I will never forget when they opened the first Play Land Arcade in my hometown. Looking back, it was little more than an abandoned laundry mat that someone had gutted so they could make room for a dozen or so games and line them up against the back wall. We did not care that the drop ceiling was covered in water stains and that only half of the fluorescent lights worked.

I still remember that the owner of the games arcade had a scary resemblance to trolls I have seen in story books. He used to sit swilling beer in his little closet of an office while watching television on his little black and white model. We were fine as long as our coins were not getting stuck in the machines and there wasn’t any problems getting coins from the bill changer. It was our goal to disturb the beast in his lair only if there was absolutely no other option as he scared us senseless.

if it was necessary to ask for help our biggest problem presented itself when he opened the little door on the front of the machines where the coins are held. His belt could only support that much when he bent over and the result was the exposing of a certain part of anatomy no one wanted to see. It is just so difficult getting some of these images out of your head. They linger forever.

Despite those horrific images games like Galaga, Centipede and Donkey Kong are forever etched in my memories. I am not saying that they were the best video games ever, but they do represent a much simpler time in my life. If you ask most gamers they would probably say that modern arcades have improved the experience for everyone, but I would have to respectfully disagree with this.

In my opinion the new games over stimulate you visually and you don’t appreciate the value of a classic 2D game where a little basic hand eye coordination and imagination was needed. I don’t think anyone really needs the tickets, tokens or any of the junk crammed into those glass showcases. Just give me a monochrome monolith like those in the old arcades and an hand full of quarters. Bliss in my opinion.

If you are looking for some casual games like parking mania and mahjong solitaire then you can enjoy them at skillpod.com.

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Jean Makoun scored early in the second half to give Lyon a hard fought 1-0 victory in the first leg of their round of 16 Champions League matchup against Real Madrid. The Spanish champions lost for the third straight time on Lyon’s Stade Gerland home field and will now have an uphill battle when the teams meet at Bernabeu to advance to the next round. With the Champions League final slated to be held in their stadium, an exit this early in the competition would be nothing short of an embarrassment for Real Madrid. They’ll need a multigoal victory to assure themselves of advancing to the next round.

Lyon controlled the play in the first half and held a decisive possession advantage. Unfortunately, they didn’t get many accurate scoring chances with a number of them going wide or high of the net. Despite Lyon’s time of possession advantage in the first half, Madrid actually got the best scoring chances in the first half. Following Makoun’s goal just 2 minutes from the start of the second half, Madrid controlled play but could not score the equalizer. For the game, Madrid held a 66% to 34% time of possession advantage. The shots on goal were even, but Madrid had the better chances despite not scoring on them.

Real Madrid has won the Champions League title 10 times, but now must rally from this 1-0 deficit when play resumes on their home field in May. Despite their tradition of success, Madrid hasn’t made it past the round of 16 for six straight years. Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t particularly worried heading into the home half of the matchup:

“In football anything is possible. We’ve lost here but we have a game at home in which we can repeat what they did here. I’m calm. In this competition you have to suffer. I’m sure that we will give a good answer in the return game and that we will win. The Bernabeu will help us. We will have to give to give it everything from the first minute until the last. The tie is not lost.”

Madrid General Director Jorge Valdano added:

“It’s been a bad night in general, especially the result. We had ups and downs during the match, but at no moment were we ourselves. The result means we have to really concentrate at the Bernabeu. Lyon barely stepped out of their half in the final minutes, but they made things very difficult for us for a long time, especially in midfield.”

Real Madrid will have to do without a couple of starters in the rematch. Marcelo and Xabi Alonso are suspending for the May contest due to bookings in previous contests.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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It is believed that gambling has been in existence since the days of the caveman with one person betting the other if they could be the first one to bring down something for the cooking pot. It is a form of competition; trying to see if one can outdo the other. In a sense it is the same with gambling in casinos using slot machines. Trying to beat the house (actually the machine) and sometimes succeeding is Why People Love Slots.

In the United States when Indians started building casinos on their land an entirely new avenue of gambling came on the scene. They found that this was a very good way to bring needed money to their tribes and they have been very successful. With their own type of government they are able to keep strict rules in place regarding their casinos.

In the United States, many years ago, Reno, Nevada was the top gambling city in the United States. These establishments were banned in most states. Today every state has some type of casino and collects a great deal of money in taxes. The modern casino has many enticements to lure gamblers to their premises, such as theaters, stores, first class hotel rooms, and many more.

Slot machines started out at one or five cents per play. Over time they have become very sophisticated. The penny machine, for example, now is arranged to cost as much as fifty cents per play. The nickel machine can take up to a dollar a play. Then there are dollar machines and five dollar machines, each providing the opportunity to play more than the original bet. Often times people will say they are only playing a nickel machine, for example, when they are really putting in five nickels at a time.

It is easy to become entranced with the possibility of increasing one’s initial investment or ‘hitting it big’ simply by pushing a button. Brilliant, flashing lights stating how many thousands of dollars it is possible to win draw the gamblers’ attention and they are willing to try in the hopes of winning it big. Seeing other people win and thinking ‘it could be me’ is on many people’s minds.

Other games are also available in a casino. Games like poker, blackjack, roulette, and others have regular followers. However, many people are not well-educated on the rules of the game and do not feel comfortable enough to play them whereas, slot machines are simple to play and one can be inconspicuous if they are playing and lose.

Gambling and slot machines are in casinos all over the world. Almost every country has casinos listed on the Internet. The majority of them are available for any class of people. Anyone with money to spend is welcomed to try their luck to win more. But, by far, the easiest gambling is on the slot machines and that is why people like to play slots.

There are so many websites that offer free online slots games at your convenience. You should search the Internet for online slots, because the fun is unstoppable.

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Redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels threw for three touchdowns and the South Florida Bulls used a tenacious defensive effort to upset visiting West Virginia 30-19 on Friday night. Daniels threw for 232 yards and rushed for 104, compiling more yardage individually than West Virginia amassed as a team. Both teams are now 6-2 on the season.

College football betting aficionados who took the Bulls as +3 home underdogs cashed their tickets with the outright victory. Despite their 6-2 record, West Virginia dropped to 2-5 against the spread in their lined games this season while South Florida evened their college football pointspread record at 3-3 in their lined contests. The 49 combined points barely managed to go OVER the posted total of 47′. Both teams have trended toward the OVER this season, with South Florida going OVER in 4 of 6 lined games and West Virginia OVER in 5 of 7.

Daniels had this rebuke for his team’s doubters after the victory:

“I guess a lot of people doubted us and thought we were going to go down the same patch we did the last two years. That was a lot of garbage that our team didn’t listen to.”

The Bulls’ defense limited West Virginia running back Noel Devine to just 42 yards-well under his-0 per game average. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt talked about his team’s priority of stopping Devine:

“We talked a lot about him. We didn’t want to let him get outside — we wanted to keep him hemmed up inside. … He’s such a great back. If he gets out, he’s gone.”

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart didn’t fault his team’s effort in the loss:

“There’s some young hurting guys in there, both physically and mentally. And they should be. That was a hard-fought game. I cannot fault our effort.”

West Virginia safety Robert Sands suggested that no one that the team had faced this season prepared them for the fast and athletic Daniels:

“We haven’t seen a guy like that this year, but at the same time that’s no excuse for our defense. We’ve still got to go out there and make plays. He broke contain too many times, and he burned us.”

South Florida will now have a bye week before playing at Rutgers on Thursday, November 12. They’ll return home to host Louisville and Miami the following two Saturdays. West Virginia will host Louisville next Saturday before playing at Cincinnati the following Friday.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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In a victory for the highlight reels, Brett Favre completed a 32 yard touchdown pass to Greg Lewis with 2 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a dramatic 27-24 come from behind victory over the San Francisco 49ers. It was the 43rd time in his career that The Gunslinger had pulled out a victory when his team is tied or trailing in the fourth quarter. The rapidly improving 49ers dropped their first game of the year in heartbreaking fashion, while the Vikings remained undefeated at 3-0.

While the Vikings may have won the game on the scoreboard, the Niners took the decision where it really matters. San Francisco rewarded NFL betting devotees with their third pointspread cover in three games this season, cashing tickets as +6 road underdogs. It was the Vikings first setback to the spread against two victories this season. The 51 combined points scored went OVER the posted total of 39.

Favre commented on the victory after the game:

“It’s hard to even recall all of ‘em. This one was pretty special.

The game winning touchdown pass into the back corner of the endzone was upheld by video review. Niners cornerback Nate Clemens said this was a hard setback to take:

“I’ve had some hard losses. This is just another one for the list. We just have to keep chopping away.”

Greg Lewis, who caught Favres game winning touchdown pass, said that the entire offense was fired up on the final drive:

“The offensive line was fired up. Adrian was fired up, and the receivers were fired up. And Brett fell right in. He was fired up, too, like: ‘We’re going to get this done And that’s the attitude that we took out there on the field.”

In his postgame comments, Vikings coach Greg Childress commended the cool confidence of his veteran quarterback:

“He’s been in many, many, many, many situations like that so it never hurts you to have a veteran like him going down the field.”

In the Niners locker room, coach Mike Singletary could be overheard giving his team a tough love pep talk:

“You have nothing to be looking at the floor for! You didn’t steal anything! You didn’t do anything wrong! OK? We’re going to get better! We’re going to get there! We will see them again in the playoffs, all right? You hold your head up!”

The 49ers will return home to host the St. Louis Rams next Sunday. That game is currently off the board due to the questionable status of Niners running back Frank Gore who left the game with an ankle injury. Theyll host the Atlanta Falcons the following week before a bye week. Minnesota will host the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football next week. The Vikings are a -3 home favorite in that contest. Theyll play at St. Louis the following weekend before returning home to host the Baltimore Ravens on 10/18.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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Rumors of the New England Patriots demise are clearly premature. Two weeks after being thoroughly outplayed by the New York Jets, the Pats have won two straight and on Sunday ended the Baltimore Ravens undefeated start to the NFL season with a 27-21 victory. They needed a little luck along the way”usually sure handed receiver Mark Clayton dropped a wide open fourth down pass in the final minute to kill a potential game winning drive deep in New England territory. Both teams are now 3-1 on the season.

The Patriots got the NFL pointspread victory as well, covering as -2 home favorites. It was Baltimore’s first ATS setback on the season, while New England evened their pointspread record at 2-2. The 48 points scored barely exceeded the posted total of 45. The Ravens have now gone OVER in three of four games this season, while the Patriots evened their NFL over/under record at 2-2.

After the contest, Clayton didnt make any excuses about his rare miscue:

“Flat out drop. It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game.”

Ravens safety Ed Reed said it should have never gotten to that point, blaming the officials for giving the team bad spots:

“The spots were terrible.

Defensive stalwart Ray Lewis complained about what he felt were inappropriate roughing the passer penalties:

Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game. Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play.”

Pats running back Sammy Morris was glad to have come out on top of the tough battle:

“We thought we had them down, but they started coming back. It was just one of those tough slugfests.”

New England coach Bill Belichick shared those sentiments:

“That was quite a finish,” . Stop them on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter, that’s when you’ve got to be there. Luckily, we were.”

Despite the victory, Pats safety Brandon Meriweather wasnt happy with the performance of the New England defense:

“We gave up too many big plays and couldn’t get off the field on third down. We did a lot of things that good defenses don’t do.”

The Patriots will face another tough challenge from an undefeated team this Sunday as they travel to Denver to face the surprising Broncos. New England is a -3 road favorite with the total set at 41. Theyll return home the following week for a game against the Tennessee Titans before traveling to Tampa Bay to face the Bucs on October 25th. The Ravens will host the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, with Baltimore a -9 home favorite. The total in the game has been set at 42. Baltimore will travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings the following week before a bye week.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on baseball betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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Its been a rough NFL preseason for last years Superbowl runner up. The Arizona Cardinals have only scored one touchdown in two games as they’ve stumbled to a 0-2 record. Things didn’t get any better on Saturday night, as the visiting San Diego Chargers added to their offensive woes en route to a 17-6 victory.

The Chargers cornerbacks performed admirably against Arizona, and Antonio Cromartie–who intercepted Kurt Warner in the endzone to perpetuate the Cardinals scoring futility”said that’s been a focus for the team during the preseason:

“That’s one of our biggest focuses. Do whatever you’ve got to to keep them out of the end zone. We did that.”

Despite the teams lack of offensive productivity Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt wasnt particularly concerned:

“I’m disappointed that we haven’t had more touchdowns, obviously but I will say this, we haven’t game planned in the red zone. A lot of times when we game plan in the red zone we’re one of the best teams in the NFL, because we put our players in a position to best give them a chance to win.’

QB Warner sounded a similar tone:

“It is disappointing because we had some opportunities we didn’t capitalize on like we wanted to but there is going to be a lot of stuff we can learn from tonight. We will get better and be all right in a couple of weeks.”

The Chargers offense hasnt lit up the scoreboard either, and during this game suffered a lot of breakdowns in pass protection. San Diego coach Norv Turner indicated that this was an area of concern:

“The things we take a lot of pride in around here. Tonight our guys saw we have some work to do.”

LaDanian Tomlinson said that he’s benefited from preseason play:

“I think it was just good to get in there and start to get a rhythm.

Arizona will host Green Bay on Friday night, while San Diego will continue their NFL preseason slate in Atlanta as they play the Falcons at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night. The Cardinals will open the NFL regular season on Sunday, September 13 as they host the San Francisco 49ers while the Chargers will start the 2009 campaign on Monday, September 14th as they travel to Oakland for a game against the Raiders.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on NFL football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and online sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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After two straight wins gave the BC Lions hope that they’d turned the corner on the CFL season, they’re officially back at square one. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Fred Reid torched the BC Lions defense all night long, and his career performance helped his team earn a lopsided 37-10 victory at Vancouver on Friday night. Reid ran for 260 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdown passes in the blowout victory that left both teams with identical 3-5 records.

After the contest, Reid gave credit to his offensive line:

“Just about every play I was in the secondary. I have to give props to the O-line. They opened some big holes tonight. Before I knew it, I was in the secondary. You know how the DBs are, they don’t really want to tackle back there.”

“We had some good play calling that caught them off guard and some new schemes that they weren’t prepared for. We just executed. It gives us something to build on going in the bye week.”

Winnipeg QB Michael Bishop praised his running backs effort:

“Fred left it on the field today. To have a guy like that can carry the ball, and do the things he did today, it was amazing. ”

“A lot of people were saying it was a make-or-break game for us. We didn’t want to go into the bye with another loss. “We went in with style and class and have something to build on.”

BC linebacker JoJuan Armour was embarrassed for the part he played in allowing the blowout:

“They lined up and kicked our ass. That’s the bottom line. It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for my performance and I apologize to my team. There was no excuse for it.”

Reid broke the previous Winnipeg franchise record of 249 set by Blaise Bryant in 1994. He finished just 27 yards short of the CFL single-game rushing record of 287 yards set over 40 years ago.

Lions coach Wally Buono is concerned about his teams mindset after the blowout:

“I’m more concerned about the collective psyche of the team after that. It’s hard to take. I was shocked. I was very, very disappointed.”

British Columbia, now has a bye week before they face a home and home series against the CFL leading Montreal Alouettes. The Blue Bombers will also enjoy a week off before a pair of back to back games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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It was just a week ago that the Saskatchewan Roughriders blew a big first half CFL lead to the Edmonton Eskimos en route to a 38-33 loss. On Sunday afternoon, it looked for a moment like history was repeating itself. The Riders led 23-0 at halftime before the Hamilton Tiger-Cats came roaring back in the second half. Hamilton would tie the score at 23-23 early in the fourth quarter before the hosts pulled it out with a late touchdown and field goal to win 33-23.

After the game, Roughriders coach Ken Miller talked about the importance of not losing in the same fashion in back to back weeks:

“We didn’t want to do that again, “In the first half in particular it was sensational. In the third quarter we gave up some points … but overall our defence played pretty good.”

Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille indicated that there was no moral victory in coming close:

“You’ve got to play 60 minutes to win in the CFL, you can’t play 30 minutes.”

Saskatchewan ran for 214 yards, with Wes Cates becoming the first Roughrider to rush for more than 100 yards this season as he finished with 117. After the game, Cates spoke of his accomplishment:

“It was not as much for myself but more for the naysayers. Yeah I needed a big game like that to stop the rumours and stop people from talking bad about me.”

Saskatchewans defensive line also starred, completely shutting down the Hamilton rushing attack limiting the Tiger-Cats runners to a mere 31 yards on the ground.

Both Hamilton QBs struggled against the Saskatchewan defense. Kevin Glenn came in after the first quarter and finished the game 12-for-27 with 183 yards. starting QB Quinton Porter was 1-for-5 for only three yards before he was yanked.

The Tiger-Cats now have a bye week in which to try and regroup before they return to action August 29th on the road against the Edmonton Eskimos. Saskatchewan will head east to take on the CFL best Montreal Alouettes on Friday night.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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Nicaraguan boxing legend Alexis Arguello was found dead of an apparent suicide in his home in early July. At the time of his death, he served as mayor of Nicaragua’s capital city.

Known for his class outside the ring as much for his tenacity inside the ring, hes best known to casual fight fans for his epic war in’82 with Aaron The Hawk Pryor when he moved up in weight after dominating at lighter weight classes. Ring Magazine not only named it Fight of the Year, but later would dub it Fight of the Decade. Promoter Bob Arum offered these thoughts on Pryor/Arguello:

“It was a brutal, brutal fight. That was something I will never, ever forget as long as I live. That was one of the most memorable fights I ever did.”

While the first Pryor fight may have brought him the most mainstream notoriety, boxing cognoscenti are aware that Arguello is arguably the best lightweight and junior lightweight in the history of the sport. Arguello never lost a fight at-0 pounds and would end his career with an astounding 82-8 record with 65 knockouts and championships in three different weight classes. At the time, he was only the sixth man in boxing history to hold title belts at three different weights.

Ironically, Arguellos career didn’t get off to a good start and he lost his debut in’68 via first round TKO. After that, he seldom lost again and would go on to be respected as one of the best pound for pound fighters of his day. He was at his best against his toughest adversaries including Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and Ruben Olivares. Bob Arum remembered him not only as a great fighter, but as a great man:

“Not only was he one of the greatest fighters I’ve ever seen, he was the most intelligent fighter. He was a ring tactician. Every move was thought out. And he was a wonderful, wonderful person.”

The articulate, intelligent Arguello was frequently quoted on the fight game and how champions should conduct themselves. Here, he speaks of his attitude toward his opponents:

“Of course after the fight you want to make sure that you’re okay and so is the other guy, its a brotherhood in there, so you want to make sure everyone is okay after the war is over.”

Arguello didn’t fight for his first title until he’d had 58 fights, and would frequently admonish boxers who didn’t show the same respect for the sport or their status as champion:

“When you won that title you should know now that you are representing a whole country or nation with your actions and you are now in a glass house or under a microscope and you better be ready to make your people proud.”

Arguello loved boxing and fought to protect it from those who would undermine its greatness:

“I respect boxing because it has given me so much and thats why I will never allow anyone to mistreat the sport of boxing if I can help it.”

While the modest, dignified Arguello would never say it himself, that was for from a one sided debt–he also gave immeasurably to the sport of boxing with his grace, intelligence, talent and toughness.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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