Kung Hei Fat Choi.

Last Sunday was the start of a brand new year for our Chinese brothers. Yep, the Chinese have their calendars slightly different to that of the rest of the world and God, don’t ask me why.

As the Chinese celebrated the brand new year with… well… more Chinese folks, the Houston Rockets entered the Chinese new year without their Chinese giant Yao Ming. And man, do they need Yao back, desperately.

While Yao Ming and probably the rest of China town in Houston, Texas, were eating Chinese food and setting up fireworks here and there, the Houston Rockets were…

Read more Rockets being slaughtered

Mark Cuban, the billionaire who owns the Dallas Mavericks, probably is the most recognized team owner in all of sports.

Yep, you read it right, and he follows his team like a groupie to the Backstreet Boys.

Cuban, (no, he’s not from Cuba) is a self-made Fortune 500 success story. He founded a dot-com empire and seems to always find gold in whatever business he pursues.

You can see that success with the Dallas Mavericks, a team, despite losing…

Read more Cuban stuff that’s not from Cuba

Let’s face it. Everybody places a little wager on the Super Bowl, whether it’s money or in jest. And we’d all love to know the winner in advance.

Well, here are some guys who might help you this coming Feb. 5.

Sheila Lyon, co-owner of a magic shop at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, calls the answer to which team will triumph “an easy one.” Lyon doesn’t know much about football but saysher crystal ball is the best in the world. Lyon checked it just a couple of days ago and what she saw was the number 8. In Chinese numerology, 8 is a number for awards and rewards. So she figured the Seahawks will win by 8.

The city of Detroit clearly has a lot to cheer for in this brand new year.

Eminem just released his new album and has remarried his wife he swore to kill in his songs, Kimberly Matthers.

This proud city will also host the sporting world’s most grandiose and spectacular annual event, Super Bowl XL, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks going at it to determine the kings of the National Football League (NFL).

However, the story for Mo’ Town is it’s hoops heroes. Yes, ‘Detroit Basketball’ is currently wreaking havoc both in the professional ranks and college hoopdom.

In the NBA, Detroit is home to the BEST team of the league this year, the Detroit Pistons. They just pounded the Los Angeles Lakers en route to their 37th win of the season. The Pistons, with only five losses so far this year, are looking good to win the 70-win plateau this year, not to mention another…

Read more Mo’ Town

Macau is no Hong Kong. That’s for sure.

Macau, with a population of merely around 430,000, is only one-fifteenth that of neighbor Hong Kong, and it’s economy, even smaller in proportion. This is the ‘bad lands’ of the world, so to speak, with Macau being known for its betting atmosphere, violence and prostitution.

Did someone say prostitution? Oh my… Now that’s THE way to celebrate the brand new Chinese new year baby. Celebrating it with a Chinese hoe.

[ Where Hong Kong is a kaleidoscope of trade, finance and high-profit services, Macau is a shadowy blur of blackjack, roulette, poker and prostitution. Since 1996, bloody wars among the triads, or secret societies, have transformed Macau into a mini replica of 1920s Chicago, replete with machine gun assassinations outside. ] - My Olive Tree

The reason for all the violence? Easy. The almighty dollar.

Macau’s economy depends heavily on it’s nightlife that casinos from every…

Read more On the Macau Wasteland

Gamblers Who Rock at Losing

First off: we are all 50% losers. We know this from listening to emo and playing games of chance at online casinos. It’s just a question of being good at it, at losing. And no, this isn’t like those personality tests at TheSpark.com.

Nor is it about natural born losers. As old news as the concept of direct proportion, the biggest casino losses in history have been made by the…

Read more Casino losing streaks

With the FIFA World Cup barely four months away, world football supremo warned that multimillion-dollar betting syndicates may attempt to rig matches.

However, expressed optimism that this year’s Soccer World Cup will be hooligan-free remain because fans would murder any players involved.

So, why would you want to fix a match?

Well, obviously you can place a substantial bet on it and make a very large amount of money.

This is nothing new. Gambling is supposedly the third oldest profession - after prostitution and spying. The former, of course, involves money, the latter information. Match fixing is the use of information to make money.

So, if you had happened to know that…

Read more Football sucker homicides

At the end of the day, Tiger Woods stood alone, a champion.

In his first start of the 2006 PGA Tour season, the best golfer in the world showed exactly why he is just that, the very best.

This was Woods’ debut this season, his first victory since turning 30 last month.

With the tour off to a sluggish start with so few stars teeing it up in the first month, Woods’ winning the Buick Invitational is like a cannon shot announcing golf’s arrival.

It couldn’t come at a better time with the NFL taking a weekend off before…

Read more On the golfball-eating tiger

Thoroughbred horse racing in the USA is on a steady and rapid decline - no, it is dying.

Why, no Triple Crown champion in the last 29 years! Or worse - big money connections conspiring to deprive a legitimate Triple Crown champion (Smarty Jones in 2004). Also, Kentucky Derby champions being retired even before they reach age four.

No wonder the sport of kings is dying, it’s audience is aging and no new fans are being developed. And those few that happen to gravitate to the big stakes races are lost just as easily when the new stars are retired.

It’s not that racetrack operators are not trying; they dangle freebies on a regular basis - free concerts, free rides, free shirts and stuff - but these attract the wrong crowd for the…

Read more On how those bastards are killing horse racing

Aw c’mon now, why would you hate on a guy who did everything in his power to literally carry his team to win?

A win is a win and the last time I checked, winning is the only thing that matters in this sport we call basketball. Why would you hate Kobe just because he scored 81 points and basically did ALMOST ALL of the scoring for his team?

Hey, I’m not a Kobe fan but I’m starting to be one after acknowledging what was done on the basketball court of Staples Center. Some say it’s ball hogging, some say it’s Jordanesque.

I say it’s neither. It’s just Kobe showing the world what Kobe…

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