Patrick Anderson: Wheelchair Basketball Star

Written by Stephen Michael Kerr


Winning one Paralympic gold medal is challenging enough. Winning two in consecutive Paralympics is even more difficult. But that's exactly what Patrick Anderson and his Canadian Wheelchair Basketball team did, whipping Austrailia, 70-53 inrepparttar finals Sept. 28 to capture their second gold in as many Paralympics.

Regarded as one ofrepparttar 133166 best players inrepparttar 133167 world by his peers andrepparttar 133168 media, Anderson helped Canada completely dominaterepparttar 133169 Austrailians from start to finish. Canada, winners of eight straight, led 21-14 afterrepparttar 133170 first quarter, then took a 37-26 lead intorepparttar 133171 locker room at halftime and never looked back.

Anderson, named Most Valuable Player ofrepparttar 133172 tournament, poured in 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds inrepparttar 133173 finals. He also showed his crisp passing ability by dishing out seven assists. Teammate and close friend Joey Johnson led all scorers with 15 points.

"It is a strange feeling, a strange emotion," Anderson says of winningrepparttar 133174 gold. "It is like being inside a bubble. We needed to win, and we did."

As a kid, Wheelchair Basketball wasrepparttar 133175 last thing on Anderson's mind. Born Aug. 22, 1979 in Edmonton, Alberta, he took uprepparttar 133176 sport many able-bodied kids in his country played: ice hockey. He was enjoyingrepparttar 133177 rewards ofrepparttar 133178 sport, andrepparttar 133179 joys of being a kid.

But all that abruptly changed. One day, when Anderson was nine, he was struck by a drunk driver at a picnic, and became paralyzed for life.

Instead of allowingrepparttar 133180 accident to permanently end his physically active lifestyle, Anderson showedrepparttar 133181 same courage and tenacity he displays onrepparttar 133182 court. Once he became involved in Wheelchair Basketball, he was hooked.

Six Reasons Why Underdogs Are the Smart Bet in the NFL

Written by Wunderdog


Underdog or favorite? It’s a choice we make 16 times per week duringrepparttar NFL regular season. While there are certainly times when favorites warrant our attention, my experience tells me that betting underdogs isrepparttar 133165 best way to make money inrepparttar 133166 NFL. Here are six reasons why you should pay special attentionrepparttar 133167 dogs this NFL season.

1. NFL Parity The NFL has made great strides to achieve rough equality among teams. It has succeeded. Just look at these SuperBowl teams fromrepparttar 133168 past several years: St. Louis in 2000, Baltimore in 2001, New England in 2002, Tampa Bay in 2003, and Carolina last year. None of these teams were supposed to make it that far but they all did and many won, despite losing recordsrepparttar 133169 year before. Unlikerepparttar 133170 college game, any given team can win on Sunday inrepparttar 133171 NFL. Why not get some points to boot?

2. A Win is a Win Again, unlike in College, there is no need to blow-out a team. Favorites that get up early don't typically run uprepparttar 133172 score inrepparttar 133173 NFL. It doesn’t serve a purpose and in most cases, coaches would rather not embarrass their opponent and/or risk injury to their stars. Inrepparttar 133174 NFL, big leads often dwindle, with underdogs covering late inrepparttar 133175 game.

3. The Rodney Dangerfield Effect Underdogs don't get any respect! They don't get it fromrepparttar 133176 public, sometimes leading to higher than deserved spreads. More importantly, they don't get it from their opposition. Good teams can sometimes take bad teams lightly (especially if players and coaches minds are on other things, like next week's tougher opponent). Research and an understanding of historical trends can reveal great situations in which underdogs are poised for an upset.

4. The Public Can't Help Itself The average bettor lovesrepparttar 133177 popular teams (favorites), oftentimes pushing lines unreasonably high. We saw it duringrepparttar 133178 90’s with Dallas and San Francisco. In fact, almost every week, withrepparttar 133179 right research, you can spot teams that should be favorites but are getting points against a popular team that has been installed as a favorite due torepparttar 133180 public "bandwagon effect.” For example, last year Kansas City visited Cincinnati in week 10. The Chiefs had won nine straight and seemed invincible. In hindsight, Cincinnati wasrepparttar 133181 easy underdog pick. Kansas City’s defense was ranked 25th inrepparttar 133182 league atrepparttar 133183 time. Cincinnati was on a roll having won 3 of their last four games and Rudi Johnson was coming into his own. Cincinnati hadrepparttar 133184 emotional edge and nothing to lose by taking a shot at an undefeated team they knew they could beat. However,repparttar 133185 public couldn’t get over Kansas City’s success and spot this situation.

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