With the countdown to the new season getting ever closer we thought it best to wet the appetites of all the regular football betting readers who tune into the Free Bets Blog with a selection of some of the finest football goal celebrations down the years.

Each celebration holds its own tale and in the shadows of the new 08 / 09 premiership betting season we hope it gives some inspiration to the world class talent on display on how best and best not to celebrate a goal.

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Day1 of the famous British Open Golf championship tees off today in what many golf betting fans are claiming to be the most open competition in recent years with over 40 players having a real chance of winning. The weather will undoubtedly play its part as the first day of action has seen wet and windy condition that has seen some of the best in the business struggle to break par.

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A recent injection of rumour in the close-season transfer market has at last sparked some movement in which has been a very quiet affair - Roanldo of Man Unt and Lampard of Chelsea aside. Perhaps it’s the current economic climate that is playing its part but for your average football betting punter scanning the back pages of the newspaper or online sports channels looking for some transfer gossip has been hard work as of late.

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Big Brother has now passed through its initial familiarisation process where the housemates develop friendships and allegiances resulting in the grouping of individuals into opposing camps with a few neutrals floating between. Big Brother betting has seen these events encouraged this year by the availability of two separate sleeping spaces, the Luxury Bedroom and the more austere, army type sleeping quarters of B Block which is furnished with harder beds and blankets rather than the sumptuous duvets available in the other boudoir.

Recent events, though, have brought about radical change. Apart from the forced departure of Alexandra and Dennis for rule breaking, Jennifer, Sylvia and, crucially, Mario, all incumbents of the Luxury Bedroom, have been evicted by public vote and the dynamics of the house now hang in the balance. Mario was regarded as a mentor figure by some housemates, particularly those in the luxury bedroom and his departure has led to a power vacuum which his disciples want quickly filled before the occupants of B Block mount a coup and attract less committed housemates over to their side. The cause of the Luxury Bedroom has not been helped by the new arrival of Belinda, Belinda, Belinda, whose extraterrestrial snoring has already caused some hasty defections.

Matters are further complicated by the election, imposed by Big Brother, of a Leader of the House. Candidates, Luke, Darnell and Dale have stood and are awaiting the results of the ballot. Each is a strong figure and all made good speeches. Curiously, two did not vote for themselves. Luke, the online bookies favourite male to win outright, is an assemblage of all that is regarded as deeply uncool and, yet, has attracted the most support from online betting fans. Dale, who is handsome, icy and detached, is way down the field. Kat still leads the field outright, on the female front, but may not maintain the pace in the final stages. Rebecca, twice a survivor of the public vote, remains the most reviled of the girls, apart from snoring Belinda, but has a curious charm, plus a bizarre relationship with Luke, that may see her hang in there for a few weeks yet.

The Tour de France is well under way now and for those cycling betting enthusiasts not yet disillusioned by the plague of drug scandals which have dominated the race for several years, the romance of this spectacular event still holds true. Further interest is provided this year by the presence of Manx rider, Mark Cavendish, who won this week’s fifth stage. Cavendish, a sprinter, is one of his team’s specialists along with the hill climbers and speed merchants who make up the team. Winning the fifth stage means he gets to wear the much coveted yellow jersey in the sixth leg.

This is an immensely gruelling race, run over twenty or so stages, or legs, and covering between 50 and 200 miles per stage. In the three weeks of racing riders get only one day of rest. Twenty teams of about ten members each compete for the overall best average speed over the various legs and, while it is prestigious to win a leg or legs, it is the rider whose total time is the lowest who wins for his team. Some team members are there to clear the way for the specialists but all act as a team.

The race has some very demanding days in the Alps, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees and incredible demands are made on the stamina of riders. Much has been made about the use of drugs in this competition and online betting fans will be relieved to hear that the French, anxious to rebuild the reputation of the tournament, have instituted one of the most rigorous drug testing regimes ever seen in sport. All riders are tested and there is the possibility on any day that any one of them will be called in for a check and shameful expulsion from international cycling is the punishment for anyone caught.

Betting is a great form of entertainment and its popularity has spiralled since its birth on the internet. People are now having bets on the most bizarre and surreal situations as well as having a flutter on sport betting, political betting and TV show betting especially song contests.

Through the years there has been some outlandish bets made that are the stuff of legend. Here we highlight some unique and sometimes unfortuitous bets.

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The South African cricket team has arrived on our shores to take on England in a series of four test matches, one Twenty20 and five one day internationals. The series starts today with the first test match at Lords. England v South Africa test Match betting fans will regard this as the most challenging home based encounter for the England cricket team since the excitement of the Ashes in 2005. The South Africans have yet to beat England at home since their readmission to the international game.

The South African captain, and opening batsman, Graeme Smith, is a controversial figure noted for his understanding of the value of intimidation in winning cricket matches. A huge man, he commands enormous respect and loyalty from his team, while demanding of them their best, and shows the way with a personal batting average of an amazing 48.75. Early notoriety came from the orchestration of the sledging of Michael Vaughan, in the drawn series of 2003, in which the England captain’s sexuality was drawn into question. Passing it all off as a joke, Smith had to concede that the effect on Vaughn had certainly affected his play.

It will be interesting to observe the relationship between England star, Kevin Pietersen and Smith. Pietersen was raised in Natal before defecting to the England team following frustration with South African racial quotas. Smith has ruefully acknowledged the difference Pietersen would have made had he stayed at home.

The pace of the South African bowlers will seriously challenge the England top order and there can be no doubt that this is a side which will lay bare the true strengths, and weaknesses, of this unchanged England team. Online betting enthusiasts will be hoping that their side can rise to the challenge and show the resolve and skill, which, only occasionally, was evident in their recent games with New Zealand.

Its been a turbulent summer off the park for Cristiano Ronaldo as he debates his football future – Real Madrid or Manchester United? The press have been loving the will-he-wont-he debate filling up sports column inches in which has been a surprising quiet transfer market this summer. Now, big Luiz Felipe Scolari, the new Chelsea boss and Ronaldo’s former international manager has been caught up in the hulabaloo. Rumours have started that he was dishing out ‘career advise’ to Ronaldo about taking his trade to the spanish giants Real Madrid while he was still gaffer at Portugal knowing full well he had Chelsea courting him at this years Euro 2008. Now, who would bet big Phil would do such a thing?

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There will now be a big rush to hail Rafael Nadal, the conquering hero, as the new King of Tennis after his defeat of Roger Federer in the Wimbledon men’s final and, before that, the betting on the French Open begins. Tennis betting enthusiasts know that Federer remains number one in the rankings but Nadal, winner of these two diverse tournaments must be now be regarded as the best player in the world.

The Wimbledon final was an epic battle with some saying it was the greatest tennis match ever played. Federer, two sets to one down, having recovered his brilliance in the third, and serving at 0-30 while 4-5 down in the fourth set, seemed defeated, if not in spirit then at least in numbers. But Federer has not been described as the best player who ever lived for nothing. He fought back from the abyss and took the set to a tie break which he won.

The fifth set became an epic battle which drew from the great men some passing shots which defied the laws of the physics and dazzled the imagination. Tooth and nail were fought for sixteen games until Nadal won by a relentless whisker. This irresistible force had moved the immovable object. But Federer down and out? Online betting fans should not count on it. He auto-piloted the first two sets in an uncharacteristic trance of bewilderment at Nadal’s accuracy and grass court learning. He won’t do that again. Next year Federer will be ready and looking for revenge and Nadal will have to dig much, much deeper than he had to this time.

Lewis Hamilton is looking for a much needed victory in Sunday’s British Grand Prix. 10 points behind Felipe Massa and five short of Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton cannot waste any more time in securing places on the podium from now on. Formula 1 betting punters are hoping he can put behind him the disappointments of France and Canada and bring more focus into his driving skills rather than the distractions which seem to have consumed him of late.

He must understand that his opponents are not the officials dishing out the penalty points or the media demanding nothing short of perfection. His opponents are Ferrari and they come in the shape of Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and that team’s engineers. If Hamilton can exclude all other thoughts from his mind we will again see the brilliance manifested not just last season, but for the first couple of races this season too.

At Silverstone, Hamilton will have the massive support of British fans, as well as online betting fans, and you have only to look to the effect that had in the Murray/Gasquet showdown at Wimbledon last Monday to grasp what a lift this can give. The familiarity of home turf will also help and, with improvements to the McLaren since the last race, Hamilton was a second ahead of Raikkonen on Thursday, he has everything going for him on Sunday in his bid to narrow the gap.