Mark Cuban’s got nothing on these curmudgeons when it comes to dissing the Olympics. FC Barcelona are refusing to release forward Lionel Messi to play for his native Argentina at the Summer Games in Beijing. FIFA has ruled that they must; however, Barca may appeal on the grounds that the Olympics are not on FIFA’s international soccer calendar.

Messi isn’t the only player caught up in this. Brazil could be down three men: Kaka (AC Milan), Rafinha (Schalke) and Diego (Werder Bremen) are also being held back. So far, FIFA has yet to rule on Kaka’s fate. Their absence would make life difficult for the second favorites at 11-4 on the Olympic soccer futures market. Argentina is the favorite at 2-1.

Italy and the Netherlands are tied for third favorite status at 7-1. There’s generally less interest in Europe for Olympic soccer; South Americans take it much more seriously after first arriving on the national scene at the 1924 Paris Games.

This could be something of a disappointing Olympics for the United States. The over/under on medals for Team USA is 92.5 – two fewer than the host nation China.

There are two ways to go about handicapping this bad boy. You could look at every single sport at the Summer Games, everything from archery to wrestling. Or you could look at the medal counts for Team USA in Olympics past and spot the trend. Both methods have their limitations, but at least the second one won’t take you from now until the Olympics are over to figure out.

The smallest medal total for the U.S. over the past 40 years (1980 aside) has been 94, at Munich, Montreal, Seoul and Sydney. So the over is a lock, right? Wrong. China’s medal count has climbed steadily, and they’ll be winning a lot more this year as the host nation. It’ll be at the expense of Team USA.

If the All-Star Game represents the midway point of the baseball season, then it’s time to hand out a few midterm report cards.

Chicago Cubs: A. The best record in the majors at 57-38, and they had the chutzpah to trade for Rich Harden after Milwaukee got CC Sabathia.

Boston Red Sox: A. Leading the AL East at 57-40, even without David Ortiz. Wisely decided (for now) not to trade Kevin Youkilis and Craig Hansen for Mark Teixeira.

Los Angeles Angels: A-. Tied with the Cubs, despite a +21 run differential compared to Chicago’s +106. Need to improve in second term.

New York Yankees: B-. Scraping by at 50-45, but getting excellent pitching from Joba Chamberlain in his accelerated conversion from the bullpen to the rotation.

Seattle Mariners: F. Expectations were too high to begin with, but Seattle’s implosion is epic nonetheless. A textbook example of how not to run a franchise at the big-league level.

Have all your friends gone somewhere for vacation this summer? Are you finding yourself home alone with nothing to do? We all know there’s never anything good on television in the summer months. If you have time on your hands why not try and turn it into some profit? There’s no better way to kill time than playing online slots or video poker.

If you’re going to play online casino games make sure you practice responsible bankroll management. Only play with what you can afford to lose, and play in games where your money will last you a long time.

Online casino games are a much better value than regular casino games, you’ll often get better playing odds, and it won’t cost anything to get to the casino. Online casinos will give you extra money to play with when you buy-in; try getting that at a regular casino.