March 27th, 2009 | 
Author: What the sportsbooks and bookmakers did was to produce a point spread, to make the two squads equally appealing in the eyes of wagerers.
Posted in bookmakers, sports wagerers, sportsbooks, wager, wagering, wagering on football | 
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Exotic and beautiful places like the Bahamas, Barbados in the Caribbean, Antigua in Guatemala, and San Jose and Jaco in Costa Rica are the residences of the biggest names around the sports betting world.
Not only there are offshore call centers for regular sports books that are focused on attaining clients from the web, but also there are those that are aimed to provide independent bookmakers with the necessary tools to make their sports gambling business grow.
These offshore call centers services are provided by Pay Per Head shops, a great idea created by innovative bookmakers a while ago that emerged as a solution for a huge problem: to satisfy with sportsbook software and call center outsourcing, the betting demands of clients of sports bookmakers.
Nowadays, the industry around pph shops is quite large, with emerging turnkey website competitors and more offshore call centers being built in these beautiful locations.
But having more competitors doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more quality: There are those pph shops that just have the necessary tools to provide a standard service to the bookie and his clients, and there are others whose main compromise is to offer the best possible pay per head service backed up by an outstanding team of professionals ready to excel client expectations. The latest are those who invest greatly in infrastructure and technology, those who will never compromise an important wager over the phone or the internet because of power failure. These guys are the ones at the top of the game at the pay per head shop industry, so check well and choose right…the final word is yours.
Posted in bookie, bookmaker, offshore call center, pay per head, pph shop, price per head, sports betting, sports books |
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Posted in A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, ESPN, George Brett, MLB, Mitchell report, Roger Clemens, Royals, Texas Rangers, hall of fame |
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Recently, the NBA announced that they will be adding a game of Horse to its NBA All-Star weekend and fans welcomed the idea excited. However in an interesting marketing like twist the very common and liked game of Horse will be sponsored by a well known insurance company named Geico and because of this the traditional game will be G.E.I.C.O this is how one of the most cherished basketball traditions is sold out.
The NBA holds an amazing load of fans, maybe not as sensitive as baseball fans but some traditions in the NBA shouldn’t become a product with a price and be auctioned so easily…what if the sponsored company didn’t have such a short name? I don’t want to think what kind of game we will be watching at the NBA All-Star weekend.
Although the roots of the Horse game are inspired in one of the best basketball-related commercial of all time, it lost that marketing appeal years ago and became a drive way game to play with the family and friends. Has the NBA sold out one of America’s fond memories and Geico sponsoring the NBA All star weekend will change the face of classic, in my heart I hope that it doesn’t catch.
And probably I am making a big deal out something small, but I have to say that the NBA should pay more respect to the game that it stands for, the tradition and the love people have for the National Basketball Association, the basketball game itself and everything it means to NBA fans all over the US.
In the words of a very wise book and movie character that has also become an American Classic:
“…and that’s all I have to say about that….” – Forrest Gump
Posted in baseball fans, basketball, basketball traditions, game of horse, geico, nba, nba all star weekend |
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I’m pretty sure Kobe Bryant or any other player out there is never going to play as Michael Jordan did. Maybe players like Kobe can manage to achieve and even pass some of Michael’s records, but the truth is that nobody has the magic and the fantasy Michael had.
But the truth is that Kobe is the best out there, just like when Michael played on the NBA, he was also the best out there.
Right now Kobe Bryant is dealing with the responsibility of leading the Lakers to the 08/09 finals, and is finally understanding that in order to achieve championship rings, team cooperation is necessary.
Jordan was always a team player while he played at the NBA, and now Kobe Bryant is even more similar to Michael on that sense too.
Kobe knows that Shaq is not around anymore, and he wants to show that he’s the right man to lead Los Angeles Lakers to one more NBA title.
I think there is a big legion of Kobe Bryant haters out there, and they have enough reasons to despise the old attitude’s of Bryant, but it is important to know that every player deserves a second chance, and I’m sure that Kobe is asking basketball fans his by the way he’s acting lately… just like Michael Jordan, the best in the court, and a team player at the same time.
Kobe Bryant might have a unique rival in what it comes to currently being #1 at the NBA, and that is Lebron James, the smart and ambitious player from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sure, James was second last year in the voting for MVP, but the fact that Kobe Bryant got it instead of him, and also because it was the first time Kobe got the MVP on the time he had played for the NBA, makes him undeniably the best.
Posted in Cleveland cavaliers, Michael Jordan, basketball, kobe, kobe Bryant, lakers, los angeles lakers, mvp, nba, nba title, shaq |
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It seems like the Manning brothers went to the NFL off-season in equal conditions, none could lead its respective team to the super bowl and now it is time for both to get ready for the coming NFL season in order to see, once and for all, which one of the brothers is the best quarterback of the clan.
At one time, Peyton Manning was the ruler over Eli Manning, as the latest was starting his career at the NFL and therefore didn’t had the experience of his brother. As a consequence, the youngest of the Mannings started to be seeing as the shadow of his big brother, both in experience and talent.
But wait, young Eli awakened from a bad dream and started to perform better and better, until it was certain for all of the sporting community that Eli Manning was a different and better player. His talent had improved so much that he leaded the hopeless Giants to the final game of the NFL and, along with the help of his team mates (whom played better than ever inspired by the sudden awakening of their quarterback), won a Super Bowl championship ring.
When Eli Manning obtained such ring at the 07/08 season by defeating the favored Patriots, he started to be seeing as an equal to Peyton Manning (who also obtained a championship ring after achieving a Super Bowl victory playing for the Colts).
Both are Super Bowl champs, and in despite of the age difference, both share the same god-given talent to play football, and that is why that for the 08/09 NFL season, critics were expecting to see a real battle between the brothers in order conquer a second super bowl championship, but, as we all know, that didn’t happened, and it will be until next NFL season that we’ll be able to see if they are still in the search for being the #1 Manning on the clan.
Posted in Eli Manning, Giants, NFL, Peyton Manning, Super bowl, football, nfl season, sporting community |
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Back in the seventies, Pittsburgh Steelers were the biggest thing in football, leaded by an outstanding defense, excellent receivers, a very good running game and a young, talented quarterback, Steelers became the first time in NFL history to win four Lombardi Trophies.
Though in the eighties and the nineties the team could only make it to the Super bowl one single time, the 2000’s saw a rebirth of the franchise, starting with their 2001 AFC championship and just losing to the Patriots before the big game.
So in 2004, Tommy Gun was overthrown by Big Ben, and on his first game, Ben Roethlisberger lost, which lowed his expectations from fans and the press, but that was the only regular season game Big Ben lost during regular season that year. He even led the Steelers to their best record in franchise’s history at 15-1.
Then the Steelers would go on to loose two straight AFC championships to the Patriots (which has the Steelers as one of the best teams of the decade because of always finishing behind the Patriots), then they finished 11-5 but failed to win their division.
Now the magic: The Broncos eliminates the Pats; the Steelers beat Denver, and got a ticket for Superbowl XL, which they won by 21-10 to the Seahawks, for the franchise’s fifth Super bowl title. They won being the only sixth seeded team in NFL history to do so.
Pittsburgh can make history if they beat the Cardinals on Superbowl XLII, as they will become the first team in NFL history to win 6 Super bowls.
I’m sure that Arizona Cardinals is coming to the big game with great expectations, but to beat history is a factor that is probably playing in Steelers player’s minds as I’m writing this article, so I would have to say that my favorites this time are the Steelers, whom I expect to play greatly on February 1st at Raymond James Stadium.
It almost time for the Superbowl! That’s right, we are just a few days from Super Bowl XLIII and here is what has happened so far in the playoffs:
Wildcard weekend took place on January 3 and January 4, on the third, the Cardinals beat the Falcons by 24-30, while the Chargers beat the Colts by 23-17. On the fourth, the Ravens beat the Dolphins by 27-9 and the Eagles beat the Vikings by 26-14.
Arizona, San Diego, Baltimore and Philadelphia all got tickets for the following round, the Divisional playoffs on the 10th and the 11th. On January 10, the inspired Ravens took down the almighty Titans by 13-10, while the Cardinals also came encouraged after their victory over Atlanta and beat the Panthers by 33-13, and on January eleven, The Eagles ended with the hopes of the Giants to acquire a second straight Superbowl title as they were eliminated by Philadelphia by 23-11 and finally, Big Ben and the Steelers beat the Chargers by 35-24.
The big surprises here are the respective eliminations of New York, Tennessee and San Diego, and now everything is set for the Conference Championship games on January 18, where the Eagles will meet the Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium, while the Ravens are visiting the Steelers to play at Heinz Field.
The winning teams will have a few days to practice and get ready for Super Bowl XLIII which is going to take place on February 1st in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Predictions? I have to say that I will enjoy seeing Philly beating the Cardinals and getting a chance to clean their image of Superbowl losers as they have lost in their two previous Superbowl appearances, first against the Raiders in 1980 and against the Patriots on 2004.