Simon Says……

Paddy reckons the Wombles are returning
No stranger to a novelty bet or 20, Paddy Power?s grapevine has been well and truly quivering at the sound of various different types of music this week. In a week that has seen the release of the video of the Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow civil ceremony on Wimbledon Common, Paddy revealed that while he was there a strange animal approached him with some privileged information about one his mates apparently reforming a certain band for one last shot at the big time. The mysterious animal in question: a womble. Likelihood of them reforming: Head over to Paddy Power to look at all manner of novelty odds. Read more.

Chinese collusion ring caught on PokerStars
As if Chinese gamblers weren’t having a bad enough time of it in their own homeland, now they feeling the wrath of the Western world as well. Mind you, this time it’s with good reason as PokerStars has exposed a large scale collusion ring involving several dozen Chinese players, who profited by as much as $750,000 by cheating on the poker site.Talk about giving your fellow countrymen a bad name. It’s hard to feel sorry for the innocent victims of China’s gambling crackdown when this sort of thing happens but we have to remember not to tar everyone with the same brush.Most people in China just want to have a game of poker or mahjong without being given 20 years hard labour, but these reprobates will have only served to justify the country’s misguided, hard-line, anti-gambling stance. Read more.

Yankees looking to land another stud in Cliff Lee
It seems once a player reaches a certain level of super stardom the only place where he can play is where they?re wearing pinstripes and the Yankee blue. That?s just the way it seems to go in baseball. Now that Cliff Lee has established himself as one of the elite pitchers in the game the Yankees want him and they just might get their wish.Trade talks have been going back and forth between the Mariners and the Yankees over Cliff Lee in what would be a package deal going to the Mariners for the former A.L Cy Young lefty. Read more.Whether the Yankees get Lee in a trade is uncertain. What is certain is that Cliff Lee is a free agent at the end of this season and the Yankees already have to be considered front runners to scoop him up. The Yankees have the payroll, they have his friend and former teammate Sabathia and Cliff Lee clearly likes pitching in Yankee Stadium. Lee dismantled the Yankee lineup in last year?s World Series and seemed to enjoy pitching on the big stage. There?s no stage bigger than the Bronx.I can understand why Lee wouldn’t want to hang out in Seattle. Look how the Mariners team ran Griffey out of town, though, Griffey will probably never say a bad word against the team, someone on that snitched on him for sleeping in the clubhouse. That’s like baseball blasphemy for a guy of Griffey’s stature. He should be able to nail hookers in the dugout and no one should say a word about the Hall of Famer, considering all he’s done for that city. Can’t see why Lee would want to stick around in that clubhouse full of snitches. Loose lips sink ships and snitches get stitches, isn’t that what they say? Read more.If and when the Yankees land Lee, he will be another allstar pitcher in a star studded rotation. No doubt all of the Yankee haters will rise up yet again to denounce ?The Evil Empire? for spending the money to sign one of the game?s best. I?ve never understood that stance. You would think that people would applaud an organization for spending whatever it takes to make their team World Series contenders. I get the whole argument that it?s not fair to the small market teams and I don?t buy it. If owners don?t want to shell out the money or can?t afford to that?s just too bad, I don?t see the need for sympathy. Yeah, it?s not fair, but neither baseball, that?s been established. And the argument that other teams can?t afford to sign big name players for the most part to me is nonsense. There?s several teams that make plenty of money, but their owners are more concerned with the bottom line instead of putting a winning team on the field, like the Toronto Bluejays for example. You can?t tell me a team is committed to winning when they give away the best pitcher in the game.If the Yankees do pick up Cliff Lee, head to the nearest bookie or online gaming website and make bet that they win the World Series again, and then do it again next year, heck even year after that.

32Red headlines at July Festival races
Not sure which horse to back at Newmarket today? How about Red 32? Since acquiring Nedplay a few months ago, 32Red has been going about its business nice and quietly, cantering along tucked in the middle of the pack, if you will. But as if to prove that its race is far from run the online operator has cracked the whip and signed a four-year deal to sponsor three of the big races at the July Festival at Newmarket, which begins today. Let’s hope there’s not a faller there.Read more.

Slim Pickings to replace Roy Hodgson at Fulham
If Roy Hodgson has been handed a poisoned chalice at Anfield, God help whoever replaces him at Craven Cottage. By all accounts José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola turned the job down because they couldn’t possibly measure up to Sir Roy, and after Joachim Löw (pictured) wins the World Cup, he’ll find moving to Fulham too much of a step up, so the SuperWhites are now left with the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Alan Curbishley and, inevitably, Sven-Göran Eriksson. Hardly seems fair, does it? Read more.