Following The Dream

Many boys dream of becoming professional athletes and playing in the NBA, NFL or NHL. Growing up, much of their lives is centered around sports, both as a player and a fan. Although their skill level in their favorite sport may be quite good in their neighborhood or school upon reaching their teens, competing on a national level against other youths with the same dreams of being a professional player may make some boys face the cold, hard truth that they may not be quite talented enough to realize their dream.

There are a number of American players who can’t quite earn a starting role in professional sports in the United States who travel to other countries to play on teams where the skill level is good, but not the same caliber as, say, baseball’s major leagues. A good example would be Tuffy Rhodes, an outfielder who played sparingly in the majors with three different teams from 1990-1995, batting .224 with 13 home runs and 44 RBIs in 225 games played.

Not drawing much interest as mostly a bench player from teams in America, Rhodes took his talents to the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan, where he became a star. Rhodes enjoyed a stellar career in Asia, hitting 474 home runs, which is tied for 10th in career home runs in the Japanese league, and is the most of any non-Japanese player.

The sports betting public that follow the careers of major league players are often aware of players who travel overseas to play in leagues of other countries because those players sometimes return to America to try and parlay their success in another league into a starting role in the U.S. In addition to baseball, bettors who also enjoy canadian hockey teams in the nhl, NBA betting and NFL betting typically will know the country or league where individual players have gone. Rhodes attempted to return to MLB with the Cincinnati Reds in 2006, but by then was 37 years old and was released during spring training.

Another example of a player achieving success in another country is that of quarterback Doug Flutie. He won the Heisman Trophy with Boston College in 1984. Due to his rather diminutive size for a quarterback at 5’10,” many NFL teams passed on drafting Flutie. He played for a few years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots from 1986-89, mostly coming off the bench. However, he achieved stardom in the Canadian Football League, winning a total of three Grey Cups, one with the Calgary Stampeders and two as the quarterback of the Toronto Argonauts.

Flutie still holds the single season passing record of 6,619 yards in 1991 with the BC Lions, as well as the mark for most touchdowns in a season with 48 in 1994 with Calgary. Upon returning to the NFL in 1998, Flutie was named Comeback Player of the Year with the Buffalo Bills.

The Best Sport To Bet On

Sports enthusiasts the world over can often be found logging on to their computers and locating an online sports betting site to place wagers on their favorite teams. There are a multitude of options to choose from both in the numerous websites available and the many different sports to choose from.

Many a discussion among sports fans has centered around which is the best sport to bet on. This is not answered easily in a universal sense because different people will have different reasons for choosing a preference of betting on one particular sport over another. For each individual, it is more a matter of personal taste.

If we were to delve into the topic a bit deeper, we would have to examine the reasons why sports bettors place wagers in the first place. Naturally, the first reason that comes to mind would be to profit financially. Bettors want to win their bets and make money. In that sense, the best sport to bet on would be one that allows for the greatest profitability. If a bettor in, say, the United States, is an avid basketball fan and follows the game closely to the point of knowing statistics on all the players and the ins and outs of the game, such knowledge could pay off quite handsomely at a sports betting site.

Perhaps that same American basketball fan is able to win consistently year after year wagering on basketball at his favorite online sports betting site. One would naturally assume that his answer would be that basketball is the best sport to bet on. Now what if this same bettor was an amateur boxer in his younger days, but was forced to give up the sport due to an injury. He has still retained his love for the “sweet science” and follows the action closely, having more than a passing familiarity with various boxers in each weight class. Our betting enthusiast also places wagers on fights but has not achieved the same win rate as he enjoys betting on basketball. As a matter of fact, when it comes to boxing, he has been a consistent loser.

The reasons for his inability to win his boxing bets may be many, but chief among them could be the fact that the ex-fighter is betting with his heart instead of his head. His attachment to the sport and love for boxing competition may keep him from making the best decisions when he favors particular boxers over others due to perhaps their boxing style or similarities to his own tendencies during his boxing heyday. He may gravitate toward wagering on certain fighters for reasons other than sound boxing skills.

If you were to ask this particular boxing enthusiast which is the best sport to bet on, you may be surprised to hear that his answer is not basketball–the sport that earns him a tidy profit due to his ability to make correct decisions on which team to place wagers according to various point spreads and over/under betting options. Our American boxing wannabe may actually say that the best sport to bet on is boxing because his love for the game is so great that he finds tremendous pleasure in being part of the action and having money on the line despite his propensity toward losing the majority of his boxing wagers.

Although bettors bet in order to make money on their wagers, there may be other factors involved when determining the best sport to bet on. For most, it is a matter of personal taste according to which sport may be their favorite. So the best sport to bet on is entirely up to each individual bettor.