Thursday, August 30, 2012
Sports World |
- Long Beach State's eye-catching court
- Robson Faces Toughest Ever Test
- Gale Eyeing Champs League Glory
| Long Beach State's eye-catching court Posted: 30 Aug 2012 02:22 AM PDT College basketball has seen a revolution recently in non-traditional court designs, plenty of which are proving to be far too garish and brash for many of the fans' taste. But one college who seem to have struck the right balance between the two extremes is Long Beach State, where the court design is distinctive without being intrusive or overdone. Since its campus is located three miles from the shoreline and its teams wear "The Beach" on the front of their jerseys, Long Beach State decided to give its basketball court a palm tree-themed makeover. Four palm trees frame the court, each in gold to reflect the look of a Southern California beach. This "themed" floor also makes sure that we are not going to see an end to the unusual court designs in college basketball anytime soon. Perhaps we have Boise State and their blue gridiron to blame for starting the trend which has infiltrated basketball over the last two seasons. There have been so outlandish designs not least these three headed by Oregon who in 2010 unveiled an orange and tan fir tree-lined court floor, Towson University elected last summer to give its basketball court some orange watermark tiger stripes before Cal State Bakersfield last autumn topped both of those by installing an all-blue court – whether these designs have a positive effect on their ncaab results remains to be seen. Long Beach State's design could have been as outlandish as any of those had the 49ers adopted one of the other proposed looks. School administrators and basketball and volleyball coaches considered 10 designs during the past 10 months, most of them beach-themed, although one design that was considered was to go with an all-black court. The one the 49ers chose has received almost exclusively positive reviews so far from fans, media and players, although the floor won't actually see any ncaab scores from the men's basketball team until Nov. 10, when they take on North Alabama.  |
| Robson Faces Toughest Ever Test Posted: 30 Aug 2012 08:13 AM PDT Britain's Laura Robson faces probably the toughest test in tennis after progressing to the second round of the US Open, with three-time champion, Kim Clijsters, up next. Robson, ranked 89th in the world, will come up against a tennis star determined to win one last Grand Slam before retiring at the end of this season. It is a terrible hand for Robson to have been dealt, yet the experience of facing such a legend of the game should set the Brit in good stead in the future. Very few people betting on tennis are giving Robson a chance in New York, with Clijsters set to take this tournament by storm. The Belgian looked fierce against 16-year-old Victoria Duval, mercilessly beating her opponent 6-3 6-1 and, after the game, gave this subverted word of warning to the rest of the field: "There isn't really anything that I'd say I have to go out on the practice court and work on." Indeed, it appears that the 29-year-old has nothing to fear going into this tournament. Having won the event in 2005, 2009 and 2010, Clijsters knows just how clinical one must be in the early rounds. Competitors with a genuine chance of making the final cannot afford to lose silly sets in the first week at Flushing Meadows, and Clijsters will no doubt bring her A-game to Robson. It seems that whatever Robson does, she has no chance of stopping this machine that has age, physicality, experience, and desire in abundance over her. Instead of victory, what Robson will be hoping for is to hold her serve and possibly sneak a set on the tie break. This clash will be valuable experience for Robson, but the result should not throw up too much of a surprise. Bet on US Open 2012 on Betfair the for the best odds, tips, and gambling tips for the event in New York City.  |
| Gale Eyeing Champs League Glory Posted: 30 Aug 2012 04:28 AM PDT Yorkshire captain, Andrew Gale, is hoping the chance to play in the Champions League will ease some of the pain of losing in the T20 final against Hampshire. Following a spectacular day's cricket at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff, the result went down to the final over, with Yorkshire needing 14 runs to win. However, a fine display of bowling by Chris Wood snared three Yorkshire wickets and ensured a Hampshire victory by 10 runs. Despite the agony of defeat, Yorkshire do have the consolation of a place in the qualifying phase of the Champions League, a point emphasised by England legend, Michael Vaughan. They face the Auckland Aces of New Zealand and Pakistan's Sialkot Stallions in the qualifying group in October, giving them the chance to reach the finals stages, where they will compete against some of the best T20 teams of the world. The competition is growing in stature each year, with the success of T20 leading to an impressive set of domestic leagues – lead, of course, by the megabucks IPL. Gale believes that the chance to compete with such sides is a fantastic opportunity, and one that they should grab with both hands, despite the agony of their final defeat. "I like to think we can compete with the best teams in the world," he said. "We only lost the match in the last two or three balls of the final and that shows we have come a very long way in a short space of time." "It would have been nice to spray that champagne around but what we have achieved as a club can make us all proud. We now have a trip to South Africa and will be playing the best Twenty20 teams in the world." Continuing with the theme of short-form cricket, the T20 World Cup odds on Betfair should be your first stop for information on the upcoming event.  |
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