Wednesday, 6 August 2008

Olympics, the US and John Cleese

So the Olympics doesn't open until Friday, but the games have begun (if you can call women's football a game). Just kidding ladies. When the last Olympics took place, I was a novice on Betfair, and aside from a teeny win on Water Polo one quiet Saturday, I don't recall getting involved very much. This year will probably be the same. Laying the USA men's basketball team at 1.36 could be good. Their NBA superstars often don't gel very well (as is the case in the Ryder Cup), and for other teams, they are the team to beat. Also other teams have a healthy starting line-up of NBA players themseves - Spain and Argentina to name but two.

Why is it that with the exception of basketball, the big sports in the US are games that hardly any other country plays? Reminds me of the old John Cleese joke (circa 1998), when asked by an American talk-show host what the difference were between the US and Britain:

"1. We speak English and you don't"

"2. In England, when we have a World Championship, we invite teams from other countries to take part"

"3. When WE meet our head of State, we only have to go down on ONE knee"

2 comments:

  1. Nice blog. Ive been trading for quite while aswell, not professionally, of course :-) Anyway, just a quick note on your basketball lay. For me, 1.36 is actually too big to lay and i would definitly consider to back and let it run, and maybe lay later on. USA are desperate to win (too many years losing), they brought the best dream team since the real deam team from 1992, and china just loves them too much, even more than their national team, it seems actaully. As a spaniard, i would love to beat them, but i don't think this will happen, they're just too serious this time, too many years losing have brought them back to earth. Keep the good work

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  2. I think you're right. I actually never layed the USA but backed Argentina instead with a view to laying them back after they won their group - but of course they lost their opener to Lithuania. (3 pointer and a foul at the buzzer!) They should still go through, but I'm not expecting to make too much - I'll be happy to break even to be honest! As a Spaniard you are having one great year. Thanks for the comment and good luck.

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