Gambling

Since the inception of the World Wide Web, online games have been popular. Enthusiasts have embraced everything from online gambling to the Sims and have spent hours playing games either alone or in virtual communities. Sports enthusiasts have carved out their own niche on the Web, with fantasy football and baseball leagues and all types of sports-related online games.

More recently, online golf games have risen in popularity. This could be due to the fact that general interest in the game has risen recently. Although phenom Tiger Woods may not make headline news as he did a few years back, Michelle Wie has taken his place while re-energizing professional golf. The six-foot tall 16-year-old, a native of Hawaii, made news when she turned pro in 2005, then again when she narrowly missed the cut against the men in the Casio World Open.

The beauty of golf is that you don’t have to be a pro to enjoy the game. Walking the course, hitting buckets of balls on the driving range, and practicing on the putting green is just as satisfying as playing a round.

When the weather turns inclement, it doesn’t mean that you can’t roam the course and play eighteen holes from the comfort of your own home. Free online golf games are available at a number of websites, and have a number of features in common. Most free golf games allow you to play at the amateur or professional level (the difference often being how you use the mouse to control your swing), and offer you the choice to play alone or play with a group. Many online games allow you to create a private group so that you can play with friends, family, or duffers you’ve met online. You can also join a group of online players and make new friends in the process.

Online golf games generally offer you the opportunity to chat in real time with other players and to play in live online golf tournaments. Some even give away cash and prizes to players who do well.

Everyone who is involved in any kind of gaming, gambling, or betting as heard the stories of legendary people who have supposedly created the next foolproof betting system and have used the system themselves to help them to avoid losing and get higher profits over the long haul. The fact is that there is not a system in existence that can guarantee you that you will definitely be successful and never lose.

Still, there are tons of bettors looking through rose colored glasses for the holy grail of betting systems that will let them make money without risking any. Well, there is a way to do that and it is called work! Gambling is called gambling for a reason, it’s risky. Let’s take a look at some sports betting systems.

The Parlay System is one of the most famous of betting systems that are commonly used in horse racing. Many have said that contrary to other sports betting systems, the Parlay System has a pyramiding effect on your profit which means your winnings are played on successive wagers.

Following the philosophy of pyramiding, what happens in this system is that you place a bet and if you come out a winner you re-invest the winnings on the next wager. So in horse racing, for example, you simply let it ride. Also, unlike the other betting systems, the Parlay System offers a lower amount of risk of all bettors for because they only need be concerned with a win, place or show selection or a combination thereof.

The Martingale System is probably the most famous sports betting system on the planet and actually has nothing to do with choosing the winner of an event but is more concerned with the right odds and money lines. It seems that the gist of the system is that it looks at the statistical probabilities of how many times in a row one may lose and is put into action by placing a bet and then betting again if you win.

On the other hand if you were to lose then you would wager twice what your original bet was. According to proponents of the system, this strategy will eventually enable you to win the bets you place and when you win you would recover all your lost bets plus one unit profit against your initial wager.

The Paroli System, of all the famed sports betting systems, is thought to be opposite that of Martingale. Where the difference lies is on the scheme that with the Paroli System, you start with one wager and then up the wager when you win rather than with a loss. This system lets the profit run and cut short the losses, which makes it appealing due to the fact that you don’t have to have a lot of money to be able to use it effectively.

Barcelona are 4/1 favourites to win the Champions League after the final round of fixtures in the group stage was completed, while Rangers became the first Scottish side to make it out of the group stage. However, the biggest talking point was 1999 winners Manchester United’s shock exit from the tournament following a miserable 2-1 defeat against Benfica.

Group A

Juventus 15, Bayern Munich 13, Club Brugge 7, Rapid Vienna 0

Both Juventus and Bayern Munich had already qualified for the knockout stage, although the final round of matches decided who finished top of the group. Juventus, the 13/2 third favourites recorded a comfortable 3-1 win over rock bottom Rapid Vienna while Bayern Munich could only muster a 1-1 draw at Club Brugge despite taking a first half lead through Claudio Pizarro.

Bayern, now available at 12/1, face a tough draw in the next round.

Group B

Arsenal 16, Ajax 11, FC Thun 4, Sparta Prague 2

Arsenal are flying in Europe this season and had already secured top spot before a ball had been kicked against Ajax. An experimental Gunners side drew 0-0 with their Dutch opponents, even allowing for Thierry Henry to miss a penalty. Arsene Wenger’s side are available at 14/1 while Ajax are a more speculative investment at 66.1.

Group C

Barcelona 16, Werder Bremen 7, Udinese 7, Panathinaikos 4

Udinese suffered Champions League heartbreak when they eventually finished third in the group. They needed a draw to finish second and were four minutes away from holding visitors Barcelona to a goalless draw but late strikes from Santiago Ezquerro and Andres Iniesta handed the Spaniards victory.

Runners up spot went to Werder Bremen who hammered Panathinaikos 5-1 to leave their Greek opponents propping up the rest of the group.

Group D

Villareal 10, Benfica 8, Lille 6, Manchester United 6

Unthinkable when the groups were initially drawn, but Manchester United are out of Europe entirely after finishing bottom of Group D. The Reds were odds on to win in Portugal and even took a five minute lead through Paul Scholes. Two goals before half-time tipped the balance in favour of Benfica and United couldn’t produce the equaliser necessary to replace them as group runners up.

In what was the most opening group of the tournament, Villarreal secure top spot with a 1-0 victory over Lille. Long shot fanciers can now back Villarreal at 28/1 and Benfica at 66/1.

Group E

AC Milan 11, PSV Eindoven 10, Schalke 04 8, Fenerbahce 4

A 3-2 victory over Schalke 04 ensured AC Milan finished the group in first place and condemned the Germans to UEFA Cup football, while PSV Eindoven put in a professional performance to beat already-eliminated Fenerbahce to secure a place in the next round.

AC Milan, the winners of the tournament in 2003, are fourth favourites at 10/1 while PSV Eindoven are available at a more generous 50/1.

Group F

Lyon 16, Real Madrid 10, Rosenborg 4, Olympiacos 4

Lyon remained unbeaten and topped the group in style following a 2-1 victory over third placed Rosenborg and have dark-horse credentials at 11/1. The glamorous, but often underachieving Real Madrid now face a stern test against one of the group winners after finishing in the runners up position.

The Spanish giants lost their first game following the sacking of coach Wanderley Luxemburgo, falling 2-1 to Olympiakos, but will still have their supporters at odds of 16/1.

Group G

Liverpool 12, Chelsea 11, Real Betis 7, Anderlecht 3

Liverpool’s goalless draw with Chelsea was enough to secure top spot in the group, after beginning their European campaign way back in July against Welsh minnows Total Network Solutions. Despite being the reigning European champions and also having a favourable draw in the next round, the Reds are only 10th favourite out of the remaining 16 teams and can be backed at 16/1.

Chelsea remain second favourites at 11/2 but their runners-up position could see them drawn against Barcelona at this stage of the competition for a second year in a row.

Group H

Inter Milan 13, Rangers 7, Artmedia Bratislava 6, FC Porto 5

Rangers may be struggling domestically, but their battling 1-1 draw against group winners Inter Milan ensured they became the first Scottish club to progress beyond the group stages in Champions League history. However, this feat is reflected in the odds, with the Gers available at a whopping 150/1 to win the tournament outright, with Inter Milan seventh favourites at 14/1.

Artmedia Bratislava’s adventure in Europe continues with a place in the UEFA Cup after finishing in third place ahead of 2004’s winners FC Porto.

Some of the Poker Tournaments are real stiff competition with good players, bad players and bad players that want to be good players getting swept to the cleaners by the professionals who enter these tournaments. The option to re-buy, i.e. replenish with a fresh stack of chips, may not always be a good bet in these tournaments.

The question is do you want to re-buy? If so then ask yourself why? If you think you stand a better chance by re-buying you need to consider why you feel that way. If it is a large tournament and you have already been through one round of re-buying, stop it now and consider where you will be before you re-buy again.

There comes a point and time in every tournament where you may be fighting a losing battle, and it is better to bow out gracefully and go back to the ring games if you are not yet up to the standard to be a viable contender.

The other thing to consider in some of the smaller online tournaments is whether or not you have invested more in the game by re-buying than you possibly can win. In the smaller tournaments, this is a distinct possibility. If you can evaluate your own play and be honest with yourself, you may not want to re-buy.

There is a simple strategy you can use to justify whether or not you should re-buy. Only play the top 10 starting hands and if you fall below a certain mark, re-buy one time and then sit on it until after the re-buying opportunity ends. The only exception to this would be if you have the opportunity to play one of the top 10 starting hands again and of course you would most likely play that particular hand.

Texas holdem is a game where you can make huge amounts of money, if you have the right strategy.

Players who expect to read a few books and become a successful player are going to end up disappointed.

You can’t learn how to play successfully from books! Knowledge of the game is only part of the equation in becoming a successful player. Here’s why:

Successful Texas Holdem strategy - Playing your cards and other players

A successful strategy is not just based upon playing your own set strategy, but by learning what your opponent’s strategy is and adapting yours to defeat them.

This is the difficult bit of developing your Texas Hold’em strategy there is no optimal hand to play like in Blackjack; you have to BEAT your opponent.

This involves not only knowing the odds and all the basic strategies, but knowing as much about your opponent as you possibly can.

Your strategy & your psychological skills

Your psychology is really the key to winning, the best hand doesn’t always win in Texas Hold’em and this is the mistake that many players make.

They bluff or play to many hands and are easily picked off by more experienced players.

Texas hold’em Strategy – practice, practise, practise!

When you play you need practice to get your Texas Hold’em strategy right, it’s a psychological game that involves other players and you can’t learn psychology from books.

Success comes from playing in the real world and when we mean you need practice we don’t mean free games.

You need to know how it feels to lose money. Players play differently when money is on the line and mistakes and rash play cost hard cash, even if its small amounts.

Start at low limits and move up to higher stakes games as your skills increase. Compete at a high level first and you will lose.

5 Tips for successful Texas Hold’em strategy

1. Learn all the basic tips, odds and strategies you can from the resources on the net, there are plenty of them. Then understand these are worth nothing without the right psychological approach!

2. Now you need to adopt the correct mindset to win and beat your opponent.

3. Practice at low limits first, the experience you gain will help you develop a strategy that will allow you to take on and beat your opponents.

4. Attitude is everything! If you have the right hand you need to have the courage to play it for all it is worth and crush your opponents.

5. Don’t be in a hurry to win patience is the key, you can’t develop your skills without plenty of practice and this does NOT mean free games.

What you need to keep in mind when developing a Texas Hold’em strategy is the key to you winning is having the right mental attitude to defeat your opponent.

All the basics can be learned by anyone, but it’s your mindset that will set you apart as a winner.

Don’t expect overnight success!

To win at Texas hold’em requires lots of practice and some loses along the way, but with the right attitude, knowing the basics and lots of practice you can win big.

Don’t expect overnight success,many novices assume making big money is easy but life is not like that!

It takes hard work, dedication and a lot of practice to become a successful player. You can do it but be prepared to work hard for goals and dont try and do it to quickly.

Scandal. Demagogic leaders. Unpredictability. Amazing inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Gratuitous nudity. Bad suits, worse accents, and more glad-handing than any Normal Human could stomach.

Yup, the teams that comprise the Washington, D.C. Region fit this town better than a Bill Clinton condom. Wait, he didn’t use condoms…

Here is one man’s look at the bracket that could bankrupt your stack quicker than the Republicans ripped through our budget surplus:

No. 1 Seed: Connecticut

My complaint against them is that they don’t have that go-to perimeter scorer that can hit a three, beat guys off the bounce and just create his own shot. You can say Rudy Gay, but he doesn’t have the demeanor and hasn’t proven himself. They still have the most talent and the best overall team. However, over the last two years Connecticut and North Carolina were locks entering the Big Dance. This year UConn is the clear favorite, but they are by no means a lock.

No. 2 Seed: Tennessee

Okay, because I take time to slam them further down in this column I’m going to accent the positive here. The Vols can score on anybody at any time. They average an absurd 81.3 points per game, which is ninth in the nation, and they shoot nearly 40 percent from behind the arc, 19th in the nation. Bruce Pearl gets my vote for Coach of the Year. And at a time when guard play is everything, C.J. Watson and Chris Lofton are as good as any pair in college hoops.

But there’s still no way they deserve this seed.

No. 3 Seed: North Carolina

No team had ever lost as much firepower and talent as the defending national champs. But Tyler Hansbrough has emerged as a force and the Tar Heels have remained prominent. However, I have said before that this is the time of year that I expect their youth to catch up with them. They are not going to walk through Murray State in Round 1, and they should definitely become George Mason fans. GM plays Michigan State, which would be a very tough second round match up for UNC. Let’s also not forget that before last season’s title, Roy Williams wasn’t exactly Mr. March.

No. 4 Seed: Illinois

Dee Brown has always been money in the Madness, and I would be surprised if his swan song wasn’t something sweet. They don’t have the guns to win it all, but there’s no way that they’re going to go quietly. Air Force is a tricky draw, but they should overpower the Falcons. After that, the chalk says Washington, and I expect them to control that one. But when it comes to a date with UConn, it’s not going to happen for Illinois.

No. 5 Seed: Washington

These guys are ridiculous. One second they look like a better-than-average club with one star (Brandon Roy) and some capable supports. The next they look like a JUCO team. They play Utah State, which is a team that defends very well and always manages to get good shots. If the Huskies survive they could face a very proud Illinois crew. A Sweet 16 berth would be akin to a national championship for these clowns. But the more likely scenario has them losing in one of those trademark 5-12 upsets.

Best first-round match up: No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 13 Air Force

If you want to watch a clinic of how to run an offense, watch this game. These two are both extremely efficient and effective in their sets. The Illini have a huge advantage because of their superior athleticism and the inside-outside combo of James Augustine and Dee Brown. However, I don’t know if you can play the Experience Card with the Illini. This isn’t nearly the same team that went to the finals last year.

Best potential second-round match up: No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Michigan State

Two public teams with recent NCAA titles could lock up in a marquee game on Sunday. North Carolina plays with more determination and heart, but Michigan State has a severe advantage in regards to tournament experience. Of course, I know this is a sucker bet. I’m positive of it. The Spartans have been a chump team all season (see: 13-17 ATS) and they don’t defend the perimeter (232nd in 3-point defense). They have little or no heart, and no depth off the bench. But precisely because it makes no sense, that’s why the Spartans have a great chance of winning.

Upset Alert (first round): No. 15 Winthrop vs. No. 2 Tennessee

No, this isn’t some knee-jerk reaction to the Vols being handed an undeserved No. 2 seed. Winthrop, which was a couple of ill-fated possessions away from beating Gonzaga last year, brought back 12 of its top 13 players and I’ve been touting them all year. Tennessee, much like the real volunteers in the South’s Civil War militia, doesn’t play any defense. They’re 312th in the country in field goal defense, 201st in rebounding, and have lost four of their last six outings. SEC teams have the worst first-round record of any of the Big Six conferences over the past five years (17-12). Also, Miss. St. in 2004, Florida in 2003, Alabama in 2002, and South Carolina in 1997 all failed to make it through opening weekend as a No. 2 seed.

Upset Alert (second round): Too many to choose from

There were a ton of potential upset games here (George Mason over UNC, MSU vs. UNC, Winthrop over Seton Hall, Utah State over Illinois). When things go awry in this tournament, it’s going to start right here in this bracket. There are a ton of landmines in our nation’s capitol. The largest potential buster is UAB over UConn. I don’t think it will happen, but that’s the one game that could crush office pools across the nation.

Dark Horse Teams: No. 12 Utah State and No. 13 Air Force

Because everyone has been trashing these two crews since the bracket was announced (the thugs from the Cincinnati’s team would roll down to Utah State for a drive by, but I don’t think they could find Utah on the map) one of them is going to win in the first round. It’s a lock. These guys aren’t dark horses because they’re going to make a run at the Final Four. They’re sleepers because they have the potential to snipe out a pair of teams (Washington, Illinois) that could’ve made a run.

Team That Makes Me Nervous: Michigan State

As you know, there are a lot of teams that make me nervous in this region. North Carolina is young. Washington is squirrelly. Kentucky is schizo. Tennessee is excitable. But Michigan State started the season in a lot of people’s top five and then went on to finish seventh (yes, seventh) in the Big 10. You know the talent is there, and Tom Izzo is an outstanding tourney coach, but this club is a real dicey bet. Paul Davis is a wet paper towel, and Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager are playing for the highlights. Not a winning formula.

One of the most disregarded areas in football analysis is special teams and the battle of field position. For some teams it matters more than others but as a whole, it plays a very big part in determining the outcome. Winning field position does not necessarily translate into winning the football game but teams starting from their own 30-yard line compared to their own 20-yard line are at a big advantage even though the 10 yards seems minute. Let’s break it down.

Special Teams

Thomas Jones was given the MVP in the NFC Championship for obvious reasons but Mike Greenberg from Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN tabbed Bears punter Brad Maynard the MVP and I completely agree with him. Four of his seven punts pinned the Saints offense deep inside their own territory, and the one he dumped at the Saints five-yard line led to that critical safety that halted the momentum shift that New Orleans was starting to seize.

In the weather that Chicago had on Sunday, you would think the punting would be a liability but Maynard hit punts of 48, 51 and 66 yards in the third quarter. When it was said and done, the Saints finished the game with an average starting field position of their own 22-yard line. Conversely, Chicago started its drives with an average field position of its own 44-yard line. Turnovers helped that position but the Bears started inside their 20-yard line only once after five punts.

In the other game, the punting was limited but effective. Both punters averaged over 51 yards per kick which helped the field position for both sides. The Patriots won the average starting field position battle by 12 yards as the Colts best starting spot was its own 33 yard line on 12 drives not including the final drive following the interception. This is where the Bears might not actually have an edge because Indianapolis didn’t let the poor position effect it as it had seven drives of 59 yards or more.

The Colts and Bears finished 10th and 11th respectively in net punting during the regular season but that doesn’t tell the story. Chicago was 2nd in the league in punt return average and 9th in kickoff return average as it has the most dangerous weapon in rookie Devon Hester. Hester returned three punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns during the season as he finished 2nd and 5th in return yards in those respective categories. He should be salivating after what Ellis Hobbs and New England did last Sunday.

Hobbs returned six kickoffs for a conference championship game record 220 yards while setting up a touchdown with an 80-yard runback and a field goal with a 41-yard return. Hester is no doubt capable of bringing one all the way back but if he plays like he did against Seattle, that edge could be lost. On six returns, he had only 56 yards and had three fumbles. On the season, he fumbled the ball 12 times so at that rate, there is a 2-to-1 chance that he fumbles as opposed to returning a kick for a score.

The Colts have the best clutch kicker ever in Adam Vinatieri so that is a huge edge in the kicking department. However, don’t tell that to Chicago or anyone since it isn’t true. The Bears counter with Robbie Gould who proved to be Mr. Clutch himself with that 49-yard game winner against the Seahawks. He is 32-36 on the season and that is with playing in Chicago. Vinatieri was a solid 25-28 but that was inside a dome. Overall, the Bears were near the top of the NFL in kicking efficiency while the Colts were 8th.

Looking at all of the special teams categories, Chicago does have the decisive edge. If the Bears do win, the MVP isn’t likely going to be Maynard, Hester or Gould although the latter two do have an outside shot. If anything, it will likely be a group effort. The question is will it be enough? It wasn’t enough for the Patriots in the AFC Championship and despite finishing 25 spots lower that the Bears in the league in special teams, it didn’t seem to bother Indianapolis very much either.

Next Up: Rushing Game

The differences between online poker and more traditional poker table games are sometimes not as obvious as they may seem.

Unlike sitting down at a poker table with friends, online poker has an added dimension these days. There is a lot of pressure from many quarters to make online poker illegal, particularly in the United States. You will almost always know if the table game you are playing is in an area where poker is legal, but it is getting harder to know if this is true about poker played online.

In spite of these gray areas, millions in the U. S. and around the world regularly enjoy participating in online poker games from the comfort of their own homes. Just to give this some perspective, in 2005, the revenue from online poker was reported to be in the vicinity of $200 million.

Not only is online poker generating huge amounts of revenue and creating new millionaires, among players, site owners, and affiliates of poker sites, but, due to its pervasive influence, the appeal of poker in general is growing. The public is not only gaining knowledge about poker, but is showing an interest in all things poker. From the tables to the chips at the table, to the people who play at the tables, poker is huge.

Poker players such as Chris Ferguson (Jesus), Annie Duke, and her brother Howard Lederer (The Professor), and Hoyt Corkins (The Alabama Cowboy), to name a few, had never been heard of by the public a few months ago. Now they are celebrities in their own right. Even people who have been celebrities, such as Jennifer Tilly, Ben Affleck, and Mimi Rogers have traded in the bright lights of Hollywood for the green felt of the poker table - at least on occasion.

While many of these famous people play in tournaments sitting at the table with the celebrities of poker, most mortals enter the poker arena via online poker websites such as partypoker.com, pokerstars.com, ultimatebet.com or fulltiltpoker.com.

Sitting at a poker table can be intimidating, particularly for the new player and just is not that inviting for the beginner. They are apt to feel out of their league, and, if others at the table have more experience or are strangers, they are apt to feel intimidated.

The online poker experience is quite different. There is an anonymity which protects the psyche of the “newbie”. They can watch games as long as they want before actually taking part. Additionally, most online venues will have tutorials and practice games for beginners that help ease the learning process. Sometimes the main site will actually have a completely separate site set up strictly for the beginner. Another helper for the beginner is that online games tend to have buttons labeled for the various actions and often include on-screen prompts for the appropriate action.

Internet poker sites also offer a range of limits so that the beginning player can actually start betting pennies. Not only is the betting easy, but so is the access. Unlike a table game, an online game can be found 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world that there is a computer and an Internet connection.

There are, however, two drawbacks to playing online, particularly if one’s goal is to eventually participate in the highly televised poker tournaments occupying more prime time slots on TV. First, there is the hurdle of actually sitting and playing at the table itself. No amount of online preparation can duplicate or offset the first few times you find yourself in a chair across from a Doyle Brunson, Chris Moneymaker, or Daniel Negreanu.

Second, although it IS possible, it is exceedingly difficult to bluff at an online poker game and even harder to learn how to read your opponents.

Look on the bright side, however. It IS easy to learn basic poker skills and improve your technique online, and you won’t have to worry about your poker face!

There are essential differences between limit hold’em and no limit hold’em besides the esthetic one that involves the presence of absence of limits.

For once, when you are playing no limit hold’em you play a more methodic game. A skilled player can easily develop and apply strategies in no limit hold’em, much easier than in limit games. If you are a beginner then no-limit is not the game for you, but limit is the perfect one. Limit protects new comers and doesn’t let them loose too much. If you are a skilled player and you encounter a beginner in a no limit poker room then you can easily take advantage of his presence and make a lot of money out of him. As they say, sky is the limit and here the sky is the beginner’s stack. Big mistakes are paid dearly in no-limit, you will just go all-in and lose all your stack. But in limit if the same mistake is made then it is not such a big deal, it just means that if you pass a few mediocre bets you will be right where you started.

In no limit hold’em you can use psychology more often and it turns out to be more reliable. This happens mostly because in no limit more money are involved and the risk of losing them all at once because of one single bad call is greater. At the end in limit hold’em all the hands are shown because of the concept that the best hand wins. But in no limit this doesn’t have to happen, you can show the hand only if you want to. In limit you can play a person, make them fold and in the end it would turn out that you had a bad hand. Now everyone knows you bluffed that person and you won’t get another opportunity to do it again. In no limit it is much easier to tell others’ game style and much harder to use psychology and to play others. You can do one trick once, but after that you’ll have to change it in to limit because the “word” will be out.

Position counts in both game types. But position count a lot more n no limit games. Even though in both games the worst position is the early position and the best one is the late position, there is a big difference on how position affects your hand. In no limit if you are in early position the chances that you get trapped are bigger. There is no risk free way to play a hand here, no matter how good it is. It all depends on the other players and the impression they have of you. You can play ruff and end up losing a lot or cautiously and end up being trapped because other can tell that you are not sure of the hand you are holding.

Three of Friday’s bowl games saw the two teams combine for over 1,000 yards of total offense and the recent trend of high scoring games continued. Only Maryland’s 24-7 win over Purdue was a low scoring game and three of the five games went over. That makes seven overs in the last nine bowl games, after this year’s bowl season opened with seven of the first eight games going under.

Underdogs struck back Friday, as four of the five covered. Favorites had opened 9-3 ATS but now stand at 10-7, after 17 bowl games. For the first time this bowl season, we saw the pointspread come into play. After 13 games in which either the favorite won and covered or the underdog won outright, two games saw favorites win but not cover on Friday.

In the Sun Bowl, Oregon State (a 3 1/2 point choice) trailed Missouri 38-24 midway through the fourth quarter but pulled within seven points with just over six minutes left and then scored another TD with just 23 seconds remaining. Instead of kicking the tying extra-point and sending the game to OT, OSU went for the two-point conversion and the win. Missouri bettors breathed a sigh of relief, while OSU bettors most likely sat in disbelief.

The Insight Bowl featured Minnesota vs Texas Tech and the Red Raiders pulled off the greatest comeback in bowl history. Texas Tech trailed 38-7 midway through the third quarter but scored the game’s final 31 points, the last three coming on a 53-yard FG with no time remaining in regulation. Tech then won it 44-41 in OT, but never came close to covering as an eight-point choice.

Minnesota is one of seven 6-6 teams in this year’s bowl season. Two of them, Okla St and Alabama played each other (Independence Bowl), while the three that have played have gone 1-2 SU but 2-1 ATS. Another of those 6-6 teams is in action on Saturday, as Iowa will meet Texas in the Alamo Bowl (4:30 ET). One could argue that Iowa is the worst of this year’s bowl teams, as the Hawkeyes have gone a mind-boggling 1-10 ATS in 2006! As for Texas, after playing in (and winning) two straight Rose Bowls (capturing the national title with its win LY), the Longhorns can hardly be expected to be too excited with this matchup.

Saturday’s bowl schedule opens with Navy taking on Boston College in the Meinke Car Bowl (1:00 ET). BC will take a six-game bowl winning streak into this game (also 6-0 ATS), tying them with Utah for the longest active streak. The Peach Bowl (7:30 ET) features a pair of bowl regulars, as Va Tech (in its 14th straight bowl) will meet Georgia (in its 10th straight bowl). Tech is just 6-7 in its previous 13 bowl appearances, while Georgia has gone 7-2 the previous nine years.

Updating the conference records through Friday’s games, the Big East and WAC are both 2-0, the MWC is 3-1 and both the ACC and SEC are 2-1.The Big-10 is off to an 0-2 start after Purdue and Minnesota lost yesterday but its got nothing on Conference-USA which sits at 0-4 SU and ATS, after Houston’s 44-36 loss to South Carolina in the Liberty Bowl.

NFL Week 17

The Giants and Redskins open the NFL’s final weekend of the regular season tonight in Washington at 8:00 ET. Amazingly, going into the year’s final week, 20 NFL teams still have Super Bowl aspirations. Nine teams have already clinched postseason berths and 11 more are in the running for the remaining three spots. It’s the most teams still ‘alive’ in the season’s final week, since the 1970 merger.

The Giants are one of five NFC teams at 7-8 and despite the fact that they’ve lost six of their last seven games, the Giants are virtually assured a playoff berth if they beat the Redskins. Interestingly, all five of the 7-8 teams are on the road, so while it’s unlikely, it’s not inconceivable (anyone remember that phrase from The Princess Bride?), that all five teams could finish the year at 7-9.

If so, one of those ‘lucky’ 7-9 teams would become the first team to qualify for the NFL’s postseason with a losing record in league history (not counting the strike-shortened 1982 season when 16 teams made the playoffs, including the 4-5 Browns and the 4-5 Lions).

I’ll have much more on NFL Week 17 in Sunday’s notes.