Most Americans celebrate Independence Day with an outdoor barbeque or with an assortment of fireworks, however another tradition is quickly gaining popularity and it involves eating an enormous amount of hot dogs in a very short period of time.

The first Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog-Eating Contest was held 92 years ago in 1916 in Coney Island, New York. Rumor has it that four immigrants had ...  read more

The Wild Card Weekend of the Arena Football Playoffs was completed last week and the underdogs dominated, covering all four games and winning three of them straight-up. The AFL playoffs follow the NFL prototype with six teams in each conference making the playoffs and the top two seeds in each earning a bye. That being said, a major difference is that there are onl ...  read more

No. 116 Army Blac ...  read more

No. 117 Utah ...  read more

Monday, June 30th

Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays 7:10 PM ET

Interleague play is done and we can turn our attention to some big league games this week starting with a great series getting underway Monday. Boston heads to Tampa Bay as the two meet for the first time since June 5th and th ...  read more

Below is a free Over/Under for Monday night. You can also get a late-night MLB Steamroller Blowout on Steve Merril’s Best Bets selections page!

UNDER 8 -115 (Athletics/Angels) (Smith/Garland) - 10:05 pm ET #976

The Angels are ice-cold on offense and have scored 0, 0, and 1 run in their past three games. They are likely to struggle again tonight as my pitcher perfo ...  read more

While European Internet gambling firms have been showing politicians with money through their lobbying efforts, Costa ...  read more

By Jason Crowe for Steve Merril Sports

The final weekend of Interleague play wraps up this weekend highlighted with an extended Subway Series in New York and the boys from the north side making the short trip to the south in Chicago.

Yankees @ Mets

The first game of an unusual four game series starts Friday afternoon at 2:05 pm ET in what will very possibly ...  read more

By Reed Hogben for Steve Merril Sports

The general betting public usually leans to Favorites, Overs and the Home teams; therefore sportsbooks were probably happy campers after the 2007 CFL season.

Favorites and Underdogs went a perfect 50% at 36-36 ATS. Home Favorites let bettors down at 25-28 ATS, while Away Favorites made a little money at 11-8 ATS. Of those 36 covering ...  read more

A - Arnold, Benedict. If you aren't a hockey fan or a Canadian then you can't really understand the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are usually terrible and they haven't won a Cup since 1967, yet in the eyes of the team and their fans they are the only team that matters. Leafs fans are like really annoying Red Sox fans circa 1999. You can imagine, then, how thrilled fa ...  read more

Below is a free MLB play for Tuesday night:

OVER 9½ -110 (Mariners/Mets) (Dickey/Perez) – 7:10 pm ET #967

The Mariners should have plenty of success tonight against Oliver Perez as Seattle has been much stronger versus left-handed pitchers this season, averaging 6.9 runs and batting .275 on the road versus LHP, compared to just 3.2 runs and .235 versus RHP.

Per ...  read more

Monday, June 23rd

Arizona Diamondbacks at Boston Red Sox 7:05 PM ET

A battle of first place teams takes place on Monday. Arizona remains 3.5 games in front of the Dodgers in the National League West but it has been a struggle for the Diamondbacks. Since May 20th, Arizona is a dismal 11-21 ...  read more

The draws have been selected for the 2008 Wimbledon Championships set to serve from June 23 to July 6 as five-time defending Champion Roger Federer will have to face Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic if he wants to return to Centre Court. There is a possibility for an all-Williams' final on the women's side if defending Champion Venus Williams can get ...  read more

No. 118 Idaho ...  read more

...  read more

PHONE SERVICES DECLINE – A Good Thing < ...  read more

Tuesday, June 10th

Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets 7:10 PM ET

The Mets looked to have gotten back in line after winning four of five games including a series win in San Francisco. However they were swept in San Diego in their four-game series and maybe even more disturbing was how t ...  read more

Both of these starting pitchers enter the game in good form off of their last 3 starts posting an identical WHIP of 0.95. In 4 road starts the Minnesota starting pitcher Slowey has posted a very good 2.45 ERA. In his last 9 starts Slowey has seen just 1 go over the total. In 5 starts at home this seas ...  read more

A - Andruw Jones. We won't have Jones and his oddly spelled first name to kick around for a month or more. Jones had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee on Tuesday and will miss four to six weeks. You'd never guess it if you just look at their payroll, but this is pretty much the best thing that could have happened to the struggling Dodgers. Jones, ...  read more

Recent reports have named Barry Melrose as the next coach of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Yes, this is the same Tampa Bay Lighting that won a Stanley Cup under John Tortorella in 2004. Tororella is still under contract to coach the Lighting next season but the team is in the process of being solid to Oren Koules. Many believe Koules is looking for a fresh start and has tabbed ...  read more

Monday, June 2nd

Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers 8:05 PM ET

Doug Davis makes his first trip back to Milwaukee this season to face his former club. This will be his third start since returning from cancer surgery and he will no doubt get a rousing welcome from Brewers fans. Davis ...  read more

One of the hardest but most important tasks baseball handicappers face is deciding which pitchers are good value, and which one aren't worth risking your money on. The best and most obvious way to do that is by looking at statistics. Win-loss record and earned run average are the tools that most bettors rely on most heavily, but they can sometimes be misleading. ...  read more

A - A-Rod. After almost a month out of action, last year's MVP is back and in solid form. He's not lighting the world on fire, but he's not slumping either. What is more notable is that his team, the biggest disappointment in the league after the Tigers, has got their act together since his return, winning five of six. Of course, those six games have been against ...  read more

For North American sports fans European soccer can be incredibly confusing. Not only do teams play in their regular league, but they also play in ongoing tournaments like the Champions League that seem to never end. On top of it all, the players on the teams regularly go to join their national squads to play in friendly matches or to qualify for the World Cup or ...  read more

"They're scared."

That was my initial thought when I first scanned the projected field for the 2008 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, which will be run at 6 p.m., on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Pimlico, Md. My first thought was that Big Brown's dominating win at Churchill Downs just two short weeks ago was enough to ...  read more

A - A-Rod. New York's most hated hometown boy had a rough week. He's on the DL and off the radar, but that didn't spare him from embarrassment. We learned that Rodriguez passed out at the sight of blood during the birth of his first child. That, of course, is irrelevant to sports betting. I just find it hilarious that the guy has so much trouble getting respect f ...  read more

Beating the Number

By Ross Benjamin

By Jason Crowe for Steve Merril Sports

Everyone has heard the quote Defense Wins Championships, but have you ever utilized this mindset when making your picks? Before you rush to place all your wagers on the Under, let’s take the time to evaluate some trends from last year’s playoffs, as well as those that are developing so far in this year’s playoff series.

Over/Under ...  read more

Monday, May 12th

Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants 10:15 PM ET

Barry Zito makes his second start since returning to the rotation and he is still looking for his first win of the year. He is 0-7 but he is coming off a very solid performance last time out. The problem is not only him bu ...  read more

A - Anthony Kim. Kim hasn't been quite the prodigy he was supposed to be since he joined the PGA in 2006, but the 22-year-old earned his first win in style. He ran away from the crowd at the Wachovia Championship this weekend, and ended up winning by five strokes. The victory was tainted somewhat because the defending champion, Tiger Woods, was not in the field. ...  read more

We're only a month or so into the baseball season, and summer isn't even here yet, but that doesn't mean that we can't start looking towards October. Everyone makes World Series predictions before the season starts, so it only makes sense that you would revisit those predictions once you have seen 20 percent of the season. Things can change, even in a month - Det ...  read more

Monday, May 5th

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers 7:05 PM ET

Boston took two of three against the Tigers in the first series meeting this year but this is not the same Detroit team. The Tigers are 13-8 since then and they are slowly climbing back into the American League Central. While Bost ...  read more

"Total chaos, no way to see the race, not even the track...nobody cares. Big lines at the outdoor betting windows, then stand back to watch winning numbers flash on the big board, like a giant bingo game." - H.S.T, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved"

Bingo.

We are just four short days away from the Fastest Two Minutes In Sports and one t ...  read more

A - Alexander, Shaun. We have seen a lot of rapid falls from grace in sports, but few that haven't involved dog fighting have been faster than this one. Three seasons ago the Seahawks running back was the easy choice for league MVP. The next offseason he signed a massive eight-year contract. Now he is unloved and unemployed after the Seahawks cut him following tw ...  read more

Monday, April 28th

New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians

The Yankees took Game Three of this series on Sunday, avoiding a 0-3 hole in the four-game set as well as avoiding a four-game losing streak. The victory pushed New York back to .500 while it also snapped the Indians five-game winnin ...  read more

A - Anaheim. So much for a repeat Stanley Cup champion. The team should go back to being named after a Disney hockey team, because that was a truly Mickey Mouse performance. The Ducks got called for a ridiculous number of penalties, failed to show any interest or desire, and were handled easily by a Dallas team that is decent, but certainly wasn't viewed by a lot ...  read more

This is the third straight season that these two teams have met in the first round of the playoffs. Cleveland won both of the previous series’, first in six games in 2006 and then a sweep last season against an injury-riddled Washington team. The Wizards have added bulletin board material to thi ...  read more

Orlando could be considered the Toronto of last season as it kind of came out of nowhere to wins its division. We know the Magic were going to be improved with the addition of Rashard Lewis but we weren’t sure how much. They started out very strong, winning 16 of their first 20 games before coming back d ...  read more

A - Andy Roddick. It took long enough, but the top American tennis player finally got a win over Roger Federer after 12-straight losses. It took the worst slump of Federer's career to give Roddick the opportunity to win, but if he can ignore that and just focus on the win then it could give him some much-needed confidence heading into the heart of the tennis seas ...  read more

Currently at ...  read more

A - Amazing. Stephen Curry and Davidson may have come up just a little bit short against Kansas, but that doesn't make what they accomplished any less amazing. Everyone in the world knew that he was the go-to guy whenever the Wildcats needed to score in any tournament game, yet no one found any way to shut him down. Kansas came the closest to containing him and h ...  read more

The Masters doesn't start in Augusta until April 10, but most of the field is set and odds are already available, so it is never too early to be on the lookout for potential betting value. After all, people aren't thinking about the tournament yet, so there could be some value in the numbers. Here, then, is a look at the 2008 Masters Golf Odds and Predictions. < ...  read more

Two games into the NCAA Tournament and all four No. 1 seeds are still standing. North Carolina has rampaged through their games like Godzilla through Tokyo. Kansas has been only slightly less impressive. UCLA has won despite some concerning injury problems. And then there is Memphis. The Tigers also have two wins, but they haven't really dealt a knockout blow to ...  read more

We all know that the West Coast is filled with nothing but communists and Ralph Nadar sympathizers. This is obvious. But yet another example of the total disrespect that the West has for Dominance and Order is the way that its American League division rotates and shares the crown of This Year's Surprise Money Team.

In each of the past four seasons the A ...  read more

Okay, so now its my turn to play Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas real quick. I really can’t fathom South Alabama making this tournament. Sure they have the nice win over Mississippi St., but shouldn’t they have at least made the finals of a conference tournament played on their home court? Especially when that conference is the lowly Sun Belt (RPI 15). I definitely would have given that spot to I ...  read more