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hustle_man | 835 |
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COLUMBUS, OH--Ultimate Fighting is one of the most brutal, violent, and unforgiving sports in the world, so they men who fight it must be tough as nails in order to survive. They also must be comfortable with other men wrapping their thighs around their necks and sitting on their faces.
Ultimate Fighter Travis Silva has been participating in the homoerotic sport since he was a teenager, and has had more sweaty thighs sandwiching his face than he can remember. But, he says, it’s all part of the game.
“That’s just Ultimate Fighting for you,” said Silva, 30. “You’re half naked, the other guy is half naked, and you’re rolling around together. One time this guy was actually sitting on my face and his balls were on my nose, sort of like that hotel scene in Borat. Another time I took a guy’s bare foot right in my crotch, and it was there for a while. But it's not really gay, and if any of you pansies want to disagree, I’ll wrap my thighs around your face and squeeze the life out of you, motherfucker!”
So how does an Ultimate Fighter deal with the sight and stench of another man's balls in his face? You get used to it, says Silva.
“It’s something we all have to deal with and we just get used to it, okay?” said Silva. “Like, when I’m on my back and I’m being straddled by some dude who’s all in my face, I just close my eyes and picture my girlfriend. Then it’s actually pretty nice. Then when I'm beating the crap out of my girlfriend, I pretend I'm in the ring, so there's a nice little symmetry there.”
The UFC has grown over the past few years into one of the most popular spectator sports among men aged 18-35. It is viewed by many as a more exciting alternative to boxing, which lacks the sheer brutality and homoeroticism that America’s men crave.
“The appeal of Ultimate Fighting is that anything can happen in the ring,” said promoter Ian Zarga. “And it’s all done in a cage, surrounded by a bloodthirsty audience of screaming men and boys. It’s animalistic, really. Ultimate Fighting is like a death match. And don’t tell me it’s homoerotic, either. These guys have the hottest girlfriends you’ll ever see. Yes, I know Eddie Murphy does, too, but that's different. These guys are straight. I promise.”
UFC currently has a broadcast deal with Spike TV though 2008. Together, they will try to expand the sport into mainstream America by promoting the individual fighters and highlighting the excitement of mixed martial arts.
“This is a great opportunity for everybody in America to get hip to what we’re doing here,” said Doug Herzog, president of Spike TV. “We want people to get to know our fighters, and we want them to experience the awesome adrenaline rush of seeing these apes – uh, guys - pummel each other to a bloody pulp. But most of all, we want to appeal to the raging bloodlust of the nation’s young males. We all know it’s there, and somebody has to tap into it. It beats the hell out of re-runs of The A-Team - well, almost.”
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Cecil | 1 |
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NOT only have Ireland already beaten England, they’ve also won the Triple Crown.
That’s according to bookies Paddy Power who are paying out a day early on all bets placed on Ireland to beat England and on Ireland to win the Triple Crown. The bookies are rewarding all Irish rugby fans who had put their money where their mouth was and bet on Ireland before 6am this morning. Over 6,000 customers will benefit to the tune of almost €500,000 (£335,000) from the early payout. One punter will collect a whopping €110,000 (£75,000) after placing €40,000 (£26,000) on Ireland to win the Triple Crown at 7/4. Paddy Power are still taking bets on the match and are offering 9/4 for an England win. Ireland have shortened to red hot 1/3 favourites to win the match and 4/7 to win the Triple Crown. Paddy Power said: "Ireland are certainties to beat England and Scotland don’t count so as I see it we’ve already won both the match and the Triple Crown – why should punters have to wait until Saturday evening to collect? "This is our way of getting right behind the Irish team – if our customers have any sense they’ll take their early winnings and put it all back on Ireland." Paddy Power odds: |
Cecil | 4 |
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NOT only have Ireland already beaten England, they’ve also won the Triple Crown.
That’s according to bookies Paddy Power who are paying out a day early on all bets placed on Ireland to beat England and on Ireland to win the Triple Crown.
The bookies are rewarding all Irish rugby fans who had put their money where their mouth was and bet on Ireland before 6am this morning.
Over 6,000 customers will benefit to the tune of almost €500,000 (£335,000) from the early payout.
One punter will collect a whopping €110,000 (£75,000) after placing €40,000 (£26,000) on Ireland to win the Triple Crown at 7/4.
Paddy Power are still taking bets on the match and are offering 9/4 for an England win. Ireland have shortened to red hot 1/3 favourites to win the match and 4/7 to win the Triple Crown.
Paddy Power said: "Ireland are certainties to beat England and Scotland don’t count so as I see it we’ve already won both the match and the Triple Crown – why should punters have to wait until Saturday evening to collect?
"This is our way of getting right behind the Irish team – if our customers have any sense they’ll take their early winnings and put it all back on Ireland."
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Cecil | 2 |
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All you gotta do is pick winners, it is very simple.
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Ponch | 32 |
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LOS ANGELES -- Charles Howell III finally ended that nasty habit of finishing second, making three clutch pars in a playoff that delivered a dramatic victory over Phil Mickelson in the Nissan Open on Sunday.
SportsInteraction.com had Howell listed as a +2100 underdog to win entering the final round.
Howell closed with a 6-under 65 and got into a playoff when Mickelson bogeyed the 18th hole. Howell put away the two-time Masters champion with his third straight par save, holing a 3-foot putt on the 14th hole and raising his head to the sky in utter relief.
It was only the second victory of his career, and Howell had been haunted by nine runner-up finishes since winning the now-defunct Michelob Championship in the fall of 2002. He already had two runner-up finishes in four starts this year, including three weeks ago against Tiger Woods down the coast at Torrey Pines.
Mickelson, bidding for his second straight victory, had control throughout the playoff until he opted for putter short of the 14th green, it took a hop leaving the blade and stopped 10 feet short of the cup.
Howell earned $936,000 and is atop the PGA Tour money list for the first time in his career.
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Cecil | 1 |
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto will defend his World Boxing Association welterweight title against American Zab Judah in New York's Madison Square Garden on July 9.
Oddsmakers have not yet released a line on the bout.
Evangelista Cotto, the champion's manager and uncle, said Thursday that Top Rank is promoting the fight. Cotto had been scheduled to fight Mexico's Antonio Margarito on that day, and a new date for that bout had not been set.
Cotto (28-0, 23 KOs) first must defend his title on March 3 in San Juan against Germany's Oktay Urkal. Judah (34-4, 25 KOs) is a former welterweight and junior welterweight world champion.
For a complete list of boxing odds, visit SPORTSBETTING.com.
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Cecil | 1 |
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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Defending champion Andy Murray won his second career title, neutralizing Ivo Karlovic's big serve to win a thrilling SAP Open final 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Sunday.
Bodog.com had Murray listed as a -290 favorite to take home the title.
Murray proved to be the only player who had an answer for the difficult serve of the 6-foot-10 Karlovic, who lost his serve only once in 51 games and had a tournament- record 87 aces heading into the final.
Despite Karlovic's 26 aces, Murray did an outstanding job on his return game in the final two sets, forcing Karlovic to hit many more shots that he needed in previous matches.
After losing the first-set tiebreaker and the opening game of the second set on his own serve, Murray rallied back. He broke Karlovic twice in the second set before and got two minibreaks in the tiebreaker - including Karlovic's first double fault of the match at 4-2 - before winning it on a 137 mph ace, his eighth of the day.
Murray, ranked 13th in the world, is off to a fast start in 2007, finishing as runner-up in Doha and making the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to Rafael Nadal.
Murray feels very comfortable in the Bay Area, having won both his career titles in San Jose and also winning a challenger event in nearby Aptos in 2005. This title was easier than a year ago, when Murray had to save two match points before beating Lleyton Hewitt in a third-set tiebreaker.
Murray became the fourth player to defend his first career title, joining Mario Ancic (Hertogenbosch), Ronald Gasquet (Nottingham) and Paradorn Srichaphan (Long Island).
Karlovic, ranked 103rd in the world, failed in his attempt to win his first career title but served notice that he is recovered from a knee injury that shut him down for much of the second half of last year.
Karlovic beat three seeded players on his way to the final, No. 2 James Blake, No. 5 Mardy Fish and No. 6 Benjamin Becker, serving 113 aces in the tournament. In his only previous final, he lost at Queen's Club to Andy Roddick in 2005.
This had the potential to be a big day in the Murray family. Andy's older brother, Jamie, was in the doubles final with American Eric Butorac against Chris Haggard and Rainer Schuettler. The Murrays were trying to become the first brothers to win the singles and doubles titles at the same event since Emilio and Javier Sanchez at Kitzbuhel in 1989.
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Cecil | 3 |
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Who will be the 2007 Rookie of the Year?
Juan Montoya +125
Paul Menard +325
David Ragan +400
AJ Allmendinger +500
David Reutimann +1000
Odds courtesy of SportsInterAction
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Cecil | 1 |
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NEW YORK--The New York Red Bulls, desperate to attract interest from America sports fans, have offered golfer Tiger Woods $250 million to play for them for the next five years. Though Woods has never played soccer on any level, the Red Bulls are confident he can learn the game well enough to avoid getting himself killed.
Head coach and GM Bruce Arena believes the signing of Woods would propel the Red Bulls to the top of the MLS.
“Obviously when you sign a player of Tiger Woods’ caliber, it’s going to have a huge impact on your whole franchise,” said Arena, who took over as head coach and sporting director last year. “We feel that he will bring in so much revenue from a marketing perspective that it won’t really matter if he can play or not. He just has to stand there and wave to the crowd, talk on his cell phone, read a book, whatever. As long as he stays out of the way he should be fine. I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but it’s no crazier than the Galaxy hiring David Beckham. The only difference is, at this point, Tiger is probably the better soccer player.”
The Los Angeles Galaxy made a big splash recently when they signed Beckham, an international soccer superstar, to a 5-year deal worth up to $250 million. Though Beckham’s skills have seriously eroded over the years, the Galaxy feel he will earn his money through endorsements and merchandise sales.
Red Bull New York is attempting to take that concept a step further by signing a non-soccer player to join their squad.
“Okay, so he doesn’t play soccer. Big deal,” said Arena. “A lot of people in America don’t play soccer. The point is that he’s famous as hell and we want him associated with our team. If he doesn’t accept our offer, believe me, it’s going to get a lot worse. I won’t divulge our entire list of options, but let’s just say it starts with Brett Favre and it ends with…Beyonce? Wow, even I think that’s stupid. Whatever. She has a nice ass. That’s got to be worth a few mil.”
It is not known whether Woods plans to accept the deal, but $250 million may be too hard to pass up, even for one of the wealthiest athletes in the world. When reached for comment, Woods said he was “intrigued” by the offer.
“It’s certainly intriguing,” Woods told the New York Post. “I’ve always enjoyed watching soccer and I’ve always enjoyed millions of dollars. That being said, I’m not really sure I’m cut out for it. All the running around, the kicking of balls, the head butting of balls, the gasping for breath – it’s a far cry from golf. If we can work out some kind of deal where I don’t have to actually play, I might be interested. I don’t want to do any merchandising either, or personal appearances or TV ads or anything. Basically what I’m saying is if they send me a check for $250 million with no strings attached I’ll cash it.”
However, the Red Bulls would require Woods to take the field for at least five minutes per game to maintain the illusion that he actually plays for the team. The Galaxy have a similar arrangement with Beckham, who will be required to kick the ball a few times until he gets tired.
“We’d like an arrangement similar to the Galaxy’s,” said Arena. “David is just going to make a few cameo appearances for them and then take off and go hang out at a night club or whatever. But his face is going to be plastered all over everything from shirts to hats to soccer balls to underpants, and they’re going to make a killing off that shit, because they’re going to sell it to people in England who are still ga-ga over the guy. It’s a really ingenious plan, other than the fact that it’s not going to work.”
But will Red Bull players accept a hired gun on their team? Probably, says assistant coach Richie Williams.
“I can’t see anybody complaining too much about it,” Williams said. “After all, the money Tiger could make for this team could trickle down to the rest of the players. And we all know what that means: paychecks every week, a team bus, one complimentary ticket to each game, and no more bringing your own soccer balls to the game. We’ll have three or four of them stored in the locker room just for our team. Of course, we’ll have to be careful not to kick them over the fence or anything, because those things aren't cheap.”
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Cecil | 3 |
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Great work!
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Ponch | 16 |
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created a topic
Federer To Opponent: ‘Please Stop Taking Pictures Of Me While I’m Serving’
in Tennis
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA--During his near perfect victory over Fernando Gonzalez in the Australian Open, Roger Federer had to overcome more than his opponent’s backhand. The 26-year-old superstar also had to overcome the distraction caused by Gonzalez snapping photos of him every time he tried to serve.
During the third set, Federer finally yelled at Gonzalez to put his camera phone away and play the game.
“Please, enough with the pictures!” Federer could be heard screaming across the court. “I am trying to serve and you are distracting me. Put away your camera phone and please let’s play. No, I mean now. Right now. Yes, that’s right. Shut it off and put it in your pocket. Thank you. We will have plenty of time for pictures after. Right now you need to pay attention, because I’d like to wrap this up and get out of here some time today.”
Afterward, a disappointed Gonzalez called Federer “a prima donna” for not allowing him to take pictures.
“Oh, he’s Roger Federer, big superstar who’s too good to have his picture taken,” Gonzalez said. “To me he’s just a spoiled prima donna. All I wanted to do is snap a few action photos of him and then send them to my friend, who is – was – a big fan of Roger’s. Instead, he chose to yell at me and embarrass me in front of everybody. Warning to anyone playing Roger in the future: he is a moody little bitch who has no time for his fans.”
On the plus side, Gonzalez did manage to snap a half dozen quality photos of the ball screaming towards him after a Federer serve.
“Before I was screamed at, I did grab a few quick shots,” he said. “I have one where it’s just a close up of the ball, and in the background you can see Roger standing there having just completed his serve. The ball ended up striking me in the forehead and then ricocheting right over the net, at which point Roger spiked it back into the far corner. I thought it was a little excessive, myself. I mean, I’m standing there with a camera in my hand, unable to even return the shot. There’s no need to try and show me up.”
The match with Gonzalez wasn’t the first time that Federer had to deal with the adulation of his opponents. Earlier this year, he faced the German Bjorn Phau, who cheered wildly each time Federer made an impressive shot. The constant shouting from the other side of the net infuriated Federer.
“Bjorn Phau is a good player, but he really got on my nerves during that match,” said Federer, who won the match 7-5, 6-0, 6-4. “Every time I hit a good forehand or I served an ace, he would be like ‘Yea! Kick ass! You are the king!’ I was like ‘Yea, thanks, but can you please pay attention to the game and stop cheering me?’ Then he finally shut up and I proceeded to beat him mercilessly. I was amazing. I even signed my own shirt and took a picture of myself. I’ll never wash that shirt again.”
For future matches, Federer has asked the ATP to instruct players to leave their camera phones in the locker room before coming out to play.
“They need to crack down on it before it becomes an epidemic,” Federer said. “These stupid camera phones are everywhere. You can’t get away from them. And they don’t just use them to take pictures, either. Last year, during a match with some Spanish guy whose name escapes me, the guy approached the net holding his cell phone and asked me to say 'hello' to his girlfriend. During a match! The joke was on him, though. I said hello and then gave her my hotel room number and then had sex with her. She had a baby and he was forced to take care of it. Advantage, Federer!”
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Cecil | 2 |
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Maguire44 | 6 |
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QDogg | 4 |
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Ponch | 2 |
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butkusmlb | 4 |
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Great contest Ponch, thanks!
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Ponch | 4 |
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He is looking good!
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joecook | 7 |
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Check out the rules page. We have three tie breakers:
For any league contest overall standings, members who are tied with equal units - the tie breaker rules are (1) winning percentage (2) Total number of picks (3) member who made the first pick within the contest (time stamp).
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KYkid | 2 |
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It's not over yet ||an_hammer.gif' border=0>
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butkusmlb | 4 |
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