Competition Time. Win $30 worth of Amazon.com Goodness! Free to enter!!

That's right, you can win a $30 Amazon.com gift voucher just by entering our free competition. It's open to anybody 18 or over who has an email account, so check out the rules below and join in!

To enter all you have to do is tell me why you love your favorite sport. In three words or less. It doesn't matter what sport you love or why you love it but the reason must be no more than three words in length. For example:

I love football and my reason (one of them anyway) is "Unnecessary Roughness". Having a foul for 'Unnecessary Roughness' implies that, in order to play the game, there is necessary roughness. Which is brilliant and humorous at the same time.

You can choose a facet of the sport, a player that you love to watch, or whatever you like, as long as it's three words or less, it's all gravy.  You can leave an explanation of your choice if you want. The winner will be the one that I like the best and my decision is final bitch.

The competition will run from right now to the 1st of July. Entries can be made by comment or by email to shottonothing[/at/]gmail.com and you can enter as many times as your heart desires. The winner will be announced on Monday the 2nd of July and will be notified by email (so remember to send me your email address if you're answering via a comment!)


Good luck and thanks for taking part!

Global Update: Stoner Wins in Shanghai!

This is a terrible thing to say but Motorcycle racing's entertainment value is solely based in it's ridiculous high speed crashes. Go on admit it, last time you were watching Moto GP you were just waiting, hoping even, for that one alimghty bodge up that sends the bike and the dude sailing through the air!

However, this weekend the whole sport got a massive boost in the entertainment stakes when a guy called Casey Stoner won some big race out in China. From now on the possibilities are endless; imagine the headlines: "Stoner Is The Champion!", "Stoner Breaks Speed Records!" and maybe even "Stoner Impregnates Multiple Girlfirends!" I'm keeping my eye on this one, for sure.

The final of the World Snooker Championship starts today with John Higgins going up against Mark Selby. Carrying on with the Stoner theme to this post, have you seen Mark Selby?! (that's him on the left). The dude looks like the living dead...

I was a little disappointed when The Thrill (Stephen Maguire) lost to John Higgins, but at least the unseeded Selby won through against Mr. Potato Head to keep me interested in the final. Well... kind of interested. Alright, not really interested but, you know, 'Go Selby!' and all that.

In more interesting (?) news, Floyd Mayweather Jr. won his Big Fight against Oscar De La Hoya after a 12 round split decision. I know there's a safety aspect and all, but 12 round split decisions are not all that exciting to me. Sorry, they're just not.

A Horse called Street Sense has won the Kentucky Derby. He is apparently the first horse of a certain type to win the race since another horse of his certain type won it. The real story here is, how comes every win in horse racing now has to be some sort of record? Can't it just be a big deal that you won one of the most prestigious events on the sporting calender?

Anything else.... let's see...

Oh yeah, Army Played Navy yesterday in their traditional annual Rugby Union match that has taken place since 1878. It was the usual aggressive affair with more and more fights breaking out as the game wore on. Army eventually took the victory with a 37-25 score line, but they did have a resnefulous amount of help from the referee who allowed two Army trys that simply were not lawful in the slightest. But there you go.

Back in the real world of Rugby, Gloucester and Leicester both won their respective semi-final playoff games and will meet each other to decide who takes the title later this month.

That's it, you're all updated. Get the hell outta here biatch.

[BBC Sport]

[SI.com]

Silver Birch wins Grand National 2007

Another Irish winner of the Grand National this year. And one that I never saw coming I have to admit. Nope, my horse managed to fall at the very first hurdle which felt a bit like going up to accept an Oscar and realising too late that you've forgotten your pants.

The big story this year though, has to be the fourth place finnisher Philsons Run who went off at 100-1 and has just made anyone who had him each-way (ya see, I did get something right) very wealthy indeed.

It was a pretty fantastic raise in all and there was a worthy winner, what more can you ask for? Better tips from me? Well yeah, you could ask for that I suppose, but come on I already gave you the winner of the Superbowl and the World Figure Skating Champs didn't I? What more do you want?

And if you're feeling down about your horse losing, spare a thought for the poor schmuck who put down 20 grand on sports index that at-least sixteen of the forty horses would finish the race. The final count was thirteen.

Ouch!

Grand National 2007: A Gamblers Guide Part 2

Now for the ones I do like:

Point Barrow and Clan Royal are the two horses that I'm most interested in. The GN is all about stamina, if your horse has stamina then it stands a good shot at the title. Point Barrow is all about stamina, which he proved beyond a doubt at the Irish National. At 10-1 he is a fantastic bet and one that I may well be taking.

Then there's Clan Royal. this is a horse that has been hyped every year to ridiculous proportions and has disappointed every time. I've never bought into Clan Royal before but this year, with odds slipping further and further and a complete absense of hype, I'm starting to get a niggling feeling...

Now I want you to understand, there is no logic to picking Clan Royal he's got age and past form against him, but I'm a Gambler; I am perfectly willing to risk it all on 'guts and feel'. Back in 2004 there was an old horse called 'Amberleigh House' in the field which tipsters the world over proclaimed as 'too old' and 'shouldn't be given anymore runs at this course'. But I had a feeling about him. I can't explain it, it was just there. that year I bet on him at 11-1 and made a killing when he won.

And I've got that same feeling right now over Clan Royal. It defies logic, but he is definately my 'Shot to Nothing' bet.

Other good horses include: Dun Doire, Jack high and Livingstone Bramble but again, I wouldn't bet on any of those horses on the nose. If you want to be a winner this weekend,place your bet each way.

Oh and btw, if I haven't mentioned a horse then it's for a very good reason. That old nag isn't going off at 100-1 for nothing you know...

Grand National 2007: A Gamblers Guide

The biggest horse race in the entire world  is run tomorrow, with forty horses jumping over thirty fences on their way around a four mile and four furlong course. It is the most gambled on race in the horse world calender, believe it or not.

They say that picking a winner for this race is a once in a lifetime thing. That must make me one hell of alucky dude, 'cause I had the winner two years back to back in '04,'05 and the horse I had last year came second. So, either I'm extremely lucky, extremely savy or extremely living more then one life at a time. Either way, after two wins back to back followed by a second place, you should listen to what I have to say before putting your hard earned cash down on that three legged donkey...

Vein much?

Kiss my sexy ass, here's the preview:

You don't want to be betting on the nose in the Grand National. There are forty horses out there and approximately twenty of them have a decent sho, so you're far better off going each way. That way you'll win if your horse finnishes in the top four, which, if you pick the right one and he doesn't fall to one of the gruesome fences at Aintree, then you're in with a great shot at the money.

Unfortunately I failed to take my own advice last year and I went for Hedgehunter on the nose. And he finnished second. If I had him each way I would have won a ton of money but instead I was over confident from my back to back wins and I went home with a 'big fat brick'. This year I'm eating humble pie and going each way again, it's the smart thing to do.

So who should you take that gamble with this year? Well, first here are three horses that look good but that you should avoid:

Stay away from the favorite Joes Edge. That's right I said stay way from the favorite. This horse was 50-1 at the beginning of the week and just barely scraped a place in the race itself. He's become the favorite because of rampant speculation over his win in the Scottish National and his trainers ridiculous hype. The punters have flooded the market with money for him but IMO he doesn't have what it takes to get around the course.

Hedgehunter is my favorite horse in the world. He has won me a lot of money over the years including his win in this race back in 2005. There is not a better jumper in the line-up and no other horse can compete with his stamina... BUT, this isn't his year. He is the heaviest Horse in the field and is heavier than the heaviest horse to have won the GN. He's also getting a bit old for all this; a lovely horse, but not a winner this year.

Numbersixvalverde was last years winner and looks in pretty good shape this year. His jockey has swaggered about a lot this week talking about how his horse 'can be the first horse since Red Rum to win back to back' GN's. That's nice rhetoric, but Numbersixvalverde is NOT Red Rum and in fact, isn't even as good as Hedgehunter was in his prime. And Hedgehunter could only manage a 1st-2nd. Despite that, this horse is a good each way bet, but I can't see him winning.

to be cont'd...