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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NFL : Paddy Power refund losing bets on Green Bay Packers

Top Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to refund losing handicap (ATS) and match bets (ML) on the Green Bay Packers @ Seattle Seahawks game in one of their well known "Justice Payouts".

The problem was ultimately caused by the regular NFL referees going on strike over a pay dispute with team owners. This league were forced to call in back-up officials for the first three weeks of the season.

These "replacement referee" guys have been doing their best but it has been painfully clear many of them are out of their depth - with most of them having previously officiated in College Division II and III only.

Many poor calls have been made in the first three weeks but this is the worst one so far.

With seconds to go, Seattle were in possession but needed to cover a lot of ground in a very short time. Quarter-back Russell Wilson launched a Hail Mary pass in to the end zone and several players went for the catch. Green Bay’s MD Jennings came down in possession of the ball but Seattle’s Golden Tate was also clinging on to it for dear life. One referee gave a touchdown; the other didn’t.

So we went to a replay.



Not only does the replay show Jennings got full control of the ball first, which would have resulted in a turn-over and won the game for the Packers, it also shows Tate clearly shoving Green Bay’s Sam Shields in the back before making his jump.

Paddy Power determined it was a clear offensive foul and again should have been enough to nullify the touchdown and hand Green Bay the win.

Despite going to the replay, the touchdown was somehow allowed to stand - and thousands of punters everywhere found themselves out of pocket.

So Paddy Power has made the call to refund losing customer bets on the Green Bay Packers - a top guesture - and one that just underlines why they are one of Europe's top bookmakers ... are you betting at Paddy Power?

(Sorry no US customers accepted).

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

NFL : Seahawks win 14-12 on bad call - up to $1 billion lost by punters.

Monday night's controversial touchdown call on the last play of the game that gave the Seattle Seahawks a 14-12 victory over the Green Bay Packers had an impact of around $1 billion on gamblers.

The favoured Green Bay Packers were leading by 5 points, covering the spread, until the replacement refs called that Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate had possession, giving the Seattle Seahawks victory and turning all moneyline (ML) and against-the-spread (ATS) bets to the underdog Seahawks.

Estimates suggested that the game result shifted $15 million in Nevada, and estimates of the online action range from $150 million up to $1 billon - with about 80% of it on the packers ..

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

VIDEO : Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester City

Cristiano Ronaldo's 90th-minute strike won an engrossing game as the nine-time champions Real Madrid scored twice in the last four minutes to snatch a 3-2 victory.

Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes, Real Madrid were stunned when substitute Edin Džeko put Manchester City ahead midway through the second period.

That brought the game to life, with Marcelo equalising with 14 minutes left, only for Aleksandar Kolarov to restore Man City's advantage in the 85th minute.

Karim Benzema quickly levelled matters again before Ronaldo provided the winning goal.


szólj hozzá: REAL MADRID 3 - 2 MAN CITY 2012-09-18

VIDEO : Montpellier 1-2 Arsenal

Arsenal fought back from conceding an early penalty to beat Montpellier 2-1 and claim victory in their opening UEFA Champions League Group match.

Arsenal scored twice in the first 20 minutes to take the lead and then were content to sit back and counter-attack, but had to weather some late pressure from the French side.

We've found video highlights on the internet (German commentary) with good quality coverage.


Enjoy !

Monday, September 17, 2012

VIDEO : Arsenal beat Southampton 6-1

Arsenal hit their straps on Saturday afternoon - producing a slick passing performance and a lot of dangerous movement to beat Southampton 6-1 at the Emirates.

The scoreline was a little hard on Southampton who did have some moments in the game, but the Saints were far too hesitant in the first half and let Arsenal get into a lot of dangerous wide positions - with two such crossings creating "oggies" from deflections of retreating defenders.

Gervinho grabbed a couple of goals - his first Arsenal goals since December 2011 - but this was an overall team performance very much in the preferred style of Arsene Wenger.

Here is a five minute highlights video of the match that I found on the net - ENJOY :-)


Arsenal 6-1 Southampton by Futbol2101

Thursday, September 13, 2012

USC Visits Rival Stanford In Headline NCAA matchup

The #2 ranked USC Trojans have a pair of wins under their belt, but will get their first taste of Pac-12 action this weekend against the #21 Stanford Cardinal.


USC may already be favorites on the NCAA futures with 3/1 odds of winning the National Championship, but if Week 2 taught us anything, it’s that college football odds are far from guaranteed.

Stanford might be at home - but USC are heavily favoured and are giving up -9 points in the spread. Can USC cover? Weigh in on the conference rivalry today.

 
Get your NCAA football odds and BCS futures at Bovada.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

FOOTBALL : Michael Owen transfer to Stoke City approved

The Premier League has ratified Michael Owen's move to Stoke City.

Michael Owen, who has played for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Newcastle United, and England, as was realeased at the end of last season agreed a one-year deal with Stoke City on Tuesday.

But Stoke required the Premier League's approval to include the 32 year old striker in their 25-man squad for the current season.

Following Wednesday's announcement, Owen wrote on Twitter: "It's official! Deal done. I'm a Stoke player. Can't wait to get going."

Owen has won 89 caps and scored 40 goals for his country, although he has not played internationally since 2008.

He spent the last three seasons at Manchester United but played in only 52 games, netting 17 times. He made just four club appearances last season.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

FOOTBALL : Hulk signs for Zenit St Petersburg

Zenit St. Petersburg signed Brazilian striker Hulk to a five-year deal and paying a €40m transfer fee to FC Porto.

The 26-year-old Hulk joined Porto from Japanese side Tokyo Verdy and scored 54 goals in 103 league matches after signing in 2008.

Zenit also signed Alex Witsel, a 23-year-old midfielder from Benfica.

The deal reflects the increasing influence of corporate owner and sponsor Gazprom - a natural gas giant that seems to make the final decisions about player transfers

"We were trying to sign them before the Sept. 3 deadline for the Champions League so they can play for us in that competition as well as the Russian league," Zenit spokesman Dmitry Tsimmerman told Reuters.

Zenit was drawn into Group C of the UEFA Champions League along with AC Milan, Anderlecht and Malaga.

Sunday, September 02, 2012

FOOTBALL : Cristiano Ronaldo "unhappy" at Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo was scoring goals for fun again on Sunday for Real Madrid, bagging two goals in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Granada - but all is not well in his life apparently.

Goal.com are reporting that Ronaldo did not celebrate because he is "not happy about a professional issue".

The Portuguese player was the driving force behind his side's first win of the new Liga season but his lack of emotion on the back of both goals was the main talking point after the game.

Ronaldo has always been a bit of a precious piece, and he looked decidedly annoyed to be alongside Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi in midweek, especially to see Iniesta winning Uefa's Best Player in Europe award.

The Portuguese star pointedly mentioned that he had an issue with things at Real Madrid but deliberately did not elaborate why - leaving plenty of speculation as to why he's behaving like a spoiled little boy on the pitch.

It's too late to be aggitating a transfer move now with the window closed, so perhaps it's as simple as Ronaldo tryong to negoiate another pay rise, or perhaps he's tired of playing under Jose Mourinho's strait-jacket style of football.

Whatever the reason, you can be sure that the big spending sides of Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain will be watching how events unfold and whether things are resolved by January.

Despite the obvious past association, I cannot see Manchester United spending the estimated €100m price tag that Ronaldo would command. Can you?

Watch this space ...