Goodbye Big Brown posted by Jan Hoadley

The anticipated match between Big Brown, Curlin and Casino Drive will not happen. Big Brown 'grabbed a quarter' today, an injury that while not life threatening means he is out for a long recovery. He has been retired. With extensive tissue damage he wasn't initially lame but as he was cooled off became increasingly sore and uncomfortable. His retirement was announced and he will go to Three Chimneys in Kentucky. He'll stand along the likes of Point Given, Rahy, Smarty Jones and Dynaformer.

Big Brown had 7 wins from 8 starts, with his only loss the one that cost him history - in the Belmont Stakes. While that and the Breeders Cup Classic were not to be, perhaps in a few years he'll have a son or daughter to redeem his honor. Best wishes Big Brown.

The Loss of a Great posted by Lowell H. Slagle

The dominance we’ve witnessed in the past year has now been foiled by injury. Apparently the lucrative nature of the world of sports was shown when a simple year of great performances equaled a big time pay day for this athlete, but now all is lost simply because of an injury. Yes, his injury may have a profound effect on others but let’s not loose focus on the athlete. He’s entertained us, and given us many a chance to lose ourselves in the world of competition. I just wanted to take this short time to write a miniscule blog recognizing the loss of a stud.

We’ll miss you Big Brown!

Oh yeah, and Tony Romo hurt his pinkie. He’ll miss the next four weeks, and I don’t care. He’s a regular season big-timer that can’t win in the play-offs, and if he weren’t in the “Big D” no one would be giving him the time of day. He’s a mistake prone, moron dating, jack ass appeasing, overrated goof. I’m so excited his hurt pinkie is going to get more press today than his team losing in overtime to a superior Cardinals team, the Falcons winning with 1 second left, the Rams winning with 3 ticks left, the Vikings winning with 9 seconds to go, or Matt Schaub running in the winning touchdown with 3 seconds on the board. Hopefully the nation will survive this devastating tragedy.

Breaking records posted by Jan Hoadley

Most around horse racing have some idea who Citation and Cigar are. The 'ladies' of the sport are often overlooked somewhat. Cigar was incredibly close to breaking the all time consecutive races but stood with Citation at 16. The easy running, powerful Cigar left many good horses in his wake, unable to touch him. Cigar's determination carried him to victory on his own and swept to the front easily. Cigar hald the record for money earning and consecutive wins for many years. On September 27, Curlin passed Cigar's money record. Cigar showed time and time again the heart of a fighter. Cigar was one of four horses - Citation, Ferdinand and Hallowed Dreams, that shared the record of 16 consecutive wins.

Fewer people know Pepper's Pride. A New Mexico bred filly by Desert God, she came up to races twice this year and had no race due to weather. With 16 wins and 161 days layoff, the Joel Marr trainee got a race in a six furlong alloweance. Close to the pace she took the lead leaving the far turn and shook off all comers for a 1-3/4 length nail in the record books. The time was 1:10.1 over a fast track. The five year old has won 12 stakes of the 17, is unbeaten with wins from 5-1/2 furlongs to a mile.

While she might be discredited for not having run at the level of competition of Citation or Cigar or Personal Ensign - and it's true she's not taking on all challenges - she is raced obviously where she does her best. To the team behind her - and the heart of a five year old mare who just likes to run - that is an accomplishment.

Horse Racing - It's not just betting posted by Jan Hoadley

There's no secret betting is a part of visiting the track. For many the excitement isn't in cashing a ticket - it's in watching a blanket finish or the jaw-dropping performance of a young horse so precocious in speed that the world is at their feet. And, while many people see racing on Kentucky Derby day, and many on Breeders Cup day there is more than that too.

For the horse racing fan there's also the All-American futurity, the Hambletonian and Little Brown Jug. There's speed in sprinters and chariot racing and trotters and pacers. Each has legends and each has horses fondly remembered by fans. There's the likes of Rambling Willie. I got to see him go once at the Quad City Downs many moons ago and the fire in his eyes coming down the lane was every bit as determined as Smarty Jones or Curlin.

There are many outstanding horses that have made their respective divisions exciting and this is a chance to look at some of the stars, past and present. For some it might be the first real look at horses seen in a pedigree or on a page. The stories in the racing world are awesome. Those who look from the outside and criticize never hear the stories behind Tiznow. They'll miss the works of Curlin and the accomplishments of SomeBeachSomewhere.

Here's to the horses.

Monday Mourning posted by Bob Lalor

So I normally title my Monday blog: Monday Mourning due to being hungover from a full day of drinking and watching sports, hence the “mourning” because I have to get up, go to work, puke in the bathroom, and subsequently fall asleep in all of my meetings and get absolutely no work done. But today is different, mainly due to the fact that CBS’s and Fox’s regional coverage of NFL games in my area was HORRIBLE. Games that had a spread of +11 with no fantasy implications at all were being aired, so I went and watched polo (you know, the sport where guys on horses trot around and whack a ball with mallets). I had never been to a polo game before but we decided to go due to the possibility of attractive females (there are always beautiful women at horse events). We mingled with a few and made up some elaborate lies that we were just checking out the competition and had our horses stabled a few miles away. We were obviously out of place, with our cheers of “nice pass man!” and “shoooooot it!” but we wholeheartedly plan on attending it every Sunday for the rest of the season – pending what NFL games are on of course.

Sorry about getting off on that tangent of girls and horses, I will actually talk about sports in this column. We’ll start with college football. 4 words: Sam Bradford is good! Did you see his stats by halftime? The Sooners look phenomenal. I’m not as hot on ‘Bama as I was last week, even though Coffee had more yards than the entire Kentucky offense. The news of the week is Ball State cracking the Top 25. Ball State? Really? They won’t be there by the time my column next week comes out. A quick note on a kid that made a huge impression on me: Evan Royster from Penn St. Ladies and Gents, we have a future NFL star on our hands. Everyone needs to watch a Penn State game just to watch this kid run and catch. The match-up to look forward to and help get you through this week: Sooners/Longhorns.

How to use social media websites (MySpace, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon) to promote your blog posts posted by Earn Money Blogging

You may have noticed the small icons at the bottom of your blog posts linking to MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon and other social media websites.  These icons allow you to quickly link your blog post to these sites.  You should be using these links a lot.  Submitting to social media sites is free and easy and can really increase the traffic to your blog.  Consistently using them is the easiest way to build a following and increase your traffic.
Using the Facebook and MySpace links:
Assuming you have an account on MySpace or Facebook (it's free to join so if you don't sign up now) click on the icon below your blog post for the site you want to submit to.  It will take you to a submission page where you simply put in a brief description about your blog post.  Then, a link to your blog post will appear on your Facebook or MySpace profile. It's that easy.  If you have a large following on either of these sites it's an easy way to get people to your sports blog.  So make sure you submit links to your best sports blog posts.
Digg, StumbleUpon, BallHype:
These social media sites are a little different than MySpace and Facebook.  You create an account on these sites (it's free to join), you submit interesting content (i.e. your sports blog posts) and you vote on content submitted by other people.  As you click around the sites looking at interesting content you'll also be trying to build a friends list, which is important because people will find your submissions based in part by how many friends you have.  This is a simplistic overview of the sites, but it should be enough to get your started.  There is quite a bit of complexity to each of these sites and they all work a little bit differently.  The only real way to learn them is to use them so sign up with them today and start using them.
Continue reading "How to use social media websites ..."

Headlines Widget updated to include your blog posts posted by Earn Money Blogging

We've added some additional functionality to our " Headline Widget" so that our bloggers can now promote their blog posts through the widget.  Simply go the "Headline Widget" page, type in your username in the appropriate blank, and copy the HTML to any webpages (i.e. your MySpace profile page or your personal blog) where you want your blog posts to appear.
 
The " Headline Widget" can be customized to display in any color and it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. 
 
Important: The widget is geared towards displaying headlines and blog posts for a particular sport or team, so if you want the widget to display all of your blog posts no matter what the subject of the blog post is, be sure to choose "All Sports Headlines" for the first customization option.
 
This widget is a great way to promote your blog.  Get as many people as you can to put the widget on their webpages.  For example, tell your friends with MySpace and blogs to paste your widget into their pages.  Or contact other sports bloggers and see if they would put the widget on their blog page.  The widget is simply HTMl code, so any page where you're allowed to post HTML is a good place to post the widget.  We've had local television stations use this widget on their website to get up-to-date information about the local professional sports teams so there's no telling who might find your blog posts interesting and be willing to post your widget on their website.  Email the webmasters of any websites you visit regularly and see if they would be willing to post your widget on their website.
Continue reading "Headlines Widget updated to include ..."

Inbound link contest winner announced! posted by Earn Money Blogging

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

The whole purpose of this contest was to get our bloggers networking with other webmasters and to start to build up their inbound links which will help their traffic.  Even a few links can help you with the search engines as they will see you as more of an authority on your topic the more inbound links you have.

To learn more about marketing your blog check out this post: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html#my_faq_2971

Marija's blog can be found here.  If you're a Knicks fan, check it out: http://www.newyorkknicksnews.com/marijak

The original post announcing the contest can be found here: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/bloggers/weblog/2984.html

And if you're not already signed up with Google AdSense and making money from your blog, check out our Revenue Share FAQ page: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html

Inbound link contest - Win $100! posted by Earn Money Blogging

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

We're going to impose some restrictions on the types of links you can get so please see below for the full list of links that do NOT count.

To get started simply go to Google and find other websites and blog that are about the sports and teams that you write about. Email the website owner and ask them for a link by explaining that you think your blog would be a good resource for their readers. Or offer to write a guest post for them with your by-line and URL at the bottom of the article. Or offer to exchange links with them by writing a quick write up of their site and a reciprocal link back to them. Some webmasters will be happy to add you to their blog roll even if you don't give them a link back (which is ideal) but some may want you to link back to them - you can easily do this with a quick blog entry on your blog about their website.

To learn more about inbound links and marketing your blog in general check out this post:

What tips can you give me on blogging? posted by Earn Money Blogging

Make each blog post as interesting as possible. This may sound like common sense, but always keep it in mind. The more interesting your blog is the more people will read it. Quality is much more important than quantity. No one will read through a hundred blog posts (or even 10) to find one interesting one. But if each post is interesting people will be coming back week after week to read what you have to say.

You're more than welcome to blog on any sports subject you choose, however blogging on a subject that we have website for will give you much more exposure.  We have a site for nearly every sport / team: every MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL team, as well as a golf, tennis, NASCAR, NHRA Drag Racing, MLS Soccer, horse racing, boxing, mixed martial arts, WNBA, college football, college basketball, and high school football.  So if you blog on a subject covered by one of our sites your blog entry will get maximum exposure because we'll be linking from the appropriate site's home page directly to your blog.

Spring Style wins at Hollywood Park (AP)

Spring Style, a 17-1 long shot, rallied from eighth place entering the stretch to win the $40,000 feature race at Hollywood Park by three-quarters of a length over Excitement on Thursday. Spring Style, ridden by Joel Rosario and carrying 122 pounds, covered 1 1-16 miles on turf in 1:42.01 and paid $36, $11.60 and $5.20. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Breeders Crown elims this weekend (AP)

Deweycheatumnhowe and Somebeachsomewhere, the two biggest stars in harness racing, each got a free pass into their respective Breeders Crown final. Most other contenders will have to qualify this weekend. At stake: berths in the $4.9 million divisional championships at the Meadowlands Racetrack on Nov. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Etched wins Big A feature (AP)

Etched rallied to beat Papa Bear by a half length Thursday in the $48,000 allowance feature at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old chestnut colt earned his third win in four starts, running the one mile in 1:37.35 on the fast track. Alan Garcia was aboard for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin as Etched returned $2.90, $2.60 and $2.10 as the 2-5 favorite. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

27 horses killed in blaze at western Ky. stable (AP)

Fire swept through a barn at a former race track Thursday, killing 27 horses. It was the second deadly blaze this year at Riverside Downs in western Kentucky, near the Indiana border. Among the horses killed was Kept Lady, which won a race Sunday at Churchill Downs. Investigators did not know what caused the blaze, which started between 5 and 5:30 a.m. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Buddy's Humor wins Big A's Four Bases Stakes (AP)

Buddy's Humor rolled to a front-running win, beating Pick Six by a half length in the $68,450 Four Bases Stakes at Aqueduct on Wednesday. Jose Lezcano was aboard for trainer Bruce Levine as Buddy's Humor earned his fourth win in 12 starts. The 4-year-old ran the 1 1-16 miles on the good turf course in 1:44.43. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports