The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5) travel to Green Bay (9-0) to take on the undefeated Packers November 20. The Packers have run through all of their opponents with ease and they look like they are a better team than they were when they won the Super Bowl last February.

Aaron Rodgers is clicking on all cylinders and his ability to spread the ball around the field is making it tough on defenders looking to isolate players like Greg Jennings. Rodgers is tough enough to defend before he stepped it up a notch, now he is impossible to defend against for most defenses.

The Green Bay Packers defense has also stepped it up. They are still struggling against the pass but they have picked up their run defense. Green Bay’s corners have been getting smoked this season. They are giving up almost 300 yards per game through the air.

How can the Buccaneers compete with the Packers? Josh Freeman must work the edges of the field and open up the running game. If Freeman can work the outside of the field with his wide outs it will open up the game for his running back LaGarette Blount.

The Bucs have dropped three games in row heading into this contest.

Freeman can also utilize his tight end, Kellen Winslow. Winslow is a key in this game if he can come into the game with the right attitude. Winslow’s abilities are top shelf but his head is a bit scrambled.

The game should surprise most fans. Many believe Green Bay will blow through Tampa Bay but this is potentially a great matchup and has many football betting fans very excited.

Looking to bet on Chicago today in its game against Los Angeles? Here are a few reasons why a +120 moneyline bet on the underdog Cubs could be a solid wager.

Carlos Zambrano (4-1 4.38) has been pitching well this season and has gone 2-1 in recent starts. Additionally, Zambrano won his last start against the Dodgers 5-1 on Wednesday, May 4. Zambrano has been eating up innings on the mound recently, averaging 7.0 innings per game in those starts.

If Zambrano isn’t able to go the distance, the Cubs’ bullpen should be rested and ready to shoulder the load. Chicago’s relievers have pitched only 8.1 innings in the last three games.

The Cubs have been strong against left-handed pitching lately, going 6-3. That bodes well for Chicago, as it will be facing southpaw Ted Lilly (3-3 4.67). The righty Zambrano could be a problem for Los Angeles as the Dodgers’ hitters have left something to be desired against right-handed pitching going 11-17 on the season.

A bet for the Cubs isn’t signed, sealed and delivered. The recent point differentials for Chicago and Los Angeles suggest that the Cubs might be a little over matched in this game. While both teams have played poorly lately, Chicago has been outscored by 0.94 runs per game compared to 0.76 for the Dodgers. The Cubs have struggled as an underdog. When the money is against them, they have won just 40.0% of their recent games.

For those interested in wagering on point totals, this game might not be the best candidate. The over/under is set at 7.5, nearly identical to the 7.58 combined run average of both squads, making this game too close to call.

For a nationwide series race at Darlington Raceway, Kyle Busch drove into success lane for the first time. The win in Friday’s Royal Purple 200 did not come easy for Busch.

At this tricky 1.366-mile track, Busch overcame an early-race encounter with the wall and survived a multi-car crash just after the halfway point to win his first nationwide event.

Battling fellow Sprint Cup Series was regular Kasey Kahne for the lead on lap 17, while Busch scraped the wall but suffered no considerable harm to his car. Just after a restart on lap 95, Busch narrowly escaped from being caught up in an eight-car accident. With 24 laps remaining, he passed Nationwide regular Elliott Sadler for the lead and then easily beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, at the finish by 3.7 seconds.

By virtue of being fastest in Friday morning’s only nationwide practice session, Busch started from the pole. Rain had washed out qualifying round including the final 24, he led the first lap, and then led three other times for 48 more laps. He easily beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, then Elliott Sadler, points leader Justin Allgaier, Steve Wallace, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne (pole-winner for Saturday night’s 501-mile Cup race), Reed Sorenson, Jason Leffler and Ricky Stenhouse Jr..

The win probably astonished those who watched Busch slap the wall a time or two and almost wreck a handful of other times. Denny Hamlin came in second. Sadler finished third, series points leader Justin Allgaier was fourth and Steve Wallace finished fifth. After 10 races, Allgaier leads Sadler by five points.

On Saturday April 23^rd at the Home Depot Center, the Los Angeles Galaxy will lock horn with the Portland Timbers. In the Western Conference this will be a clash between some of the top teams. The Timbers are hoping to celebrate something else by the end of the evening while Los Angeles will celebrate Earth Day at their home ground.

In soccer betting lines, for this matchup soccer odds are not yet available.

The Galaxy, a number two ranking in the Western Conference, head into this game with a 3-1-3 record. So far no other team besides Real Salt Lake has matched Galaxy’s 12 points. With a 2-2-1 record and 7 points which place them at the fourth spot in the conference, the Timbers will arrive in Los Angeles.

As losses are not part of the conversation, April has been a solid month for both teams. In the offensive aspects there is a major difference though. While the Timbers have found the back of the goal’s net eight times in three games, the Galaxy have scored only four goals in four games this month. While Galaxy plays a reserved and slow paced game, these numbers clearly indicate that Portland is an explosive team.

Because of the recent victory against Chicago Fire, Los Angeles head into Saturday’s game with confidence. The Galaxy managed to walk away from Toyota Park with a 2-1 win playing without star players David Beckham (suspended) and Landon Donovan (injured). Over the Chicago Fire last week the Timbers had an even more impressive 4-2 victory though.

From Jewsbury, Wallace, Cooper, Wallace and Perlaza, Portland has a diverse arsenal of offensive power. Each player has taken plenty of chances at the opponent’s goals as they each have scored two goals this season. In online free picks, the betting odds for this matchup have not yet published.

In the New York Yankees‘ 4-3 triumph over the Minnesota Twins, Brett Gardner scored one run and thumped in what established to be the game-winner on Thursday.

With four runs on four hits and three walks in five innings, the Yankees plummeted Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano to 0-2 on the year. After Liriano left the game, New York managed just one hit.

New York was down 2-1 in the fourth when Russell Martin got an RBI on a groundout and Andruw Jones doubled in a run. With a single to right, Gardner followed and made the score 4-2.

By giving up five hits and two runs in six innings, Yankees starter A.J. Burnett (2-0) earned the win. Mariano Rivera, for his fourth save of the year, pitched the ninth but the most upbeat member of the Yankees bullpen was Rafael Soriano.

In a scoreless eighth inning, the high-priced setup man threw just 10 pitches, just 2 days after walking three Twins and blowing a four-run lead. Nick Swisher slid hard into second base on a Mark Teixeira grounder to shortstop, during the seventh inning of Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Twins. Nishioka had to be carried off the field. He was playing second base after being a shortstop in Japan. Swisher was out on the fielder’s choice.

The Twins have their home opener against the Oakland Athletics (2-4), while the Yankees hit the road against the Boston Red Sox (0-6) Friday. At the start of the season, the sports betting odds for Boston was at 3/1 but presently they are at 9/2 and Yankees are at 5/1.

With higher expectations than any other team in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies will enter the 2011 season. What no other team in baseball has, the Phillies feel like they have something: four aces.

At +180 in MLB lines Futures Odds, Philadelphia is among the top favorites to win the 2011 World Series.

A pitching staff that is unrivaled by any team in the league what the Phillies certainly do have. It is probably an overstatement to say that the Phillies have 4 aces while they probably have the best set of starters in the league. In all of Major League Baseball between Halliday, Oswalt and Cliff Lee the Phillies have three of the most feared pitchers. Cole Hamels is the 4th pitcher in the discussion. He is probably not a top of the rotation starter at this point in his career while he is a great pitcher.

The Phillies will have the opportunity of sending an ace to the mound up to 3 times in a series with this pitching staff. What is extremely encouraging for Philadelphia is the thought that on the off days they will have pitchers of the caliber of Hamels.

Philadelphia also have one of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball as well as they have one of the best pitching staffs.

Ryan Howard bat in runs with people on base over the course of his career as he has proven the ability to hit homeruns. He could be the key to this team as he is an annual candidate for MVP. In order to support this excellent pitching staff, the Phillies need him to come up with regular production. In online free picks, the Philadelphia Phillies are favorites to win World Series.

This weekend the Dallas Stars will take on the Philadelphia Flyers. Within their respective conferences, these teams are both within the playoff pictures and should provide a good game. With a 44-19-6 record on the season, the Flyers are atop the Eastern. At 36-23-7, the Stars are sitting in the 5th spot in the Western Conference.

In NHL betting lines Odds Philadelphia is a top favorite to win the Stanley Cup at 6-1.

Even though the Stars have actually been outscored by their opponents this season by a margin of two goals, they have achieved a good record this season. Though the Stars seem to find a way to win close games on a regular basis, they are pretty much a middle of the pack team on offense and defense. As the Flyers are a tough team and will definitely hang tough throughout the game, this may help them in this game.

The Flyers will want to try to put the puck in the net as frequently as possible in this game as they have a high scoring offense. The Stars may not be able to keep up if this is a high scoring game as they do not have the same sort of offensive production.

In this game the Stars will be the home team, where they have been at their best this season. While playing at home this year, they are 18-9-5. The Flyers should hang tough in Dallas as they have been an excellent road team this year. While playing on the road this year, they are 20-9-3.

As both of these teams are legitimate playoff contenders, this game could be a playoff preview.

Jon Fitch and BJ Penn will soon lock horns in UFC 12. Dana White has announced it to be a No.1 contendership welterweight bout.

Outside of the Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch has completely squashed the UFC, while for his opponent, former multi-weight champion BJ Penn; it has not always been as smooth sailing.

At just 17-years old, the Hawaiian native began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Just weeks after being awarded his black belt by Andre Pederneiras, he became the first non-Brazilian in history to be in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the black belt category in 2000.

At Welterweight, Penn has had an up and down career. His record is only 3-3. One of those win is Duane Ludwig, who is a Lightweight himself and the two other wins are over Matt Hughes. He was submitted by Matt Hughes and has been dominated by GSP twice.

Penn revamped his training camp and moved back to welterweight, following two consecutive losses to Frankie Edgar at lightweight. In the welterweight, he knocked out Matt Hughes in 21 seconds. Similarly, since losing to St. Pierre back in 2008, Fitch has been on a path to reinvention and he feels everything has finally come together for this fight with Penn. He seems to be supremely motivated. In fact, for this fight, both men have displayed supreme motivation.

For Fitch the most likely path to victory is to use his conditioning and size. To catch Fitch and disrupt his momentum, Penn’s is to use his speed, craftiness and heavy hands. Fitch is the favorite for this bout. The betting odds for the fighters are Jon Fitch (-210) vs. B.J. Penn (+170).

After 23 years with the Utah Jazz, citing nothing more than “this was the time”, Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan, the dean of NBA coaches, stepped down. Sloan’s longtime assistant, Phil Johnson, also resigned.

In the Western Conference, Sloan, 68, had the Jazz in sixth place, well within making the playoffs, although the team had lost 10 of the last 14 games. On Friday, Corbin, 48, will take over when the Jazz play host to the Phoenix Suns.

Signing a one-year contract each time, Sloan coached the Jazz for 23 years and he was the longest-tenured coach with one team in the history of the NBA. He had only one losing season and with a 60% winning percentage, he resigned.

Behind Don Nelson (1,335) and Lenny Wilkens (1,332), Sloan, 68, ranks third in NBA wins (1,221). To win 1,000 games with one team, he is the only coach in NBA history. From 1979 to 1982, came Sloan’s other wins with the Chicago Bulls.

Deron Williams, Utah Jazz point guard denied a deteriorating relationship between him and former coach Jerry Sloan, which led to Sloan’s departure after 23 seasons.  This piece of news was suggested by an internet site.

Sloan was the ultimate fighter person, who wanted to coach basketball but as he spoke of not having the “energy level” to face the challenges anymore.

General Manager Kevin O’Connor clarified that reports involving star guard Deron Williams and Sloan were false and this was what William told the team. Williams said that at halftime both of them clashed but insisted there was no truth to the rumors.

Williams told the radio station that they had a disagreement and added that he has seen worse ones with other players. He also said that he would never force Coach Sloan out of Utah, as he has meant more to this organization, more to this town than Williams have himself.

This week Zenyatta was declared the North American Horse of the Year. Horse racing betting fans cheerful after this announcement was made.

Zenyatta trained by John Shirreffs, is the daughter of Street Cry, and owned by Jerry and Ann Moss. When she finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the horse suffered her only loss in 20 starts.
While accepting the award, Moss said, “It has been a great honor to be associated with the other two finalists.”

Furthermore Moss acknowledged bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who bought her at auction as well as Zenyatta’s breeder Eric Kronfeld of Maverick Productions, Don Robinson, who foaled and raised Senyatta at his Winter Quarters Farm.

Moss too praised Jeanne and April Mayberry of Mayberry Farm near Ocala, where Zenyatta was broke and trained and all of them were present for the award presentation.

Moss said further, “(Mayberry Farm) called David and said we’ve got this filly here and you’d better get a good name for her. He asked why. They said, well you’ve either got one fast horse or a lot slow ones, because they all need two strides for every one she takes.” Moss urged the industry to pay more attention to the fans of horse racing, after the award presentation.

He said, “I came from an industry that sued its fans when they started stealing music through Napster. There is sentiment in this business and you have to play to it. It is true in show business and it is true in racing. If you have a horse that gets people in the heart, then they want to come see them and get to know more about them, and you have the Beatles again.”