Sports Betting Blog

By Emeli Dean

Since the Team Gerolsteiner announced its breakup in August last year we have been fearing for the German cycling, as there is only one team left. The remaining professional cycling squad, existent since 2006, is sponsored by Milram a brand of the German dairy company Nordmilch. The Team Milram was planning to take this chance to have a fresh start with the best German cyclists and even team manager Gerry van Gerwen said proudly: “This will be a team which will lie at my heart”.

A few months after those firm words, the world for Milram seemed to fall apart as the sponsor did want to back out of the contract which is supposed to apply until 2010. According to a press release the reasons for this decision were the “different opinions about the business policy”. How much of truth there is on this rumor, we don’t know. But it is certain that the Team Milram will participate in all tours of the 2009 season; what will happen in the next one is still unsure.

Another reason for the retreat of sponsors in the German cycling world is the doping crisis and the subsequent declining amount of supporters such as fans and broadcasting companies. The two German television stations ARD and ZDF have not yet clearly declare a pro or contra about the reporting of several races. The fear to take a wrong decision is big.

During last year’s October, ARD announced his back out of the live broadcast of the 2009 Tour de France and the possibility of neither broadcast the Deutschland-Tour. Despite it, in the last days we were able to read in the newspapers that the TV station is considering a live broadcast of the Tour –at least partially. The ARD spokesman Peter Meyer said in an interview: “Of course we will report about the tour, just the way and the dimension is up in the air. If there will be live parts will be decided from the ARD director.”

Milram wants to start with the slogan ‘Everything will be new – everything will be different’ in the new season and hopes for improvement. Since the retirement of the German cycling star Erik Zabel, the team is now led by the 26-year-old Linus Gerdemann winner of the 2008 Deutschland-Tour and the sprinter Gerald Ciolek, both formerly partners from the Team Columbia. The team hopes for more success this year and wants to participate in every race with higher offensive.

Van Gerwen is happy for another year and even though he knows that it could be the last one, he is positive and ready for the new challenge: “We have selected our members as in a football team. We have sprinters, climbers and all-rounders. Every position has its own quality. We want to show everybody that the cycling sport is worthy to be shown in the TV.”

The Team Milram is participating in the 2009 UCI Pro Tour that started on January 20th with the Tour Down Under; this race of six stages summed a total distance of 802 kilometers and finished on January 25th with the Australian Allan Davis as its new winner.

About the Author

Emeli Dean is a high-ranking writer on sports for the football betting industry. You can also find more of his work at http: www.instantactionsports.com

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By Stephen Lars

Magics vs. Raptors

In an exciting journey loaded of high scores, the Toronto Raptors defeated Orlando Magic with a score of 108-102. On this encounter the big star that took charge of leading Toronto to the victory was Anthony Parker, who with his 26 points knew how to take control of the game. From the Orlando’ side, who arrived with an advantage of 17 matches won, also brought some good scores, Dwight Howard gain 39 points that even so in the end weren’t enough to reach the Raptors, who regardless of not counting with Jermaine O’Neal or José Calderón, showed during the whole game set to win it.

Cavaliers vs. Wizards

The Washington Wizards, the team at the bottom from the Southeast division of the East Conference managed to overcome the Cleveland Cavaliers after a mistake by LeBron James within seconds from the end of the encounter, at the moment of throwing the ball that could have tied the final result, James by mistake gave more steps than what’s permitted, which brought the success to Wizards with the 80-77.

Clippers vs. Pistons

Following an arbitrary decision, LA Clippers were beaten with a difference of one point only (88-87) by the Detroit Pistons, who despite not having the help of some of their most important players starter players _due to injuries_, attained their seventh in a row triumph. During the course of the match, the approaches to the hoop from both teams were constant but not very effective, if the contrary would have happened the scores would have been of the three digits.

Grizzlies vs. Mavericks

Memphis Grizzlies surpassed the bad streak of thirteen consecutive losses when they crushed the Dallas Mavericks. The player of the game was definitively Marc Gasol, who leaded his team and scored 19 points for them, the next 2 responsible of scoring more points were Rudy Gay and Hakim Warrick with 18 points each.

Celtics vs. Knicks

Another pair meeting was Boston Celtics, the current NBA Champions who couldn’t trounce their rival, the New York Knicks, for whom the encounter was the perfect stage to break the chain of eight consecutive fails before the Celtics. The higher scorer was Al Harrington who brought 30 points to the Knicks that controlled the game from the third quarter on, imposing strongly in the last period. For the Boston Celtics this is the fourth loss of the last six matches.

Lakers vs. Trial Blazers

The last encounter of the day saw the LA Lakers stood up firmly before the Portland Trail Blazers with a score of 100-86. Again Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol shined in the stadium, this time the two superstars guided their team to the victory with 26 and 19 points respectively. From the very beginning Los Angeles marked the direction of the battle, which blocked the guys from Portland and reduced their chances to reach the contrary backboard. The triumph for the Lakers line up in their list of consecutive winnings at home, which count 15 until now; and in general six.

About the Author:

Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily NBA Basketball, sports news and sportsbook industry updates for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.