Kitchen Sink -Third Time Lucky

[stereoman]

I went 1-for-1 for money which is just as well as I went 3-for-5 with my picks (Mustapha Al Turk and Robert Berry eh!? DANG!! I really should have had taken a chance on 'em at odds-against! ). Sherdog went 5-for-6 (and would have been 5-for-5 against Bodog) and thankfully if they had bets they wouldn't have been able to bet on Michael Johnson beating Henrique Santana.

Fight Finder - CR 25 Bring it On Mixed Martial Arts Statistics

Anybody watch the show? I don't think the Ken Shamrock fight was on the up-and-up and it should have alerted my Spider senses really! The women's MMA fight was a circus sideshow. It wasn't a particularly good show to watch generally.

W:8 L:3 VOID:1 BET: $622.50 MONEY BACK: $649.26 PROFIT: $299.26

[stereoman]

I'm gonna have a couple of stabs in the dark on the latest series of Dancing with the Stars which kicks off on Monday night in the US (it's the US version of Strictly Come Dancing).

It's a couple of long-term bets so it ain't for the faint of heart (so why am I betting on it!? ).



Two picks: $50 on Kristi Yamaguchi at 11/4 to win $137.50 and $50 on Jason Taylor at 15/2 to win $375 over at Bodog. The former could be a ringer (mind you they said that about Stacy Keibler (finished third in 2006), Laila Ali (finished third in early 2007) and Sabrina Bryan (finished sixth in late 2007) and none of them won!). The latter is purely for 'value' as he's been bet down to 3/1 and lower over at Bet365 and The Greek (see the odds below in the graphics).

Much like SCD, sporting figures tend to do very well though so I'm expecting a good run from both of 'em (mind you Floyd Mayweather, Jr was KOed early and finished ninth in late 2007!).

Kristi is an ice skater and surely can move about a bit on the dancefloor. I'm hoping to Gawd that Jason can dance.

I don't think anyone other than Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor, Mario or Christián de la Fuente can win this.

Mario can probably dance but I doubt he has the popularity to get the win (the already established dancers with prior experience ~ particularly pop stars ~ seem to get short shrift like Joey Fatone and Mel B who both coincidentally finished second. Drew Lachey however did win season two of DWTS.)

After Helio Castroneves won the last season I can't envisage where there'll be two South American men winning in a row and Cristián will have to be an exceptional dancer to get public approval.

If I didn't know any better pretty much like American Idol it's all about demographics and Kristi being the first Asian contestant and a female as well fits this quite nicely.

We've yet to see a black woman win though but no-one fits that mould this year. Marlee Matlin could fit the deaf demographic quite nicely though!

I expect Shannon Elizabeth to be eliminated quite early as the voting public over there seem to hate pretty women. If it appears that she can't dance they're gonna relish it even more if given the chance to boot her off even more early.

List of previous winners

[stereoman]

Nice. I could have got a much bigger yield if I had bet a lot more but I don't think I could have handled ten weeks of waiting if I had placed a bigger bet over at Bet365 or Olympic even though Kristi was easily the frontrunner from the start.

OT: Apolo Anton Ohno (who won season four of the show back in early 2007) is Asian-American thus Kristi Yamaguchi becomes the second Asian-American to win Dancing with the Stars.

Results? Kristi 1st, Jason 2nd and Cristian 3rd (Marissa 4th and Mario 5th).

Dancing with the Stars Finale: Kristi Yamaguchi Wins! | Reality TV Magazine

W:9 L:4 VOID:1 BET: $722.50 MONEY BACK: $736.76 PROFIT: $386.76

Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.

[stereoman]

Putting the Bodog Suicide Mission II on hold for a little bit longer whilst I have a little bit of fun in regards the summer transfer market.

I've put £30 at 3/1 over at Sky Bet that Emmanuel Adebayor will be an AC Milan player by the start of the English Premiership 08/09 season.



Sky Sports say "No! AC Milan are after Ronaldinho instead!". Goal and Sporting Life say different.

Goal.com - AC Milan - Adebayor To Milan For ?30m Plus Gourcuff
AGENT: GUNNERS DROP ADEBAYOR PRICE | Football Transfer News, Football News, Fixtures, Results, Match Reports, Stats

I think Samuel Eto'o will stay at Barcelona for the time being and that the transfer won't be ready in time for the start of the season on the 16th August, and will put £30 on at 2/1 also at Sky Bet.



There are also odds on where the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Robinho, David Villa, Andrei Arshavin, David Bentley, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ronaldinho will start the seasons at but I'm not too bothered to put a bet on any of 'em.

[stereoman]

Bad news - Emmanuel Adebayor is messing about and playing games with Arsenal as he looks like he isn't going anywhere. He's having a hissy fit that a striker that scores as many goals as he does gets a paltry £30,000 a week.

Couple this with Ronaldinho being AC Milan's 'only' major signing than yeah, it looks like he's staying at Arsenal.

Slightly better but not quite good news - Yesterday's Bettingzone Market News:

1635: Sky Bet have cut the odds of Samuel Eto'o still being a Barcelona player on August 16th to 5/4 from 13/8.

The out-of-favour striker claims to have received offers from several clubs including Chelsea, Inter Milan and Tottenham although his agent says he will remain at the Nou Camp should a satisfactory offer fail to materialise.

It's 2/1 for the Cameroon international to sign for Chelsea, although Phil Scolari has reportedly scotched rumours of an Eto'o-Drogba swap.

Didier Drogba is missing from Chelsea's tour of Asia due to undergoing treatment on his knee and Sky Bet make the Ivorian 1/5 to remain at Stamford Bridge, 7/1 to join Barcelona and 5/1 to sign for Inter Milan.

Cristiano Ronaldo has hinted that he might be staying at Manchester United and Sky Bet have slashed his odds of remaining at the club from 1/3 to 1/8.

It's now 9/2 that the star winger makes his dream move to Real Madrid this summer.

============

One out of two is better than none out of two. Only twenty-five days to go.

[stereoman]

Yeah won one, lost one there. Eh.

The Bodog Suicide Mission II is on hold indefinitely and I'm taking my money out through those equally shady shysters at Neteller. I don't believe the future's bright over at Bodog if the news/rumours are true.

It could be worse...I could be an American Bodog user waiting for a cheque!

I just about got my original money back and a little bit of profit though so as long as I get my money I don't care.

Just for own records I've just ordered the payout to Neteller now and will report when it gets into my Neteller account.

[stereoman]

Hmmm. It took 24 hours (they cited it need to be reviewed!) and then another hour after they sent an e-mail to confirm they put the money into my Neteller account. No fees though and it looks like I got all the money that's owing to me from Bodog. Eh.