2007 may or may not be remembered as the Year of the Upset in college football. But it should be.

It started on New Year’s Day, when five of the six bowl games were won by the underdog. Then Florida (+7) won the national championship over previously undefeated Ohio State.

Small potatoes. Try Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. The Division I-AA champions pulled off the biggest upset in college football since The Citadel beat Arkansas back in 1992, if not bigger. Making life in the Big Ten even worse, Minnesota fell to North Dakota State last week, 27-21.

At least USC didn’t get beaten by a lower-division program, but losing to Stanford 24-23 as a 39-point chalk comes pretty close. The Trojans had won 35 straight home games before that debacle. If FIU (+39) somehow manages to beat Arkansas this Saturday, the Razorbacks might as well quit football and take up macramé

It’s a handicapper’s dream date.

There’s nothing like a ridiculous stereotype to make a value bettor jump for joy. Imagine how much money intrepid cappers have made on black quarterbacks, Asian pitchers and European basketball players. Is it time for female drivers to join the club?

Danica Patrick hopes so. She’s getting 30-1 odds to win this Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. That doesn’t seem to make sense for someone driving for the very competitive Andretti Green Racing team, especially for someone starting in the middle of the third row. Is it because Patrick is a woman? Is it because she’s an attractive woman? Or do these odds accurately reflect her chances of winning this weekend?

Patrick became a household name after qualifying for, and nearly winning, her first Indy 500 in 2005. She finished fourth for Rahal Letterman Racing; Patrick has yet to improve on that result in her short IRL career, despite the move to Andretti Green for the 2007 season. She will. Even Patrick herself has admitted it’s going to take some adjustment to driving for one of the top teams in the sport.

But her breakthrough probably won’t happen at the Brickyard. Undervalued, perhaps, but Patrick has to beat the following drivers in order to win: Dan Wheldon (9-4), Scott Dixon (5-2), Tony Kanaan (4-1), Helio Castroneves (5-1), Sam Hornish Jr. (5-1) and Dario Franchitti (8-1). That group includes four of the last six Indy 500 champions. Patrick’s best finish with Andretti Green was a seventh at last month’s Kansas IndyCar 300. Unless her learning curve increases dramatically between now and Sunday afternoon, she’ll likely have to settle for a similar result.

Let’s just hope for her sake she picks up that first victory sooner rather than later. The longer she goes without, the more often you’ll see her picture next to Anna Kournikova’s. Great for the rest of us, but an unfair dig at both women.

For all your Indy 500 odds, check out the Bodog Sportsbook.

Todd Pletcher may be one of the most well-known horse trainers in the world, but he’s still looking for his first win in the Kentucky Derby. In 13 tries Pletcher has come up short each time, but with a large number of Derby contenders this year Pletcher could finally have a winner on his hands.

There are six horses that Pletcher has trained that could be among the 20-horse field in this year’s Derby. These six possible champion thoroughbreds include Any Given Saturday, Circular Quay, King of the Roxy, Sam P., Scat Daddy and Cowtown Cat.

The favorite out of that spectacular field appears to be Scat Daddy. The three-year-old colt started off the season slow with a third-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes, before posting back-to-back dominant wins in the Fountain of Youth Stakes and the Florida Derby late last month.

If Scat Daddy isn’t the one to finally bring Pletcher a Derby win, the next two stallions to keep a close eye on are King of Roxy and Any Given Saturday. King of Roxy won by 7 1/2 lengths in the Hutcheson Stakes and was narrowly defeated when he finished second at the Santa Anita Derby. Any Given Saturday showed his speed in his 2 3/4 length win in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, but has had a couple of disappointments since then with a second-place finish in the Tampa Bay Derby and a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial Stakes.

Even if those three strong contenders falter, Pletcher still has three strong horses left that could pull off an upset. Cowtown Cat made a strong case for himself as a real dark horse by winning the Illinois Derby last week, while Circular Quay also has a big victory to his name this season in the Louisiana Derby. Sam P. may be a long shot after has seeing his stock drop a little bit after failing to secure a victory in the Holy Bull Stakes (4th), Robert B. Lewis Stakes (2nd) and Santa Anita Derby (3rd).

Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby almost had some female persuasion.

Rags to Riches, the standout filly who won each of her last three races, is going to sit this one out and compete instead at the Kentucky Oaks. That’s good news for the rest of the field. The $750,000 SA Derby is the last stop on the West Coast circuit before the Kentucky Derby itself, and everyone will be under the microscope as Louisville draws ever closer. Rags to Riches might have easily eaten their lunch – this is a fairly weak field, a shame for an event with such tradition.

There are two horses who appear to stand out for this nine-furlong event: Liquidity, and King of the Roxy. Liquidity is trained by Doug O’Neill and is fading somewhat after coming in 7-1/2 lengths behind Circular Quay at the Louisiana Derby. But O’Neill is putting on his game face after Liquidity put in some blistering workouts at Hollywood Park, including a 1:12.80 over six furlongs. If the son of Tiznow can finally grab that first stakes victory after winning his maiden at Oak Tree, the Kentucky Derby awaits.

As for King of the Roxy, Todd Pletcher has plenty of other, better horses lined up for the Run for the Roses. However, this dark bay did look quite dashing as a two-year-old, and followed that up with a solid win at the Hutcheson. That victory was worth taking note of. Jockey Edgar Prado tucked in nicely after a slow start, then had no problem putting away previously undefeated Spin Master by 2-1/4 lengths. Impressive. King of the Roxy’s got speed to burn – noted sprinter Littleexpectations was his sire – but there is also stamina courtesy of third dam General Store. Nine furlongs shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Betting on the winner of the Stanley Cup over the last three seasons hasn’t been overly difficult if you actually look at the final standings. The last three Cup winners have all come from the Eastern Conference, and all three have been division winners. Carolina finished second overall in the East last year, Tampa Bay finished first overall in the East back in 2003/2004, and New Jersey finished second in the East way back in 2002/2003.

Oddly enough, the West has been the exact opposite. The Western Conference has sent low seeds to the finals over the last three seasons, including No.8 seed Edmonton last season, No. 6 Calgary in 2003/2004, and No. 7 Anaheim back in 2002/2003.

If the East maintains this trend then the safe money right now would have to be on Buffalo or New Jersey. The Sabres finished one win away from the Cup final last season and have ruled the Eastern Conference since the puck first dropped back in October. If Buffalo doesn’t make the Cup final out of the East, the Devils have to be the clear favorite. New Jersey will go as far as goaltender Martin Brodeur will take them. Brodeur has already backstopped the Devils to three Cups in his career, and at age 34, remains by far the best goalie in the league this season with 36 wins and 11 shutouts.

The West is packed with Stanley Cup contenders, but like we said earlier the West hasn’t sent a top seed to the Cup final since Detroit won in 2001-2002. The Red Wings have been near the top of the Western Conference standings all season, thanks to their outstanding record at home. Detroit hasn’t had very much luck in the playoffs since winning the Cup back in 01/02, but if they can get home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs this year that could definitely change.

The team to watch in the West could be Calgary. The Flames are sitting near the bottom of the Western playoff pack, but it didn’t seem to hurt them a few years ago when they went to the Cup final as the No. 6 seed. With Jarome Iginla healthy and the Flames’ lineup improved by some recent trades, Calgary could be a winning bet come June.

Looking to get your Stanley Cup picks in early? Check out Bodog Sportsbook.