Biggest Losers

I must admit to losing more than a few quid on the Gee Gee’s over the years, but in comparison to these chaps I’m a complete novice! I can’t imagine how I would feel if I lost $127 million (if only I had it to lose). I guess I’d feel a cross between suicidal and furious. I certainly wouldn’t take a $14 lose in the good humour that Kerry Packer showed.

Maybe for those with billions to burn losing a couple of million isn’t such a big deal, I would love the opportunity to find out

NCAA Basketball –This season’s College Basketball biggest losers

Every season before the college hoops begin we, or at least those of us really fond of NCAA college basketball, we have this tendency of getting together an assessing our favorite teams. We take into consideration not only the official rankings and polls, but also the team’s performance during the previous season and we even take a look at what the sportsbooks have to say when it comes to predicting a winner of the NCAA basketball championship.

The Big Schools in college basketball usually shine their brightest in the preseason and if they have had a great performance during March Madness and they keep on surviving in our NCAA College Hoops bracket, then there is a good chance that we have great hopes for them during this season. But sometimes they tend to be a disappointment. This is a quick review of the most notable college hoops underachievers so far this season.

Heading this list is no other than Michigan State. The Spartans where the No.2 seed before the season started. Now, a couple of months into the season, the squad is not even ranked, and even thought they still have a chance of making it into March Madness, there is a very good chance that the Spartans might not make it into the NCAA Tournament. What’s wrong? Well, for starters they have recently taken a couple of bad losses. They lost to Iowa and Wisconsin by a combined 46 points, which is just simply an utter disappointment considering this is a squad that has come off two consecutive Final Fours. Tom Izzo really should start thinking about what his squad has to do to right this sinking ship.

Of course we couldn’t continue the list without mentioning the guys from Kansas State. Here’s the catch: the No. 3 ranked team before the season kickoff is now unranked and holds a mediocre 16-8 record overall and 4-5 mark in the Big 12. The squad has not have a good win since Thanksgiving and as if that was not enough, the team’s off the court shenanigans has brought them a couple of suspensions for their starters. Jacob Pullen was suspended by 3 games while Curtis Kelly took a 6-game suspension for violating NCAA rules. Just to keep on pilling the great news, Wally Judge, a sophomore for whom there where fairly high hopes just recently quitted the team. Some believe that they could still make it into the NCAA Tournament. They might as well just give another team a chance at the March Madness.

Last but not least of an underperformer we have Gonzaga. At the beginning of the regular season, Gonzaga was ranked as the No. 12 team in the Nation. The West Coast Conference team now holds a 15-9 record overall and a 5-3 record in conference play. The Bulldogs have managed to achieve a couple of decent non-conference wins against teams such as Marquette, Baylor and Xavier. But things have looked very bleak ever since the 2011 kicked in. It really looks like if the Gonzaga Bulldogs want to get a part of the pie and play with the big boys in March, they must win the West Coast Conference to get a bid. If things keep on looking like they have, it will probably be the first time since the new millennium that Gonzaga fails to win its league.

Spurs ready for biggest test

When Peter Crouch nodded home against Manchester City last May to confirm the Londoners place in this season’s Champions League, they knew they would have nights like Wednesday to look forward to.
This evening they step out at the San Siro in Milan for a clash with Inter that confirms their re-emergence in the big time and the Champions League specials suggest they could even have a chance of winning.

They go into the game in decent form, both domestically and in Europe. They are joint top of Group A with four points from two games and came from behind at Fulham on Saturday to continue their good run in the Premier league.

Rafa Benitez’s men will be their toughest test so far though and they will have to do it without Rafael Van Der Vaart. The Dutchman, who signed from Real Madrid on deadline day, has been in sensational form for Spurs but his red card against FC Twente last time rules him out of this massive encounter. People looking to place a Champions League bet should remember the away side will be without perhaps their most influential player.

Peter Crouch therefore is set to play a lone striker as the away side look to keep things tight early on. The former Liverpool frontman is one of only a few Spurs players to have Champions League experience so the pressure is on him to lead the other though such a big game.

Though the result is important Spurs fans will also look to enjoy the occasion. They’ve waited a long time to make it into the Champions League and they will certainly make the most of it.

A defeat wouldn’t be a disaster either as their performances in their opening two games suggests their European adventure could have some way to run yet.

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US Open: Beatrice Capra pulls biggest upset of the tournament

Last year it was American teenager Melanie Oudin who was making the sport world’s headlines as she managed to advance pass this year it is Beatrice Capra making the news when she managed to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1, in the first round of the 2009 US Open. She then stunned fourth seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round by 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. She defeated the stunning Maria Sharapova in the third round. She kept her winning streak and took down Nadia Petrova on the quarterfinals.

She had handwritten on her tennis shoes the word: