because of their relative pictorial richness, I preferred these, particularly the golden nut and greenish cupules of the acorn suit. Perhaps a gift imported into Asia, Kazakhstan from German relatives.
If the kings were the highest card in the suit in early games, by the–th century the “Ace” (stemming from the Latin for the lowest unit of currency, as) began to acquire the ability to turn highest card, leaving the Two as lowest. This was an especially popular mode during the French Revolution when it was vital that the lower classes rise above royalty. A revolutionary would likewise disdain to play cards with Kings and Queens, preferring the innovative design of Liberties, Equalities, and Fraternities, but the classic design returned with the coming of Napoleon to power.
In the’th century a reversible double image in court cards was introduced. Although the earliest designs were America, a French card maker of the late’th century is attributed the invention. The French government prohibited the idea. To prevent players from reversing their court cards during a session was the purpose, as this would reveal their hands to the opponents even the non-observant ones.
The author has played poker full time since 2005 and makes the majority of his income from online poker. He currently plays poker online and gets RakeBack at Absolute Poker.
2009 in baseball was definitely the year of the pitcher. While it looks like Zack Greinke should definitely win the Cy Young award in the American League, things are much closer in the National League, leaving many to speculate about a very interesting race.
While some great pitching was pretty commonplace throughout the entire National League, the race really boils down to two pitchers. Guys like Matt Cain, Adam Wainwright, Jair Jurrjens, Johan Santana, Wandy Rodriguez, and others were absolutely great this season, with many of them having career years.
At the end of the day though, the best pitching was hands down performed by Tim Lincecum, the young hurler with the San Francisco Giants, and Chris Carpenter, the veteran ace pitcher in St. Louis who came back from a two year hiatus that saw him sidelined with injury.
However, there’s a lot more to what both of these aces accomplished than just some incredible stats. Sometimes, intangible factors like these may factor into determining who’s more worthy of an award. That may very well have to be the case this year.
As far as Lincecum is concerned, he was magnificent in 2009. A 15-7 record, a 2.48 ERA, and 261 strikeouts (best in the league) in 225.1 innings pitched were all phenomenal. He was largely responsible for San Francisco’s first winning season in years.
How about Carpenter though? Having missed two seasons in a row, he came back and was better than ever. With an NL best 2.24 earned run average, and NL best 1.01 WHIP, and a 17-4 win-loss record, Carpenter was as good as it gets.
Who deserves it though? Well, that’s all up to the voters. I would give Lincecum a three in five chance of winning it, but I could really see it going either way considering the dramatics of Carpenter’s performance.
Read more articles by this writer about things like mobile home roof repair and roof leakage repair.
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The beginning of online poker not so many years ago spawned an interesting poker question. What is better, online poker or live brick and mortar table games? While the two generally have the same or similar rules and structure, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to each form. So to answer our question…. It depends.
Online poker obviously has the advantage of speed. Since the dealing is done digitally, there is no time wasted shuffling, dealing, collecting cards, or anything else that the dealer would normally spend time doing. You also save a lot of time by having the pot automatically counted at all times and the rake is taken out automatically. When you add in the built in clock that most sites have for players to act in time, you will get 2 to 3 times the amount of hands per hour or more by playing online. If you also take into account that you are able to play up to 8 tables or more simultaneously, you could well end up playing up to 600 hands per hour or more. This is roughly 20 times the amount of hands that you might play in a live ring game. More hands equals more money for the winning player right? Again, the answer is maybe.
Playing live poker has its advantages too. Poker is not all about the quantity of hands that you play. Live poker generally has much weaker opponents than similar levels online. You get a lot of casual players who just happen to give poker a try since they’re already in the casino. You will also get players who are unaware of what hand beats what. These players are just asking you to take their money. Soft players lead to soft games. Ive played in 20/40 limit holdem games in the casino that were much softer than 1/2 games online. These stakes are 20 times that of the 1/2 online game that I mentioned, and you should be able to make a lot of money per hand in these games. So for the winning poker player we would assume that higher stakes means more money to win right? Maybe and maybe not.
The financial advantages to online poker and live poker are different and will be seen differently by different players. But there are other factors that can help us decide if online poker or live brick and mortar games are best for us. Live poker has a social element to it that online games just don’t have. If you want to get out of the house, have some conversation, and possibly sip on a cocktail, than live poker may be much more rewarding for you. Online poker, while lacking in the social aspects, has its own unique advantages. You are able to play anytime from anywhere that you can connect to the internet. You can play in your underwear if you like(if that is advantageous in your opinion). The bottom line is that it’s convenient, fast, and allows you to take advantage of other tools like rakeback, poker software, poker bonuses, and all that good stuff. If you’re looking for convenience, nothing compares to online poker. If its the money your after though, online poker probably affords you more opportunities to pad your bankroll.
So what did we learn from this little discussion? Neither online poker or live poker games are definitively better. It all depends on what you aim to achieve at the poker tables.
The author is a successful limit cash game player and has played poker full time since 2005. He currently plays poker and receives Rakeback at Cake Poker.