Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan earlier this year less than a week before his 47th birthday. He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito. Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious. Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Initial reports in the Japanese media suggest that he was pronounced dead at the hospital, but a number of eyewitness accounts have speculated that he may have died in the ring.

That\’s at least a small bit of solace amid the tragedy of Misawa\’s death–he died in the ring doing what he loved, and what he did better than just about anyone on the planet. Not like Owen Hart died in the ring, doing a stupid stunt in a silly character that he was reportedly assigned as punishment for refusing to go along with a storyline he felt demeaning, but working the kind of brutally stiff, athletically realistic match that got a generation hooked on Japanese wrestling.

Misawa was a top level high school wrestler, and that got him noticed by All Japan Pro Wrestling majordomo Shohei Giant Baba. He made his professional debut in\’81, and got his first big break in\’84 when he was chosen as the second Tiger Mask replacing Satoru Sayama. In\’90, he had his longtime tag team partner (and occasional rival) Toshiaki Kawada unmask him.

Misawa would wrestle as himself from then on, and become an even bigger star in the process. In June,\’90 he became one of the top stars in All Japan Pro Wrestling when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta. That match was his first main event appearance at the venue Cheap Trick made famous in America, the Nippon Budokan. He soon faced Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen in an unsuccessful challenge for the title, and would become arguably the biggest native star in Japanese pro wrestling for the next decade.

Hed have legendary battles against Kawada, Hansen, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and Steve Dr. Death Williams in singles competition. Hed also become a force on the tag team scene along with Kawada facing Williams and Terry Gordy along with Tsuruta and Akira Taue. Misawa would continue as a mainstay in AJPW until the early part of this decade. After the death of Giant Baba, he left to establish Pro Wrestling NOAH. He would serve as the companys president while wrestling a full time schedule until his death.

Japanese pro wrestling served as an introduction for many American fans into shoot fight sports and MMA. Before the Internet, fans would trade videotapes to stay up on the latest matches from Japan and along with Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Muta Keiji Mutoh it safe to say that Misawa is one of the wrestlers most responsible for getting a generation of American fans hooked on the product. Were it not for the subculture he created in America, later wrestling promotions like Ring of Honor and MMA promotions like the UFC wouldn\’t have had a ready made audience to tap into.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The Portland Trailblazers have needed a big inside presence ever since starting center Greg Oden and backup Joel Pryzbilla went down with season ending injuries. They finally found one on Tuesday as they acquired veteran Marcus Camby from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers received forward Travis Outlaw and guard Steve Blake.

The transaction also served to answer the nagging question about Portland\’s point guard situation. Steve Blake and Andre Miller have shared time running the offense, but Blazers\’ management apparently felt that Miller was a better fit with superstar shooting guard Brandon Roy. Ironically, until Miller picked up a lot of the offense slack lately with Roy on the shelf with a hamstring injury the presumption was that he\’d be the one heading elsewhere as the NBA trade deadline approached.

All three players involved are in the final year of their current contract, meaning that barring anything unforeseen Camby\’s career in Portland will probably last only 23 games plus the playoffs. Outlaw and Blake may or may not fit into the Clippers longterm plans.

Camby was introduced to the Rose Garden crowd during Portland\’s rout of his old team, the LA Clippers receiving a standing ovation. Earlier, he\’d indicated that he was excited to be going to the Blazers:

\”I think it\’s a great situation for myself. It\’s a first-class organization that really takes care of their own. I hope I can bring my knowledge of the game, and blend in these last 27 games. I\’m really excited to be here.\”

He talked about the strange situation of actually being in Portland when the trade went down:

\”I only brought one change of clothes. It\’s been a real rough, rough 24 hours for me, but real exciting at the same time.\”

Camby also said that he\’s interesting in staying in \’Rip City\’ longterm:

\”Hopefully things work out for myself and work out for the team. Hopefully they have plans for me in the long term.\”

Portland GM Kevin Pritchard added:

\”We are very excited to bring an experienced big man of Marcus\’ caliber to the team and we feel he\’ll help us a great deal down the stretch run. He\’s a fierce competitor and has been one of the league\’s best defensive players for quite some time.\”

The 35 year old Camby has long been considered one of the NBA\’s best defensive big men. Despite playing on a LA Clippers team well off the playoff pace in the Western Conference, he\’s second in the league in rebounds with 12.1 per game.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer experienced in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

After some tense moments during a \’communication breakdown\’, both Lamar Odom and the Los Angeles Lakers got what they really wanted all along. The Lakers retained the services of their valuable sixth man, and Odom will return to the team after an intense recruiting pitch from the Miami Heat.

Terms of the deal werent immediately released, but both player and team appeared relieved that things had worked out. In early July, negotiations broke down after some miscommunication between Odoms agent and Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss. While Odom worked to mend fences\”including several personal phone calls to Dr. Buss\”his agent was receiving interest from Miami, Portland and Dallas. Miami, in particular, was extremely interest bringing out the big guns in the personage of Dwayne Wade and Pat Riley to make a recruiting pitch.

When it was all said and done, Odom didn\’t want to leave Los Angeles At the official signing ceremony, he hinted that a dynasty could be in the making:

\”I guess basketball-wise, I feel complete. I want to feel it again. It\’s kind of an overwhelming feeling. I get goose bumps when I think about it, and as long as I continue to play professional basketball, I want to always feel that. The way I feel during the summer, I always want to feel that. If we can win six, seven, eight, nine, 10 championships in a row, I want to experience that.\”

While talk of 10 straight championships may be mere hyperbole, theres no reason the Lakers cant run off a repeat or better with their current lineup. In fact, with the teams signing of Ron Artest the lineup may be better than a year ago. Artest brings not only his infamous swagger and intensity, but an element of toughness and versatility that Ariza lacked. Such was Odoms commitment to the Lakers is that even during his free agency, he helped recruit Artest to sign with the team:

\”I spoke to Ron two days before he signed, and I told him how important I think it is for him to come here. Because I know how hard he works, he needs to experience basketball at its best, at the highest level, and he needs to become a Laker. Two days after that, he signed.\”

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was understandably elated at Odom\’s return:

\”Three or four months ago, I didn\’t think it could be possible that we could basically bring this team back in whole. Lamar had a wonderful season that ended on the best possible note you could have, and Lamar had a lot of options. … Here it is, July 31, and we have brought back everybody that we wanted to bring back.\”

Odom noted that his perception of L.A. as his home made a big difference in his decision:

\”I didn\’t want my kids to have to change schools — just the little things. I\’m comfortable here. I\’ve been here since I was\’ years old. I\’m proud to be playing for what I think is the most popular brand in sports.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

In order to successfully bet on NFL football its important to start with the fundamentals. Were talking about the fundamentals of understanding the wagering side of the equation. There\’s a lot of misunderstanding about what NFL pointspreads mean and how they are set. A firm understanding of the bookmaking concept of setting NFL lines is a prerequisite for any sports betting success.

The general public has a tendency to oversimplify the meaning of an NFL pointspread. The conventional wisdom is that it is simply a prediction of which team will win and by how much. There is a component of that in the NFL bookmaking equation, but theres a lot more to it. In theory, a sportsbooks primary goal is to equally divide the action they take on an individual game. If they do their job right, the outcome of the game is irrelevant to the bookmaker. Youll frequently hear clueless sportscasters make inane comments following a big upset like Boy, the sportsbooks in Las Vegas must have lost their shirts on that one or whoever set the line got this one wrong. Thats something that simply cannot be determined from the outcome of the game alone.

A bookmakers primary goal in setting NFL betting lines is to equally divide action. To do this they have to make each side of a wagering proposition attractive to a prospective player. For that reason, its more accurate to say that NFL lines are more of a reflection of the betting public\’s perception of which team will win a game and by how much than anything else. A bookmaker may shade the NFL lines involving teams that are popular with the general public such as the Dallas Cowboys or New England Patriots to make their opponent a more enticing betting option. So if the numbers in a hypothetical game between Dallas and Cincinnati indicate that the Cowboys should be a -6 favorite a book may open the game at -7 or -7. For that reason going against public teams is almost always a strong wagering strategy.

In early season wagering there are a few additional factors at play. A bookmaker may consider a teams NFL preseason record for the simple reason that the NFL betting public gives it undue attention. Sharp players know that there is little correlation between a teams preseason success (or lack thereof) and their regular season performance.

Its also important to understand why NFL lines are moved after the opening numbers are posted. While it may occasionally be due to external factors such as injury or weather, more often than not its a direct result of the money a book is drawing on one side of the proposition or another. If in our hypothetical example above, Dallas opens -7 and not long after the line is moved to -7 that is an indication that the book has received the majority of their bets on the Bengals. Indeed, many sharp players base their NFL football bets exclusively on line movements.

NFL football betting is a very complex discipline, and many neophytes make the mistake of focusing exclusively on the nuances of the game itself. To successfully bet on NFL football, however, it is important to spend as much time understanding the intricacies of the sports gambling marketplace\”and in this regard nothing is more fundamentally important than understanding how NFL pointspreads are made and why they are moved.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and scuba diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

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