Free Republic

**SNIP** What should’ve been the biggest story of the week — five Division I college basketball games being examined for highly suspicious or “irregular” betting patterns can’t compete with the latest speculation of free-agent linebackers of varied achievement. According to multiple reports and the schools’ acknowledgments, four of those games include Temple’s team and the other was played by Loyola (Md.). Both teams had rotten seasons. But the most conspicuously suspicious among the games in question was University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) at Temple on March 7, a barely contested 100-72 UAB win. As curious games go, this one...

Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs have made it to the Super Bowl - meaning Taylor Swift will make a mad dash from Tokyo to Las Vegas to watch her boyfriend battle for football's ultimate prize on February 11. America's most famous couple kissed on the field at the M&T Bank Stadium in the aftermath of a magnificent victory for the Chiefs And when he got on stage and took the mic, Kelce was euphoric - channeling the Beastie Boys by shouting: 'You've got to fight for your right to party!'. Swift plays four nights of her blockbuster Eras...

Excitement is already building for the US Presidential race, and the Republicans are currently the focus in the build up to the vote on their party's representative for the 2012 US Presidency. Recently, we've seen some interesting movement at the Gibraltar based British bookmaker, William Hill. Until now, Sarah Palin was an outsider in the race, falling behind in the shadows of Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Her odds were around 20/1 that she would win the Republican nomination. However, surprisingly, Palin's odds dropped to 10/1 and she may not be an outsider after all in the weeks leading up...

All our usual Triple Crown chat seems to have evaporated. Today is the Second Leg of the TC. A field of 12 goes postward at Pimlico today for the Preakness Stakes.

A Worldwide Push To Bring back chariot Racing THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 24, 2007 SAO SIMAO, Brazil – On a drowsy May day in the country, tractors and combines were lumbering down dirt roads when, suddenly, a cloud of dust rose up on the horizon. Birds scattered. Rumbling across the green landscape came seven racing chariots, each pulled by four horses. Riding in the chariot decorated with an engraving of Alexander the Great was Luiz Augusto Alves de Oliveira, a 50-year-old sugar-cane farmer who has an epic plan: returning chariot racing to its ancient glory. In this May Day...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gamblers who prefer their laptops to blackjack tables won't like what Congress is doing. On Tuesday, the House plans to vote on a bill that would ban credit cards for paying online bets and could padlock gambling Web sites. The legislation would clarify existing law to spell out that it is illegal to gamble online. To enforce that ban, the bill would prohibit credit cards and other payment forms, such as electronic transfers, from being used to settle online wagers. It also would give law enforcement officials the authority to work with Internet providers to block access...

Betting on the next electionDG Martin Columnist Gambling and politics. Say the words in North Carolina these days and a lot of people will wince, especially Democrats. Some of the tough politicking that pushed the lottery through the legislature last year looks worse and worse the more light that shines on the process. But there might be some good news in the realm of gambling and politics for those North Carolina Democrats who think their favorite son, John Edwards, has a good chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. In fact, anyone who has some extra money can...

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."And there you have it - the beginning of the end. Clark did it. Dean did it. Kerry will eventually do it - it's just a matter of time.

Anyone who saw a daily newspaper or caught a cable news program this past weekend knows that William J. Bennett--virtuecrat, drug warrior, scold--was exposed by Newsweek and the Washington Monthly last Friday as a high-stakes gambler. The news that Bennett blew a small fortune in Las Vegas--he is believed to have lost upwards of eight million dollars--was almost too good to be true. Michael Kinsley, writing for Slate, best captured the reaction of American sinners from Maine to California: "Maybe there is a God after all." Bennett defended himself against charges of hypocrisy by pointing out that he never...