By Robert Ferringo
Here is a look at the Super Bowl history against the spread. Below is a list of every Super Bowl along with historical Super Bowl odds, Super Bowl spread history, and Super Bowl totals history, along with all-time Super Bowl winners against the spread:
(For more information about the Super Bowl point spread or Super Bowl betting spread go to www.docsports.com.)
Year Super Bowl Score Winner’s Spread Total
2011 XLV (45) Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh
Since its inception in 1954 it has been hard to take the BBC Sports Personality of the Year seriously because of the unabashed cronyism that accompanies it. Conversely, if you love sport and treat the evening as a sporting caricature it can be great fun!
To say that this titular award is a fix is harsh but to say that it has been judged by a fair public vote is also untrue! The programme is corrupt in the same way the Eurovision Song Contest is. Evidence of bias is obvious where some sports are clearly marginalised. Sport comes second to corporate hospitality and show business whilst words and phrases like junkets, old boys network and expense accounts readily abound!
Initially the top 10 are supposedly decided by a selection of leading newspapers and magazine sport editors who submit their nominations each year. When asking the BBC who these arbitrators were they refused to give the names until after the 10 had been chosen. In turn these nominations are excessively loaded to a cosy middle class club who select as if it were a popularity contest neither reflecting nor revealing the true sporting personality of that year.
Proof is very easy to find, for example, in the 56 years that it has been running there have been only three black winners (5%). There have been 45 English winners (over 80%) with just nine wins from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (16%) put together. Inexplicably, given the remit of the vote, two winners were from Republic of Ireland and Canada (4%).
Head Coach Steve Spurrier was finally able to break the spell and South Carolina defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 35 to 21. The Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia had one of his best nights ever. If you are into numbers, Garcia completed 17 of 20 for 201 yards and three touchdown-passes. Freshman Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina outplayed Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram. Lattimore completed 23 carriages and for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ingram, on the other hand, went completed 11 for 41 yards and no touchdowns.
This weekend, many things could change. The guys from South Carolina are going to head on to Florida and play their hearts for the SEC East Crown. There has been 117 seasons of South Carolina football. Only once, back in 1969 had the people in Columbus, South Carolina celebrated an ACC Championship. Let it be noticed, that they haven’t got this close to win again, since. Until this week, when the Gamecocks face the Florida Gators in what could be their second biggest upset of the season.
Since its win over the No. 1 team in the nation, the Gamecocks have had a somewhat irregular series against 4 teams. The record since they crushed Alabama: 2-2. The Gamecocks had to go into overdrive to leave behind Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and, let’s be frank, their game against Arkansas last weekend, wasn’t the prettiest showcase of football ever.
But here is the key to this all. If South Carolina defeats Florida, it will have a Ticket to play the Auburn Tigers. Ok, I know its not official yet, but taking into account the marvelous season that the Auburn Tigers have had, there is a good chance that those boys are going to win the SEC West. So, if we take a quick look at the references, one could assume that whether Florida or South Carolina makes it to the SEC Championship Game, there is still a fairly good chance that either team could upset the Auburn Tigers.
Historically, the SEC West has been the weaker end of the conference. What we need to focus on here is on a simple fact: most any team in the SEC West has been much stronger then any other team in the SEC East this season. And here is where the Gamecocks have to react. South Carolina is not a big school. We have already talked about this issue on another blog entry. South Carolina is not one of those elite football program schools in the country we expect to see each year in the Bowl Games. The Florida Gators, on the other hand, is one of those teams.
What’s the difference? Well, the Gator will always have a better chance next year. For the Gamecocks this season might be as good as it gets for a long-long while. And if that is not enough motivation to go out there and put their hearts out on the field, then they probably don’t deserve a chance at SEC Championship Game.
August 23, 2010 by footballfan
Filed under Football Tips
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American football emerged from the European game of Rugby in 1879. Walter Camp, a player and coach of Yale University, is recognized as “The Father Of American Football” as the early rules of the game was instituted by him. However, previous to that, the students of Princeton were already playing a game called “Ballown”. It was about fisting the ball and then using their feet to advance the ball past their opponents. There were no hard and fast rules that applied and could be stated as the easiest form of football at it’s early times. However, the physical aspect of the game was immense and often it turned violent.
At Harvard too, a football-type game was being played on the first Monday of the school year. This game was so much physical that the day it was played was often mentioned as “Bloody Monday”. The year 1865 was very important for American Football. The Civil War had ended and football started gaining popularity in the colleges. It was in this year that some basic rules for the game were established and the game got its patent for the first time. Thus on 6th November, 1869 the first inter-collegiate football was played between Rutgers and Princeton where Rutgers won by a score of six goals to four.
In 1873, the Intercollegiate Football Association was formed by the representatives of Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale. Till then, the increasingly popular game was being played with many different rules. The association brought into effect the first set of rules of intercollegiate football which allowed fifteen players in each team. However, it was Walter Camp, a coach at Yale, who began the final process of evolution from rugby like game to what we know today as the American Football. The number of players was reduced to eleven and the standard size of the field was set to hundred and ten yards. A little later downs were introduced and tackling below the belt was legalized.
However, the violent physical challenge that the game demanded, caused many serious injuries and deaths in the next few years. As a result, though still gaining popularity, football was banned in many colleges. In 1905, under a directive from President Theodore Roosevelt, Yale, Harvard and Princeton setup a couple of meetings between schools and formed a seven member Rules Committee which was later came to be known as National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA.
American Football has now become a multi-billion dollar industry. With the advent of cable television, the game have crossed the boundaries of America and spread its wings all over the world. Dozens of games both collegiate ad professional are aired almost every Friday and Saturday afternoons and Sunday and Monday nights during the football season. The super Bowl, that decides the national champion, has become the most watched sporting event of all times. Plenty of merchandise and football products have taken the markets by storm. Quite a number of innovative products are often offered as token gifts and memorabilia. Even free American Football ecards can be found over the net . Some like 123greetings has an entire category dedicated to the game .
Sean Carter writes on holidays, sports and celebrations around the world. He also writes on family, relationships,womens issues birthdays, inspiration, religion, love and friendship. He is a writer with special interest in ecard industry. He writes for 123greetings.com
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Share and Enjoy:All the top players study poker away from the game. That is how they continuously beat the games that they are playing. Self study will ensure that your game does not stagnate, will help spot leaks, and will help you spot leaks in your opponent’s games. It is by far the best work you can do away from the table.
So before you can start doing hand history reviews it is essential to buy a piece of software called Holdem Manager (before you mutter to yourself, here’s some promotional waffle about Holdem Manager, please let it be known I am in no way affiliated with this product. I wish I was because I love it!).
Holdem Manager is a poker tracking software which keeps track of every hand you play on line. It allows you to then analyse all those hands and replay them using a hand replayer and give statistical breakdowns of equity and pot odds in those hands. It allows you to study your opponents as well as your own play. It has revolutionised on line poker. It costs between $50-$80 depending on whether you buy the professional or beginner package, but it is well worth the money.
To begin your hand history review, you can filter on a reports tab in Holdem Manager and input all hands played after a certain time period, say over a 2 month period. You can then filter all your hands from biggest pots lost to won.
Then start a spreadsheet or just use a refill pad and note how you lost every big pot over 30 big blinds. I guarantee you even with limited knowledge of poker, once you go back over a hand in a replayer you will spot the blatant mistakes easily. Note what the mistake was and move on to the next big pot you lost and rinse and repeat.
Once you have done this you can start to group the mistakes. You will start to see a pattern of where you are making the same mistakes over and over again. In my last big hand history review after a downswing I had 9 mistakes I saw happening way too frequently for my liking. I then put this on a word document and printed it out and read this sheet before I sat down to play a session over the next month. At the end of the month I reviewed my hands played that month and put a line through the mistakes I had removed from my game and highlighted the ones that still remained. I had the list reduced to one and since then I have cut out that mistake from my game and I am currently on a upswing and very happy with my game.
I do believe that once a month you should review all your hand histories of all big pots over 30 big blinds which you either won or lost to keep away those pesky downswings and your game fresh.
Paul Redfern, professional poker player and owner of www.rakebackreward.com. The hardest part of making money playing on line poker is finding the motivation to play your ‘A’ game at all times. Rakeback Reward offers regularly updated poker strategy and motivational articles to help you achieve this goal. Rakeback Reward members can now avail of free membership to DeucesCracked, the most respected poker training site on the internet today.
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