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Oakland Shocks Visiting Philadelphia For Second Win Of NFL Season

March 3rd, 2010 by Ross Everett | No Comments | Filed in Sports

The Oakland Raiders scored the only touchdown of the game in the first quarter and then prevailed in the kicking duel that followed en route to a–9 upset of the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. Much maligned quarterback Jamarcus Russell played his best game of the season despite two interceptions, throwing for 224 yards and a touchdown.

NFL betting enthusiasts who backed the Raiders as a whopping +14 home underdog were never in any trouble as Oakland took the lead late in the first quarter and never relinquished it. Oakland evened their mark against the NFL pointspread at 3-3, while the Eagles dropped to 3-2 against the number.

After the game, Raiders’ coach Tom Cable said for the first time all season his team focused their intensity in the right direction:

“We went out and threw a fight on somebody and said, ‘Enough. Let’s play. That’s all you can say. There’s no magic words or anything like that.”

Last week’s 44-7 loss to the New York Giants may have served a wakeup call to the Raiders. In particular, they were offended by comments made by Giants’ linebacker Antonio Pierce that the game ‘felt like playing a scrimmage’. Raiders’ wide receiver Louis Murphy didn’t dispute the comments but instead took them to heart:

“That gave me extra fuel. You have to look yourself in the mirror and man up. His comments were true. We played flat. We didn’t play with any emotion. This game was totally different. We took those comments to heart.”

The Raiders’ defense received the bulk of the credit for the victory as they pressured Donovan McNabb all day, sacking him six times. The Eagles became the first team in three years to not score an offensive touchdown against the Raiders. Richard Seymour and Trevor Scott each had a pair of sacks, and Scott had the following observation:

“I’m sure they watched the Giants game and thought we were sorry. But all week coach Cable talked about persevering and forget the past and move forward so we can get to where we want to go.”

After the game, McNabb had little to say:

“I’m embarrassed by the way we came out here and played. We’re a much better football team.”

The Raiders will try to put together an actual winning streak as they host the New York Jets next Sunday. Oakland is a +7 home underdog with the total set at 35. They’ll play their hated rivals the San Diego Chargers on the road the following Sunday before a bye week. Philadelphia will play the Redskins at Washington next Monday night. The Eagles are a -6′ road favorite with the total set at 38′.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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How To Bring Confidence To Your Putting Using A Simple Putting Drill

March 1st, 2010 by Tom Brennan | No Comments | Filed in Sports

The majority of amateurs do not complete an effective and efficient putting practice before a round of golf and this can be a major cause of dropping shots on the opening holes of a round. This failure to practice properly results in the following types of errors:

Their putts do not make it halfway to the hole Their putts take a line or path which they weren’t expecting it to take Their putts overshoots the hole by a large margin

The benefit of taking 5 minutes to practice some putting can really provide benefits, especially the first few holes were many a bogie are made. The following putting drills make effective use of your practice time before a round and should help establish in your mindset the correct alignment when putting and a good feel for the green’s speed.

Alignment

Start by doing your normal routine of lining up a putt and address the ball as you normally would. Before taking the putt place a club down at your toes to show the line you are taking. Step away and look down the line of the club on the ground. Is this pointing toward the hole? If not, then perhaps your technique of lining up shots needs to be revised so try picking a different target to aim for (one closer to your ball) and try again with another technique. A simple alignment technique is to stand behind the ball and visualise the trajectory you expect the ball to take on the way to the hole. Then simply pick a target point along the trajectory that you wish to aim for and line up your body to this target.

Distances

With any practice drill for putting distance you want to focus on getting a feel for the greens speed over short, medium and long distances.

Beginning with a long putt, you want to try to make 10 of these long putts and you should focus on making the distance the ball travels accurate (to establish long green speed).

Next try a medium putt length of about three metres, or preferably, a distance which you find yourself playing often. Again, take up to 8 to12 putts and focus on getting near the hole, and importantly not falling short. The emphasis on this practice drill is to be accurate so you wish to see some putts go in the hole.

And lastly, perform some short putts close to the hole so you get a high number of putts going. This is good for your confidence and will be good practice for the large amount of one metre putts that happen in any round of golf.

In conclusion, all amateurs should perform some putting drills prior to a round of golf to gauge the green speed, even if they play the course regularly, as factors such as the green’s soil water content, the time of the day and the length of the grass can adversely affect the ball speed.

Are you an amateur golfer looking to perfect your golf swing, then visit Tom’s site to find out exactly why the Simple Swing eBook by David Nevogt has helped thousands of golfers.

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New Orleans Wins First Superbowl In Franchise History

February 28th, 2010 by Ross Everett | No Comments | Filed in Sports

The New Orleans Saints used a 14 point fourth quarter to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday to win their first Superbowl in franchise history. Drew Brees broke open a tight game midway through the final quarter with his touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, and Tracy Porter scored on a 74 yard interception return as the Colts were driving on the next series to secure the victory. Brees was named Superbowl MVP on the basis of his 288 yard, 2 touchdown, 0 interception performance. He completed 32 passes in the game, tying New England’s Tom Brady for the all time record in that category.

After enthusiasts had come in early on the favored Colts, a good deal of buyback on the Saints had pushed the line to -4′ and the New Orleans backers were enriched by their team’s outright victory. The underdog has now covered three straight Superbowls and taken the money in five of the last seven games. The 48 points scored stayed well under the posted total of 57, which was the highest over/under number in Superbowl history.

In his postgame interview, a jubilant Brees gave much of the credit to the city of New Orleans:

“We play for so much more than ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat nation that has been behind us every step of the way. It means everything. We’re here because of their strength and everything they fought through here the last few years. They’ve given us so much support, so we owe it all to our fans.”

“Just to think of the road we’ve all traveled, the adversity we’ve all faced. It’s unbelievable. I mean, are you kidding me? Four years ago, whoever thought this would be happening? Eighty-five percent of the city was under water. Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, ‘We’re going to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ That’s what we’ve done the last four years and this is the culmination in all that belief.”

Peyton Manning had little to say after the game particularly about the interception return that sealed the victory for New Orleans:

“Made a great play. Made a great play. Corner made a heck of a play. Certainly disappointing, very disappointing. Disappointing.”

Saints’ coach Sean Payton made a bold call at the beginning of the second half when he called for an onside kick. Saints linebacker Jonathan Casalis suggested it was a game changing play:

“We were really excited when he made the call. That changed everything.”

Payton explained the unusual decision:

“We’re going to be aggressive. We’d seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. It turned out to be a big change of possession.”

The city of New Orleans will celebrate their team’s victory with a parade. With Mardi Gras celebrations already scheduled to begin shortly thereafter, it could be quite some time before New Orleans returns to business as usual. New Orleans is usually as fabulous as flamboyant skater Johnny Weir emerging out of a gold Faberge egg, but will be even more so now.

Ross Everett is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is in charge of providing daily free sports picks to Internet sites and broadcast media outlets. He is a widely published freelance writer specializing in sports handicapping, auto racing, wombat breeding and fencing. He lives in Southern Nevada with three dogs and a herd of wombats.

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