Phil's one sporty fella

Posted June 12th, 2008 by phillau

Hey y'all, I've been laying off blogging for a while... not because I don't like doing it, but because my time's been pretty much eaten up. By what? you ask. SPORTS BABY! I've been having my very own triathon of basketball, tennis, and soccer. And no, I'm not playing, I'm watching. It's been NBA Finals, French Open, and Euro 2008, over and over again.

First off, as a guy from the East Coast, I'm very VERY happy that Boston's leading the series 2-1. Go get'em Celts! Do one for the East for Christ's sake. For everyone's info, I'm a big supporter for any East team that makes it to the Finals except for the Pistons. I've also made a promise that if this Finals is Pistons versus Spurs I'll boycott NBA for next year. I mean, if that series happen, the TV people will hate the association more than I do. IT'S BASKETBALL PEOPLE! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SCORE! A combined score of 130 or below just won't fly with the TV ratings. Fortunately, both of my MBTs (Most Boring Team) didn't make it. Good. GO CELTICS GO!

Onto the French Open. Nadal's a monster. A total beast. He totally DESTROYED Federer. Federer won a total of FOUR GAMES in the whole contest. Boy, being the second best player on Earth isn't really all that bad.

Now onto Euro 2008. Boy oh boy, I usually don't follow soccer extensively, until it gets to the international level. I just somehow get hooked whenever the World Cup or the Euro Cup is played and I always find myself watching most of the games. I also have a pretty good eye on betting on these. Up till today, the tournament has played for 5 days, and I've made money every single day.

Day 1, I had money on Portugal to win against Turkey. Pretty easy there.

Day 2, I had Germany to win 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1. They ended up winning 2-0, and the bet paid off beautifully.

Day 3, I decided to go outside the norm and bet on Romania to tie the game with France 0-0, or to win 1-0. Yes, I had money leaned towards the Romanians even though the French were the bookie's heavy favorite. Why? I looked at the qualifying matches, and Romania played like a rockstar. They won their group which consist of the Netherlands and Russia. They beat Netherlands twice and Russia three times! And for France, hrm, they barely made it while losing to Scotland. That's enough for me to make up my mind against them. Oh, and I was reading the roster and Patrick Vieira failed the fitness test and Thierry Henry is a maybe. Cool! The game finished nil-nil, and my 6.5 to 1 bet looked pretty handsome. Oh, and I was smart enough to stay away from the Holland vs Italy game. That could've spelled my first disaster of the tournament. Three goals? Italy? By the Netherlands? When was the last time this happened?

Day 4, I had heavy money on Spain and also for the score to go over 2.5 balls. Actually, I believed it would go WAY over. Spain beat Russia 4-1. A guy at poker was fine enough to prop bet against me by taking under. Thanks for the money bro! By the way, does anyone out there got money on David Villa taking the golden boot? My colleague at work took Podolski before the tournament started and he's pretty iffy now.

Day 5, I had money on Portugal beating Czech, and also on them winning by 2 goals or more. I mean, Portugal played great in their first game, and I've upgraded them to one of my two favorites (the other one is Germany) to win the title. Their fast-tempo game rocks. Czech on the other hand, wouldn't have won that first game against Switzerland if not for the injury of Alexander Frei. Portugal ended up winning the game 3-1, and cha-ching for me!

Today's Day 6, I have money on Germany winning the game against Croatia, and also on them to win by 1 goal. Both teams are already sitting on 3 points so I think Croatia would happily take a tie. I think they would go heavy with the "D" but that's still not enough against the Deutsch's firepower. I'm guessing 1-0 but just wanna cover all my bases.

Before the tournament started I was rooting for Italy and Germany. But after seeing the Azzurri's first performance, I've downgraded them heavily. Instead, I think Portugal has what it takes to ride it home, but being on the same side of the tree with Germany, I think their biggest test would come before the final match. Seems like I favor Group A and B over Group C and D ehh? Spain's well-known to rock early in major tournaments and choke as soon as the elimination stage begins. So let's not go against the statistic and get too crazy about their 4-1 win. GO GERMANY! GO PORTUGAL!