The Arizona Cardinals haven’t looked anything like a Superbowl team in the NFL preseason. They entered their final exhibition contest against the Denver Broncos looking for their first win. The Broncos controlled the contest on both sides of the ball en route to a 19-0 shutout victory over the struggling Cards. Denver managed to improve their preseason record to 1-3, while Arizona ended the exhibition campaign winless at 0-4.

Matthew Stafford has yet to play a regular season NFL game and hes already the Detroit Lions starting quarterback. First year coach Jim Schwartz named Stafford as his starter for the teams opening game of the NFL regular season against the New Orleans Saints. Stafford beat out veteran Daunte Culpepper for the spot, though Schwartz went out of his way to stress that the rookie won the job as opposed to Culpepper losing it.

Sports betting futures plays are often dismissed by more serious handicappers as poor values by definition. They’re most frequently associated with rank amateurs looking for a big payoff with little risk. For example, a player might be entranced with a +10000 payoff should St. George, Utah be awarded the 2020 Summer Olympic games. While that would definitely be a nice payday, the problem is that the “true odds” of St. George, Utah hosting the Olympics is well in excess of a million to one. That means that even the huge ‘plus number’ offered represents an underlay situation and a poor wagering value.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi completed a 7 yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt as time expired, allowing the Hawkeyes to take a 15-13 road win over Michigan State University and preserve their undefeated season. Trailing 6-3 at halftime, Iowa mounted a furious drive after Michigan State had scored to take a 13-9 lead with 1:37 remaining in the game. Iowa moved to 8-0 for the first time in school history for the win, and has won twelve straight games overall.

The Detroit Lions nineteen game losing streak is over. On Sunday afternoon at Ford Field in Detroit the Lions held on for a 19-14 win over the Washington Redskins. The Lions hadn’t won a game since December 23, 2007 and had already tied the second longest losing streak in NFL history. Their run of futility included a 0-16 mark in 2008, the first winless season since the NFL expanded its schedule to sixteen games.

In a NFL preseason game characterized by rainy weather, sloppy field conditions and a quick exit for both teams starters, the Miami Dolphins outlasted their in-state rivals the Jacksonville Jaguars by a 12-9 score. Only one touchdown was scored in the game, which was a battle of field goal kickers until the third quarter.

Fighters seldom grow old gracefully, at least in the competitive sense. The exceptions–Archie Moore, George Foreman, James Toney–are few and far between. More often than not a professional prizefighter goes from being a legitimate contender to the brink of retirement in a matter of minutes. It can happen that suddenly, and most recently Mexican superstar Oscar De La Hoya was the latest victim. He looked utterly lost as a relentless Manny Pacquiao used his speed and workrate to completely frustrate De La Hoya en route to a 8th round TKO victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

An early goal gave the United States soccer team hope, but in the end the result of their World Cup Qualifier against Mexico at Azteca Stadium was a familiar loss. Mexico rallied for a 2-1 triumph in front of their home fans, sending the US to defeat for the 23rd time in 24 games at the venue. The US soccer record at the 105,000 seat venue is 0-23-1 with the best result the US has been able to muster on Mexican soil was a 0-0 draw in 1997.

Gina Carano put women’s MMA on the map, but Cris Cyborg Santos may have become the sports first dominant female champion by virtue of her overwhelming TKO victory in the main event of Saturdays STRIKEFORCE event. Cyborg simply was too physically strong and her punches too powerful for Carano, who fought valiantly before succumbing to a barrage of ground and pound punches with one second remaining in the first round.

After a controversial no contest in their first matchup, there was no doubt as to the winner of the DREAM 2 rematch between Shina Aoki and JZ Calvan. Aoki controlled the fight from the opening bell and used a wide repertoire of submission attempts to keep his opponent off balance and on the defensive. Perhaps the most impressive element of the one sided victory was Aokis dominance of the ground game, which many observers considered to be JZs edge in the contest.