The Race Begins Tonight

The Phillies kickoff the race for the NL East Crown tonight in Florida against the Marlins in a game that was moved due to a scheduling conflict with the NFL, making this a huge 4 game series for both teams, the Phillies ahead of the Marlins by 4 games. The Phillies have a great chance to put some distance between themselves and the Fish. Its always difficult to sweep a 4 game series (that would be sweet) against any team so taking 3 out of 4 from the Marlins would be good, so would a split, just don't lose the series and give the Marlins a glimmer of hope.

MLB Trade Deadline

 The first thing you need to know about Major League Baseball's trading deadline is that there really isn't a trade deadline at all. Yeah there are some important dates like July 31 and August 31, but it doesn't mean you can't make a trade, there are some restrictions that take effect on those dates making it just a little harder to make a trade. So if you are under the impression that you can't make a trade after July 31 you would be mistaken, yeah baseball's rules do get confusing, so The Sports Den will try and explain it as we see it.



July 31 - This is the non-waiver deadline, meaning for example if the Phillies wanted to trade for the Blue Jays Roy Halladay they could go ahead and make a trade, if they come to an agreement. This is where most of the big name trades are done.If the Phillies and Blue Jays wanted to make that same deal after July 31 Roy Halladay would first have to clear waivers giving lets say the Dodgers,Mets, and any other team the chance to claim Halladay off waivers, forcing the Blue Jays to either pull him back off waivers or trading him to the team that claimed him.That makes it less likely a big name player will be traded after July 31.  Thats why if there is a trade after July 31 it will be lessor known players making it easier to get through waivers, or a team just trying to cut payroll.

August 31 - This is the more important date, if a team wants to rade for a  player, and for that player to be    eligible for the playoffs he would have to be traded before this date.Any trade after August 31 the players would not be able to be on the playoff roster. Usually any trades after this date are usually emergency moves to fill a roster spot until an injured player can come back, or again some team is just trying to cut payroll.


See there really isn't a trade deadline at all. Just restrictions that confuse people.

The 15 Greatest Sports Cheats Of All Time

The good people over at Soccerlens sent The Sports Den a link to an interesting post you might enjoy reading its not just about soccer, http://soccerlens.com/the-15-greatest-sports-cheats-of-all-time/29838/ . Some of the stories you may have heard of others you may not have know, anyway enjoy the reading, and feel free to leave a comment on the post or stories in it.

Odds To Win The 2010 Stanley Cup

Not that anyone really cares right now but here are the current odds to win the Stanley Cup in 2010. The Detroit Red Wings are the favorite again to win it. Odds are according to Vegas Insider.


Detroit Red Wings - 6/1

Pittsburgh Penguins - 7/1

Boston Bruins - 9/1

San Jose Sharks - 10/1

Washington Capitals - 10/1

Chicago Blackhawks - 12/1

Vancouver Canucks - 15/1

Philadelphia Flyers - 15/1

New Jersey Devils - 15/1

Calgary Flames - 18/1

Carolina Hurricanes - 20/1

Anaheim Ducks - 25/1

Montreal Canadiens - 25/1

New York Rangers - 25/1

St. Louis Blues - 30/1

Florida Panthers - 30/1

Buffalo Sabres - 30/1

Columbus Blue Jackets - 35/1

Dallas Stars - 35/1

Ottawa Senators - 35/1

Minnesota Wild - 40/1

Nashville Predators - 40/1

Edmonton Oilers - 50/1

Atlanta Thrashers - 50/1

Los Angeles Kings - 60/1

Toronto Maple Leafs - 60/1

Phoenix Coyotes - 75/1

Colorado Avalanche - 75/1

New York Islanders - 100/1

Tampa Bay Lightning - 100/1

Current Odds To Win AFC, NFC Championships and SB XLIV

Ok its just about 1 month to the start of training camp in the NFL, the draft is over and so is free agent signing period. Now its time to see how the odds have changed as to which teams win the AFC, and NFC Championships, and SB XLIV. The Sports Den will update the odds again when training camp ends. These odds are according to Vegas Insider.


AFC Championship


Team - Open - Current


New England Patriots - 7/2 - 2/1

Pittsburgh Steelers - 4/1 - 4/1

San Diego Chargers - 8/1 - 11/2

Indianapolis Colts - 9/2 - 11/2

Baltimore Ravens - 11/2 - 15/2

Tennessee Titans - 15/2 - 8/1

Miami Dolphins - 12/1 - 14/1

Houston Texans - 20/1 - 15/1

Buffalo Bills - 25/1 - 16/1

Jacksonville Jaguars - 15/1 - 18/1

New York Jets - 14/1 - 18/1

Kansas City Chiefs - 50/1 - 20/1

Denver Broncos - 18/1 - 20/1

Cleveland Browns - 30/1 - 25/1

Cincinnati Bengals - 35/1 - 40/1

Oakland Raiders - 50/1 - 40/1


NFC Championship


Team - Open - Current


New York Giants - 4/1 - 9/2

Philadelphia Eagles - 6/1 - 11/2

Dallas Cowboys - 5/1 - 6/1

Minnesota Vikings - 11/1 - 7/1

Carolina Panthers - 11/2 - 15/2

Chicago Bears - 14/1 - 8/1

Atlanta Falcons - 8/1 - 8/1

Green Bay Packers - 10/1 - 8/1

Arizona Cardinals - 15/2 - 10/1

New Orleans Saints - 10/1 - 10/1

Washington Redskins - 12/1 - 12/1

San Francisco 49ers - 22/1 - 18/1

Seattle Seahawks - 30/1 - 20/1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 17/1 - 20/1

St. Louis Rams - 50/1 - 40/1

Detroit Lions - 75/1 - 50/1



Super Bowl XLIV


Team - Open - Current



New England Patriots - 6/1 - 4/1

Pittsburgh Steelers - 7/1 - 15/2

New York Giants - 8/1 - 9/1

Philadelphia Eagles - 12/1 - 11/1

Indianapolis Colts - 8/1 - 11/1

Dallas Cowboys - 9/1 - 11/1

San Diego Chargers - 14/1 - 12/1

Minnesota Vikings - 22/1 - 15/1

Baltimore Ravens - 11/1 - 15/1

Carolina Panthers - 12/1 - 16/1

Chicago Bears - 28/1 - 16/1

Tennessee Titans - 12/1 - 16/1

Atlanta Falcons - 16/1 - 18/1

Green Bay Packers - 20/1 - 18/1

New Orleans Saints - 18/1 - 20/1

Arizona Cardinals - 15/1 - 20/1

Washington Redskins - 25/1 - 25/1

Miami Dolphins - 25/1 - 28/1

Houston Texans - 40/1 - 30/1

Buffalo Bills - 50/1 - 30/1

New York Jets - 28/1 - 35/1

San Francisco 49ers - 40/1 - 35/1

Jacksonville Jaguars - 30/1 - 38/1

Kansas City Chiefs - 100/1 - 40/1

Denver Broncos - 35/1 - 40/1

Seattle Seahawks - 60/1 - 40/1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 35/1 - 40/1

Cleveland Browns - 60/1 - 50/1

Cincinnati Bengals - 75/1 - 75/1

Oakland Raiders - 100/1 - 75/1

St. Louis Rams - 100/1 - 80/1

Detroit Lions - 150/1 - 100/1

The Fortunate Phils

With the end of interleague play the Phillies find themselves fortunate to still be in 1st place in the NL East. Considering they went into interleague play 11 game above .500 and now are 5 games above kind of tell you how things went against the AL East, especially being swept at home by the Blue Jays and Orioles, granted they were 6 games the Phillies could've very easily won even with Raul Ibanez on the DL. They are also fortunate in the fact that when they were playing sonme of their worse baseball so were the rest of the teams in the NL East or they could very well find themselves a few games back right now. Finishing with a 6-12 record against the AL East in interleague play is not good, it really doesn't mean much considering the Phillies were 4-14 against the AL last season in interleague play and as we all know they went on to win the World Series. With some good fortune the same thing will happen this season.       

NHL Awards Night

The NHL  handed out its annual awards on Thurdays night in Las Vegas. Here is the list of winners.


Hart Trophy ( MVP Fans) - Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Lester Pearson Award (MVP Players) - Alex Ovechkins, Washington Capitals

Maurice Richard Trophy ( Leading Goal Scorer) - Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Jack Adams Trophy ( Best Coach) - Claude Julien, Boston Bruins

Vezina Trophy ( Best Goalie) - Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

James Norris Trophy ( Best Defenseman) - Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Calder Trophy ( Rookie of the Year) - Steve Mason, Columbus Blue Jackets

Mark Messier Leadership Award - Jerome Iginla, Calgary Flames

Lady Byng Award ( Sportsmanship) - Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Frank J. Selke Trophy ( Best Defensive Forward) - Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Masterson Trophy ( Sportsmanship, Dedication, Perseverance) - Steve Sullivan, Nashville Predators

FANARCHY on Versus

Have you caught the new sports show on Versus? Fanarchy is a sports show for sports fans by sports fans. Fans with a webcam can make a video and upload it to Fanarchy website for their chance to be seen on T.V.  FANARCHY airs on Tuesday night's at 10:30 pm on Versus.This should be good for a few laughs.


Press Release



How To Enter

Penguins Win Stanley Cup

In what has to be considered a shocker, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the defending Stanley Cup Champ Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in game 7 in Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. Have to ad mit it was a good series even though I didn't want to see the Penguins win it, looks like the NHL got what they wanted, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin winning the Stanley Cup. Just think hockey will be starting up again in just about two months.