There is nothing better than the middle of the year when it comes to sports. This weekend was a veritable smorgasbord of delights and I found myself parked in front of the TV. There were also a few nice results that should have seen your pockets bulging with cash.
Carlton got us off to a good start on Friday night. In the battle of the “disappointments”, it was the Blues who managed to scrounge out a one point win. Let this be a lesson to sports bettors: just because the experts back a team off the map, don’t be swayed from the bet that makes sense to you. There was a tsunami of money for the North Melbourne Kangaroos in this game with the two sides hard to split when the market opened but we stuck firm with the Blues who ended up paying a huge dividend of around $2.30 which was well and truly over the odds.
The British Open Golf saw four amazing rounds on the Muirfield Course. Those involved with the Open should be congratulated. Open Golf should be tough and breaking par should be hard and this is exactly what we got. In the end it was Phil Mickelson continuing his good form to secure victory although we enjoyed a payday thanks to Tiger Woods’ top 10 finish.
The Tour De France eventually wound its way to Paris and it was the man of iron, Chris Froome and his Sky team who popped the champagne. There were some wonderful moments in this year’s tour but it is still going to take years for critics to be convinced that the sport is clean and a fair contest.
Manchester United thrilled a packed house in Sydney when they took on the A-League All Stars on Saturday night in an exhibition game. The game sold out months ago in a matter of minutes and the 80,000 strong crowd enjoyed watching the most successful club team in world sport. The game ended up 5-1 to United but it was more of a celebration of football than a serious contest. It wasn’t my cup of tea as I like my sport to count but there are plenty who disagree with me on that.
