Yes, folks, it's time for another presentation of our Lemmy Awards, which recognize excellence in sports related websites.
We've given out a few Lemmy Awards in the past, once for the
Top Five Sports Betting and Stock Websites and once for the
Top Five Rivals Sports Message Boards.
As our focus shifts more in the direction of sports wagering than stock picking (though we're not done flirting with the stock market just yet), we thought it would be a good idea to narrow some Lemmy Awards to the Top Sports Wagering Sites, eliminating stocks from the award.
We should note that these awards are only for American-based sports betting sites, though we know of many great European sports wagering blogs, which may call for another Lemmy Awards presentation on a later date. For now, check out
Green-All-Over for sports investing or
Ed's Betting Blog for some picks or
Italian Easy Bet (Scommesse Facili) if you're fluent in Italian, all of which can be found permanently on the Lemmy's Friends blogroll. We should also mention
Picks That Cover, which isn't foreign but they have only been around since October, so we'll let them grow before throwing the high expectations that a Lemmy Award brings at them.
Since we've been around a lot longer than we were when we rolled out our first awards, there are many blogs that we only recently found out about and there surely are many more we haven't yet discovered, so don't feel bad if your blog is not included in this edition. If you have a blog you feel is worthy, go ahead and shoot us an e-mail so we can check it out.
For the occassion, we have updated our Lemmy Award, giving Lemmy a nice little spot on the trophy rather than floating somehow above it. Even at the risk of losing some traffic to one of these sites that you might like better, we feel obligated to provide you with the best resources possible to make smart wagers--but try to check in with us even if these guys are making you more money (please?). That said, let's move to those brand-new Lemmy Awards.
First off, we're giving The Online Sports Better a second Lemmy Award, after handing one out in our inaugural "ceremony." This makes The Online Sports Bettor the only two-time Lemmy Award winner, something they are likely bragging about at every moment possible.
The Online Sports Bettor specializes in NFL, hitting 58% with a 33-24 record this year, as well as MLB picks. Occasionally the Sports Bettor will tackle other sports, but NFL and MLB are the big ones over there. His stated objective is to bet on sports, win, and tell you about, according to the header of the blog, along with making you laugh and winning tons of money.
For three years, The Online Sports Bettor has done both.
The Visionary, along with The Online Sports Bettor, can both be found on the blogroll, and they are there for good reason. Picks are posted daily for all major sports, with pretty decent percentages.
In the MLB, the Visionary enjoyed a 77-56 (58%) season and is .500 or better in every sport except the NBA. At least we aren't the only ones off to a rough start in that department.
Along with free picks of varying unit amounts, the Visionary provides sports commentary and news on the current state of the onling betting industry. Hopefully, now that he has earned a Lemmy Award, he doesn't big-time his readers and quit the great work he's been doing
The Money Line Journal has some great wagering insight and some hilarious reviews on the outcome of his games, along with his very frequently updated picks.
While the picks haven't beed doing so great this year as opposed to last year (-31 units in 2008-09 compared to +175 units in '07-08), he still delivers them with great wit on a daily basis in a multitude of sports. Yes, including golf. He provides sports wagering with an attitude and isn't afraid to show emotion after a back-door cover.
We've been mentioned once on his site after e-mailing him a story of ours, which he then stuck in a Q & A session of his blog, complete with a sarcastic remark:
I am sure that the above link is going to result in loads of meaningful, repeat traffic for the soon to be famous “Stockle Mon”** blog.
The asterisk notes that he reads Stock Lemon as Stockle Mon, but hey, at least he's reading it at all. Be sure to check out some of his comments based off message board posters, or one of the aforementioned Q & A sessions. Hopefully, his last post about his struggles does not lead to him getting away from some of the things he has done so well.
Against All Odds has had some success in various sports (59-49 in NCAA Football), including way more bets on tennis than we ever imagine making (47-45 record). It's usually a good place to be during baseball season, not just because they were up 8 units on the year, but because the write-ups are pretty darn good.
In fact, the write-ups for their picks of any sports are better than a lot of what you'll find on the internet and are always worth a read. The two-man operation out to beat the books does a nice job of justifying their picks, and they'll cause you to think twice if you're on the other side of a play.
Again, we said we felt obligated to post the best sports wagering sites we know of, and that's what we're doing. That doesn't mean that these sites are too fond of us, for whatever reason.
A while ago, we decided to add our Lemmy's Friends blogroll to the right side of the page and so we e-mailed around to see if anyone was interested in link exchange. Vegas Watch and a couple of others (some of which are Lemmy Award winners) seemed to have a personal grudge against us and didn't want to add us to their own blogrolls, which is fine.
Later, Vegas Watch e-mailed us regarding our reasoning for the Steelers as one of our NFL picks. Of course, the reasoning was made up, as many of you know we simply follow our systems but sometimes post a fun stat anyway that favors our side. Vegas Watch didn't undestand that, and replied hastily:
I don't understand how you could actually give it as reasoning for picking the Steelers. Do you actually think it's relevant to a football game?
We later asked him again about including us in his blogroll, to which he decided:
Quality of the content isn't close to being high enough.
When we told him that other links on his blogroll haven't even been updated in months, he shot back:
I am glad you're policing my blogroll. Fantastic. I have no further input.
So, if anyone thinks that these Lemmy Awards are only given to blogs that we are friendly with... that isn't always the case. Regardless, Vegas Watch is deserving of the award more for commentary than for picks. You can find some great weekly NFL survivor analysis as well as a tracking of MLB free agents, in addition to whetting your gambling appetite.
Another site that isn't quite fond of us enough to put us into that elusive blogroll of theirs, but another deserved site. Like the Money Line Journal, the units are down this year (-13 in 2008-09 after +84 in '07-08), but there's still time to improve upon that.
We especially like the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, which states: "I am not responsible, nor do I care, if you lose money following my picks."
After their peformance last year, their readers can afford to lose some money.
They aren't having a great year over there, but they deserve a Lemmy Award for the constantly updated picks and solid write-ups. After all, the worst thing a gambler can do is quit, right?
Hopefully this award can help brighten up their mood, as the "about me" says: "If you know me, you know where I am. If you don't, let's keep it that way."
Maybe not the friendliest, but a Lemmy Award winner nonetheless.
Congratulations to the seven Lemmy Award winners. Feel free to brag about the award all you want. Go ahead, stick the image of that Lemmy Award trophy all over your site. Just remember to tell everyone about the great free picks you get over at your favorite site.
On Thursday, June 25th, we here at Stock Lemon received a prestigious honor from the folks over at redOrbit. 
