Whilst ma boy Tiger was busy explaining to reporters why he is now about as useful as The Armadillo on the course, another young American was putting something special together at Firestone Country Club, much to the delight of one client. Hunter Mahan entered the final round of the WGC on Sunday hidden on five shots back from the leaders and tied for seventh place. The focus was on 'Lefty', and while the golfing community watched on as Mickelson blew the chance to overtake the world's favourite adulterer (not this one) as number one golfer, Mahan quickly put five birdies together in the first nine holes to help him to the top of the leaderboard by the turn. Our client had bought Mahan on our Leaderboard Index at 4.5 for £25 (with first place worth 60 points). The back nine brought one more birdie and two clutch par putts on 15 and 17 to help him to a two shot victory and our client to a £1,387.50 profit.

The traditional curtain raiser to the new season took place at Wembley on Sunday as the Manchester Soccer Reds took on Chelsea in the Charity Shield (sic). No one really gives one about this game; a bit like the entire NFL pre-season which can't be over quick enough. But I digress. I was privileged (?) to be in attendance at this year's event and was envisaging a tight encounter with little goal mouth action, as did one punter who sold Total Goal minutes at 120 for £10 just before kick-off. After 40 minutes of very few chances, the now 'rubbish' Wayne Rooney set up Tony Valencia for the first goal, thus making John Terry look even worse than he actually his. Still our client can't have been too concerned. Not a huge amount else was happening. However in the second half the introduction of one 'Chicaritio' changed the game and managed to smack the ball Heskey style of his own head and find the corner after 76 minutes. Our man had four minutes to play with, however a late Chelsea consolation through Kalou and a delicate Barbie Doll chip in the last minute meant a make-up of 290 and £1,700 loss for a distraught punter. Damn.

Football It's a long season in the Championship yet the opening weekend has already had an effect on our Championship Index. The big shock was pre-season favourites Middlesbrough losing at home to Roy Keane's Ipswich. This was enough to move Boro's spread down three points to 17-20 whilst Ipswich jumped three to 9-12. An even bigger move in price was a four point rise for Burnley to 17-20 following victory over a fancied Forest side. Are these fairly drastic fluctuations based on the first week's results? Possibly, and if so then there might be plenty of opportunities for the savvy punter with a more long term view.


YouTube Based Banter

Ewan Thomas and his Icelandic teammates are getting a name for themselves, but maybe this celebration is perhaps their most controversial yet.

Allow me to leave you with a few bits of Americana. Fantastic NFL celebration by Terrell Owens. An amazing hockey fight. And finally my favourite two minutes in American Sports history. The Giants defeating the unbeaten New England Patriots in Superbowl 42.