My bowl picks will be posted later this week both the Pac-12 and non-Pac-12 versions but otherwise the Hotline will be shutting down for a long weekend.

Ive got a personal matter to attend to, and it will take major, major news to prompt any kind of response before early next week.

But I wanted to hit a few topics here:

As AP ballot-outrage goes, the reaction to my slotting of Ohio State in this weeks basketball poll was pretty minor, but Ill shed a little light here due to multiple requests for an explanation.

(I didnt address the situation in the original post because, frankly, OSUs ranking struck me as pretty innocuous.)

Basically, I have tOSU in the 9-hole behind two teams the Buckeyes have already beaten, Duke and Florida because of Jared Sullingers injury.

He didnt play because of back spasms and the Buckeyes lost at Kansas, my then-No.

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“Messi has scored on each of his last five visits to the Bernabeu”

Tobias Gourlay previews the latest battle in Real Madrid and Barcelona’s fight for global domination, or at least supremacy in Spain

Real Madrid v Barcelona Saturday 21:00 (Live on Sky Sports 4)

A team with a perfect home record plays a team who are W2-D3-L1 on the road. The hosts are [2.48] to win, so you place a large bet on them. Is it that simple this weekend?

Not really. The loss in Barcelona’s away record is actually their only one in 27 matches. Even so, they are three points behind Real Madrid, having played a game more this season, and defeat at the Bernabeu would probably be a fatal blow to their title chances.

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There are some quite interesting rumors circulating in different forums at the moment. One of them is that Viktor Blom, whose sponsor deal with PokerStars is about to expire and also hasn’t been seen playing on the site for quite some time, has been active lately under a fake nick. “Wilhasha”, who has taking on everyone at the $50/$100 NLH tables, is rumored to have used account “drpill” on Full Tilt Poker and was known to have shared accounts with no one else than Viktor Blom.

 

   

When the Los Angeles Angels acquired slugging first baseman Albert Pujols and LHP C.J. Wilson to their team on Thursday, they not only shifted the balance of power in the American League West Division, but they drastically solidified their 2012 World Series predictions forecast. It was announced that Albert Pujols signed a 10-year, $254 Million contract with the Angels on Thursday morning, sending a ripple through the baseball world. The Angels were extremely close to knocking off the Texas Rangers last season, as they were even within striking distance with a week to go in the season, but they faltered down the stretch in head to head games against the Rangers.

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It is no shame that the best team in the world boasts the best facilities. Barcelona has the most renowned youth academy and it shows. The majority of Barcelonas first team graduated from the La Masia youth ranks. Barca superstars Messi, Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, Gerard Piqué, Victor Valdés, Carles Puyol and even their coach Pep Guardiola graduated from La Masia de Can Planes. Other currently playing La Masia grads include Pepe Reina, Fernando Navarro, Thiago Motta, Bojan Krkić, Cesc Fàbregas, and Giovani dos Santos. Barcelona plays their tiki-taka style to perfection through years of playing together and through the La Masia education. The Get more info…