Ohio gas up 3 more cents in past week, AAA says
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio gas prices have jumped 3 cents thanks to oil prices that just keep going up.

Read more on The Morning Journal

Kenya Shilling Depreciates Most in More Than Week on Oil Bets
Kenya’s shilling depreciated the most in more than a week against the dollar as oil importers speculated crude prices will climb further and bought the U.S. currency to make purchases before the increase.

Read more on Bloomberg

Rise in gas prices slows over the past week
Local gasoline prices, which rose at a rapid clip for most of December, cooled off a little bit in the week between the holidays.

Read more on The Sacramento Bee

Oil faces 3rd down week on U.S. demand doubts
Oil faces 3rd down week on U.S. demand doubts

Read more on FOX Business

2-14 last year, 0-16 the year before; there’s only one way for the Detroit Lions to go…right?

One of the NFL’s most maligned teams, the Lions haven’t really had anything to cheer about since, well, the last time they made the playoffs, which was in 1999 (Sportsbook had them as a 7-point dog in that Wild-Card game, which they lost 27-13 to the Washington Redskins).

Will the Lions be Kings of the Jungle again? Let’s say that’s highly unlikely this year and the current NFL Future odds posted at online sportsbooks are evidence of that.

They are longshots to take the NFC North division, currently listed at +1400, longer shots of course to win the NFC championship (+5000) and off the charts when it comes to the Super Bowl (+20,000).

Brian Taylor, sportsbook manager at SPORTSBETTING.com, said of the early betting volume on the NFC North, they actually do have some clients who are taking a chance on Detroit in 2010.

Of all the betting action on the future bet “To win the NFC” 9% of the money is on the Lions at +1400 (a $100 wager pays $1,400 if they win).

It might be a little optimistic and a year or two early, but remember the Dallas Cowboys were in rough shape before Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin came together to lead them. And it took Tom Brady supplanting Drew Bledsoe for the Patriots to really emerge as a consistent championship caliber team.

But do the Lions have a QB that can step forward and turn this franchise around? I think they do.

Matt Stafford had a very good rookie season…as good as Mark Sanchez, despite the numbers and Sanchez’s playoff performance.

In 10 starts in his rookie campaign, Stafford threw for 2,267 yards and 13 TDs but also was intercepted 20 times as well – not the prettiest of stats but then again, look at the team in front of him.

The Lions had the worst defense in the league, in terms of yards allowed, as opposing teams amassed 6,274 yards against Detroit’s defense.

To that end, the Lions selected DT Ndamukong Suh in the first-round of this year’s draft.

If the Detroit Lions are to really make a push for the postseason though, they are going to have to improve their record against divisional opponents.

The Lions have lost 15-consecutive games to fellow NFC North teams, 0-15 straight up (SU), and have gone 4-10-1 against the spread (ATS) at the same time.

They can start to turn the tide Week 1, when they’ll open the regular season in Chicago against the Bears. SPORTSBETTING.com has the lines up for Week 1 games and the Lions are currently listed as 7-point underdogs.

Looking at the numbers, Detroit is only 3-8 SU in their last 11 overall against the Bears and they aren’t much better against the spread at 4-7 ATS. In their last 20 when listed as underdogs of 8-points or less, they are only 4-16 SU and 5-15 ATS.

That said, I like the Lions plus the points in the opener.

I expect them to take a big step forward in 2010, winning six or seven games, maybe more.

Thursday 8th October

I went to pick my three-year-old up from Nursery for the first time and introduced myself to the women on the gate as ‘Eliza’s dad’. She looked at me as if I was on ‘that list’ and said that she would escort me to where Eliza was playing. ‘Look who it is’, she said when we eventually found her. Eliza looked up and said nothing. She had enormous power over me for the first time in her life. ‘Who is it Eliza?’ It was her moment. Her moment to throw a rope to her drowning father and utter the words…’Daddy’ or even ‘Dadda’. Instead, she opted for the words, ‘I don’t know’! To make the situation even more awkward than it already was, when probed again, she simply said ‘nobody’. I had a Ravi Boparaesque walk of shame back to the car park and was eventually bailed out by my wife.

To add more misery to the day, I bought £10 of Astonishment at 13 in Newbury’s 3.55pm index and after travelling like the winner, he could only finish fourth losing me £30. However, Tenessee ran a cracker on debut thirty minutes later and my £20 buy at 7 on the index was rewarded with a £60 profit.

Friday 9th October

I got home in the early hours of the morning having attended an evening of horseracing at Frankie’s Bar and Grill at Stamford Bridge the night before. It had been a great night and I’d even won a signed Petr Cech glove in the raffle!

However, the night was made a lot more interesting by Frankie Dettori who told everyone assembled that his mount Peligrosa would win the second race at York the next day. He was asked on several occasions whether he was confident and all he kept saying was that it would win!

Well, cutting a long story short, I bought £25 of the beast at 18 on the 50 index before travelling up to a lunch in London and listened to the commentary on my mobile phone from the loo in the restaurant. Frankie sent Peligrosa to the front and the pair were never headed. I was suddenly £800 richer and the staff at Livebait in Waterloo haven’t heard whooping like that from the loos since George Michael last visited!

I love Frankie Dettori… he is so good for racing… and even better for my bank balance!

Saturday 10th October

As the song goes… ‘Did you ever have one of those days?’ Well, I had a cracker of a day which started off with a few really good results on the horses. I bought £10 of Our Jonathan at 18 on the index for Ascot’s opener and netted a £320 profit when Jamie Spencer nipped through to nick it on the line. I followed that with a £10 buy of Royal Rock at 10 in the 2.55pm race and when George Baker swooped to take the honours late on, I was in dream land. If things couldn’t get any better, I also bought Opinion Poll at 21 in the next and added another £290 profit to the day’s work.

I gave £240 back with a silly buy of Wigmore Hall at 24 in the next and when Michael bell’s charge finished stone last, decided to quit while I was way ahead. Anyway, we were just a few hours away from the start of the Grand Final.

Well, if truth be told, I wasn’t going to be able to watch the game live as we had to head out to a children’s tea party, so I decided to place my bets and watch the game (as if live) on Sky Sports Extra at 11pm. I bought £30 of Leeds at 13 on the 25 index giving up 4.5 points and also bought £10 of Danny McGuire’s try minutes at 17.

The replay of the game was delayed a bit as the Horse of the Year show ran on by about 15 minutes, but soon we were underway. St Helens were all over them for the first 20 minutes and I feared a whitewash. However, the Rhinos managed to level things up at 8-8 at the break and I still fancied them to beat the 4.5 handicap.

McGuire played brilliantly, but didn’t cross the try line. Yet, he did set up the try which eventually took Leeds over the magic 4.5 victory margin. It was a thrilling game and I went to bed knowing I had lost £170 on the try minutes bet, but £360 on the handicap.

Sunday 11th October

I completely forgot about the England game the night before – huge result as I fancied them to win and they got beaten! Nothing to report on the punting front… just a quiet day at home with the family.

Monday 12th October

Flaming Flaming Miracle! Why is it when you finally give up on a horse it goes and wins on its very next run! Having backed Andrew Balding’s two-year-old at Ayr and Wolverhampton, I decided to let it run unbacked in Salisbury’s 1.35pm race. Surprise, surprise, it won… I hate that horse.

Flaming Miracle’s win meant that I now had to back another old friend Signor Peltro in the 4.20pm contest. If that won without my cash, I’d have to give the game up. I backed it (£10 buy at 11 on the index) and surprise, surprise… it lost. Mug’s game this!

Tuesday 13th October

Another dreadful day of sport, but got a decent message for John Gosden’s Deidre in Newcastle’s opening race. I bought £20 of the filly at 23 on the index and listened to her bolt up on my mobile phone. Sadly, I gave £180 of the £540 profit back by buying her stablemate on the index in the next – nevermind.

Nothing much else to report except that I sold £150 of goals in-running in the Ireland v Switzerland U21 game at 2.1. The sides went into the break goalless which was great news, but both teams managed to score in the second half which wasn’t quite so great – particularly as Ireland’s goal came about 22 minutes after the game should have ended. Nevermind, a £15 profit on the game… small acorns and all that.

Wednesday 14th October

Another dreadful day of sport with England’s pointless game against Belarus being the highlight. I couldn’t believe that supremacy could be sold at 2.2, so decided to sell £150 to make the game more interesting. I was convinced that England would be ‘not-off’ and would only scramble a one goal win at best…

Thursday 3rd December

I got to my six-year-old daughter’s school just in time to watch her Christmas production of Jack Frost still thinking about Arsenal’s terrible performance at City the previous night. My £150 sell of supremacy at 0.6 had resulted in a £360 loss on a game I hadn’t even watched.

Anyway, Phoebe was brilliant dressed as a penguin and her Michael Jackson dance was equally impressive. She had a pillow round her waist and looked alarmingly like me! However, man of the match definitely had to go to Jack Frost himself who sang two solos at the age of just seven. In fact, he did just about everything… I would have like to have bought his player performance.

Friday 4th December

I tipped a few people a Brian Meehan trained two-year-old in Lingfield’s 1.15pm contest and it was backed from 4/5 to 3/10. Embarrassingly, Fashion Insider finished second and I was sent a few text messages that cannot be printed here.

I didn’t have a penny on it because it was far shorter than I thought it would be, but that doesn’t make tipping up one of the shortest priced flat losers of the year any better. I also chose not to buy £10 of Manyriverstocross at 16 on the index in Sandown’s 2.00pm contest as a similar bet on the same horse at Ascot a few weeks ago had cost me – obviously it hosed in and the £340 would have paid for my Carling Cup debacle a few nights earlier.

Anyway, my only bet of the day came in Lingfield’s 2.25pm race where I bought £20 of Red Somerset on the index at 6. A good source told me that he was really well fancied by his stable from his good draw and would race prominently before taking over in the straight. Well, he missed the break and only swept past one of the other nine runners in the straight. Another £120 down the drain… wow, I’m in red hot form at the moment.

Saturday 5th December

I headed to the Gloucester v Newcastle Guinness Premiership game with my punting confidence at an all-time low. I’d been told by one very good source to get with the home side giving up the points and by another to get with Newcastle. I had a feeling that whatever I opted to do would be wrong!

Well, my first bet of the day was a disaster. I bought the well fancied Nycteos on the index for Sandown’s 12.55pm race and rang up to listen to the commentary in the car. It wasn’t mentioned for the entire race and I only found out later that Ruby Walsh unseated at the second hurdle. Yes, you read that right, HURDLE! I was £160 down and had probably paid about £4 in commentary line bills to listen to my loose horse canter around Sandown without a jockey!

However, my luck changed immediately after I missed Somersby winning the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase. First of all, Twist Magic won the Tingle Creek and my £200 win at 7/2 ante-post paid some of my recent transgressions (in the punting sense rather than the Tiger Woods sense!).

I had also bought Gloucester supremacy for £20 at 7 and they went in at half-time with a 4 point lead so things were beginning to look up. Then came Eric’s Charm! My £20 buy at 14 on the index was rewarded with the maximum £720 return… I was back! The Gloucester Old Spot sausage (that’s not some Tiger Woodseque sexual innuendo!) suddenly tasted that much better.

Back to the game and despite a last minute Newcastle try, Gloucester ran out comfy 12 point winners and I trousered another £100. A long drive home and and even longer dinner party followed, but I didn’t mind, I was back in the Winners Enclosure.

Sunday 6th December

Sadly, my spell in the said Winners Enclosure didn’t last for that long. Mr Invincible (I’ve also been described as Mr Incredible before… not sure whether that’s because I’m extremely strong or because I’ve got a large belly and a nose you can catch fish with!) was suddenly not so invincible! Morgan Be was beaten a mile (quite literally) in the Borders National and In Compliance found one too good in the John Durkan Memorial. Anyway, the pair cost me £210 and even though I nicked £140 by selling goals in the Fulham v Sunderland game, the same bet cost me £170 in the Spurs game. Thank God Defoe missed the penalty late on or it could have been even worse.

Monday 7th December

No real bets to report as most of the day (and night) was spent at the Derby Awards Lunch in London. Sea The Stars and his connections won just about everything… if they’d entered the Photographer of the Year Award they may have won that too! The highlight of the event was without doubt the Lifetime Achievement Award given to Barry Hills. He has been desperately ill and the whole room stood in appreciation for at least 5 minutes. There won’t be a racing punter out there who hasn’t ever won a few quid on one of his runners over the last four decades and he really is a living training legend.

The drunken man who sat next to me on the train home certainly wasn’t a living legend though. By the end of the journey I wished he wasn’t living at all… he needed a good bath and a solid thumping… in whatever order he wanted.

Tuesday 8th December

Phoebe’s 6th Birthday and I was in a mad scramble to get home for her birthday party after a few meetings in London. More importantly, I had the six packets of smarties that made up the dress on her Barbie cake. My wife had made a chocolate cake and shoved half a Barbie in the top to make it look like a dress. Sadly, without the smarties, the whole structure looked more like blonde woman sinking in quick sand! She was sunk to her waste before Mr Incredible arrived to give the dress the colours it was so desperate for.

The party went well, but not as well as Cardiff against the Baggies. I paid for at least 286 packets of smarties by selling £100 of the Baggies’ supremacy, but gave a bit back by selling £100 of goals in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw.

Wednesday 9th December

Just paid £60 for a dead tree – Christmas is fast approaching. Decorated the tree with the kids whilst keeping an eye on the Champions League and Newcastle’s game at Coventry. I sold £100 of Olympiakos/Arsenal at 0.35, £100 of Barcelona/Kiev at 0.9 and £100 of Newcastle/Coventry at 0.5. Well, after all it is the season to beat jollies! (I’m sorry, that’s brilliant, if I don’t say so myself).

Thursday 20th August

Happy Birthday! Well, it would have been a hell of a lot happier if Jonny Murtagh hadn’t stuck to the inside rail for so long in the Ebor on Changingoftheguard yesterday. He waited, waited and waited for the gap to open until eventually switching off the rail and mounting his charge down the centre of the track. His ‘charge’ ended in a painful neck defeat and surely a slight Changingofthetactics and I’d have been in the money.

Anyway, the final Ashes decider got underway at the Oval and Andrew Strauss won a good toss and elected to bat first on what was supposed to be a decent surface. I sold my usual £5 of Cook runs at 43 and didn’t have to wait long for my first spread betting birthday present of the day. He was caught Ponting, bowled Siddle for just 10 runs and I was £165 richer before lunch. Sadly, there was no Bopara to sell coming in at ‘3’, so I just had to sit and watch for a while. It’s good to sit and watch from time to time – like a hawk sitting up in a tree waiting to strike.

There seemed to still be a few demons in the pitch so decided to strike again and sell Strauss as soon as he hit 40. He hit that target relatively easily, so I decided that I’d take another look again at 60 and strike then. Unfortunately, I’d taken a lesson on timing from Jonny Murtagh and I arrived on the scene too late. I can confirm that life certainly doesn’t begin at 40, 50 or 60… for me (or should I say Strauss) it ended irritatingly on 55. If only I’d sold at 92! If, If, If… If my granny had had balls, she’d have been my grandfather!

The racing at York was tough and I was annoyed with myself for not selling Sariska on the index in the Yorkshire Oaks. Sporting Index had been running adverts all week telling potential clients to ‘grow some’ and it was time to take note. I wasn’t going to make money sitting on the bench (only Michael Owen can do that!).

Friday 21st August

When you make a terrible mistake, it’s important to recognise it straight away and do your best to rectify the situation! I bought Australia runs at 400 for £5 and when Broad removed Watson and Ponting in quick succession with the scoreboard still 15 shy of a ton, it was time to hit the ‘abandon ship’ button! I managed to take a £235 loss just seconds before Hussey was removed for a duck just 4 runs later. When Clarke, North, Katich and Haddin all joined him back in the pavilion with the scoreboard showing a pitiful 111, I realised that I had somehow managed to steer the good ship Esdaile around that iceberg with only minor damage.

The Aussies were eventually dismissed for just 160 and I suddenly remembered my ‘Losing Your Bottle’ position and an extra 40 points… happy days. To wrap up a good day, I sold Cook again at 36 for another £5 and was delighted to see him fall for 1 run less than his first innings total. Missed out on selling Bell and Collingwood but my £135 Cook winnings, together with my ‘Losing Your Bottle’ gains had wiped out the damage caused by my Aussie first innings trade.

Saturday 22nd August

Having bought Sunderland on the 25/10 index against Blackburn for £15 at 16.5, I wasn’t too thrilled to see Givet (whoever he is?) give the visitors a 21st minute lead. However, Kenwyn Jones popped up twice before the full time whistle to give Sunderland all three points. He drives a brand new top of the range black Bentley sports car with a personalised number plate by the way… I saw him in the car park after the Chelsea game four days earlier. I questioned why he was paid so much that night, but he answered those questions emphatically this afternoon and netted me a £127.50 profit.

I’m less keen on Rooney (twice), Berbatov, Owen and Nani though! I decided to sell total goals at 2.8 in the United v Wigan game for £100 a goal and couldn’t envisage a loss with the sides still goalless in the 55th minute. The next 35 minutes yielded five goals and a £220 loss. Thank God for Newcastle. Their 2-0 away win at Palace won me back £160 to make it a profitable day on the football (only just!).

I backed two horses at Sandown who were both thoroughly disappointing! Firstly, Buzzword was all the rage in the Solario Stakes and looked the likely winner at the two furlong pole. Frankie looked to be going better that the eventual winner Shakespearian at that point, but Mark Johnston horses are not easily passed. A potential £170 win soon became a £30 loss in a matter of strides. Then, my old friend (now enemy) Lang Shining showed that he had successfully completed his transition from horse to dog by whimpering out of contention in the handicap and losing me £100 along the way.

Sunday 23rd August

Sat back and watched England pull off a memorable win against Australia at the Oval. No need for a bet, just one of those occasions I’ll remember for a very long time – a cracking series over (probably not as good as 2005, but not far behind).

The World Athletics Championships also came to an end without me having a single bet on the event. I didn’t sell Bolt’s 100 metres winning time, nor did I buy Caster Semenya cheaply on the Women’s 800 metres index. Apparently, she was furious at having to take a gender test. She said at the press conference afterwards, “After my success on the track, this is a real kick in the bollocks”……..

Monday 24th August

With the Ashes over and only the un-callable Liverpool v Villa game on, it was time to work out my long term profit and loss figure for the series. My one disastrous position was my £3 buy of Mitchell Johnson’s series performance at 650. A final make-up of 505 meant a £435 loss. However, my two separate £5 sells of the lowest all out team score at 155 and 170 respectively had yielded a £605 profit. My £5 sell of Cook runs at 355 meant another £665 profit (final make-up 222), while my £5 buy of ‘Losing Your Bottle’ at 43 added another £475 to the coffers. So, all told, my long term positions had returned an overall profit of £1310.

Tuesday 25th August

Began the process of giving all my Ashes profits back by getting sucked into a gamble in a Novices’ Handicap Chase at Sedgefield. The beast in question was called Prospectorous and had nothing apparently going for it other than the fact it was trained in Ireland. The 16/1 lasted less time than an average Alastair Cook innings and I was pleased to eventually get some of the 10/1 still available. The gamble continued right the way through to the off and Dennis O’Regan’s mount was eventually sent off 9/4 favourite. The five year-old managed to beat seven of the other eight runners, but sadly found Sarah’s Gift too good. Annoying!

Wednesday 26th August

Arsenal play Celtic in the second league of the Champions League qualifier and I decide to go against popular opinion and don’t expect a goal fest. I sold goals for £100 at 2.9 and sat back with fingers crossed…

Oil ends lower on worst week in nearly two months
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures lost 1.1% Friday, the lackluster end of a bruising week during which prices dropped 7.5%. Crude for August delivery settled 81 cents lower at $72.14 a barrel. Natural gas also headed lower. Natural gas for August delivery lost 17 cents, or 3.4%, to $4.69 per million British thermal units. On the week, natural gas lost 4.1%. Market Pulse Stories …

Read more on Market Watch

Crude Oil Fluctuates, Eventful Week Ahead
Crude oil prices are near $74.00 as the commodity digests last week’s impressive gains. After the holiday, look for renewed volatility on the back of important economic reports out of the U.S.

Read more on Daily FX via Yahoo! Finance