Jackson was selected in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft at 20th overall.  The cornerback is expected to begin immediately since he’ll be taking over for Dunta Robinson opposite Glover Quinn.  During the offseason, Robinson left the Texans and signed with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent.  As a junior at Alabama, Jackson recorded 13 passes in addition to 49 tackles during the Crimson Tide’s national championship.

In addition, the Texans were able to sign their second-round draft pick Ben Tate.  Drafted out of Auburn at 58th overall, he will battle for running back position with both Arian Foster and Steve Slaton.  In 2009 at Auburn, Tate recorded 1,362 yards for 10 touchdowns and on 263 carries.  His career at Auburn landed him fifth on the all-time list in the school’s history with 3,321 ground yards.

The Houston Texans have also released Pierre Singfield, a rookie cornerback.

Odrick, selected 28th overall in this year’s draft out of Penn State, is currently expected to contend for a starting position for defensive end since DE Philip Merling is lost for the upcoming season.  Odrick recorded 43 tackles as well as 7 sacks during his 2009 season with the Nittany Lions and was the 2009 Big Ten Player of the Year.

Miami will open up their training camp Friday and Odrick is expected to attend.  The training camp commences at 2 p.m. in the afternoon at Davie, the location of the team’s training facility.

The Dolphins have also signed their second round draft pick, 40th overall draft selection, Koa Misi out of Utah, to a four-year deal that is reportedly worth a total of $4.5 million with $2.6 million of that guaranteed.  Last season for the Utah Utes, Misi recorded 71 tackles as well as 5 sacks.  In college, he played mainly as a defensive end, but with the Dolphins, he will play an outside linebacker.

The Dolphins ultimately hope that Misi will be able to fill the void that was left with the decision not to re-sign Jason Taylor and Joey Porter.

With the signing of Odrick and Misi, the Dolphins have now inked all of their 2010 NFL Draft selections to contracts.

Picks 1-5

The Rams drafted Sam Bradford with the first pick and have signed him to a six-year contract.  As for the no. 2 overall draft pick, Ndamukong Suh, the Lions have yet to ink him to a contract.  Gerald McCoy who went third in the first round to the Bucs has signed a five-year contract.  The Redskins drafted Trent Williams and signed him to six-year deal worth $60 million and the Chiefs signed Eric Berry to a six-year contract respectively.

Picks 6-10

Russell Okung went to the Seahawks but has yet to sign a contract with the team.  The Browns drafted Joe Haden and the Raiders drafted Rolando McClain as the 7th and 8th overall draft picks respectively and each have signed a five-year deal.  The Bills drafted C.J. Spiller and the Jaguars drafted Tyson Alualu for 9th and 10th overall picks, both of which remain unsigned.

Picks 11-15

The San Francisco 49ers drafted Anthony Davis with the 11th pick and have successfully signed him to a five-year deal worth nearly $27 million.  Drafted 12th was Ryan Matthews for the Chargers who remains unsigned.  Brandon Graham was drafted next by the Eagles and has signed a 5-year contract.  The Seahawks drafted Earl Thomas and the Giants drafted Jason Pierre-Paul 14th and 15th respectively and both remain unsigned.

Picks 16-20

The Titans took Derrick Morgan with their 16th overall draft pick and haven’t reached a deal with him yet.  The 49ers took Mike Iputai with their 17th pick, the Steelers took Maurkice Pouncey at 18th, the Falcons took Sean Weatherspoon at 19th and the Texans took Kareem Jackson with their 20th pick, all of whom have agreed to contracts for five years.

Picks 21-25

Jermaine Graham for the Bengals and Demaryius Thomas for the Broncos remain unsigned.  The Packers drafted Bryan Bulaga, the Cowboys drafted Dez Bryant, and the Broncos took Tim Tebow at 23rd, 24th, and 25th respectively and have signed all three to five-year deals ranging from just under $12 million to $33 million.

Picks 26-32

The Cardinals drafted Dan Williams at 26th overall pick but haven’t signed him yet.  Devin McCourty went to the Patriots and Jared Odrick went to the Dolphins 27th and 28th respectively and have both agreed to five-year deals.  The Jets drafted Kyle Wilson with their 29th overall pick who remains unsigned.  The Lions drafted Jahvid Best who has agreed to terms and the Colts’ 31st overall pick, Jerry Hughes, remains unsigned.  Last but not least, Patrick Robinson was drafted by the Saints and has signed a 5-year contract with the team.

The 2011 MLB season will start on a Friday, with April 1 as the official start date for majority of the teams, and the season will end on a Wednesday, reportedly September 28.  Therefore, the playoffs will begin around September 30 or October 1 making the World Series debut be sometime around October 19 on a Wednesday, which is ultimately an entire week sooner than the past two MLB seasons.

In other words, the MLB would get exactly what they wanted – no World Series in November.  In addition to the MLB getting what they want, the players will be able to start their offseason an entire week earlier than usual.  For the most part, it seems that the majority of the players are all for this change.

This entire new game and season setup is primarily based upon complaints of those teams that partake in the World Series.  The weather seems to always be an issue when they play in November so ending a month sooner helps to avoid that inclement weather.  With the schedule that has been created right now, Game 7 of next year will end on October 28 – this year’s Game 7 is November 4.

According to a few sources, the Giants and Diamondbacks have a two-game series that takes place in Taiwan and the season is likely to start on March 25 or 26 when the series begins.  This hasn’t been approved by the MLB just yet but it is expected to be.

What do you think about the proposed 2011 MLB season schedule?  Do you think it’s a positive step or a step backwards?

Per Bwin.com, the Miami Heat have 2.50 odds to win the NBA Finals even though they haven’t won a title since back in 2006.  The only major concern with the Heat is that they used majority of their cap to get the trio so if one of them gets injured this season, there likely won’t be enough depth and skill on the bench to cover the skill of one of the three.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the next NBA team to beat with 4.75 odds on Bwin.com.  In franchise history, the Lakers have 17 world championships and have secured the past two NBA titles.  The Lakers have a very solid and skilled team all the way around with players like Kobe Bryant as well as Pau Gasol.  Other essential players to the Lakers include Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, Ron Artest, and more.  Coach Phil Jackson has 11 NBA Titles to his name (or team) and when he has led his team to win two NBA titles, the third just drops in his lap.

The Orlando Magic are considered the third favorite NBA team to win the 2011 NBA Finals with 11.00 odds. In franchise history for the second time, the Magic reached the NBA Finals in 2009.  This season in the Eastern Conference finals, Boston beat them out for the advance.  Orlando still has skilled key role player Dwight Howard as well as players Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis so they have the ability to play ball with the Miami Heat.

The Boston Celtics are at 12.00 odds to win the 2011 NBA Finals.  The Celtics have 17 world championships to their name in addition to the NBA Finals title from 2008.  Boston reached the NBA Finals this year but came up short in the seven games against the Los Angeles Lakers.  As with the other three teams, the Boston Celtics have a strong and skilled starting team including Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce.  Although the Celtics have lost a key player to retirement (Rasheed Wallace), Boston has replaced him with newly signed Jermaine O’Neal.

For more NBA Finals odds to win, check out Bwin.com.

I will start to give you all my best bettingtips in the game between Argentina vs Spain and then follow that up with my best tips from Paraguay vs Spain. I have choose to pick the odds from bwin bet on world cup and one of the reasons that I do that is because they have the biggest offer in different odds and betting opportunities of all the betting sites.

There are over 300 different betting opportunities at bwin, which can be compared with most of the sites that offers about 100 different bets per match.

Paraguay vs. Spain, odds: Paraguay to win, odds: 8.00, draw odds: 4.50, Spain to win, odds: 1.40

My bettingtips:

Paraguay vs. Spain – Spain to win @ 1.40

Paraguay has never been in a quarterfinal in the World cup’s history before so this is a very big game for them. But the fact is that Spain never have been further then a quarterfinal before either, which can be hard to think compared to the team that Spain has, and have got for a long time.

I think that the fact that Spain did so well in the European Championship two years ago (when they won the Gold medal) has helped them a lot in this World cup.

It started as it often do for Spain in World cup, they lost against Switzerland with 1 – 0. When that happened, I am pretty sure that most of the Spaniards thought something like “Not this time as well”. Because Spain was, the biggest favourites to win the World cup according to the odds before the championship started and that even thought they have never been in a semi-final before.

Nevertheless, after their loss against Switzerland they came back strongly and won against both Honduras and Chile (2 – 0 and 2 – 1) which took them trough to the second round. In the first match of the second round they played against their neighbours Portugal in a great game where Portugal seemed to bee the strongest team but where Spain made a substitution and that changed the game. Spain won with 1 – 0 after that David Villa (who else?) scored his fourth goal of the tournament.

Paraguay has been doing very well and has only let one goal in so far. They started with 1 – 1 against the former trophy holders Italy and after that they won against Slovakia with 2 – 0. In their last group match they played 0 – 0 against New Zeeland, but in that game they where not forced to win. In the second round they was headed against Japan and won after penalties (0 – 0 after ordinary time).

So none of these teams as impressed that much so far, but still one of the teams will go to the semi-finals. My feeling is that Spain is growing as they are going further and that they have good opportunities to win this game. I do not think that it will be an easy game but I still think that Spain is too good for Paraguay. Actually I would say that the odds on a Spanish win is a bit too low to bet on if it would had been a group-game or friendly, but now when it is a quarterfinal I have a feeling that the Spanish world-class-players will improve their game and win.

Paraguay vs. Spain, correct result: 0 – 1 @ 5.20 in odds

It’s not often that I place a bettingtips on correct result, but this time I have a strong feeling that this game can end 1 – 0 for Spain. I had the same feeling in their game against Portugal, but this time I am going to place a bet on that as well.

As I wrote above, these two teams have not been scoring too many goals forward. In addition, Paraguay has shown a strong defensively strength and I am pretty sure that they will try to hold up 0 – 0 as long as they can. Almost all of the Spanish players are playing in Spanish league for some of the top clubs, and if they come up to a normal standard, at least one of these players should be able to score eventually. Spain has David Villa, Fernando Torres, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Ilorente, Andres Iniesta and the question is for how long time Paraguay can stand up with their defensive line.

I choose to bet the result 0 – 1 to Spain since I think this will be a tight game in the beginning and that Spain will score in the second half. And when/if they do, they are one of the best nations in the world to pass the ball. If you choose to bet on 0 – 1 result for Spain and that is the standing late in the game I can even recommend you to keep an eye on the livebetting. It might being worth to hedge that bet if you have a high stake since the odds is over 5.00.

My best bettingtips from Argentina vs Germany follows in the next text

However, Germany has actually impressed more on me then Argentina, since Argentina where one of my potential winners before the World cup started. Germany came to this World cup without really being one of the favourites, which feels a bit strange now when they have proved so much. Germany is a strange nation when it comes to World cup. They are not often counted as one of the biggest favourites, but still they always makes it at least to the quarterfinals, often further then that. Now the two big giants face again in a world championship and I will try to give you my best game tips from this match:

Argentina vs. Germany, odds: Argentina to win, odds: 2.35, draw, odds: 3.35, Germany to win, odds: 2.85

My bettingtips:

Argentina vs. Germany, Argentina to win @ 2.35 in odds

This is a hard game to predict, but I have a feeling that Argentina is the better side. Those two teams actually played a friendly just before the world cup and that time Argentina won with 1 – 0. In addition, not only that, they where even way better then Germany in that game. But that was then and this is now. Because Germany has shown that, they are a totally different team then theu where in the qualification and the friendly’s. When Michael Ballack got injured most of us thought that Germany was going to get a tough championship. Instead all the youngsters has grown to world class players and are really good at the moment.

Both Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller where pretty unknown for most of the non-German people before the World cup started and now its them who are holding the team up. It was those three who outplayed England totally and now they are in a new quarterfinal.

But I think it will end here. Argentina has even better players in their squad with players like Leo Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez on the attacking line. They have more players to bring on if it wont work with these, such as Diego Milito, Kun Aguerro and Martin Palermo.

Behind all these attackers, Argentina has De Maria, Juan Veron and Javier Mascherano. There are muscles in the Argentenean team as well, clearly.

This will be a great offensive battle to watch and I think that the South Americans will win with stand as winners. My feeling is that both teams will try to play the way they have played so far in the World cup, which means many players in the attacks. Argentina is the favourites both according to me and the odds and me that bwin offers. But I have leaned to never underestimate Germany, so I keep the stake low.

Argentina vs. Germany, over / under 2,5 goals – Odds: Over 2,5 goals 1.90 in odds – Under 2.5 goals 1.80 in odds

My bettingtips:

Argentina vs Germany, over 2,5 goals @ 1.90 in odds

This is a really good bet if you ask me. Both of these teams are offensive in their way of playing and they have also played like that. Both Argentina and Germany have their strongest players in the attacking line or as offensive midfielders which makes me believe that it defiantly can be more then three goals in this game.

I am a bit surprised that bwin holds under 2,5 goals as favourites in this game since both teams are playing as offensive as they are.  I rather think that this game can end like 4 – 2 in any direction then 1 – 0.  In the second rounds, first matches both Argentina and Germany showed that they keep attacking even though they have the lead, and that is really good for this bet. Germany took an early lead against England but they kept attacking. With fast counter attacks and fantastic passing skills, they made the English players look chocked. The game ended 4 – 1 to Germany and who could have expected five goals in that game?

Even Argentina showed in their game, against Mexico, that they kept attacking after their early lead. They had 1 – 0 but kept playing forward which lead to both 2 – 0 and 3 – 0. After that, Mexico scored a goal but Argentina’s win was never threatened.

Therefore, I have big hopes that it will be scored at least three goals in this game, maybe even more, and am happy to get as high odds as 1.90 on this bet from bwin sportsbetting odds. This time I choose to bet a higher stake since I find the bet so good.

Good luck with your World cup betting

/Amrish

Just in December, 30-year-old Atkins and the Orioles agreed to a one-year contract deal that was worth $4.5 million.  He had previously been a player for the Colorado Rockies where he appeared in 773 games with 98 homers and a batting average of .289.

His record fell, though, causing him to lose his starting position last season.  His batting average went down to .226 with 48 runs batted in and 9 home runs – this coming after a 2008 season where he was hitting a .286 with 99 runs batted in and 21 home runs.  Obviously, you can see that something went wrong!

Atkins was designated for assignment by Baltimore so that the Orioles could make room for right handed Koji Uehara (pictured) coming off of the 15-day disabled list that Uehara was placed on last month on May 20 due to a right forearm strain.  He has been in six games this year and Uehara has an ERA of 1.80 for five innings pitched.

Now it would be obvious here that you would be betting without any clear indication of what the true odds should be as you do not know the relative numbers of different coloured balls in the bag. But now let us take this into another phase where a punter has done their homework and has found that out of those 20 balls……10 are red….4 are white…..2 are blue…..2 are green and 2 are black.

Now what this analysis has done is identify the likely winner which in this case is red as there are 2.5x the number of red balls than the next highest colour which is white. So if we had to bet on which colour would be likely to appear then the bet would need to be on red above any other colour. But in betting then this does us little use for the following important reason! The bookmakers are setting the prices and so you will probably be receiving smaller odds than the event actually happening.

If we look at what the true odds should be in this analogy then we simply convert the number of balls to a percentage and then to odds. There are ten red balls which equates to a 50% chance of red appearing…..50% in odds form is Even money. There are four white balls out of twenty which is 20%…..expressed as odds then this is 4/1. A brief summary of the remaining three colours shows that there are two of each which equate to 10% per ball and 10% in odds is 9/1.

So the true odds of red are Evens, white is 4/1 and the rest are 9/1 each. But what if we looked at the prices that a bookmaker was giving us and he was offering 4/6 on red? Suddenly it appears that a bet on red is not such a great proposition after all as the odds do not reflect the chances of red appearing. Continuing to bet on red at those odds would lead to long term losses. But what if the second favourite was being offered at odds of 6/1? This now represents value as even though the white ball is less likely to appear than the red, as a betting proposition then it is a far better bet as it has the potential for long term profits.

Sometimes a horse may not be reaching its full potential for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it doesn’t like the travelling involved in getting to meetings, it may feel spooked by the large crowds and under perform. There could be numerous factors behind why a horse initially does poorly during its early runs. So if a horse is showing signs of improvement then there is every reason to believe that this improvement will continue.

This is why the handicappers have such a tough job because racing results and winning and losing margins are often very misleading. So what we are looking at here is a situation where the official handicapper must try to estimate just how much “extra” this horse actually has. As you would imagine, this is a very difficult task and one which leaves a good scope for those who follow small groups of horses very closely to be able to get an edge.

But this is where the true advantage is because there are simply too many horses with too much history for any one punter to follow them closely all the time. Some professionals try to short cut this by using computer software to try and speed up the process or to use algorithmic strategies that do not require deep long winded thinking and analysis. This can help tremendously but it does leave one vulnerable to not having worked something out properly.

However form can be looked at both ways and it is also amazing just how many punters blindly follow horses simply because they have had good results in the past. Usually past performance can indicate future performance but it is certainly no guarantee of it. One only has to look at this years Football World Cup for analogies and France were a very short price to qualify from their group……they came bottom. But those prices are based on France winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships followed by reaching the 2006 World Cup Final.

But closer inspection reveals that the 2006 World Cup Final came in between failures at the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 and 2008 European Championships. This is clearly a case of a team being past their prime but yet many punters still back them in the belief that they are going to experience past glories. This principle is exactly the same with horse racing.