OddJack Gambling Guide on the 2008 NFL Football Season, NBA Basketball, College Football, March Madness, Boxing, Soccer, WSOP and all Sports Betting Picks, Tips, Odds and Lines

Yep, it seems New Orleans is where you wanna’ be come 2008.

Fresh from the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, the NBA will bring its ‘’Mid-Season Classic'’ to the very city the Saints NFL Football team virtually put back on the map a few months ago, New Orleans.

You read it right, the 2008 NBA All Star game is headed for New Orleans next season. For all ya’ll who didn’t know, the city of New Orleans has been going most of the past two years without pro basketball. Well, next season, the Hornets will return and along with Chris Paul and his crew comes the NBA’s annual spectacle of superstars.

For those questioning whether the city will be prepared for the NBA’s signature event, this week might be instructive.

‘’If we’re ready for Mardi Gras, then we’re ready for the NBA All-Star Game,'’ said Mary Beth Romig, communications director of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The game will come in the midst of a hectic two-month run for the city, with Mardi Gras squeezed among the Sugar Bowl, college football’s national championship game and the NBA All-Star game. And given the…

Tired of the same old ‘’gamble your life savings away'’ thing in Las Vegas?

Well, there’s this ‘’alternative'’ you’ll definitely dig. Apparently, somewhere deep in the outskirts of all these gambling activities, there lies a brothel that takes advantage of Nevada’s legalized prostitution crap.

Yep, apparently, prostitution is legal at the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel and owner, or should I say, ‘’King Pimp,'’ Dennis Hof is having, ‘’a lot of fun'’ in Nevada for sure.

Heck, if he was able to pull this off, then Hugh Hefner ain’t got shit on this dawg. This guy even has his own HBO series for crying out loud, entitled ‘’Cathouse,'’ featuring Dennis Hof’s beloved brothel where countless hot whores call home.

Oh yeah, Dennis Hof found his ‘’wife'’ there too.

Dennis and his ‘’bunnies'’ will be flying into NYC to do some major media concerning the next season of Cathouse, including many radio stations on The Sirius Network, like Eminem’s Show, Shade 45, Alex Bennette, Rude Jude, Derek & Romaine and The Howard Stern Show.

It is Dennis Hof’s goal to see prostitution become a major economic force in society’s mainstream, if you can imagine that. He’d like to help sanitize the sleazy ‘’street corner hooker'’ image. He foresees a coming cultural atmosphere in which those seeking female companionship can easily find a safe, legal place to get laid.

‘’The BunnyRanch is an example of how sex-for-sale is going to be in America within the next 30 years,'’ Dennis Hof said. He tells his girls…

And no, unlike what Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. started years back, there won’t be any guns involved whatsoever.

The NBA’s ‘’mid-season classic'’ returns for it’s 2007 offering as the best players from the Eastern Conference meet the towering giants of the Western Conference. Yep, it’s the East going up against the West and judging by this year’s starting line-ups, the East will get their asses creamed good.

This year, unlike last season’s Detroit Pistons theme, the East will only have two Pistons on their roster. Yep, they actually snubbed Tayshaun Prince again. And to make matters worse, Rasheed Wallace wasn’t even asked to return.

Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups were selected as East reserves but c’mon, snubbing Sheed and Tayshaun for a struggling Miami Heat tandem of Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal? Puh-leaze…

Yep, you read it, D-Wade and Shaq made it to the starting line-up yet again, despite all their struggles this season. Hell, Shaq did not even played MOST of the first half of the season for chrissake. Something’s definitely wrong there.

Joining the pathetic Miami Vice wannabes are the likes of LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas and the much improved Chris Bosh.

The West is where it’s at this year. They were able to form one solid starting five, and that’s saying with or without a Yao Ming at the starting center spot. For all ya’ll who don’t know it yet, Yao Ming won’t be playing in this year’s NBA All Star game in Las Vegas with him nursing an injury.

NO PROBLEM. The likes of Memo Okur and Dirk…

Who better to judge a slam dunk contest than these slam dunk champions right?

Yep, we all saw the likes of Charles Barkley bastardizing the most electrifying play in NBA Basketball, THE DUNK, blabbering about things they don’t understand. Hell, one of the greatest dunkers in the game today, Andre Iguodala, even said Kenny Smith screwed him last year, leading to his decision not to join the slam dunk contest this NBA All-Star weekend in Las Vegas.

Well, it will be different this season. THIS TIME, slam dunk champions will judge the slam dunk contest on All-Star Saturday night, not aging overweight retards like Sir Charles Barkley.

Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins will lead the Slam Dunk contest judges this year. ‘His Airness’ and ‘the Human Highlight Film’ will be joined by ‘Doctor J’ Julius Erving and two of today’s most electrifying aerial displays, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.

Wow. It doesn’t get any better than that right?

Michael Jordan gave us that classic ‘’leap from the free throw line dunk,'’ Kobe Bryant gave us that ‘’between the legs slam'’ and Vince Carter showed us that crazy ‘’360 counter-clockwise between the legs jam.'’ WHEW!

New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson will…

First off, kudos to former Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway for being blunt and frank about it.

Yep, the fiery Miami Heat point guard, Tim Hardaway, was direct to the point, saying that he is indeed homophobic, doesn’t like gay people and doesn’t like to be around them.

‘’You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known,'’ Tim Hardaway said. ‘’I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.'’

FINALLY! Somebody is not afraid to tell the world what he really thinks. And yes Tim, my boy feels the exact same thing. How about that, J.J. Jack is on the same page with a Miami Heat athlete, even though the said athlete is already retired.

Unfortunately, the NBA removed Tim Hardaway from its All-Star weekend activities, a day after he said all that ‘’I hate fags'’ thing in a radio interview. (Boo!)

The NBA canceled all of Hardaway’s…

I thought they were kidding at first but apparently, this foot race between these two old farts is on.

Yep, 43-year-old former NBA superstar and current TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley will challenge 67-year-old NBA referee Dick Bavetta to a footrace on NBA All Star Saturday.

All of this started when the stupid Charles Barkley subbed for the then injured Steve Kerr in an NBA Basketball game refereed by Bavetta between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings.

During the first half of the game, Barkley apparently made an off-the-cuff comment saying, ‘’I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now Marv,'’ talking to Steve Kerr’s TNT broadcast partner, Marv Albert. Of course, we should know better than listening to a Charles Barkley who has a huge gambling problem. But instead, Marv Albert made a big fuss over it followed by Barkley’s colleagues in TNT hyping the ‘’footrace'’ between him and Bavetta for weeks.

And now, finally, we’ll see two old farts in a footrace. Hurray! Now that’s good TV for ya’ don’t you think?

‘’Charles, let me say something to you, there’s no way you can critique the game the way you critique it if…'’

What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas right?

Well, what if the NBA All Star Game happens in Las Vegas, will it stay there? Can we see a professional NBA basketball team from Las Vegas after hosting it’s first NBA All Star weekend? Hmm… this year’s hosts sure hope so.

February 18 is the NBA All Star game, following NBA All Star Saturday that will feature the three-point shootout and the slam dunk contest just to name a few. Oh yeah, it’s shaping up to be one heckuva’ weekend all right.

An event as big as this, the city of Las Vegas definitely wants its own NBA Basketball team now. However, sending a team to Las Vegas would require NBA commissioner David Stern to change his stance on gambling. He was quite clear on the subject last year, ‘’We are not going to go there while they have betting on NBA games.'’

Uh oh… As far as I know, Las Vegas and betting is like milk and cookies, bread and butter, panties and… well, you get the idea.

‘’I guess all I’d say is that we’ve been having these discussions now for somewhere over 20 years,'’ NBA Commissioner David Stern said. ‘’But on the other hand, our owners are the ones that ultimately…'’

Is anywhere more fitting than Las Vegas to see something hard to believe?

Las Vegas entertainment may have yet to build New Yorker David Blaine his eponymous theater but The Mirage isn’t still home to Siegfried & Roy for nothing. From Penn & Teller to David Copperfield, Las Vegas magic shows offer comedy, illusions, and tricks you can take your kids to see. Forget strip poker girls, these are affordable Las Vegas deals and much of your moolah won’t make a disappearing act.

Las Vegas Magic Shows

Steve Wyrick Real Magic at Aladdin; Nathan Burton Comedy Magic at Aladdin; World’s Greatest Magic Show at Greek Isles; The Mac King Comedy Magic Show at Harrah’s; David Copperfield at MGM Grand.

Monte Carlo, Lance Burton: Master Magician, Lance Burton Theatre. Two-time Magician of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts, Lance Burton has performed for Queen Elizabeth and President Ronald Reagan. He performed a record nine years with the longest-running Folies Bergere before Monte Carlo inked with him the longest contract ever given to any Las Vegas entertainer. Named Entertainment Today’s #1 family magic act, his show celebrates its tenth year with a new illusion, Solid Gold Lady, which makes use of $10 million in gold.

Orleans, Magic of Rick Thomas, Orleans Showroom. A long-time Las Vegas regular at both Tropicana and Stardust, Rick Thomas has been named Magician of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts, and Stage Magician of the Year by the World Magic Awards. Royal white and orange Bengal tigers, staples of his successful afternoon show, are sheltered on a two-acre habitat adjacent to his…

Chicago Bears fans have waited a damn long time for this.

21 long years to be exact. And you bet your ass the Chicago faithful will be cheering their lungs out and gasp all at the same time whenever Bears quarterback Rex Grossman makes one good play followed by another fumble.

With that said, if you’re a Chicago Bears fan, where can you go to celebrate something 21 years in the making? Where can you go for you to join your fellow Bears faithful to holler obscenities at Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning?

RedEye Super Bowl Party at Duffy’s Tavern and Grill. Festivities start at 9 am with a $20 food and drink package featuring a breakfast buffet, domestic drafts, cocktails and more. At game time, you can watch the Chicago Bears on multiple screens and bring a Budweiser or Bud Light bottle cap to compete for cash prizes in RedEye’s squares tournament.

Bears and Buckets at Redmond’s. The Lakeview bar is serving brunch until 3 pm. There will also be drink specials that include $15 domestic buckets and $20 import buckets. You can also watch the game on multiple high-definition screens.

Abbey Pub Super Bowl Party. Now this lets you party with the big boys instead of a cub-sized celebration watching the game at home. (Unless of course you’re watching a Chicago Cubs game. Cub-sized, Chicago Cubs. Get it? I don’t either…)

Alcock’s Super Bowl Party. They will let you Bears fans celebrate today’s team with an open bar, a buffet and the game on 14 screens. Oh yeah, some say you might just get a glimpse of the Chicago Bears Super Bowl champions of yesteryear too.

Roscoe’s Super Bowl Party. This could be the best of the…

Yep, even strippers are gearing up for Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida.

Football. Booze. Women. Yep, that’s the combination strip club owners will be offering the Super Bowl-crazed male once the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears meet on Super Bowl Sunday.

Watching football has never been so good boys. The biggest rivalry Super Bowl Sunday isn’t between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, but between two of the most well-known gentlemen’s clubs in Broward and Miami-Dade.

Pure Platinum near Fort Lauderdale and Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami Gardens try to snare the lucrative Maxim-meets-Playboy demographic. In other words, the two rivals hope to pack their clubs with guys who want plenty of booze, women and food to supplement their giant plasma-screen viewing of Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears.

Angelina Spencer, an executive director of the Naples-based Association of Club Executives, said that the Super Bowl is big business. Yes, even for the region’s gentlemen’s clubs.

The Association of Club Executives is the trade association for…