Season Handicap Betting For 2014/2015

I notice that I get a number of visitors each summer looking for my season handicap bets and thought I would offer an update on whether I'll be publishing a blog post dedicated to the topic this year.

The answer is yes.

All I am waiting for is for the Racing & Football Outlook supplement for the Championship and below to come out with the issue that will be published on August 5th.

So, expect me to have my working out and bets published either later that day or Wednesday August 6th.

If you're new to handicap betting, follow the tags below to find out more.

Pink & Green Laptop Screen

I think my laptop is on its last legs.

I'm typing here right now with the screen at the only angle that I can see the screen properly. If it budges a touch up or down, the entire screen goes pink.

Sometimes green.

I'm guessing there's a lose wire, or something to do with the screen.

What I'm not guessing is that it takes almost half an hour for me to get the screen tilted to a position where it works.

It's a pain in the youknowhat.

Multiple Mistakes

I wasn't in the mood to cook any dinner on Monday evening, so ordered a Mexican meal online.

I had eaten at the place before and found the food enjoyable, so decided I would stick to what I had previously. So, I made the order.

A Chicken Chimchangas.

I waited until the delivery arrived, put the meal on my plate and tucked in.

I got to near the end before I realised I didn't have any chicken.

Or any meat whatsoever.

After checking the email where my order was relayed, I noticed I had asked for a beef chimchangas. Somewhere along the way, they must have given me a vegetarian chimchangas.

What a cock up on their end.

And on mine.

I know I should have made a complaint, but I did enjoy the meal so put it down to experience.

With a bit of luck, a beef chimchangas didn't end up on a vegetarian's dinner table.

WWE & Flight MH17

When Malaysian Flight MH17 was blown out of the skies last week, a question later dawned on me.

How will World Wrestling Entertainment handle this one?

You see, right now - in storyline - WWE has a Russian manager, Lana, who endorses Vladimir Putin on every single show.

Knowing WWE's track record of courting controversy (remember Sgt. Slaughter during the Gulf War and especially them not editing out an angle involving Muhammad Hassan a few days after the 7/7 bombings in 2005), I was curious to see what would happen next time Lana was given the microphone.

And so she took said mic at Sunday's Battleground pay-per-view and acknowledged that Russia was not responsible for 'recent current events'. She then, as per usual, dedicated the match between her client, Rusev against Jack Swagger in honour of Vladimir Putin.

I knew there would be some controversy even with the subtle alluding to Flight MH17 being a 'recent current event'. But what shocked me the most was WWE's response to the storm it caused the following day.

Last night's segment during WWE's Battleground event was in no way referring to the Malaysia Airlines tragedy. The storyline with characters Rusev and Lana has been a part of WWE programming for more than 3 months. WWE apologizes to anyone who misunderstood last night's segment and was offended

How patronising can they get? Furthermore, how dishonest and insulting?

Please don't be fooled. They knew exactly what they were doing when they scripted the 'recent current event' line.

This could become one of two things - a flash in the pan story that goes away or it could end up being a big thing where networks get involved asking for certain characters to be removed from television.

If it becomes the latter, I ask two questions.

Would it have been easier just to tone down her act for a while?

Why didn't the company learn its lessons from before?

Getting Ready For The Draft (No, Not THAT Draft)

Not long to go before the NFL pre-season, which means one thing.

I have to pull my finger out and start reading up and getting prepared for fantasy football.

I'm unsure whether the league I have been in the last two seasons will be up for a third outing. I hope so, I won it last time out.

If not, I'll find a random league to attach myself to. 

I have more fun playing American football fantasy leagues than I do with regular football ones. The main reason being, I don't lose as often with NFL games.

Pringles World Cup 2014 Shirt

As the self-professed Pringles connoisseur that I am, I saved up two tubes to get the special World Cup Pringles shirt.

Here it is in all its glory.

I thought it would be a tacky Umbro football top, but it isn't too bad.

Don't get me wrong, I won't be wearing it outside. I'll either keep it or wear it around the house.

The End Of PowerSlam

Professional wrestling magazine, PowerSlam, is no more.

This month's edition will be the final issue and I am very sorry to see it go.

I have purchased the magazine since its debut in the summer of 1994. I have never missed an issue. My collection goes back to three copies of its predecessor - Superstars of Wrestling.

It was a totally different time back when issue one came out. I didn't have Internet, so the only wrestling news I got was from PowerSlam. Going to WHSmith to pick up a copy each month was a ritual in itself.

As I was typing the last sentence above, I couldn't help but remind myself of an occasion where we had been delayed leaving Tenerife when I was sixteen. 

We had been awake for over a day. So, as soon as we got through the front door, the plan was to go and sleep for a few hours to catch what we missed. 

Not me. I was right back out, heading for the bus stop to get into town to buy the latest issue.

Anyway, back to the post..

The mag really did enlighten me on so much about the wrestling business. I didn't know of the underground culture of British wrestling fans before I read the letters page in the magazine. 

PowerSlam paved the way for me to find fanzines created by other fans and buy video tapes that traders had copied and sold on from wrestling promotions from Japan, Mexico, Europe and America.

Had it not been for the magazine, I would have known a lot less about the business than I do now. And for that, I am thankful.

Nothing but fond memories here.