The 2009 NFL season has been an interesting one so far, especially in the world of fantasy football. Some players with high expectations have flopped so far, and others who no one expected much of have emerged into must start players every weekend.

You never know what you’re going to get in fantasy football and these players prove the mantra. Let’s take a look at some of these guys. They definitely deserve the recognition, as they’ve simply been great through the first half of the season.

Pierre Garcon has done some great things with the Colts in 2009. Had you asked me who Pierre Garcon was before the season started, I would’ve told you I had no idea. Now, he’s a household name in the fantasy football world.

Having filled in for Anthony Gonzalez, Garcon has done a great job. He’s been a top notch receiver with the Colts, and plays the perfect second fiddle to Reggie Wayne. He’s a big part of the reason the Colts are so strong at this point in the year.

Moving on to running backs, we have to give some respect to Cedric Benson. This disgruntled Chicago Bears backup finally got a chance to get the starting role he knew he deserved, and he’s been phenomenal.

Things are different when Carson Palmer’s your QB though. Benson has been great through the first several weeks of the 2009 football season.

Matt Schaub has been lights out at QB. With numerous games in excess of 300 passing yards, he’s been one of the most prolific quarterbacks in pro football. Did you really expect this out of Schaub?

Few people could say that they did. As he’s the second best QB in football so far, no one saw that coming.

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It wasn’t too long ago that nearly every grand slam tournament was being dominated by Justine Henin. She was clearly the world’s best, and only a few players stood a chance at beating her every time she took the court.

Suddenly, Henin decided to call it a career during the summer of 2008. Many were shocked by this revelation, as there was simply no reason for her to retire. After all, it’s not as if she was slowing down.

Her retirement had everything to do with the fact that she simply grew tired of the lifestyle that comes with that of a professional athlete. The training and the grueling schedule had taken their toll on this champion.

There were personal initiatives that she preferred to focus on, including a camp for children where she’d teach them how to play tennis.

There was definitely a void in the world of women’s tennis. The number ones of the world weren’t truly the best in the minds of some fans, because they wondered if Henin would still be at the top of the ranks. Out of nowhere, some wishes were granted a few months ago when she said she’d return to the sport.

Many wondered if Henin would be able to compete at the level she previously played at. After all, nearly two years away from the sport could leave her rusty and a bit older. Will she be able to return to the world’s number one ranking that she firmly occupied before she called it quits?

To the surprise of many, Henin recently played her first match in a warmup tournament before the Australian Open. Having routinely beaten the second seed, all doubts were cast aside for now as Henin looked great on the court.

After seeing Kim Clijsters’ triumphant return to the sport after her US Open win last year, nothing should be considered unrealistic for Justine Henin.

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While most sports fans believed that Mark McGwire used steroids during his playing days, those suspicions were confirmed when the former Cardinals first baseman recently admitted to his illicit use of the performance enhancing drugs.

What may have been more interesting is the fact that McGwire claims to have used these drugs not simply as a means of getting ahead. McGwire says he took steroids because he believed that they would help him heal from injuries more quickly.

This seems very believable when you look at the career path that McGwire followed. Through 1989, his playing time had been seriously hampered due to injury, and many felt that he would otherwise be the best home run hitter in baseball if not for his injury issues.

His strategy seemingly paid off. During the 1990s, McGwire experienced fewer injuries than he had in the prior years, despite the fact that he was older. He also saw a significant boost in his home run total.

The pinnacle of this all took place in 1998, when McGwire shattered the old home run record set by Roger Maris, hitting 70 home runs in a season. The baseball world was amazed, and McGwire was the toast of the baseball world.

Just a few short years later, a few steroid allegations by Jose Canseco and some admissions by others shocked and devastated baseball fans. Many began to speculate that McGwire was under the influence of these illegal substances too.

Many now realize that the writing was on the wall this whole time. How could a player in his mid 30s suddenly hit more home runs than ever before? How could others like Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa hit even more? We all should have known better.

Many wonder if McGwire’s recent confession should warrant consideration for the Hall of Fame. While he has failed to make it during the last few seasons, he’s been bold enough to publicly admit what many had already suspected.

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It’s been a very interesting season so far in the basketball world. With many unexpected twists and turns, fans have been pleasantly surprised with some great performances, in addition to some disappointing news with respect to other players.

I’m going to talk about the highlights of the 09-10 season. I will talk about both the good and the bad that we have seen so far.

Two teams seem to have appeared from nowhere and stand out due to the fact that last season they were nobodies but this season they have become very successful and are building themselves a decent reputation with every game they play.

The first of the two teams to mention is the Oklahoma City Thunder. No one imagined that they might become this successful in such a short space of time. The team can thank Kevin Durant for helping them to rise out so quickly from being one of the worst teams to being a successful team this season.

The second team that seemed to arise from nowhere is The Memphis Grizzlies. These guys are simply shocking, as unlike the Oklahoma City Thunder, people had no idea that this team would ever make it into the season.

But now, this team is playing extremely well and it also looks like they might make the playoffs. This is all down to the great team play from OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.

However, where there is good news there is bad news and looking at the bad end of things, the Gilbert Arenas incident did not bode well for the league at all. Waving a gun at the teammate saw the Washington Guard suspended after pleading guilty.

Where there are new players there is a glimpse into the future of basketball and players such as Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings who are two top performing rookies are providing us with hope for the future of basketball games, so it’s not all bad in the world of basketball after all.

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You will doubtless have heard of NASCAR, but do you know what it means and how much do you know about it? In this short article I will give you a brief history of NASCAR.

NASCAR is an acronym for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Surprisingly, it was started as a family business in 1947 by Bill France Sr. and is still family owned and family managed. It is by far the biggest sanctioning business for stock car racing in the United States and the three chief racing series that it sanctions are: the Sprint Cup, the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series. In deed, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,500 races at more than a 100 race tracks in thirty-nine states.

For historical causes which we will go into later, NASCAR’s headquarters are in Florida, but its roots are firmly fixed in North Carolina, where it has no less than four regional offices. They are at Concord, Conover, Mooresville and Charlotte, where the vast majority of NASCAR teams are still located.

A few other remarkable statistics about NASCAR are that NASCAR is watched more often than any other sport in the United States with the sole exception of professional football and it is broadcast in more than 150 countries world wide. NASCAR also organizes seventeen of the top twenty attended one-day sporting events in the world and its 75,000,000 devotees spend $3,000,000,000 every year on licensed products. This is such an impressive show of loyalty, that more Fortune 500 businesses sponsor NASCAR than any other motor sport.

Daytona Beach became the headquarters of NASCAR more or less by luck, because in the Twenties and Thirties, Daytona was the most successful surface in the world for achieving new world land speed records. Until that time beaches in France and Belgium had been used, but maybe the wind on these Atlantic facing beaches was too erratic.

Anyway, eight consecutive world land speed records were established in Daytona between 1927 and 1935. Bonneville Salt Flats, Daytona Beach became associated with high speed cars and also became a lure for racers and enthusiasts alike.

In fact, stock car racing has its roots in the moonshine running of the Prohibition years, when bootleggers ran their moonshine from the Appalachians down south to the consumers. The drivers tuned up their cars to escape the police and became justifiably proud of them. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, drivers still ran the moonshine, but this time it was to avoid paying duty.

By the late Forties, drivers of these souped up cars were holding races between themselves. They were particularly popular in the Southern United States, principally in North Carolina. Bill France Sr. was an auto mechanic who moved from Washington DC to Daytona to sidestep the Great Depression in 1935 and the stage was set, the players were in place.

Bill France entered the Daytona races in 1936 but only finished fifth. He took over running the race track in 1938 and began promoting races before the war. It was from there that he launched what was to become the huge family business called NASCAR that has employed most of his family ever since and given enjoyment to many millions of fans worldwide for more than sixty years.

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The 2008-2009 season ended on a bittersweet note for all fans of the New Orleans Hornets. A promising 2007-2008 campaign left fans with high hopes for the Hornets of 2008-2009, who easily bowed out in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Players in New Orleans seemingly gave up on their coach, and morale was at a low point as the season ended.

Perhaps it began when the Hornets traded Tyson Chandler to the Oklahoma City Thunder, only to learn soon after that this trade attempt would fail due to a failed physical. The trade made sense for New Orleans, since the loss in talent was offset with the fact that New Orleans would save financially by avoiding the luxury tax. Failure of the trade led to complications in both the financial and the team morale department.

Although they have traded, making several other moves such as trading away the injury prone and over-paid Peja Stojakovic, nothing has seemed to work. The Hornets have even gone as far to say that no player is safe from being traded, well except for the star of the team Chris Paul that is.

So many teams in the Western Conference have actively made moves during the off-season, bolstering their rosters and their chances in 09-10. The Hornets, on the other hand, have done virtually nothing so far.

So the team has come to terms with the fact that they will, most likely, have to pay the luxury tax, but the Hornets have not done anything to make the team better. As time goes on one will wonder if the Hornets team that made the impressive run in 2008 was a one time occurrence, because as things remain unchanged it seems that things will continue to spiral down for the Hornets.

Any fan of the Hornets must hope to see some kind of move made before the start of the season. Inaction is bound to lead to disappointment.

Zack Slattery is an aspiring NBA reporter with a passion for the Hornets. He’s a regular contributor to both the NBA basketball forum and the Hornets forum at RootZoo, an interactive community of sports fans.

Tennis fans around the world are rejoicing as the grand slam season has kicked off. Things are most definitely exciting on both sides of the tour, leading many to speculate as to who will dominate the sport this year. Let’s take a look at the men of the sport.

Gone are the days of Federer and Nadal dominating every tournament. There are some other players on the tour with legitimate chances every time a tournament begins.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have had a profound impact on the sport and remain the top two in the game, but their leads aren’t as comfortable as they once used to be. As a result, it’s time to list a few more players who may finish at the top. Let’s look at the contenders.

No article like this would be proper without calling Federer the most likely person to rank atop the world. After all, he’s held a pretty firm grasp on the position for over eight years now. On the other hand, he’s getting older and others are catching up.

If Rafael Nadal can stay healthy, there’s no reason to believe that he can’t finish there. In fact, many believe that he would have finished there in 2009 had he not been forced to miss Wimbledon due to his knee injury.

While many are focused on Federer and Nadal, the bigger threat may perhaps be Juan Martin Del Potro. Standing 6 feet and 6 inches tall, his athleticism and power make him one of the most dangerous players in the world right now.

While Federer, Nadal, and Del Potro are the most likely contenders, there are two more who shouldn’t be overlooked.

From Serbia comes Novak Djokovic, a player whose potential has long been known. Unfortunately, the talent of Federer and Nadal has been too great for him to surpass. This could change though, and 2010 could be his breakout year.

Finally, Andy Murray is just 22 years old but his maturity and tenacity propelled him to the number two spot in the world for a few months last year. His competitive spirit will certainly make him a player worth watching this coming year.

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Following Tuesday night’s dugout clearing fight between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees, Major League Baseball handed down penalties to the 2 core figures – Jorge Posada and Jesse Carlson. For their part in Tuesday night’s fracas, Posada and Carlson both got 4-game suspensions. Their suspensions happened to be lowered to 3 games since neither Posada nor Carlson fought the suspension.

If someone might explain to me how the MLB came up with 4 games for both of them, I would genuinely appreciate it.

When it comes to the number of games a player is hit with for his actions, it is anyone’s guess. It appears to me there are no set guidelines for penalties. That is a huge issue in my mind.

Let’s take a look at a couple of non-steroid related suspensions that have been given thus far in 2009:

Does anybody else see what’s ridiculous here? There is no rhyme or reason for any of these suspensions.

How did Youkilis and Porcello receive five games for inciting a dugout-clearing fracas, however Posada and Carlson only received three games? What did Youkilis and Porcello do differently that their brawl led to 2 additional games?

In my mind, a dugout-clearing brawl is a bench-clearing clash. They are similar to coincidences; there are no degrees.

How does Beckett get a 6-game suspension for pitching at someone’s head, however Zambrano becomes the same game penalty for roughing up a water cooler? I did not understand possibly ruining someone’s career may be just as detrimental as beating up an inert object.

This isn’t a Red Sox-Yankee problem – this is a reasonable issue. I feel as if I’m off the rocker even writing something such as this. If you do A, you are hit with B. It is as basic as that.

Major League Baseball – and I mean you Bob Watson – has to draw up a benchmark suspension for every violation.

Right now, it just does not make a single bit of sense.

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You have to love what’s happening in Major League Baseball this year. Many were expecting a lackluster season in the face of more steroids allegations and other info that marred the integrity of the sport, but things are really looking like they did decades ago. Teams that we never thought had a shot at going anywhere somehow look good.

Nearly every divisional race, even though there’s plenty of season left, is surprisingly close. In fact, all but one division has a situation where the second place team is two games or less behind the leader.

Don’t be mistaken though, these aren’t just head to head divisional battles. There are also a handful of teams in the middle of their divisions that look like they have a shot, and even a few at the bottom somehow.

The conversation has to start with the NL East, which has certainly demonstrated more parity than any other division in the league. Just how interesting are things in this division?

What makes this race so interesting has everything to do with the constantly shifting balance of power within the division. A team can seemingly move from first to last place over the span of just a week. Every team seems to be neck and neck with the others in the division, which is very surprising to most fans.

The Nationals have typically been the worst team in baseball, or amongst the worst, since their inception. Never have they played in a competitive state and even that has changed this season. This is refreshing to baseball purists, and here’s a team that will only get better thanks to a hyped up prospect named Strasburg.

There are so many similar races going on around the league that it would take too long to recap them all. However, one more surprisingly nice story line is going on in San Diego, where some of the best pitching in baseball is unexpectedly taking place. The team may just have what it takes to make the playoffs and an exciting pennant race should take us through the end of the season as they go up against Colorado, LA, and San Francisco.

At the end of the day, there are now a handful of new teams that we never thought we’d be taking seriously. That’s what baseball is all about.

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In the land of the get rich quick systems there is certainly no/not more popular thought than where you believe you can make one big play and score a ton of cash. For many this is essentially what they are trying to do when they start using sports gambling as a way to make some money. People don’t understand that this is hardly a way to hit the proverbial lottery. However the smart gambler can use their wagering as a sort of sports betting money management account that can be quite fascinating if done right. The first part in achieving this is understanding the terminology.

Sports wagering odds are sometimes the the majority of confusing set of figures the novice will ever see. If a team is the favorite then the odds show them with a minus in front of their number. If the USC Trojans are taking on the Arizona Wildcats and are favored by 14 points, the Trojans will show a line of -14. In this instance the minus sign stands for “favored by” on the opposing side a plus (+) refers to the team being an underdog by as many points as follow that sign.

Presuming you place your wager on the Trojans at -14, you are hoping that USC will win the game by more than two touchdowns. If they do, you win your money. Should they win by less than 14, or outright lose, you have lost your bet. With the majority of sports books, a win of exactly 14 points is regarded a “push” and you break even and get your money back, but simply no more.

One of the other more popular sports betting types that gamblers love to bet on is referred to as the over/under. With this type the gambler is really trying to effectively determine what the total points the two teams will combine to score will be. At first glimpse this often looks like the easiest way to make some money, but the over/under can also be the the majority of heartbreaking line to gamble on.

Imagine if the over/under on a basketball game was 192 and you bet on the under. With just under five seconds to go, the score was 100-90 and because you did not actually bet on who would win, you were feeling good. Then for simply no real reason, the losing team’s player shoots a long three point shot as time run out that went through the hoop and counted. With the final score 100-93, you just lost the under and your gamble to boot. such is the life at US sports book sites.

Rich Vial is a article writer for US Player Sportsbook Sites & Online Sports Betting. Unique version for reprint here: {title}.