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It has been more than two months since the World Series finished up and, of course, that means there is nothing going on with that sport right now since the next season will not start for a couple of months.

Having said that, I really do enjoy giving my personal opinions on different aspects of this great game as I have written several articles thus far. Here I will be discussing five pitchers who are currently playing baseball and whom I believe are among the best ones in the sport right now.

Here are my top five as I see them. Feel free to agree or disagree, and I’d love to see you share your thoughts if you have a different opinion.

Coming in at #5 on my list is Zack Greinke, who definitely came away with the greatest season last year as a pitcher. If he can do that again during the next season and the season after that, then he is going to move up on my list for sure. When all is said and done, Greinke is going to go far in this sport, especially seeing what a dangerous pitcher he continues to be.

In the #4 spot is Roy Halladay, known for always being a very reliable pitcher. In the future, Halladay will no doubt be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Christ Carpenter holds the #3 place on this list as he always manages to be extraordinary. When he returned from almost two seasons of being away from baseball, it was like he had never been gone. I do believe that Carpenter just might be better than he has ever been previously.

Holding the #2 position on my list is John Santana. It’s true, after he joined the Mets, no Cy Young award has been won by him; but, each and every season Santana can be counted on to make it an awesome one, which is why he comes in at the #2 position.

And in the #1 spot is Tim Lincecum, who has literally dominated the sport of baseball for two years now. Having an ERA in the twos is outstanding and Lincecum is indeed the top pitcher at getting strikeouts.

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A long standing controversy in major league baseball has been that surrounding Shoeless Joe Jackson and his alleged throwing of the World Series for the Chicago White Sox of’19. Jackson has long been gone from baseball and long deceased, but many have still pushed to carve out his place in Cooperstown. Does he belong?

Jackson had a career that spanned thirteen years, and played with four teams in all. Most notable was his tenure in Chicago, but he also played for the Indians, Athletics, and Naps. His numbers as a professional ballplayer were very impressive.

Some of these numbers include a .356 career batting average, 785 RBIs, and 168 career triples. The power was low, but this came in an era where lower home run totals were more commonplace.

The power is low, but this came in an era with much deeper home run fences, and just before Babe Ruth made his impact as the first major power hitter in baseball, revolutionizing the game. Players hit for average, with an emphasis on extra base hits (Jackson averaged- triples per season). A closer look at Jackson’s stats show some very impressive attributes.

9.4 walks percentage, 4.2 strikeout percentage, .423 on base percentage. 517 slugging percentage, and a .940 OPS. These are great numbers and H.O.F. numbers in fact.

Now let’s get into the Black Sox scandal of’19. The White Sox faced the Reds in the World Series. The White Sox lost the series and Joe Jackson, and eight other players were accused of throwing the series. But Shoeless Joe stats show he did not play poorly. Do you think a .375 average and 12 hits (a world series record) is throwing the series? His fielding percentage in the series was 1.000, having made no errors.

Many have accused Jackson of allowing multiple Reds triples in left field, where he played for the White Sox. However, further research of mine has shown that no triples were hit to Jackson’s part of the field in the’19 series. Jackson, however, did receive a $5,000 payment according to records.

This begs the question: does Shoeless Joe belong in the hall?

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To help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of particular poker games, I offer the following brief analysis. Those who have ever played poker online are aware that limit poker was once the most avidly played game on the net. The internet still offers quite a few low and medium limit games, and a few in the $100 to $200 range. The limit game is still easily found online and will continue to be in the future, particularly since only a few players are of the $20 to $40 level of expertise.

What may be considered a significant plus of the game is the amount of literature devoted to it: many of the contemporary books on poker are devoted to limit games. It is a well studied game and it is possible that a thorough student may learn much from the experience of others. As a result decisions are simpler to make in limit hold’em and most of them are easily supportable by basic mathematic tools for quick mental in-game calculations.

To add to this, dispersion is not the factor in limit games as it is in others. Dispersion is a coldly calculating entity that determines who is lucky and who is not. With limit poker, even the lousy player with lousy cards can be the lucky winner sometimes. To understand more about how dispersion affects the game of poker and the game of life, read any of Terry Pratchett’s Rincewind novels.

Generally speaking, all poker is necessarily subject to statistical dispersion: big losses inevitably happen even to the best of players (even when they play ideally with what they have in their hands) and are what turns many off the game in the first place. No-limit and tournaments have higher dispersion than limit games, which means that limit poker is not as psychologically intense. Relatively low bank rolls suffice for limit holdem and there are many specially designed computer programs for limit poker: Poker Tracker and Poker Office offer help which is not to be sneezed at, particularly so for low limit players. These programs are useful both during the game and after, when you want to make an analysis of any part of it or calculate general statistics.

Now for the bad and the ugly. Because of the quantity of information available on the game, there is a large and ever-growing number of knowledgeable, skilled players. So the game while it is easy to find, is not very profitable. Poker rooms make their money from the small amount taken out of the pot for each hand. So, poker rooms earn money not from the number of players, but from the percentage of the total number of hands played at the end of a long series of poker hands. This sum more often than not turns out to be quite a tidy one. Limit games which include good players can wind up with minimal profitability or even a loss.

While the availability of limit poker is not a problem online, off line is another story. There is little exposure in the non-virtual world because limit poker does not include the features that make a poker game attractive to casinos and card clubs. It is the camaraderie around the table, the laughter and chatter, that makes the game rewarding and memorable to most people. This cannot be found online but requires a group around a table. The limit player gets his thrills from the true essence of poker – the combination of cards.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Doyles Room Rakeback and Carbon Poker Rakeback.

Nebraska lovers have witnessed this very scenario previously over the previous 4 seasons.

There had been the Texas and USC games in ’06, USC yet again in ’07, and then Virginia Tech last year in Lincoln, all with the same outcome – the “Nebraska not prepared for big players.”

The latest time the Huskers defeated a ranked team on the road was in November ’06, when Nebraska beat then-ranked number 24 Texas A&M, 28-27, in College Station.

But that was a distinct time, a different coach, and, more or less, different players.

Every person knows that when you face a Frank Beamer team you can expect nice execution on both ends of the field, plus remarkable play by special teams. They demonstrated that again in their 1st game this season vs. Alabama.

Alabama outperformed Virginia Tech by just about a two-to-one margin, however were only ahead by a FG late in the fourth quarter due to a kickoff runback for a score.

The distinct thing that Husker Nation has noticed with this year’s team is that the botched assignments and poorly executed plays have virtually disappeared. There is less thinking on the defensive side of the ball and as a result, more plays are being successfully executed because the athletes are reading and acting on this instead of thinking.

Head coach Bo Pelini now sees a franchise that entirely understands the significance of grinding it out.

This year, the team understands what it requires to be successful. It realizes what its identity is on both offense and defense.

I really do believe that the Huskers have finally turned the corner, and have the ideal athletes in the right positions pull off their first huge road victory in three seasons.

I forecast the Nebraska football team victorious in a low-scoring, tight game in OT by a three point margin.

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Carmello Anthony scored 41 points and the Denver Nuggets used a second half comeback to give the Portland Trailblazers a rare 97-94 loss at their Rose Garden Arena home venue on Thursday night. The Blazers held a 67-62 lead heading into the final quarter but for the second time in as many games had trouble putting their opponent away. Brandon Roy led Portland with 30 points, and Greg Oden was the high rebounder for the home team with 9 boards. Portland is now 1-1 on the young NBA season, while Denver improved to 2-0.

NBA pointspread players who took Denver as +8 road underdogs enjoyed their outright victory and the ensuing payday. The Nuggets have covered the number in both of their victories this season, while Portland evened their ATS mark at 1-1. The’1 combined points went UNDER the posted total of 200.

After the game, Anthony was happier about the victory than his personal offensive outburst:

“We came out here and stole the win. It wasn’t just an important win. It was a battle.”

Anthony made 7 of 9 shots from the floor and 9 of 10 free throws in the decisive fourth quarter run:

“My shots were going in. I was trying to attack. I got to the rim and the foul line.”

Portland’s Greg Oden was taking the loss hard, as he missed a couple of late game free throws that could have given the Blazers a lead:

“This is a tough one. I definitely stepped up there with confidence thinking I was going to hit both and it didn’t go that way. I put this loss on me. I need to step up and make those.”

Team leader Brandon Roy said that he’d give the Blazers’ big man a pep talk, stressing the fact that missed shots are just part of the game:

“The biggest thing is to let go. We all miss shots, you’ve got to forget about it.”

Roy also added that the choppy pace of the game with a lot of fouls called benefitted Denver playing in back-to-back games:

“I think it benefited them a bit more coming off a back-to-back. They were tired but anytime you slow the game down that much, it gives them a chance to recover.”

The Blazers will head to Texas for a rematch against the Houston Rockets, whom they beat to open the NBA season. They’ll play at Oklahoma City on Sunday before returning home for a game at The Rose Garden against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Denver will head back to ‘The Mile High City’ for a game against Memphis on Sunday before an east coast road trip with stops in Indiana and New Jersey early next week.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.