December 21st, 2011
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Of all the places to golf in the world, Myrtle Beach has always made its way to the top of peoples must visit courses. It has been a hotspot for golf masters for decades. Let’s look into the area and see just what South Carolina has to offer you as a golfer.
The area is home to a number of popular tournaments. Many players and fans are drawn to the area just because of the tournaments. Two tournaments still yet to come in the year 2011 in this area are the World Amateur Handicap Championship and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic. The World Amateur Handicap Championship alone has 3,600 golfers completing.
Myrtle Beach can easily be considered near perfect golf temperature year round. The summer temperature peaks at low 90′s but the lowest you will find in the winters will be mid 50′s. Most of the year is an average mid 70′s, with a nice cool breeze from the Atlantic Ocean. Vacation packages to this area are offered year round for consumers. Even when the humidity is high in the heat the ocean provides a way to cool off the golf game.
The unique thing about South Carolina is the landscaping. Myrtle Beach sits along the Atlantic Ocean but still has the homey rolling hills from the southern state. Pearl East is one of the top courses in the area and sits on 900 acres of marsh preserve. The Calabash River runs along the course making for a scenic game. The scenery alone is something that golfers travel to Myrtle Beach for.
When starting the backswing, the club should slowly rise in the air, first close to the ground, then parallel to the ground at hip level, and then into position. Allow the shoulders and hips to naturally pivot to help the arms raise the club. With the club at the peak of the backswing, the left shoulder should be aligned with the golf ball.
The weight should be placed firmly on the right foot, with no unnecessary weight placed towards the toes. Remember to keep the knees bent even at this point. Weight distribution is very important as it may cause problems with the downswing if placed incorrectly. This is something new players have to be especially careful of as it is hard to break habits once they are formed.
You can also work on your tennis on one of their 11 lighted tennis courts or stay in shape at the fitness center. And when you are done, pamper your hard-worked muscles in their Primrose spa where you can enjoy an aromatherapy massage or facial. And if you are looking for nightlife, the Sycuan Casino is a 5 minute drive away.
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Written by Aiden Garcia on December 21st, 2011 with comments disabled.
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No doubt Henry VIII had his own views in regards to what constituted the ‘sport of kings’; nevertheless it is horse racing that typically carries this appellation. Yet to suggest that racing was the prerogative of an elite is wrong: it was the sport of all, a common interest of peer and peasant, of lord and labourer. Indeed, although William IV himself had no great passion for the turf- he was “bored to death at Ascot” — he recognized its worth as a social institution:
Horse racing emerged naturally out of an environment in which horses played a crucial role: as well as providing a method of transport, they were also status symbols, their quality an overt demonstration of the owner’s wealth. Ownership inevitably engendered competition, which in its turn led straight to the organization of races, initially simply matches between two horses but later formalized races with numerous entrants. Some races would also serve an industrial function in letting owners show off their horses prior to offering them for sale. Many race conferences in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were not only for thoroughbred racehorses. At all but the major fixtures there might be events for half-bred horses, hunters, and, sometimes, even ponies.
One reason for this assortment of competitors was the transport situation: so long as horses had to be walked to meetings they tended to race only locally, thus proscribing the amount of entrants at any specific gathering. The usage of heats was another device to get a full day’s racing from a limited supply of horses. The winner of an event was the first entrant to win two heats; this can regularly need four or perhaps more races. One more reason for the variability of horses participating was that most race meetings at this time were basically social events, and not just for the privileged leisure classes. They used to be a high point of the social calendar for the bulk of the local populace who, starved of organised public entertainment, came anxious to enjoy their meeting. If it was possible to take part at more than beholder level, then they wished to do so; hence farmers raced, and often rode, their hybrids and others their thoroughbred hunters and racing stock. What greater ambition could there be than to ride one’s own horse to victory at one’s local meeting?
Races before 1840 were not gate-money events. Spectators paid no entry fee: everybody was able to watch and to look at was free. Unless bystanders wanted to view from the grandstand (not that there always was one), they paid zilch to see the races.
This has led one sports historian to argue that racing was organized only for horse betting purposes, for if entrance money wasn’t charged then clearly racing had no need of spectators. It’s right that racing could occur without an audience, but if the group had not been part of the local conferences, then surely they would’ve been more than the once a year or semi- yearly events that they were. At Newmarket, where racing was exclusive to the higher classes and the masses were actively deterred from attending, meetings were much more frequent. Here, and at a couple of other select meetings, gambling might have been the fulcrum of the game, but elsewhere racing was intimately connected with local holidays: travelling shows, gaming booths, beer tents, cock fights, boxing and wrestling matches, open—air dancing, and, for a privileged few, balls and dinner parties, all contributed to a full day out.
Harriet Harman is a gambling fan and correspondent on horse racing systems, including popular manuals and software such as Cash Master.
Written by Harriet Harman on December 21st, 2011 with comments disabled.
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This season’s Orange Bowl pits Clemson, ACC champions, against Big East champions West Virginia. While these conferences are quite close (geographically speaking), these two squads haven’t met on the football field in over twenty years.
When these two last met it was also in a bowl game, the 1989 Gator Bowl. Clemson won that matchup, 27-7.
The latest Orange Bowl odds show Clemson favored by 3.5 points, while the total has been posted at 60 points.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers won their final three games to earn a three-way share of the Big East title (5-2), earning the league’s automatic BCS bid into this game thanks to having the highest ranking in the BCS standings (No. 23). Their last three wins have come by a total of seven points. West Virginia managed a 4-1 record on the road this season, winning their last three as the visitor.
The Mountaineers are ranked 19th in the nation in points scored (35 points per game) while recording 460 yards per game (342 passing, 118 rushing).
Geno Smith has completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,978 yards and 25 touchdowns with seven interceptions, with the offensive line allowing 26 sacks. Tavon Austin is the top receiving threat with 89 catches for 1,063 yards and four TDs, with Stedman Bailey recording 67 grabs for 1,197 yards and 11 scores. Dustin Garrison heads up the running game with 742 yards and six TDs on 5.5 yards per carry.
Defensively, the Mountaineers rank 63rd in points allowed (26 ppg) and give up 341 yards per game (200 passing, 141 rushing) while recording 28 sacks and forcing 19 turnovers – with three returned for TDs (Terence Garvin and Pat Miller, interceptions; Julian Miller, fumble).
Najee Goode leads this unit with 84 total tackles with Darwin Cook adding 81 stops. Bruce Irvin has 7.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, Keith Tandy has three interceptions and Julian Miller has three fumble recoveries.
Clemson
The Tigers roared to an 8-0 start, then lost three of four down the stretch before rallying in the ACC Championship Game, winning the BCS bid into this game with a 38-10 win over Virginia Tech – their second lopsided victory over the Hokies in 2011. Clemson is 3-3 away from home this year, losing three of the last four such games.
Clemson enters the game ranked 27th in the nation in scoring offense (34 ppg) while recording 441 yards per game (285 passing, 156 rushing).
Tajh Boyd completes 60 percent of his passes for 3,578 yards and 35 TDs with 10 INTs, while the offensive line has given up 30 sacks. Sammy Watkins leads the receiving corps with 77 receptions for 1,153 yards and 11 TDs, while DeAndre Hopkins adds 62 grabs for 871 yards and four scores. Andre Ellington anchors the running game with 1,062 yards and 10 TDs on 5.0 yards per carry.
The Clemson defense ranks 62nd nationally in points allowed (26 ppg) and gives up 379 yards per game (203 passing, 176 rushing) while compiling 24 sacks and forcing 22 turnovers – two of which became scores (Kourtnei Brown, interception and fumble).
The defense is lead by Rashard Hall, with 81 total tackles and two fumble recoveries, while Andre Branch has 78 to go with 10.5 sacks. Jonathan Meeks has three interceptions and two recoveries and Stephone Anthony has two forced fumbles.
Be sure to visit Betfirms this season for expert bowl predictions from our top handicappers. They’ll give you the best information to help make you money with your college bowl picks through the championship game.
Written by Anthony Moretti on December 21st, 2011 with comments disabled.
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Few would gainsay that betting is deep-rooted in UK life, a passion pursued at every level of society from the bingo hall to the bridge parlour but , of course, especially associated with horse racing. However, notwithstanding, or perhaps because of its widespread nature, gambling has its critics. It is commonly attacked as a nonessential malevolent, as an immoral and unproductive activity seducing its protagonists into unjustifiable involvement and tempting them into crime and corruption. Frankly the relatively tax—free rewards of gambling have attracted a criminal component, and undoubtedly dependence on the level of Dostoevsky’s ‘hero ‘, masochistically losing his money, his outlays a preface to orgasm, is a clear manifestation of illness.
Most gamblers , however , are a long way from being social deviants. The overt concept behind betting on horses is to earn income, however aside from those owners, trainers, and jockeys in the club, and a select group (though one hesitates to utilise the collectivity with such highly individualistic men) of pro gamblers, most backers can’t hope even for a steady income and definitely not for a fortune. A lot of them do not have the wherewithal to finance the big outlays which big winnings require.
Moreover, to achieve success in the long term the hacker wishes to grasp form, genealogy, and probability concepts; the bookmaker simply has to hang around for the punters ‘ mistakes. In time most gamblers lose; they know they lose; yet they continue to bet. What they are looking for is the occasional windfall, the finance for an orgy be it in the saloon or mall. In reality for them gambling is a wasteful but exciting alternative option to saving.
Indeed, excitement is maybe the real incentive for most gamblers. Win or lose, gamblers obtain ‘a considerable amount of excitement. And a diversion from the cares and troubles of daily life’. Betting has an important temporal aspect, the delay between making a bet and knowing the result. The effect is that on the racecourse ‘some of the most enthralling moments in a man’s life. Are those which pass between the time when the horses have flashed by the post and when the winner’s number is hoisted ‘, and off the course the stress can be lengthened till the press dash out the early editions.
For most gambling is a chance to brighten up their lives; taking a chance destroys routine be it the daily grind of the factory operative, the never-ending unrewarded jobs of the housewife, or the monotony of the leisured classes, trapped by the obligations of the social calendar. Maybe for the rich gambling is a type of prodigious consumption, a method of putting their wealth in evidence. For the poor betting is, in the words of George Orwell, ‘the most cost-effective of luxuries’: an outlay of ten new pence or perhaps less gives them an opportunity to beat the system; for a moment they can try and control their fate. And make no bones about it, gambling on horses has more to do with talent than luck. Although they use imperfect data, most backers make a genuine mental effort, picking their decisions by a deliberate application of rational standards. Eventually, betting also performs a social function in providing an open sesame to certain sub—cultures: ‘What won the 3.30? ‘ is a safe conversational gambit in any working-class bar. In such cultures the ability to pick winners brings social recognition, and the eagerness to share horse racing systems particularly the hot tip straight from the stable via dubious buddies of buddies, serves to cement relations. Clearly gambling has its positive side and is not merely the unreliable, anti-social activity, caricatured and condemned by the anti—gambllng brigade.
Harriet Harman is a gambling enthusiast and reporter on horse betting systems, including popular manuals and software such as Cash Master.
Written by Harriet Harman on December 21st, 2011 with comments disabled.
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The Level 5 Motorsports team is certainly not relentless. Relentless within their determination, relentless in their speed, and relentless in their ability to win. Only such a team could finish the way the Scott Tucker-owned, Microsoft Office-sponsored did at the Long Beach, Calif., street circuit. The No. 55 Le Mans Prototype Challenge entry set a record on the Long Beach track, a notoriously challenging circuit for drivers. The Level 5 team went on to finish second in the race, a podium finish that secured Tucker and co-driver Christophe Bouchut’s top rankings in overall point standings.
The team was happy with its performance at Long Beach, one of the toughest tracks on the Level 5 schedule. The momentum they built less than a month earlier winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in LMP2 was amped considerably with the historic finish in California. The Long Beach track has a history of causing race difficulties because it is slick and doesn’t provide much opportunity to pass. Additionally, any track becomes challenging as races wear on and conditions become dirtier, but Long Beach’s narrow lanes exacerbate the challenge considerably.
Emphasizing driving smart and preserving the car isn’t easy at triple-digit speeds with a running clock, but the Level 5 drivers know what they’re doing. Bouchut, who delivered the record-breaking qualifying run, is a veteran racer and one of the extremely successful endurance drivers on earth. He won three FIA GT titles and an FFSA GT championship-making him the only triple FIA GT champion in history. Tucker, though an ALMS rookie in 2010, has never relented in his near-perfect performances, balanced precision and complete command of the track. Case in point: He won Champion Driver in 2010.
Bouchut took the wheel and fought Gunnar Jeannette both in qualifying and finals. Jeannette ultimately pulled ahead of Bouchut just at the finish line, but Bouchut maintains his record for fastest lap in the LMPC class, during lap 56. Tucker had delivered negative splits during his laps on the track. He managed brilliant maneuvers even through traffic, which set up the Level 5 team well enough to be a formidable challenger for the No. 1 spot and ultimately clinch the No. 2 spot in the race-Level 5′s second consecutive podium finish in the season, a monumental start for the team’s 2011 year.
Without remaining ALMS contests until mid-year, the showing at Long Beach was a significant benchmark for the Level 5 Motorsports team. The outstanding success despite the difficulty of the track was a telling indicator of the strength and winning ability of the drivers and the team. The approaching weeks brings another California competition, this time around in Sonoma in the Ferrari Challenge series.
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Written by Jesse Schwarck on December 21st, 2011 with comments disabled.
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