The Master

When the Yanks 'supersize' they certainly make sure they do it properly and this year's event will be no different to any other year when Super Bowl XLVI kicks off. Forget all the stats about rushing and passing yards and whether The Giant's Quarterback Eli Manning is better than the Patriots Brady. What we want to know is how many hot dogs our American cousins will shovel into their gut-busting stomachs! In Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 the Tampa stadium's fans scoffed around 55 200 of them, buns and all! Domino's reckon they will sell over 9 million slices of pizza which will be washed down with over 325.5 million gallons of beer. That's about 493 Olympic sized swimming pools guzzled clean of ale! If that's not enough what about the 293,000 miles of potato chips that will be scoffed throughout the game? Or the 100 million lbs of chicken wings hoovered up in garden parties? On average each American watching this year's Super Bowl XLVI will consume over 1200 ...

The Punter is the new monthly sports e-zine from StanJames.com . Published online at the beginning of every month, The Punter gives you a great preview of all the upcoming major sports events for the month ahead in a light-hearted but informative fashion. You'll be the statto' down your local with all the up to date facts and figures on the next big match or major tournament. Every sport is covered and no stone is left unturned making The Punter an essential read for any well respected ... you guessed it ... punter! That's not all. The Punter also takes a trip down memory lane to look back at classic moments from sports history to really get the nostalgia flowing. Plus there are some great competitions to win a range of prizes from a free bet to a day at the races! Head to StanJames.com now and take a read of The Punter!

Leading bookmaker Coral is celebrating Andy Murray's straight sets victory over Feliciano Lopez at Wimbledon today, as it means they will not be refunding almost £250,000 that was staked on the British number one before the tournament began. Coral had promised to return all money placed on Murray to win his first Grand Slam title if he failed to reach the last four, so were happy to see his victory over his Spanish opponent, but they now face a multi-million pound payout if he wins two more matches to become the first home winner at SW19 since Fred Perry in 1936. "Our money back offer proved to be extremely popular with Andy Murray fans before the tournament started, so we are delighted to see him reach the last four. However our joy would be shortlived if he does win his next two matches, and so we won't be cheering him on anymore," said Coral's David Stevens. Murray is now 7-2 to win the tournament, with his semi-final opponent Rafa Nadal the 6-5 favourite ...

Sebastian Vettel is the even money favourite to win the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain with Coral bookmakers this weekend. The championship leader had won the previous three races before losing out to a last lap error to Jenson Button last time out in Canada. The Britain is 7-1 to make it two in a row. "Although Vettel gifted the race to Button in Montreal, we don't expect him to be quite so generous this weekend," said Coral spokesman Gary Burton. Vettel is 8-15 to start from pole position for the third race running, and just 1-10 to retain his world championship. ** EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX Evs Sebastian Vettel, 7-2 Lewis Hamilton, 5-1 Fernando Alonso, 6-1 Mark Webber, 7-1 Jenson Button, 33-1 Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, 66-1 Michael Schumacher, 100-1 Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, 200-1 Bar ** POLE POSITION 8-15 Sebastian Vettel, 6-1 Lewis Hamilton, 13-2 Mark Webber, 7-1 Fernando Alonso, 10-1 Jenson Button, 28-1 Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, 50-1 Michael Schumacher, 125 ...

Coral to refund Andy Murray Wimbledon Bets if British Number One fails to make the last four. On the eve of this year's Wimbledon, bookmaker Coral will refund all outright bets on Andy Murray winning the title if the British number one fails to make at least the semi-finals at SW19. The Scot is 11-2 fourth favourite to win the event, behind Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer , both 9-4, and Novak Djokovic , 10-3. "Following his warm-up victory at Queen's, we reckon Andy Murray will do well at Wimbledon this year, but with British tennis fans accustomed to disappointment at this tournament, we're happy to refund all bets on him if he doesn't make the last four. That way, an early exit need not be expensive to the many patriotic punters who will back the home favourite," said Coral's David Stevens. "Of course, if Murray does go all the way and become the first British winner here since Fred Perry , it will be the bookies who get hit for a multi-million pound payout ...

Fernando Alonso is delighted that Ferrari ( 3/1 to win Sunday's race ) is proving to be competitive at the Moncao Grand Prix but has urged the team to 'take some risks' in order to close the gap on Red Bull. The double-world champion suffered the ignominy of being lapped last weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix but set the fastest time of one minute 15.123 seconds at free practice in Monte Carlo ( Alonso 5/1 to qualify in pole position ). Alonso is all too aware that it was only practice but seems full of confidence going into the weekend, although he believes the team should be ready to take a gamble. "It seems we are a bit more competitive than elsewhere, although one has to adopt the usual caution linked to the unknown factor of how much fuel the others were running," Alonso said. "I am pleased, but we know this is just the first day and that the Red Bulls could be hiding a bit before coming out for qualifying. "Tomorrow will be a much more stressful day ...

At the start of the season it was all about McLaren, Lewis Hamilton, and whether Jenson Button would be able to get along with Lewis and the team. It was all about Ferrari, Fernando Alonzo, and whether he would be able to get rid of the demons of last year and the English conspiracy that jinxed him. It was all about Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, and whether he could still keep up with the young crowd. After the last season of F1 Racing, there was an air of expectancy that Hamilton had lived through the worse of not having the perfect car; and now McLaren had finally developed a car that would do Lewis justice. And after six races, we are still waiting for Lewis to win a race. Personally I believe it will happen, as Hamilton has been close a couple of times and it would never enter my mind that he could through an entire season and not win at least one race. In fact, hopefully the first win will come sooner rather than later; and subsequently provide the impetus to get Lewis back into running ...

Big game on today at lunch time with Chelsea playing Liverpool at Anfield. Besides for the fact that there is history, tradition and fierce rivalry between the two clubs, together with a tremendous amount of pride at stake - especially with Liverpool playing their last home game; there is the obvious impact on the Premier Title. The question everyone is asking is whether Chelsea can keep their nerves and win the game to essentially secure the Premiership Title. Liverpool will definitely be without Fernando Torres and David Ngog. Not to mention defenders Skrtel, Insua and Aurelio still out injured. This certainly does not help Liverpool's cause, and probably the most telling absence will be Torres. Here's hoping that the likes of Carragher and Gerrard can inspire the team to perform. Chelsea will be stronger with the return of John Terry (after his ban). However, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, and Jose Bosingwa are all out due to injury. Looking at it from a historical perspective ...