Well, it seems that if ye asketh of ye olde English Premier League, ye shall receiveth! I had only finished whinging about the predictability of the English Premier league a few days ago, when Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal all took hits in the EPL.

 

So, what has been the impact of the upsets on the table, the Twittersphere and the gossip landscape of the English Premier League? We find out ... as well as seeing what it might mean for your sports betting dollar.  

 

Chewing the Boot

We've so far been pretending that the English Premier League is above all that dirty scuttlebutt that dominates other sports. Of course we lie! Most soccer players have been trained to restrain their mouths, but there has been plenty of English Premier League gossip about for anybody that cares to listen:

• Steve Bruce, Sunderland's boss, says that Liverpool's goal was a 'joke'. Not one that was funny enough to laugh at though, apparently.
• Arsene Wenger's pursed lips were a delight to see, for those like myself who love a bit of competition! Great comedy value  ... much funnier than Liverpool's goal :-)
• Wayne Rooney's form is suffering in the wake of exposure of his extramarital dalliances ... though I do think that feeling sorry for him because of it is much like having sympathy for somebody with a hangover. Self-inflicted harm.

 

The Bookies' Boot

Apart from offering a few less cents for a Chelsea win, the bookies opinions haven't changed much ... despite the shock results for some clubs. Seem the likelihood of history repeating is simply too strong. Odds to win the English Premier League currently:

·         Arsenal FC: 5.50

·         Chelsea FC: 1.95        

·         Liverpool FC: 23.00

·         Manchester City: 15.00

·         Manchester United: 3.50

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00

 

The Official Table

Well, the table still looks pretty standard, but the jostling at the lower end (and the associated ego-deflation for Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United) has certainly made this week interesting! I've included the full table this week, so the effects of the upset games could be clearly seen.

All clubs have played 6 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 15 points

2.      Man Utd, 12 points

3.      Arsenal, 11 points

4.      Manchester City, 11 points (Redemption is theirs again!)

5.      Aston Villa, 10 points

6.      West Brom, 10 points

7.      Fulham, 8 points

8.      Tottenham, 8 points

9.      Blackburn, 8 points

10.  Newcastle, 7 points

11.  Sunderland, 7 points

12.  Bolton, 7 points

13.  Birmingham, 7 points

14.  Stoke City, 7 points

15.  Blackpool, 7 points

16.  Liverpool, 6 points

17.  Wolverhampton, 5 points

18.  Wigan, 5 points

19.  West Ham, 4 points

20.  Everton, 3 points

 

Twits and the Brits

The Brittersphere seems to have temporarily moved to Indonesia, with quite a few Premier League tweets coming from Asia's far South East, randomly! There has also been plenty of talk of the defeats ... mostly in advertisement form, but there are a few 'real' people talking on Twitter. Some captured below!

 

--- F_Ostick: Does defeat by West Brom prove Arsenal are not good enough to win the Premier League? http://tinyurl.com/2b5hwn7

--- mukeshkini: @k1rn no team is easy dude.. that shows to all of them what the standard of Premier League is..

--- sonjabean: The nice thing about taping an English Premier League match is that I don't have to worry about anyone telling me the score before I see it.               (Errrrrr .... that depends how long you wait to watch it, and whether you use the internet in the meantime!)

--- SharriStorzBHOC: All hail Man Utd! The only unbeaten team left in the Premier League! :D (Y)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're only a couple of weeks into the NFL regular season, and we've slipped back into the swing of it after such a short break like a comfy old pair of slippers ... or perhaps a newly fitted pair of shoulder pads! Today we start getting into the middle of the mousetrap and start shouting at the scrimmage for NFL regular season 2010.

 

 

 

Football Fantasies

The Superbowl is a long, long, long way away ... but we'll check out some of the early faves anyway ... at least then we can look back and say 'Ha! We were right/wrong/stupid/genius/ill in the head'. Here's what the bookies think of the NFL regular season teams this week:

 

To win the Superbowl:

New Orleans Saints: 9.00

Green Bay Packers: 9.00

Baltimore Ravens: 9.00

Indianapolis Colts: 11.00

New England Patriots: 11.00

 

To win the AFC:

Baltimore Ravens: 5.50

Indianapolis Colts: 6.00

New England Patriots: 6.50

San Diego Chargers: 7.50

 

To win the NFC:

New Orleans Saints: 4.50

Green Bay Packers: 4.50

Dallas Cowboys: 6.50

 

Gridiron Gossip

If there are two things that go hand in hand even more than sewing circles and gossip, it's sports and gossip! Here's the scuttlebutt for week 2 of the NFL regular season:

• The Jets were happy to see their first win of the season after being investigated for their treatment of a female reporter by the NFL last week. It was found to be unprofessional but not harassing, and owner Woody Johnson has made a public apology.
• Poor old Brett Favre is copping a bit of indirect flak for returning ... "He didn't expect it to be this hard", said the Associated Press :-)
• The AP have been less veiled in their opinion of the Pittsburgh Steelers ... "Mike Tomlin isn't sure who's going to play quarterback next for his Steelers. The way his defense is playing, it might not matter." I think somebody forgot to buy the AP reporter dinner when he was in town!
• The interplay between Peyton and Eli Manning has attracted plenty of attention. Although there are no signs of trouble in their paradisiacal relationship yet, everybody's waiting ...

 

Tweeters in T-Formation

Once you've sifted through all the advertising and general stupidity that topics like the NFL attract, there are some cute, random and very true thoughts about the NFL showing up in Twitter. Did we find any of them?!

--- Donovan_Varnell The NFL is crazy this year! The entire AFC west won today (yep even the Raiders) and the Vikings and Cowboys are 0 - 2 losing at home #NFL

--- DBrandonC Buck up Cowboys, it's game time dammit! #nuffsaid #NFL my rant is OVER!

--- hawk1987 RT @tiesto: I am so happy that the @nfl is here again..so many great games!!! Loving da bears doing so well and of course the saints!!

--- LonghornMatt_H RT @propain713: The best WR in the NFL plays for the Houston Texans. Hands Down.

Sigh ... the top of the Premier League table is starting to settle into it's old configuration, with Chelsea firmly up top on 15 points, Arsenal and Manchester United tied on 11 and Manchester City and Tottenham tied on 8. I propose an experiment ... switch a third of Arsenal's players, a third of Manchester United's and a third of Chelsea's players over to Blackpool, and see what happens. Would at least be entertaining!

 

 

 

 

Despite the predictability of the Premier League this week, there has certainly been quite a few interesting moments - we check them out here.

 

Brightest Booting Stars So Far

There are three or four teams propping up an entire English Premier League ... and it is sort of surprising to find that sometimes one or two players are propping up the entire team also! Here are some of the star players from within the star teams...

·         Theo Walcott: This Brit booting for Arsenal has scored 4 goals this season, offset by zero yellow and zero red cards.

·         Dimitar Berbatov: This Man U star has been designated goal scorer of the week across the Brittersphere, and has 3 goals and a single yellow card for the season

·         Didier Drogba: One of football's new big names currently has 4 goals for Chelsea

·         Florent Malouda: A much less feted Chelsea goal scorer, but just as prolific as Drogba! 4 goals, no cards.

 

Upcoming games

Manchester City will be facing off against Chelsea, in one of the bigger matches this week. Chelsea are favourites, but the bookies are definitely not discounting Man City, with odds of 3.32 to Chelsea's 2.12.

 

There might not be too many big names in the West Ham vs Tottenham Hotspur match, but it is set to be interesting nevertheless. Tottenham is tipped to win, with odds of 2.01, facing West Ham's 3.6.

 

 

The Official Table

It's all settling into its predictable place now ...

All clubs have played 5 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 15 points

2.      Arsenal, 11 points

3.      Man Utd, 11 points

4.      Manchester City, 8 points (Redemption is theirs!)

5.      Tottenham, 8 points (A stunning comeback from last week)

6.      Newcastle, 7 points

7.      Fulham, 7 points

8.      Aston Villa, 7 points

9.      Blackpool, 7 points

10.  West Brom, 7 points

 

Twits and the Brits

I'm still adoring the idea of the 'Brittersphere', so I'll continue using that title this week ... here is some of the best of the trash talking, hilarity and information from the most up-to-date 'news' site on the net :-)

 

--- MLBFanHouse: Lost 45 mins of Premier League Review to WPS. $#%#!!!!

--- IAMdailymessage: 1) Thought I might start following the English Premier League, taped the Man United v Liverpool game, think I've found my team, Man United.  

(A unique way to decide which sports team to follow, but certainly valid!)

--- followhan: Just realised that Liverpool is now on the 16th place on the Premier League, with huge debt-piling. How so fitting! LOL..  (Err ... easily amused, I suppose).

 

Given the Lucrativeness of having various aspects of AFL sponsored by Australia's big corporations, I was thinking of titling these AFL posts 'The PBL Sponsored AFL Blog', or perhaps 'The NewsLtd AFL Blog' and just seeing if either company felt like handing over any cash ...

 

Then came to my senses, of course :-). Today we look at the upcoming action for the AFL Grand Final, in the most dramatic and noisy end of the season.

 

 

 

The Odds

If you're looking for better odds for your team, for goodness' sake don't bet through the official AFL site! They've got the Pies sitting at 1.46, to St Kilda's 3.10. Here's the range of odds you'll find through Uwantabet:

 

Collingwood: 2.40 - 2.75

St. Kilda: 2.86 - 3.00

 

Grand at the G Preview

If you want to hear or watch the AFL Grand Final online, check out the official Match Centre (the Carlton Draught one, that is), on the AFL site. Here are some other fast facts we've been tackling  reporters to gather:

• Luke Ball's hamstring 'injury' is said to have been nothing more than a cramp, and he has been named by teammates at least, as a definite starter for Saturday
• Nick Del Santo and Jason Gram are also putting a brave face on and loading up on the (allowed) painkillers
• Mick Malthouse won’t have his starting list up until much later this week ... keeping the boys in black and white in suspense. His reasoning is that if any players turn out to be too badly injured to play, their replacements would be facing a rollercoaster that would sorely impact their performance.
•  St Kilda is widely seen to have 'the power of one' in their captain Nick Riewoldt. I wonder if that power of one will be enough to drag the whole team over the line?
• The Saints will be wearing their 'clash jumper' on Saturday, a mostly white jersey that aims to avoid confusion with the Pies' jerseys. I think they should be allowed to wear their normal colours... would certainly add an element of interest to the match!

 

The Twitter-oval

Guess it doesn't make much sense for Tweets about the AFL to come from the Twittersphere ... considering that one notable feature of the game is the non-spherical ball. So here's what the AFL Twitter-oval had to say for itself in week 3 of the finals ...

--- dablueroo @TripleM_NRL AFL will be the winner out of that crap ass game.

--- seaflea3 the human race ...well some of it....dissapoints me so much, we have so much potential...very sad. But then, there's AFL...YEAH !!!!!           (ROFL!)

--- daddyiwantapony I am going to an AFL Grand Final Party on Saturday. I have no idea what I am doing or who to pretend to back! This will be interesting...

 

By the way, the official AFL Twitter account is actually pretty good at answering tweets 9with genuine questions in them, at least!). Give them a try :-).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Premier League offered us a few very interesting games last week ... especially the win by Blackpool, one of the single worst placed clubs, odds-wise! What's the British Boot been kicking this week?

 

The Bookies’ Boot

The odds given for the overall winner of the English Premier League have shifted around a little - but mostly we're looking at the same six clubs in the running. Unfortunately Tottenham Hotspur's odds haven't improved since the van der Vaart transfer ... but that may just mean you make all the more on a freak Tottenham win!

·         Arsenal FC: 5.50

·         Chelsea FC: 2.00        

·         Liverpool FC: 21.00

·         Manchester City: 13.00 (Lengthened a little since the lofty 9.00 heights they reached last week!)

·         Manchester United: 3.50

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00 (No change after the transfer!)

 

Upcoming games

Aston Villa will be playing Stoke City very shortly, and it looks to be an interesting game, with Stoke City placed at 2.68 and Aston Villa at 3.01. After that, we'll be waiting a few more days for a top-up of that Premier League fix; make sure you catch Manchester United playing Liverpool FC, one of the busiest and noisiest upcoming games of the week.  Check out the full list, there are some goodlooking sure things to be seen....

 

The Official Table

There are a couple of striking differences between the bookies opinions and the official table of points so far. Are some clubs maxing out their mojo early? Here’s the top 12 clubs in the official Brits Booting Balls story so far:

All clubs have played 4 matches to date, apart from Aston Villa and Stoke City:

1.      Chelsea, 12 points

2.      Arsenal, 10 points

3.      Man Utd, 8 points

4.      Blackpool, 7 points (They're placed fourth, but you can still get odds of 10,001.00 for Blackpool to win the Premier League with some betting agencies!)

5.      Birmingham, 6 points

6.      Fulham, 6 points

7.      Aston Villa, 6 points (Yet to play for this week)

8.      Manchester City, 5 points (Bit of a fall from grace - but they are still well placed in the odds)

9.      Wolves, 5 points

10.  Sunderland, 5 points  

 

Twits and the Brits

The Brittersphere has come through for us this week, with some interesting facts and commentary!

 

--- InfostradaLive: Liverpool have won only 27% of their Premier League matches without Dirk Kuyt compared to 57% of their PL matches with the Dutchman.

--- Liverpool_stuff: #Liverpool Gary Neville admits Liverpool dislike, aims jibe at City – Barclays Premier League http://bit.ly/a534DA

 

 

 

 

 

We're a few weeks into the English Premier League (Brits booting balls ... and not always badly!), and the odds are telling us that someone other than the big three (Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U) might actually get up there this time! The table tells a different story, though – so who’s your punting dollar safest with?

 

The Bookies’ Boot

Despite being far from the bottom of the table, Blackpool FC have some record low odds ... they are sitting at 10,001 with bet365, Bluesquare and Victor Chandler! Other than that oddity, we’ll just look at some of the stronger contenders. It’s surprising to see more than four clubs with odds under 100, but then again it is early days...

·         Arsenal FC: 6.00

·         Chelsea FC: 2.20        

·         Liverpool FC: 26.00

·         Manchester City: 9.00 (Surprise!)

·         Manchester United: 3.25

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00 (But look for increases after Rafael van der Vaart’s transfer over from Real Madrid)

 

Upcoming games

We don’t have a batch of matches for another 9 days or so, and they’re mostly looking pretty one-sided  ... apart from a nailbiter between Wigan Athletic and Sunderland FC, where all 57 of the fans will be hanging off the edges of their seats ;-)  Check out the full match list– could be some good punting to be had!

 

The Official Table

There are a couple of striking differences between the bookies opinions and the official table of points so far. Are some clubs maxing out their mojo early? Here’s the top 12 clubs in the official Brits Booting Balls story so far:

All clubs have played 3 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 9 points

2.      Arsenal, 7 points

3.      Man Utd, 7 points

4.      Aston Villa, 6 points (Bookies odds between 126.00 and 501.00)

5.      Bolton, 5 points

6.      Birmingham, 5 points

7.      Wolverhampton, 5 points (Bookies odds: 7501.00)

8.      Newcastle, 4 points

9.      Man City, 4 points (The bookies strongest contender outside the big 4 is sitting at position number 9...)

10.  Sunderland, 4 points

11.  Tottenham, 4 points

12.  Blackpool, 4 points (Does that really deserve 10,001.00 odds?!)

 

Twits and the Brits

The Twittersphere has plenty to say about the Premier League ... we’ve siphoned off some of the most intelligible, original and meaningful here, along with an unexpected little bonus!

 

--- (HOT OFF THE TWEETPRESS!) JBruma: I can confirm that I have signed a new four year deal at Chelsea!

--- gfish3000: Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, wants to play soccer for Manchester United... http://yhoo.it/buEslp

--- OfficialFaceKIG: Man city's owner looks like a joker, the joke of it is they think they can win the premier league this season? GIGANTIC statement lol...

--- juventusoffside: EPL fans are angry folk. RT @cahiers_dusport: Ach, remind me to never Tweet about the Premier League again. Thanks. Not worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

For the 'other' 30 national soccer teams, it's all over. It has come down to a match between Don Juan and the Flying Dutchmen! Who will win? Everyone has an idea - today we preview the final match as well as checking out the last of the funny and fascinating World Cup reporting and Tweetage.

 

Which team has the craziest fans?

World Cup Finals preview: Spain  vs Netherlands

Spain:             1.95 - 2.11

Netherlands:    3.5 - 4.0

 

What history says:

In their past World Cup matches, Netherlands have a 4:3 edge over Spain, with 1 drawn match. However, Spain are the more prolific goalscorers, with a total of 12 to Netherland's 10. Netherlands are coming off a 24-match unbeaten streak, also.

 

What the Daily Mirror says:

Of the nine experts (although to be fair, one of those nine is an octopus) gathered by the Daily Mirror in England, eight of them say that Spain is going to win. Xavi, Iniesta and Villa are predicted to be the men of the match and possible goalscorers.

 

What Paul the Octopus says:

Paul the Octopus, housed in Oberhausen Aquarium in Germany, has picked Spain to win the World Cup. His deductive methods are unknown, but he communicates by eating mussels out of box labelled with the flags of countries about to play. He also predicted around 70% of Germany's results in the 2008 European Championship.

 

Reporter's Cup

• There will be a solar eclipse at the same time as the World Cup final. Unfortunately it will only be properly seen in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.
• The reporters who were saying (before the World Cup) that they expected no problems with violent altercations in South Africa are now busy gloating. Thankfully, nobody died, was kidnapped or seriously injured.  
• In the European Championship 2008, the Polish prime minister threatened to murder Howard Webb, the referee for this World Cup finals match fpor awarding a last minute penalty to Austria.

 

 

Tweeter's Cup

We've already got plenty of conjecture on who will win. Tpoday we just soak up the virtual, Twittified excitement!

 

--- ChrisEFrost: RT @TheOfficeSweep: Should be an exciting #worldcup final between #esp and #ned. Its certainly a final of 1sts! http://qck.ly/bo

-- melmelet: RT @HomerJSimpson: The vuvuzela is the world’s most annoying horn and Bart won’t stop playing it! I’ll kill the international spirit of peace! #worldcup

--- Age9126: note to self- take a nap BEFORE #worldcup final tomorrow

--- G7SEV: #WorldCup final tomorrow! Can.... Not.... Wait..... for the non football fans, you wouldn't understand... carry on.

 

 

 

 

Soon enough, when somebody mentions South Africa we will once again think of Nelson Mandela rather than football ... when a fly buzzes past our ear we won’t instantly reach for the remote control to turn down that horrible vuvuzela tune ... and in Australia, sports journalists will be reporting on AFL instead of the Socceroos once again.  So today we take a quick look back at the semi-finals and the match for third place, prolonging the excitement and sense of history a little longer.

 

Uruguay          2:3       Netherlands

There was a fantastic distribution of goal kickers as well as goals across the span of this match - the semi-finals atmosphere combined with netted ball after netted ball made it a real thriller! Sneijder, Robben and Van Brockhurst scored for the Netherlands, while Forlan and Pereira's two goals were definitely earned ... but not enough to get Uruguay to the finals.

 

Germany         0:1       Spain

This match was pretty empty until the 74^th minute, when Carles Puyol's single goal of the match tipped the balance in Spain's favour. This was a repeat of what happened to score Spain the European title over Germany two years ago ... I'm willing to bet Joachim Low specifically works a counter to this strategy into his own game plan next time around!

 

Uruguay          2:3       Germany

With only 8 minutes left, this goal-fest of a match was brought to a close by Sami Khedira. Mueller and Jansen also scored, and Cavani and Forlan worked hard for Uruguay ... but to no avail. 

 

Did You Know?

And I thought soccer was all about the glory! Wikipedia recently enlightened me that every team exiting the World Cup, at any stage, will actually get a pretty sizable payout. The distribution is as follows:

• $8 million – To each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams)
• $9 million – To each team exiting after the round of 16 (8 teams)
• $14 million – To each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams)
• $18 million – Fourth placed team
• $20 million – Third placed team
• $24 million – Runner up
• $30 million – Winner

All teams that don't make it past the group stage still get a consolation prize of $1 million.

 

 

Tweeter's Cup

Bless their twitty little typing fingers... apart from the ones that are still falsely claiming the vuvuzela was banned so that you will click on their links.

 

--- FredericoJota: Congratulations, Uruguay! #worldcup

--- EdwardMonton: As the World Cup comes to a close, keep the memories alive with Vuvuzela's Greatest Hits... http://twitpic.com/246pba #worldcup #vuvuzela

--- ninamania: RT @MrsStephenFry: FIFA #worldcup Joke 1: Question - What do you call an Englishman in the World Cup Final? Answer - Ref.

--- wisamarta: PETA urges people to free Paul, psychic octopus http://goo.gl/fb/8MUoz #worldcup

 

 

 

 

 

 

A melee, mixture and mashup of countries have become just four. We're into the semi-finals now, and it won’t be long until the World Cup is over. In countries like Australia and New Zealand, soccer will again be forgotten for the next 3 years and 10 months, and we'll have nothing like the passion and hilarity of the World Cup to savour. Enjoy it while it lasts ... and perhaps make a few betting dollars while you’re at it!

 

Mick Jagger learns that he 'can't always get what he wants' at the World Cup...

World Cup semi finals match: Spain  vs Germany

Spain:             2.5 - 2.66

Germany:        2.63 - 2.98

What a narrow margin! The statistics are slightly in favour of Germany, and in this World Cup it is difficult not to notice the plethora of '4's associated with Germany's name. But you never really know...

 

World Cup quarter finals match: Netherlands vs Uruguay

Netherlands:    1.62 - 1.68

Uruguay:         5.4 - 782

Uruguay and the Netherlands have met twice before, with one win to each of the teams and 2 goals in the tally for each country. However, it's pretty obvious what the bookies think of Uruguay, and given Netherlands' surprise victory over Brazil we do agree with the one-sided numbers.  

 

Reporter's Cup

The World Cup attracts some big names and big stories! Sometimes the sideshows are more entertaining than the main event ... here are a few tastes of the off-field action in South Africa.

•  The World Cup has produced 10 goals in the quarter finals - the most in any Cup since 1998!
• Colombian officials have found a World Cup replica fashioned out of cocaine, heading for Madrid in Spain. The drug was mixed with acetone to make it mouldable. Perhaps a birthday present for Maradona... !
• Carlos Tevez, an Argentinian player, has said that Germany and England have no 'top players' ... coming not long after this comment "I would never show disrespect to anyone".

 

And a bonus news item! Hot betting tip for the World Cup!

• Mick Jagger has acted as a bad luck charm for the last four teams he has supported in the World Cup ... first the US, then England, then Brazil, then Argentina. If you want to know who to bet on, just ask Mick Jagger who he's rooting for, then bet the opposite way!

 

Who'll win the 2010 World Cup?

Well, we have a much better idea of this than we did two weeks ago! Here are the current odds for the remaining four teams to win the World Cup 2010:

 

Germany         3.0 - 3.0

Holland           3.0 - 3.25

Spain               2.88 - 3.0

Uruguay          10.0 - 13.0

 

Tweeter's Cup

Gotta love the 'Twits' of the world:

 

--- vallll_93: #worldcup is about to end soon. Booooooo :o

--- circa75sydney: We wonder if all teams wore Gigo underwear they might fare better in the World Cup? #worldcup http://bit.ly/aB1SNi (expand)

--- ardiben: RT @FrankLampardUK: There have been some strange rumours recently. Let me just set things straight: The #ENG v #GER match will NOT be replayed.

--- beverlymee: Germany's a beast!!! Come on, Germany!! Make Spain cry for their mommies!! #WorldCup