It’s a good time to bet on golf as the golf betting fraternity in the UK can follow the rising stars of this country in the form of Justin Rose and currently, Nick Dougherty. Two super players who are improving at a rate of knots and give us hope of an Englishman again claiming one of the big titles in the golfing calendar.

 Currently, Nick Dougherty leads after shooting a superb 68 and takes the lead after the first round. But - and it’s a big BUT! – we all know from previous experience, it ain’t over ’til it’s over! These tournaments are about consistency and stamina. I wouldn’t be surprised if, again, the title is settled on the last couple of holes on the final round.

This is where golf betting is so fantastic. You can bet on all sorts of unfolding events and outcomes while in-play and you can keep the bets going until the end is in sight. One of the most exciting finishes in sports is when a tournament enters it’s final stages. Unfortunately, and no disrespect to Nick Dougherty here, it just doesn’t really matter who leads after the first couple of rounds, just as long as you’re in touch.

So on the final day, let’s see who’s in contention. You can bet it will be the hardened usual suspects, Woods, Mickelson (Despite struggling through the first round), Olazabal and Singh.

Whenever a new logo comes out for an event, you can bet there will be a commotion about it. The latest unveiling of the Olympics logo for 2012 demonstrates this perfectly and it’s always a best bet that it will be fast getting right up people’s noses.

Why?

I’ve chatted to a number of friends and people met through business and the general feeling of the graphic design industry is that it’s full of arty-farty designers who charge an absolute fortune for something that a school kid could have done with a paint pot and a water pistol!

It’s my view that a logo should say something – this one just doesn’t. I’m at risk of sounding pretentious here, so let me say that I am certainly no artist but – I can stand back from  a piece of art and just try to let it work on me, Do I start to feel something from it? Does it give some type of subliminal message? Does it just feel right? Again, this Olympic Logo just doesn’t.

London has so much to offer and be proud of and this logo doesn’t demonstrate that. To me it’s just a flat, dull picture that has tried to be clever with simplicity but just doesn’t get it. Remember the British Airways redesign in the 90′s? That didn’t last long. I’m not sure if this one will either.

We can do so much better

If you went MotoGP betting on the Grand Prix in Catalan over the weekend, you’ll have bet on  yet another nail biting finish to this fantastic sport. Casey Stoner held on for grim death as most money would have been on the Doctor – Valentino Rossi – who pushed him to the limit around a circuit that allowed Stoners’ Ducati to show its’ superior speed over the straights. Rossi gained through the twists and showed that he was the stronger rider on a bike that was weaker in a crucial area.

After the race, in interview, Rossi called on his Yamaha team to give him more from his machine if he is to challenge for the title this year. He says himself that he was racing on the edge to catch Casy Stoner but there just wasn’t enough in the bike to take the winners post.

There’s no doubting that Rossi is a genius of a rider and that it takes a mixture of bike and track to give a level playing field between him and his fellow competitors. I felt sorry for the guy after this race. You could sense him trying to squeeze everything out of his bike to gain the advantage but it just didn’t have it. He would do the donkey work of edging ahead early in the lap but Stoner would just undo it all with a blast on the straight towards the end.

It’s doubtful that any of the other circuits will allow such advantage to the others, so my money’s got to be on Rossi for championship this year – but I would say that, wouldn’t I?

When Monty Panasar first came on the scene last year, who would have bet on him leading the way in the England bowling attack even at this early stage in his test career. At this rate, online cricket betting could move to looking at how quickly Monty will get up to his 100 test wickets.

He’s got the genuine ability to turn a ball sharply and is starting to think more about his game and introducing variations into his pace and flight. His enthusiasm is obvious, Monty’s celebrations are becoming his trade mark with boyish leaps into the air and lots of high-fives (most of which miss their target – had anyone else noticed this?). Still, he’s a lovely guy and with the amount of passion he has purely for the enjoyment of bowling, he’s definitely going to be in the side for a long time.

Harmison showed signs of an improvement despite being wayward on occasions. He still isn’t up to his full pace and doesn’t look completely comfortable about the way he is bowling. Let’s give him some more time under the guidance of Alan Donald, as we blogged about on cricket betting last week.

The third test takes place from Friday June 15th at the Riverside ground in Durham, for the first time at this venue.

There are various options in cricket betting as to what to bet on but as Alan Donald joins the England coaching setup, I think a bet on Harmison getting some five wicket hauls in the coming tests would be a good place to put your money.

As Steve Harmison got off to another shaky start today in the second cricket test against the West Indies, one has to ask how long you have to nurse-maid a test match bowler before he can cope on his own. Mental toughness is a big part of today’s top cricket players, just look at the Aussies – each player is focused and dogged in their performances and you never really think that you’re through their batting line up until they’re all back in the pavilion.

But with Steve Harmison, he’s been around for a long time now and still hasn’t been able to develop that tunnel vision, consistency and self-belief that would carry him through each test bowling fast and accurately. I was one of Alan Donald’s biggest fans when he was a player. Now in his retirement from the action, he comes across as a coach who wants a return to the simpler, more relaxed style of coaching – a removal of a lot of the technical tools used nowadays.

 I think Steve Harmison is going to benefit tremendously from Donald’s input. People think that gaining in self-confidence is a quick fix. Not so – I know from experience. Self-belief and confidence can only be built in a gradual manner to make it permanently instilled into your character. This said, it therefore would seem to make sense to give Donald a longer stint than the 5 weeks currently allocated for his first coaching slot.

I’m going to have a rant today about the bleating that goes on about online sports betting and people who call for it to be banned. I am really cheesed of about these whingers when they don’t even bet and have never tried it! I’ll go further and say that many aren’t even sports fans and don’t understand the passion.

In my view, it’s about responsibility, it’s also a reflection on the way the society seems to be going - people not taking responsibility for their own actions. If you want to bet online with your hard earned money in the free environment of your own home, then you should be allowed to do so. However, if you over stretch yourself and don’t use “Money you can afford to lose” then that’s your look out. Most people who are the genuine betting and sports fans understand this and losing a bet comes with the territory.

There is information on any responsible betting website to give guidance as to how to bet responsibly if you’re new to betting but if people can’t be bothered with that, then it’s their look out!

I make no apology for the tone of this blog. It’s supposed to be passionate and loud because I get very, very angry on this topic.

It’s not just about online betting, it’s about personal freedom. Perhaps we should create a site for online bleating!

Well, look no further ! At Free Betting Online, you can find the Stan James Free Bet offer of £25 when you register with them. Stan James are of course, an established bookie in the UK and have this lovely, simplistic layout to their website which makes it easy for you to navigate for your online betting campaign.

It’s all starting to gear up at Stan James for a busy summer of sport, with cricket (England v West Indies, the French Open Tennis, Euro 2008 qualifiers and even family oriented favourites like Big Brother 8.

Your Betting Slip

If you’re familiar with online buying, you know about a shopping cart and how it will calculate what you have bought while you’re trawling through a site. Well, Stan James have a betting slip that will keep a record of what you’re doing for you in just the same way. This is handy! It means that at any time you can refer to it and see what your stakes have been to date and you get an overview of your campaign with Stan James.

In Running Diary

This feature of their site shows which future events are available to bet on “In Running”, i.e. betting on an event whilst it is still in progress.

As seems to be the fashion nowadays, Stan James are also offering online Poker, Casino and live games to add to their entertainment portfolio.

 Click here to learn more about Stan James and their free bets

Joe Calzaghe has said that he wants another fight, preferably in the states to continue his career, even at this late stage. He’s an exceptional talent but as far as boxing betting goes, he’s still one of Britains’ best at the moment. Undefeated for 10 years, he’s still looking for a challenge wherever it is to come from.

Betting on Joe Calzaghe has been as popular as ever but you wouldn’t want to bet against him. He’s still as strong as ever and will be interesting to see how he goes on. He’s in his mid-thirties now and many would have called it a day. He must be one of the fittest boxers there’s ever been in the UK.

Ricky Hatton on the other hand, is looking forward to fighting Jose Castillo. He’s billing it as a good fight, giving respect to his soon-to-be opponent as to the style of boxer that he is. Castillo will get right in his face on this one, but to his credit, Hatton cooly appreciates that and believes it will up his own performance.

 All of our online bookmakers will be offering a boxing free bet to new customers if they want to register to have a flutter on the fights on either of these guys.

Don’t forget to get your football free bets ready for tonight’s England v Brazil international Football match tonight. There are some great online betting free money offers available from £10 to £250 as a free bet or sign up bonus.

It’s an especially appealing match with the return of David Beckham to the squad which definitely seems to have brought an upbeat mood to the camp. Let’s face it, they need it after past disappointing performances but the return of Beck has to give England a shot in the arm for moral.

Michael Owen of course also returns from that long term cruciate ligament injury and seems fired up to make his mark. It will be good to see these two class players bring some zip and creativity to our game because in recent matches, it’s been pretty sorry viewing if you’re an England football fan. In particular, it will be interesting if the up front partnership of Owen and Rooney can develop so that they can feed of each others play. They both have the menacing quality, even against high class opponents.

The big game of course comes next week in englands’ must win Euro 2008 qualifier against against Estonia.

Can you imagine a Euro competition without England? Makes me shiver.

It’s a sure bet that Owen Hargreaves will boost Manchester United’s performance next football season. Betting odds will be reduced on United retaining the title next year after yesterday’s announcement that he’s joining them for a cool £17 million That’s a fair amount of money for a player that runs himself into the ground on every performance.

The older generation of football fans and pundits sometimes criticise today’s professionals for lack of effort or commitment because “there’s too much money in the game”. You can’t direct that sort of comment at Hargreaves – he just keeps going until he drops. When he plays for England, it’s the same. He’s not one of the more gifted, naturally talented players in the squad but he is probably at the top when it comes to grit. He’s one player that will be worth every penny that he is paid.

Manchester United fans will be betting that Hargreaves will team up well to feed Rooney and Ronaldo up front and further strengthen the side (as if they needed it!). It will be interesting to see how Chelsea go with their transfer tactics to combat a united side that next year promises to be as strong if not stronger than this year.