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The Wisconsin Badgers have, from the beginning, been a football program where success and failure have come in waves. Though the team’s overall 614-465 record is a positive one, it does not tell the entire story of Badger football – a tale that involves not only prolonged periods of success, but prolonged periods of failure as well. In the wake of their successful 1901 campaign, the Badgers went through a three and a half decade time of poor play that was only broken by their undefeated season in 1912. They nearly repeated that era of mediocrity with another after their defeat in the Rose Bowl of 1962 – another three decades of miserable results. However, the 1990 arrival of Barry Alvarez as Wisconsin’s Head Coach would signal the return of the Badgers to national prominence.

Alvarez the man

Wisconsin certainly thought they knew what they were getting when they hired Alvarez. With experience playing the game for Bob Devaney three decades before, and coaching experience at the high school and college level, he certainly had the right resume for the position. He had even served as an assistant coach under the great Hayden Fry of Iowa, whose assistants have landed head coaching jobs across the NCAAs over the years. His brief time at Notre Dame only served t put an exclamation mark on his record. When he came to Wisconsin, Alvarez might have been the only person who expected the Wisconsin team to turn their program around. His first three years as the team’s coach certainly offered little hope to any of the fans.

It’s never easy

As often happens with new head coaches, Alvarez found the first several years to be difficult ones. It takes time to rebuild a football program, and such was the case for the Badgers. Their first Alvarez-led campaign was almost winless, as they lost ten of their eleven games. While the team improved to five win seasons over the next two seasons, they still remained in the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Alvarez stuck to his plan, however, ignoring the many calls for his dismissal. His faith was rewarded in the fourth year of his coaching tenure.

Three Rose Bowls

During that 1993 campaign, the Badgers became the team to beat in the Big Ten Conference. After winning all but two of their games, the Badgers moved on to Pasadena to compete in the Rose Bowl, where their previous history had been less than successful – in three trips they had yet to win. This fourth trip to the Rose Bowl would prove to be the victory that had so long eluded Wisconsin. Along with that victory came the team’s final AP ranking of sixth in the country. The next season saw the Badgers in yet another bowl game, a clear sign that the program was back on solid footing. In Alvarez’ final eleven seasons with the team, his Badgers would post winning records in all but two campaigns, go to a bowl game almost every year, and win the conference several times. He even repeated the Rose Bowl win of 1993 by winning it again in both 1998 and 1999.

Barry Alvarez left the Wisconsin program in 2005 holding the record for the most wins best winning record of any Wisconsin coach in the school’s long history.

Freddie Brister is a big fan of Football check out his: Utah Watch

The bad news for the Baltimore Ravens in their 2009 NFL regular season opener was that their vaunted defense gave up 24 points despite holding a decided advantage in every other statistical category. The good news was that their offense was more than up to the task, answering with 38 points and a franchise record 501 yards. All told, the Ravens opened their season on a winning note beating the Kansas City Chiefs 38-24. Quarterback Joe Flacco threw for a career high 307 yards and three touchdown passes in the victory.

NFL sports betting devotees who took the +13 points with the Chiefs as a road underdog were hard luck losers as the Ravens managed to cover the pointspread by a single point. The win evened Baltimore’s ATS record over the past three seasons at 18-18, while the Chiefs fell to 14-19 in the same timeframe. The 62 combined points scored easily exceeded the posted total of 37. Despite Baltimore’s reputation as a defensive powerhouse they’ve shown a decided bias to the OVER in recent years, with 22 OVER verdicts in their last 35 games.

Afterwards, Joe Flacco was clearly elated at being given the opportunity to throw the ball more:

“It’s awesome. It’s so much fun. As a quarterback, that’s what you want to do.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh expressed confidence in his offense’s ability to make plays:

“We’re going to throw more if it helps us win games. I think that we will be capable of throwing the ball more ways than we did last year. We have really good players that can make plays.”

Chiefs backup quarterback Brodie Croyle played relatively well in a losing cause. Filling in for the injured Matt Cassel, Croyle put up 177 yards on 16 of 24 passing and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. Cassel is still listed as ‘game to game’ with a knee injury suffered in preseason practice. Despite the solid performance, Croyle was in no mood to talk about his personal accomplishments in the wake of the loss:

“Play well, don’t play well — if you don’t win, you still have the same feeling and that’s where I’m at.”

In his post game comments, Chiefs coach Todd Haley gave credit to his quarterback and the Baltimore offense:

“I thought Brodie Croyle gave us a chance to win today and that’s all I’ll ever ask my quarterback to do. I got to give credit to Baltimore. They were a throwing machine today. They threw the ball probably a lot more than we anticipated.”

The Ravens now head cross country to take on the San Diego Chargers in southern California next Sunday. After that theyll return home the following week to take on the Cleveland Browns. Kansas City will host the Oakland Raiders next Sunday before heading to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles the following week. The Chiefs are hoping that QB Matt Cassel will be able to start against Oakland.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and World Cup betting sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Even when the games don’t count and the starters play little, if at all, the Baltimore Ravens hate to lose. Despite the Atlanta Falcons starting QB Matt Ryan playing only one series and with the Ravens third string signal caller John Beck playing the entire game it was apparent that Baltimore wanted the victory more. The former BYU standout threw for 232 yards and a pair of touchdown passes as the Ravens easily beat the Atlanta Falcons 20-3 at the Georgia Dome.

Sports enthusiasts who bet on NFL preseason action were rewarded for their investment in the Ravens, as Baltimore won outright as +3 road underdogs. Baltimore also finished the NFL preseason with a perfect 4-0 mark against the spread, while Atlanta finished 2-1-1 against the number.

Ravens QB Beck expressed how pleased he was to get the opportunity to showcase his skills for the entire game:

“He (coach John Harbaugh) told me a few days ago that I would play the whole game. It was very exciting to get to play the whole game.”

Beck made the most of his opportunity, finishing with 232 yards on 16 of 28 passing and a pair of touchdowns with no interceptions. The Ravens defense held the Falcons to just 175 yards of total offense.

Despite the lackluster effort, Falcons coach Mike Smith was nonplussed:

“You’ve got to understand in these games, you’re going to call things defensively and offensively to put players in certain situations to evaluate them. You’re not game-planning in a game like this. You’re going to put players in certain situations to see how they handle certain techniques and coverages.”

Falcon cornerback Chris Houston was a little more concerned after a poor showing by the Atlanta defensive secondary:

“We’ve got to work on everybody getting to the ball. We’ve got to try to be more aggressive in our techniques. We made some plays tonight, but other than that, we still have a lot to work on as a defense.”

The Ravens will get the 2009 NFL regular season underway at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Falcons will welcome the Miami Dolphins to the Georgia Dome to get their campaign started.

Ross Everett is a widely published 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 Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The Edmonton Eskimos survived a wild back and forth CFL shootout against the Calgary Stampeders before prevailing 38-35 to take over sole possession of first place in the CFL West. Edmonton improved to 4-3 with the win, while Calgary dropped to 3-4.

After the game, winning QB Ricky Ray said that he enjoyed playing in the shootout:

“That was a ton of fun. In the CFL you get to play in a lot of games like this, especially against a guy like (Calgary quarterback Henry) Burris, who has done this to us. It’s great to come out on the winning end of a shoot-out like that. It’s a great uplift for the team. It’s a huge win for us.”

With a bye week on deck, Eskimos head coach Richie Hall said that the win couldn’t have come at a better time:

“Regardless of what happens, we are coming back in first place. Now we have one up on Calgary. It’s going to be a dogfight for all the teams in the West and any chance you get to win, especially a win like this, it’s a real bonus. It’s great for our confidence.”

Calgarys Burris remembered a very similar situation in a game last year where Edmonton won by the same margin on a last play touchdown:

“They got us last year in this situation and of course you didn’t think it was going to happen again or even could happen again. It felt so great to get that late touchdown and with 38 seconds on the clock nobody was even thinking about last year. We had to stop Jackson and we didn’t. And we had to stop Ray and we didn’t. Kudos to Edmonton.”

Both teams have a bye next week. Calgary returns to action on Aug. 28 in Toronto while the Eskimos will next play on Aug. 29 when they host Hamilton. The two CFL provincial rivals from Alberta will face each other twice more this season.

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 Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been playing the Cleveland Browns for longer than any other team in the National Football League, dating back to’50. And while it hasn’t been quite that long since the Cleveland Browns won a game against the Steelers it may be starting to feel like it. On Sunday, Pittsburgh won for the twelfth straight time dating back to 2003 as they topped Cleveland by a final score of 27-13. The defending Superbowl champions improved to 4-2 while the Browns fell to 1-5.

The good news for NFL betting enthusiasts who took the +13′ with the Browns as a road underdog is that they managed to cover the pointspread by the slimmest of possible margins. Betting against the defending Superbowl champion is a long standing handicapping concept, and this season at least its worked like a charm-the Steelers have only covered one of their first six games. Cleveland, meanwhile, evened their NFL pointspread record at 3-3 on the season. The Browns have covered three straight after dropping their first three both straight up and against the spread. The 40 combined points went OVER the posted total of 37′.

Pittsburgh dominated the game in virtually every statistical category. They amassed 28 first downs to 12 for Cleveland, held a 543 to’7 total yardage advantage and a 36:46 to 23:14 time of possession advantage. Most of the post game talk from both sides was about a controversial spot in the first half where the Steelers were given a first down on a short yardage play when it appeared that they didn’t make the required yardage.

After the contest, Derek Anderson spoke of the frustration of continually coming up short against the Steelers. The Browns have only one once in ten games since Pittsburgh moved into their new home at Heinz Field:

“We’re not trying to lose every time we go out here. We put tons of hours in and … it’s frustrating. Every single week, it’s frustrating.”

Steelers’ tight end Heath Miller said the team is happy to be where they are at this point despite not playing up to their standards:

“I think we haven’t played our best ball yet and that’s pretty comforting. We’ve gotten a few wins here without playing our best.”

The Steelers will host Brett Favre and the 6-0 Minnesota Vikings next Sunday. The Steelers are a -4 home favorite with the total set at 45. After a bye week, the Steelers will hit the road to play another undefeated team as they take on the Denver Broncos on Monday, November 9. Cleveland will host the Green Bay Packers this Sunday, with the Browns a +7 home underdog and the total set at 42′. They’ll head to ‘The Windy City’ to face the Chicago Bears the following Sunday and then have a bye week.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Duke University is far from being a national college football powerhouse, but they’re no longer a team you can take lightly either. #6 ranked Virginia Tech found that out on Saturday, and what they expected to be an easy afternoon became a tightly contested affair. In the end, Virginia Tech prevailed for a 34-26 road victory but not without some anxious moments. Virginia Tech improved their record to 4-1, while Duke dropped to 2-3 on the 2009 college football season.

Despite the straight up loss, Duke won where it counted as they rewarded sports players who bet on college football with the ATS victory as +17 home underdogs. Duke evened their mark at 2-2 in their lined games, while the Hokies dropped to 2-3 against the spread. The 60 combined points scored went well OVER the posted total of 48.

The Hokies were saved by the career day posted by their quarterback, Tyrod Taylor. Taylor threw for 327 yards on 17 of 22 passing and two touchdown passes. After the game, Taylor modestly downplayed his own impact on the outcome of the game:

“I know we have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. It’s just my job to get the ball to them.”

Venerable Tech coach Frank Beamer saw his team defeat Duke for the ninth straight time, but noted:

“I don’t think that’s the old Duke football team.

Blue Devils coach David Cuttcliffe said his team is reaching the point where moral victories don’t provide enough satisfaction:

“We got close enough in the fourth quarter to go beat a great team. Once you taste that, you like it. I wouldn’t say we spit it out — it wasn’t a choke — but we just didn’t finish.”

Despite getting the win, Hokies coach Beamer was critical of his teams performance:

“Too many penalties and too many long plays. We weren’t as sharp as we would like, but I don’t think it was lack of effort. Part of it was Duke, and part of it was us. … Sometimes I think you’ve just got to win some games that’s not real pretty on the road, and this is probably one of those.”

Still, he praised his team for doing what they needed to do to preserve the victory:

“When we needed to run the football, and we did, and got points, that was critical to this ball game. They were going to take the run away, so you’ve got to be able to throw the ball.”

Virginia Tech will host Boston College next Saturday before traveling to Atlanta the following weekend for a game against Georgia Tech. Duke will play at North Carolina State next Saturday before a bye week. Theyll return to action at home on October 24th against the University of Maryland and play on the road at Virginia the following week.

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

Technology advances have made it possible to watch live sport matches for free from your computer. We know many are addicted to football, car race, golf, billiard, basketball, and other popular sports.

In order to watch the live games you must first download one of the free P2P programs that are widely available. Currently there is around eight of these p2p programs available on the net but as with any software i’m sure more will appear in the future.

These p2p programs all work in relatively the same way, firstly you install the freeware program onto your computer. Within each program is a channel list, when the channel you want to watch is clicked on it will launch in the player.

If you wonder where the channels come from, think of volunteers who share their signal. Many sport fans like you may have a TV card, paid TV channels, or TV stations that broadcast their favorite sport matches such as football, and they are willing to share with others who also enjoy the same match. It is great, isn’t it?

Actually there is something else. The signal works in synergic. Meanly, when more people watch the same channels at a time, then the signal caught by their computers will be stronger.

For some recommendations, you can try the Sopcast and TVU P2p program. Both cover wide options of channels and they are spy ware and popup free. For example, you can enjoy popular sport channels such as Star Sports, Sport Channel (from 1 to 4), ESPN, Guangdong Sports, and etc.

Sopcast itself has been downloaded by more than 2 million sport fans. It is contagious because that means hundreds of thousands others can also watch from the shared signals. PPlive was actually once the most popular P2P program instead of Sopcast and TVU, but is now only broadcasted in China.

Once you have P2P programs, think of watching all live matches of English and European popular football leagues such as Champions League, International football, Russian football leagues, and the Chinese Ultra League. The list is countless, not yet to say other popular sports’ live matches. Whether you are a fan of tennis, boxing, hockey, cricket, golf, etc, watching the live matches for free is just possible.

All you need to access the live matches free of charge is a computer and Internet access.

Lawrence Fader invites you to Watch Live Footy Online and enjoy the freedom that your computer and internet can give you. Don’t get stuck paying those expensive satellite or cable company prices. Watch Live Footy Online for dirt cheap, now!!

The Kansas City Chiefs have had an awful preseason, primarily due to their inability to put points on the board. St. Louis scored an offensive touchdown late in the first half and used a third quarter interception return for a score to beat Kansas City 17-9. The Chiefs finished the NFL preseason with a winless 0-4 record, while St. Louis posted a 3-1 mark.

NFL preseason betting aficionados who took a flyer on the Rams were rewarded by their outright victory in the pickem game. Kansas City also finished 0-4 against the spread, while St. Louis finished 3-1 to the number. The combined 26 points put on the board went well UNDER the posted total of 36.

The only offense that the Chiefs were able to generate came off the foot of former University of South Carolina placekicker Ryan Succop who converted three field goals. Despite his teams continued offensive struggles, Haley tried to put a positive spin on his playcalling debut:

“I made a few mistakes out there but overall it felt good. Obviously, there were a couple of plays I would like to have back. After I got the feel a little bit, I didn’t feel too out of sync with the game and what was going on. I thought our defense gave us a chance to win. Running the football is something we can feel good about.”

The Chiefs moved the ball well, generating 406 yards of total offense but had trouble converting in the red zone. They also turned the ball over three times, the most costly a third quarter interception thrown by reserve QB Tyler Thigpen. The Rams Quincy Butler took the interception to the house for a 28 yard touchdown return. Afterwards, he suggested that his team has a new mindset:

“Every time the ball’s in the air, we all think ‘It’s my ball. We all go and get it.”

The Rams have 12 takeaways in the 2009 preseason under new head coach Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo was generally pleased with his teams effort in the victory:

“It was good to get those guys back in the swing. Now we’ve just got to get Marc (Bulger) cranked up.”

Bulger has missed most of the preseason but is expected to start in the Rams regular season opener. Spagnuolo wasnt particularly concerned about all of the yardage his team gave up:

“The silver lining is the defense held them and got them to kick a field goal. So there’s some good and bad always.”

St. Louis will head to the Pacific Northwest next Sunday as they open their regular season against the Seattle Seahawks. The Chiefs will also open the NFL 2009 campaign on the road, heading to Baltimore to take on the Ravens.

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 sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

NY Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez struggled early, though recovered to throw a TD before he left the game for the night. Despite the score, the Baltimore Ravens held on to defeat the Jets 24-23. The Jets scored a touchdown with :22 seconds remaining and could have tied the game, but was stopped on a two point conversion attempt. Baltimore improved to 2-0 on the NFL preseason while the Jets dropped to 0-2.

Sanchez, who is trying to win the Jets starting QB job, was hit by Ray Lewis on his first drive and threw an errant pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. After the game, he spoke of the play:

“Not obviously the way you want to start. I thought I was doing the right thing; I felt Ray come free on the right side from the protection. I was checking it down to the flat, perfect. Haloti just jumped right in front of the ball and made a really athletic play.”

Ravens defensive leader Ray Lewis talked about the young QBs inexperience:

“You put a young guy like Sanchez in there and you see our defense, it can be difficult. You saw his eyes get big, and he was jumping around in the pocket. Bottom line: We gave a lot of looks and disguises and we confused him a little bit.”

Sanchez agreed that it was tough adjusting to real world game conditions:

“Oh, they were flying. They were flying around. You practice for it and you see it on film. These guys were doing it. You’re trying to keep one eye on Ed Reed and one eye on Ray Lewis and a D-lineman gets you.”

Jets head coach Rex Ryan was proud of how Sanchez faced up to the pressure:

“I’m proud of the way he responded. It ain’t going to be perfect; sometimes you have these type of nights. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, and most of that goes to their defense.”

The Jets will continue their preseason slate as they take on their local rivals the New York Giants next Saturday night. Baltimore will travel to Carolina for a game against the Panthers. The Jets will get the NFL regular season underway on Sunday, September 13th as they travel to Houston to play the Texans. The Ravens will host the Kansas City Chiefs.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The San Diego Chargers bounced back nicely from their Monday Night Football loss to Denver last week, opening a 20-0 halftime lead before coasting to a 37-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Chargers’ quarterback Phillip Rivers passed for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. Running back Ladanian Tomlinson ran for a season high 71 yards as San Diego evened their record at 3-3.

The Chargers easily covered the NFL pointspread as -6 road favorites. It was only the second pointspread cover of the year for San Diego, who moved their ATS record to 2-4. Kansas City dropped to 2-5 against the spread. The 44 points pushed against the posted total. Kansas City now has a NFL totals record of 3-2-2 to the OVER, while the Chargers have gone OVER in four of their six games.

After the game, QB Rivers suggested that the loss to Denver was a turning point for his team:

“Last week, we felt like we made progress. We had the attitude we were looking for, focus, but we didn’t win. But we knew we got better.”

Tomlinson broke off one of his most impressive runs of the year on the Chargers first touchdown drive, a 31 yard pickup that he said lifted the team’s spirits and led to the easy victory:

“It kind of got us going. It was something we needed and it was a big play for us. It was a staple of our offense. It’s been around for years, old power. It was perfectly blocked and was just a great job of execution.”

The Chiefs continued to struggle on their home field, which at one point was considered one of the toughest venues in the league for visiting teams. Kansas City has now lost ten straight at Arrowhead Stadium, and 29 of their last 32 games. Chiefs’ nose tackle Ron Edwards lamented this home field struggle:

“We want to win for the home fans, for us, for everyone out there watching,” nose tackle Ron Edwards said. “It’s real painful.”

Rivers pointed to the Chiefs’ legacy of home field dominance in celebrating the win:

“Any time you come to Kansas City and win, it’s good. We talked about getting on a roll and you’ve got to win one first before you can. Hopefully, this is something we can build on.”

The Chargers return home to take on their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders. Next Sunday’s game has San Diego listed as a -16′ home favorite with the total set at 42′. They’ll travel to play the New York Giants the following week before returning home to face the Philadelphia Eagles on November 15. Kansas City will enjoy a bye week before returning to action on November 8 on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.