2011 Australian Open has been full of excitement and surprising results which have captured the attention of the tennis world in the first week.

The story of the week is all about Alexandr Dolgopoov, the 22 year old Ukranian who is ranked 46th and pulled off two major upsets, on the men’s side. Dolgopolov took out 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo Wilfried Tsonga in five sets, in the third round. Dolgopolov had an even more impressive five set victory over fourth seed Robin Soderling, who was a major contender for the Aussie Grand Slam, in the next round. Dolgopoov is one of the favorite to win this tournament in online sportsbook odds.

When 8th seeded Andy Roddick lost his fourth round match in straight sets to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka that was another upset on the men’s draw. To fellow compatriot and good friend Roger Federer, Stan fell in the quarterfinals.

In order to defend the Australian Open title, Federer has shown vulnerabilities on his quest. In opposition to Gilles Simon, he struggled in five sets in his second round match. Fed dropped the second set against Tommy Robredo, in the fourth round. Against Novak Djokovic, who lost only one set so far, the Swiss maestro will have to play his best game in the semifinal.

History was made as Francesva Schiavone defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in a fourth round match that lasted four hours and forty four minutes, in the women’s competition as well as the epic duel on Rod Laver Arena became the longest women’s Grand Slam match.

Even though it wasn’t enough to beat first seed Caroline Wozniacki, Schiavone put up a tough fight in the quarterfinal. As Wozniacki and Clijsters might meet on championship day in Melbourne, there is a good chance of a 2009 US Open repeat final.

With all guns blazing in a 4hr 48min epic five-setter, the never-say-die Australian, Lleyton Hewitt went down typically against fierce rival David Nalbandian in a disappointing first-round exit from his record 15th straight Australian Open.

On day two of the Australian Open, David Nalbandian and the conquered Lleyton Hewitt drew upon in their match in Melbourne that straddled midnight echoed fistfights of 200 years ago. From the combatants, the game demanded every drop of sweat and they kept giving for sets that lasted 40 minutes, 47, 40, 68 and an unbelievable 93, lasting for 4 hours and 48 minutes.

To the Open, it was Hewitt’s fifth winless visit and he has been on the end of some difficult draws. In the fourth round, bowing out to Roger Federer twice and Fernando Gonzalez in the early rounds. Hewitt failed to protect his ranking points for a fourth-round loss to Federer here last year. He is expected to slip from a pre-tournament 54 to around 70.

Last year Hewitt made the 4th round of the Australian Open. When rankings are updated in late January, Hewitt is set to descend. For his first round loss at Melbourne this season, he has only earned 10 ranking points. To get back into the seedings for Grand Slams, he will need some very strong results soon. Failing that, like Nalbandian, he runs the risk of drawing tough first round opponents, in big tournaments and that will hurt his chances of going deep into draws.

Before stumbling to a 3-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 9-7 loss, unseeded Hewitt had the first-round match at his mercy midway through the fourth set. In the 12th game of the fifth set, he held two match points after launching an extraordinary recovery from 3-5 in the decider.

The Atlanta Falcons have qualified for the playoffs and will have home field advantage in the playoffs because of their excellent season. The Falcons have managed to turn things around after not making the playoffs last season. This seems to be a pattern in the history of the Falcons.

The Falcons are one of the top favorites to win Super Bowl XLV in Super Bowl Betting Odds.

The Falcons have now qualified for the playoffs 10 times in their history. The interesting thing about this is that they have never managed to make the playoffs in back to back seasons in their history.

The Falcons have never managed to win a Super Bowl, and have only reached the Super Bowl one time to this point. The Falcons reached the Super Bowl in 1998. At this time the Falcons were the talk of the league and were commonly known as the “Dirty Birds.” The Dirty Birds were led by running back Jamal Anderson, who was having a stellar season for the Falcons.

The Falcons cruised through the playoffs until the NFC Championship game. The NFC Championship game took the Falcons to the limit as they snuck out a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in overtime by a score of 30-27. The Falcons looked like they had the momentum that they needed to take the Super Bowl, but were unable to beat the defending Super Bowl Champion Broncos. The Falcons lost 34-19 against the Broncos.

The Falcons have a solid quarterback and a solid running back just like they did in the times of the “Dirty Bird” Falcons and may be able to repeat the success that they had in 1998.

On Sunday, in a matchup that will have huge playoff implications, the Green Bay Packers will battle against the Chicago Bears. The Packers will be on playoff fringe as they are 9-6. If they hope to keep their playoff hopes alive they really need a victory in this game. At present the Bears are11-4.

The total for the game is set at 43.5 whereas in NFL Odds the Packers will be the 6.5 point favorite.

Looking like a stellar team entering the playoffs, the Bears have won 7 of their last 8 games. Before making their playoff run, yet they will have one big test to complete. Historically, the Packers are one of the most difficult teams to beat on their home field and this is mostly true in the winter time. The Packers may have the best chance of any team in the NFC to win the Super Bowl as they looked outstanding last week and in spite of their record.

With having an excellent offence the Packers defense allows fewer than 16 points per game. Aaron Rodgers has really turned things around and looks like he is at the top of his game which is good news for the Packers. In their pass defense the Bears will have to be ready for that. In the defense of the Bears the pass defense is the biggest weakness.

For both teams this game will be one of the biggest games of the season and in this game, Look for a great battle between the teams.

This weekend the Chicago Bears will battle against the New York Jets. In their last game the Bears demolished the Vikings. Even though the Bears pulled away and took the victory in impressive fashion the game was close early in the 2nd half. In order to walk away with a very important victory the Jets managed to hold off the Steelers in the end. Coming off of big victories on the season both these teams are 10-4.

The total for the game is currently sitting at 36 whereas in NFL lines betting odds the Bears will be the 1 point favorites in this game.

The quarterbacks for each team will need to step up and make plays as these teams both have strong defenses. Neither quarterback has been as consistent as their teams would like them to be while both of these quarterbacks have shown flashes of the capability to make big plays which is the only problem. Under pressure both of these teams are known for making dumb turnovers.

Out of their last 7 games the Bears have now won 6. Even though the Jets are actually a strong road team, they will have the home field advantage. On the road, they have only lost one of their last 7 games. In this matchup, historically the Bears have had the advantage. Between these two teams the Bears have won 5 of the last 7 games.

The Bears try to force Sanchez to throw the ball as they will certainly focus in on the run. Even though it seems that teams have started to figure him out as the season has progressed, Sanchez was solid at the beginning of the season.

This weekend the Pittsburgh Steelers will battle against the New York Jets. While the Steelers have won 4 in a row and look like the top challengers to the Patriots in the AFC, the Jets are coming off of back to back losses.

The over/under total for the game is presently sitting at 36, the Steelers are 6-point favorites in NFL Odds.

After their tough loss to the Patriots the Jets look like they might be sliding. They could not get anything going against the Dolphins as they were absolutely smashed. Even though the Steelers may have the best defense in the NFL, the Dolphins are a solid defensive team.

Between one of the best run defenses in the league against one of the best run offenses in the game, this game will be an epic battle. To get their offense going the Jets rely heavily on the run. On the ground the Steelers allow just 60 yards per game unfortunately. They will force Sanchez to step up in this game if the Steelers keep the Jets under 100 yards.

He has not been nearly as good as of late while Sanchez started the season strong. In his first 5 games he threw 0 interceptions. He has not had a single game in which he did not throw an interception since week 6. The Jets will have a very difficult time winning if he doesn’t protect the ball in this game. In order to the performance of Sanchez, this game will likely come down.

On Tuesday, in the Jimmy V Men’s Basketball Classic at Madison Square Garden, the No. 7 Syracuse Orange will take on the No. 6 Michigan State Spartans and ESPN will broadcast this match at 9 pm ET.

In college basketball betting NCAA Odds have not yet been posted.

Even as the Orange is a perfect 8-0 SU, but just 1-6 ATS, the Spartans are 6-2 SU and 4-4 ATS so far this season.

With a foot injury Michigan State guard Russell Byrd is out for an indefinite period whereas Syracuse has no injuries to report.

By going a perfect 3-0 straight up and 3-0 against the point spread in their past three meetings, the Orange have conquered the Spartans, head-to-head.

When the Orange defeats the Spartans 96-83, the teams haven’t met since Jan. 3, 2004. The score went over the total of 134 as Syracuse covered the spread as a 4-point home favorite.

The Spartans blew out the Bowling Green Falcons 74-39 when Michigan State last played on Saturday. The score stayed under the over/under total of 133 as MSU covered as a 26.5-point favorite.

Even though Syracuse could not cash as a 12-point home favorite, on Saturday they beat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 65-59 and the score was under the total of 140.5.

George Cumming, former head of world refereeing believes the Scottish Football Association is to blame for the extent of its match official’s crisis.

Referee Dougie McDonald resigned and his boss, Hugh Dallas, has been sacked, while category one officials went on strike on Saturday.

Following an investigation by chief executive Stewart Regan, SFA head of referee development Dallas left on Friday, after the former World Cup official was accused of sending an e-mail deemed to be offensive about the Pope.

That came a day before category one referees went on strike. Foreign officials at Scottish Premier League games and the postponement of all other senior fixtures, after complains about criticism of recent performances and decisions.

McDonald retired from refereeing due to mounting pressure on the question why on 17 October; he overturned his own decision to award Celtic a penalty against Dundee United.

FIFA refs’ boss Cumming said, “Dougie McDonald is one situation. But, before Dougie McDonald, you also have the Willie Collum thing a few weeks earlier. That was the time when you wanted someone to come out and say this has gone too far. Celtic had to be addressed face on, but what’s happened is that people go round in circles not mentioning Celtic, but Celtic were the prime movers in what has happened in the last few months.”

Seeking clarification of a penalty awarded by Collum to Rangers, Celtic had written to the SFA. Cumming believes it was then that the governing body had to act.

Cumming added, “This crisis could have been avoided with some earlier support from the SFA”. He also admitted that McDonald’s departure was inevitable.

Frank McGarvey, former Celtic striker urged Celtic supporters to end claims bias against their club and reduce the pressure on officials.

He said, “It’s time for Celtic fans to move on for the sake of Scottish football. People at Celtic should be talking about how they will win the league, not about conspiracies. There are no conspiracies. I’ve been there. I played for Celtic at Ibrox when we were 2-0 down at half time and got two penalties in the second half, when one of our players hadn’t been touched.

He added, “I always thought that decisions evened themselves out over the course of the season and, if anything, the big teams got the calls against the smaller teams.”

In the heat of the media spotlight immediately after games, the managers should be banned from criticizing referees, believes McGarvey. He also believes that it would be better if referees should be willing to publicly explain controversial decisions.

Between the online sports betting company Sportingbet and their Swedish rival, Unibet, merger talks are currently underway.

The companies have held only a preliminary discussion into the matter and that the talks would continue for the next several weeks before any announcements are made, according to the Sunday Times.

During the most recent financial year, Sportingbet recently announced a 27% revenue increase. Due to several favorite teams losing in the competition, the company reported a profit of nearly £208 million, during this year’s World Cup series. Live betting during events accounted for more than 60% of company’s core betting business, which the company also reported.

In part to a settlement with the US Department of Justice in regards to an investigation of alleged illegal online gambling, Sportingbet recently reported a profit loss from just over £22 million down to approximately £7 million. If a company merger or takeover occurs that Sportingbet will avoid prosecution in the US, financial and legal analysts have said that.

Between the years 1998 and 2006, the US Justice Department was investigating claims of Sportingbet taking part in illegal internet gambling schemes.

A £600 million empire will be created, if a merger does occur between Sportingbet and Unibet.

At UFC 122, in Germany, Amir Sadollah and Peter Sobotta will soon face off on Saturday. Even though they will square off in what should be a solid matchup, these fighters have different backgrounds.

In MMA Betting Odds, Sadollah is a -350 moneyline favorite.

Amir Sadollah quickly found himself on top of the world, while many fighters work their way up through the professional fighting ranks and will be fighting in only the 6th fight of his career. Despite having no professional fighting experience previous to the show,
He managed to beat all of his opponents in “The Ultimate Fighter.” Amir Sadollah has managed 3-2 record overall even though, since coming into the UFC he has had some ups and downs.

Winning two consecutive matches, Sadollah had found some momentum previous to his last fight. Unfortunately, he lost by a unanimous decision to the Korean fighter and unable to stop Dong Hyun Kim in his last matchup.

At Sadollah (11), while Sobotta has fought almost twice as many professional fights, to this point he has only fought two UFC fights. The different types of experience that each fighter has gained and how it will turn out when they square off in the ring will be interesting to see.

This trip to Germany will be of a special significance for Sobotta. In Germany, the last time that the UFC was there, UFC 99, he fought his first UFC fight. In that event in front of the same crowd, he will have the opportunity to make up for the loss.