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Stevan Jovetic to Inter & Rickie Lambert to West Brom: Soccer Deals & Steals

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July 31, 2015

Stevan Jovetic to Inter & Rickie Lambert to West Brom: Soccer Deals & Steals

Stevan Jovetic has joined the Serie A giants Inter for £2.1m loan fee. Manchester City has loaned their forward for 18 months and Inter have an obligation to buy the 25-year-old after that.

The former Premier League champions will also receive £2m if Mancini’s Inter qualify for the 2016-17 Champions League. Jovetic wasn’t included in City’s Champions League last season, which pushed him to take the road out of Manchester.

Inter Milan won’t feature in either of the European tournaments this season but considering the business they’ve done in the transfer window so far, they certainly seem to have the ambition of getting back to the top. Inter’s club president welcomed their latest signing after the deal was finalized.

“We are pleased to announce the arrival of Jovetic. This is another important player for our team, a dynamic player that will add even more value to our attack,” said President Erick Thohir.

“Mancini will get the best out of him. Welcome Stevan and Forza Inter.”

The Montenegro international joined the Citizens from Fiorentina in 2013 for £22m. But since then the striker has failed to be a regular starter at the Etihad. City’s former boss, Roberto Mancini, is adamant that he can do better Jovetic.

In the Premier League, Liverpool have offloaded a player from their overcrowded attacking line-up. The former Southampton striker Rickie Lambert couldn’t find his scoring boots at his boyhood club. Lambert, who didn’t get many opportunities to prove his worth, will be very disappointed to move away from his dream club. West Brom boss Tony Pulis is glad to take off Lambert from Brendan Rodgers’ hands.

“Rickie is a good, strong, solid player who is a great character, good in the dressing room and good on the pitch,” manager Tony Pulis told the club’s official website. “We are very pleased to have him on board.

“He’s a player of great pedigree and we look forward to integrating him into our squad.”

Arsene Wenger gave more good news to the Emirates faithful prior to the Sunday’s Charity Shield clash with Chelsea. Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott have extended their contracts with the North Londoners.

“We’re delighted to have extended the contracts of Santi and Theo. Both are top quality players who are hugely important and influential to our squad,” Wenger told Arsenal’s official website.

The Gunners have a brilliant squad and they can genuinely challenge for a major trophy. If the rumors linking them with the Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema pick up pace, then they’ll have the last piece to complete the puzzle. They have enough depth to challenge on all fronts, even if small amount of injuries hit their squad.

“As well as their huge contributions on the pitch, they both have a great deal of experience and are very popular off the pitch. We’re very pleased with them both signing contract extensions, as it provides our squad with further stability of quality.”

Arsenal play Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday for the first silverware of the season.

Los Angeles Lakers Rely on NBA Draft Picks to Succeed Kobe Bryant

NBA
Sports

Chris Maurice

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July 31, 2015

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Los Angeles Lakers Rely on NBA Draft Picks to Succeed Kobe Bryant

It’s been a rough couple of seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers. Between a string of injuries to superstar Kobe Bryant and a franchise-worst 21-61 record this past season, the NBA’s most storied team couldn’t catch a break.

But it gets worse: the 2015-2016 NBA season will most likely be Bryant’s final one—and the Lakers have no other stars on roster to replace him.

The Purple and Yellow have had absolutely no luck in free agency over the past few seasons. Dwight Howard left for the Houston Rockets, so the Lakers went hard after Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

Spoiler Alert: they didn’t get either.

This past offseason was much the same. Los Angeles chased Greg Monroe and DeAndre Jordan and made the biggest push for LaMarcus Aldridge.

Once again, no luck.

You would think that superstars would buy into the idea of being the next big guy one a marquee franchise, but so far no one has bought into what the Lakers are selling. Someone will eventually, but until then the team will need to learn to survive on their draft picks. Fortunately, they have quite the trio of young players emerging.

Although unproven in the pros, D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson definitely give the Lakers and their fans some hope for the future. The major problem, however, is that while these three have very high ceilings, they are still a long way away from actually realizing their potential. The Lakers received their rude awakening to this in the NBA Summer League.

Clarkson, the 46^th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, looked like the bread winner in Las Vegas. Clearly he knew what it took to compete with other men trying to make the cut as a professional basketball player.

That’s great, and the Lakers should be excited that Clarkson is coming to his own, but that’s not the guy the team is expecting to ride back to glory. Randle and Russell are charged with that seemingly impossible task.

Randle was the 7^th overall selection in last year’s draft, but he broke his leg in the season opener this past year. He looked a little rusty in his Summer League appearances this month, but he still obviously relies very heavily on his left hand. That may have worked just fine throughout high school and college, but NBA players won’t be quite so easy to overpower without a bit of ambidexterity at his disposal.

Russell on the other hand doesn’t need nearly as much fine-tuning. Despite horrible shooting during his Summer League games—37.7 percent on field goals and 11.8 from beyond the arc—Russell just needs to get used to the pressure of a NBA game. He turned things around in the finally with the Utah Jazz anyways.

Russell did have some other ugly numbers, however. 26 turnovers in the Summer League isn’t something you want to see from the 2^nd overall pick. Defenses will only get tougher once the regular season starts and the real pros are guarding him.

Once again, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though. Russell will have a lot more talent on his own team in the regular season as well. I would imagine distributing the ball to Lou Williams, Roy Hibbert, and Kobe Bryant is significantly easier than trying to get it to Anthony Brown and Larry Nance Jr.

The other thing the Lakers can look forward to moving forward? Over $40 million in extra spending money after this season. Kobe’s $25Ms and Hibbert’s $15.59M will be off the books for the 2016-2017 season, leaving Los Angeles with a large chunk of cash to waive in front of free agents like Kevin Durant.

Only time will tell, but if the Lakers play their cards right, they could easily be back on top the league in the next few seasons.

TALK ABOUT LAKERS OPTIONS FOR WINNING: SIGN A FREE AGENT VS WAIT FOR THE BIG THREE TO DEVELOP

BIG BROTHER 1716 Jason Out James In & Everything Changes

Julie Wein

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July 31, 2015

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BIG BROTHER 1716 Jason Out James In & Everything Changes

Austin gets his first kiss with a seemingly traumatized Liz on tonight’s episode of “Big Brother,” and Vanessa told Jason she had no choice but to put him up for eviction. Jackie said Vanessa made her feel like an idiot and that Vanessa was supposed to put Austin up for eviction tonight. Becky said she was going to lay low for now. Jason said he is fighting as hard as he can to stay in the game.

Austin said his dream has come true because he has been given a second chance in this game and he is going to go far. Clay said he felt stuck between Meg and Vanessa and didn’t want to reveal to Meg what is going on in the house. Meg said she was lied to and kept in the dark about Jason.

Meg went to Vanessa and apologized and said she felt very dumb. Vanessa speculated if she could trust Austin or Jason but said most people in the house wanted Jason gone. Jackie called Shelli shady as hell. Jason went to talk to Meg. Jackie cried and said she felt like she let Jason down. James told everyone to pull it together and Meg told Vanessa to stop putting everyone Meg likes up for eviction. Shelli said she and Clay were being harmed by Vanessa’s actions in the game.

Jason said he wanted to make Shelli and Clay paranoid. He told them he could be more loyal to them then Meg ever could be. Shelli said Austin and Liz are now the targets for eviction.

During the live vote Becky said there are many strong players in the house and that is why the game is so fun. She also said she is very different from Jason but she considers him a friend. Jason told them to vote for the person they thought could help them long term in the game.

Austin, Liz, Steve, John, Clay, Jackie and Shelli chose Jason for eviction. Meg and James chose to evict Becky. Jason said he was naive to think the housemates would be loyal to him. He said as soon as he started feeling comfortable in the game he was trouble. Jason said Vanessa is a smart game player and has more soul than the other house guests. He admitted Jason the fan outranked Jason the player, which is why he gossiped about realizing Liz has a twin in the game. Jason said Meg has a very good chance of making it far in the game. Jason said he knew Shelli couldn’t be trusted, Meg was sweet and the twins were twisted.

Julie Chen told Julia that now that the twins have made it through five evictions they can both play in the house at the same time. Julia was then introduced when she arrived at the Big Brother house. Julie Chen announced from now on there is only one head of household each week.

Tonight was the first solo head of household competition this season. The house guests had to hang onto a crumbling cliff. The house guest that holds out the longest wins head of household for the week. Julie Chen said this is the most important head of household competition this season.

SPOILER ALERT:

James was the HOH winner and the sole HOH this week.

Cleveland Browns Back To Form Thanks To Offensive Regression

Chris Maurice

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July 31, 2015

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Cleveland Browns Back To Form Thanks To Offensive Regression

The Cleveland Browns came out of nowhere in 2014. Since reentering the league in 1999 the franchise hasn’t won a playoff game, but they sure looked on pace for an appearance last season. Well, they fizzled out (big surprise there). But they still finished 7-9 (also surprising).

Please don’t get used to winning, Browns’ fans.

The Browns have shown no plans for improving on their success in 2015. In fact, after losing Brian Hoyer, the team had the brilliant idea of just bringing in Josh McCown and hoping for a miraculous season by Johnny Manziel.

Sure, McCown could potentially emerge as a starter, but let’s remember what he’s dealing with. The Browns coaching staff, especially Mike Pettine, has not proven itself able to properly use quarterbacks to the best of their ability. I mean, this is the same coaching staff that allowed Hoyer to regress into a Community College QB and helped Manziel orchestrate arguably the worst single-game performance in NFL history.

The worst part of the whole situation is that the winner of the Manziel-McCown training camp battle will have basically no help on offense. Tight end Jordan Cameron took the first ticket out of Cleveland and ended up with the Miami Dolphins. I don’t think anyone can blame him.

So now, the Browns have been reduced to Brian Hartline and Dwayne Bowe at wide receiver. Even worse, the team made no attempt to help out the quarterbacks during the 2015 NFL Draft, selecting two offensive players in the Top 100.

With their second 1^st round pick (No. 19 overall), Cleveland took offensive lineman Cameron Erving out of Florida State. Maybe the Browns forgot that their offensive line is the one part of the team that actually does consistently well? I’m not sure. Either way, it’s an interesting pick. Erving really earned his stripes as a center for the Seminoles; however, Alex Mack is arguably the best center in the NFL right now, so no rookie will be taking his spot. The Browns would have been much better off drafting a designated guard or tackle if they were set on further improving their top three line.

The only other offensive talent that the Browns drafted in the top three rounds was Miami running back Duke Johnson. Once again, in Browns style, they covered a position that they already have depth in.

Johnson can help out. Maybe he’ll be a third-down back or even a No. 2 behind Isaiah Crowell, but the team would have been just fine with Crowell and Terrance West back there.

So the Browns can just rely on their run game to succeed in 2015, right?

No offense to Crowell, as he is a talented back, but he’s no Adrian Peterson. Crowell cannot and will not rush for 200+ yards a game and single-handedly carry this team to the playoffs. I don’t care how talented your offensive line is.

The real problem that Crowell will face this year, however, is stacked boxes. The defense knows they don’t have to respect the pass whatsoever. Alex Mack, John Greco, and Joel Bitonio have been fantastic, but they will have a lot of trouble in rush protection if there are seven guys to block Crowell from.

Joe Haden should have jumped ship as well, but maybe he can step up as a leader in the locker room and lead this time to three or four wins. Lord Knows they need some internal leadership. Hopefully the defense can keep them in a few games.

At least you still have LeBron, right Cleveland?

Khloe Kardashian Uncut & Jessica Alba’s Burning Hot Company

Ricki Reay

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July 31, 2015

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Khloe Kardashian Uncut & Jessica Alba’s Burning Hot Company

If the original interview with Khloe Kardashian in Complex magazine wasn’t enough for you, then you are in luck, as Complex has now released an “uncut” version of the reality star’s interview.

In the newly released segment of Khloe’s interview, she further discusses her body image and addresses being called the “fat” Kardashian in the past. In addition she opens up about her brother, Rob Kardashian, who has noticeably strayed away from the public for some time now.

Khloe revealed to the magazine that her divorce with basketball star Lamar Odom definitely triggered her to reevaluate her lifestyle choices. Khloe explains,

“With my divorce and even during the end of my marriage before it even got publicly bad, how I decided to cope with things was to go on the treadmill for an house. I don’t know what prompted me to do that. It was a very different coping mechanism. I felt so clear and I had nowhere else to go.”

She continues saying,

“I couldn’t be home, I have too many thoughts there. I needed a place where I was alone. And even if there might be all these people around you when you’re on the machine with your headphones in, you’re technically alone.”

Khloe then recounted her life before she decided to choose healthier habits and coping skills, saying,

“When I was married or a few years ago I never though I was fat. I never thought I was huge. I was like, ‘I still look good, I’m just made to have curves or be a little bigger.’ I never looked at myself as the fat sister. Sometimes I would beat people to the punch and say, ‘Oh I’m the fat, funny one,’ because that’s what people would say about me. But I never really thought that.”

Although Khloe has made her name as the “funny” Kardashian sister, she revealed that she still gets anxiety from the paparazzi and that she is thankful that her brother lives with her, so they are able to hang out at home together.

Khloe explains,

“When all your friends want to go to dinner, my brother and I are like, ‘No’ because we just get too much anxiety. I don’t mind having people over, but it’s weird how much more withdrawn I’ve become than being social in public places, I guess.”

The star and her brother have lived together since she sold her and Lamar’s home, and Khloe says she “wouldn’t have it any other way.

Looks like Jessica Alba’s Honest Company weren’t so honest about the effectiveness of their sunscreen.

Parents have been taking to social media claiming that the mineral-based SPF 30 formula is not doing its job and is leaving their children sunburnt. Gretta Stabler, a mom with a 6-year-old daughter, told NBC 5 Chicago that even after applying the sunscreen liberally on her daughter throughout the day, her daughter “got really burned on her arms, shoulders, legs, face, pretty much everywhere.”

The product has been receiving a surge of backlash, including in the reviews of its product page on Costco’s site. With criticism such as:

“I bought this product from the Costco Warehouse and had a similar experience to the many disappointed parents who have reviewed here. My entire family got sunburnt even though we applied multiple times throughout the day. This was first sunburn for my child which is so disappointing.”

However, Jessica can still depend on the support of her friends, like makeup artist Lauren Anderson and model Chrissy Teigen. The two shared a picture together on Instagram, using the Honest Company sunscreen.

While Jessica’s company has an admirable mission – to be organic, safe and natural – it looks like they will need to do some modifications to ensure effectiveness is also a priority.

Cara Delevingne Torches ‘Paper Towns’ & Miranda Lambert’s Caffeine Life

Ricki Reay

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July 30, 2015

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Cara Delevingne Torches ‘Paper Towns’ & Miranda Lambert’s Caffeine Life

Cara Delevingne has made waves after a recent interview with Good Day Sacramento via satellite. She was promoting her recent film Paper Towns, and unfortunately a disconnect between the star and the news anchors resulted in a cringe-worthy interview.

The star, which was probably being asked the same questions for the hundredth time, was quick with sarcastic answers that seemingly threw off the GDS anchors. For example, when asked if she had read John Green’s novel Paper Towns before starting the movie, the 22-year-old model snapped back saying,

“Uh, no. I never read the book or the script. I kind of winged it. No, of course, [I did.} John Green is an incredible author, so really if you haven’t read his books, you should.”

Unfortunately, the GDS anchors didn’t quite catch on to her sarcasm and lead to one of the them asking Cara whether she was exhausted, as she came off a lot more excited about the movie a week ago than she did now.

When Cara explained that she is just as excited, but perhaps since it was early in the morning it was affecting her energy level. However, her answer didn’t stop the anchors from continuing to question Cara’s “attitude,” calling her out for being “irritated.”

Not surprisingly, this wasn’t taken well by the star quickly replied, “No. I think it’s just you.”

Needless to say, the interview was cut short and the news station even ended up cutting out Cara’s satellite feed abruptly, as the anchors continued to bash Cara for being “moody.”

The star may not have too many fans over at Good Day Sacremento, but luckily she did get some support from Raven-Symone over at The View. After playing the clip on the talk show, Raven cheered, exclaiming “Yes, girl, yes!” Going on to explain, “You know what she was mad at? She was mad she had to sit through 13 to 300 different people getting asked the same question over and over again.”

However, Raven’s co-host Nicolle Wallace wasn’t quite so lenient with Cara’s behavior saying, “When you’re a famous movie star and you get to go on a local news show to promote a movie that people are paying $18 to go and watch, you don’t get to act like a bitch.”

Since the interview went viral, Cara took to Twitter to explain her perspective on the whole incident:

Cara Delevigne, Twitter post:

Some people just don't understand sarcasm or the British sense of humour

— Cara Delevingne (@Caradelevingne) July 29, 2015

During her Tuesday concert in Nashville, country singer Miranda Lambert talked to her fans about how she is doing post-split from fellow country singer Blake Shelton.

Since the divorce announcement, the singer has faced numerous rumors accusing her of cheating on Shelton.

Miranda told her fans:

“I’ve been living off caffeine and sad songs lately. So, we’re gong to drink some caffeine and play a sad song.”

Some of the concertgoers commented that the 31-year-old singer appeared “subdued” in comparison to her usually upbeat energy on stage. One fan explained,

“She came out smiling but was very subdued. She was really nervous and even said so. She was very shy at first. A little later, she loosened up and started having a good time. You could tell she’s got things on her mind but she was starting to have fun. She was very funny when she wanted to be.”

Although Miranda and Blake have had some friendly interactions over Twitter, reports claim that their divorce has been relatively messy. In addition, sources have claimed it has been especially hard for Miranda, as it was Blake who filed for their divorce and got it finalized within 2 weeks.

BIG BROTHER 1715: No One Humiliates Judas

Julie Wein

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July 30, 2015

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BIG BROTHER 1715: No One Humiliates Judas

The first big blindside hit on last night’s episode of “Big Brother,” and Shelli said she felt helpess because her plan for the game was messed up. Vanessa said the plan was to get Austin aka Judas Devlin evicted this week but she didn’t think she’d have to be the one responsible for it. James said he had to do damage control after he was not able to throw the Battle of the Block last week. Liz said it looked like James threw the BOB and that she had played it by herself.

Vanessa said it was a delicate situation because Austin still thinks his alliance is working with him but they are not. Liz said she and Austin are besties and she loves working with him but she doesn’t have romantic feelings for him even though he does for her. Liz freaked out because Austin snuck in a kiss on the lips.Vanessa called everyone to the Power of Veto competition. She chose Shelli and Liz to compete. Clay Honeycutt chose John for the competition. She talked to her alliance about what to do next. Jackie said Liz wouldn’t keep quiet if she found out Austin might be up for eviction.

For this week’s Power of Veto Competition the house guests had to run through an obstacle course transporting acorns from one end of the yard to the other. Clay said he had to win this competition in order to avoid possible eviction this week. Becky said she could be road kill this week if she loses the Power of Veto Competition. Vanessa was the first one eliminated from the competition and said she was going to be sick. Becky said that Clay had to win this competition because Vanessa had already lost and Becky felt like she was going to lose too. Shelli said Clay needed to get himself in gear and win the game. Steve said Becky looked crushed that she was losing in the competition and Steve said he was happy about that. Clay ended up winning Power of Veto for the week. Becky said it was very frustrating to see Clay win, especially since Becky kept losing competitions.

Vanessa said she had time now to tell Liz that they are planning on getting rid of Austin. She asked Liz not to act weird around him now that she knows. She also said that now people know that Austin can’t be trusted. Liz said Austin made a foolish move telling Jason Liz is a twin. Liz said that Austin is obsessed with her. Vanessa said she was going to give Austin a chance to explain himself.

When Austin came to talk to Vanessa she went after him for telling Jason about the twins. Vanessa said that Austin can’t trust Jason but Austin disagreed. Vanessa told Austin she may put him up for eviction and he begged her not to because he would never do that to her. He also said he had made bad decisions in the game he regretted.

Austin said he waited to come clean to Clay and Shelli so they would help him stay in the game. He told them he is falling in love with Liz and he doesn’t care about the prize money for winning the show anymore. He also said if he put his trust in their hands he hoped it would pay off for him. Shelli told Austin it is not in their best interest if he gets evicted.

Liz, Becky and James each got to choose a guest from the house to take to an Outback Steakhouse dinner they won last week. Becky chose to take Shelli, while Liz chose Austin and James chose Clay. The dinner was held in the backyard of the Big Brother House. Austin said he wanted this to be his first date with Liz.

Vanessa said she had limited options for putting someone up for eviction next to Becky if Austin wasn’t chosen. Austin said he thought Vanessa still had his back but he knew he made mistakes with her.

Clay called the veto meeting and said he was using his veto to save himself. Vanessa then named Jason as his replacement nominee and she said it was the most difficult decision she had to make in this game. Jackie said this made her unhappy and she had no idea what was going om but Austin said he is thrilled Jason is now up for eviction. Jason called Vanessa a scumbag bitch and said if he stayed in this game he was targeting her.

Backlinks Can Be A Website’s Friend Or Foe

Tech News

David Silvester

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July 30, 2015

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Backlinks Can Be A Website’s Friend Or Foe

The importance of checking backlinks to your site

When it comes to Internet marketing backlinks are really one of the foundations that make everything tick. All of the major search engines, including Google, use inbound backlinks as one of the key measures of a websites relevance for any particular search term. In fact this process of measuring a webpages relevance by the amount of backlinks it has pointing to it was one of the key factors around which the Google search algorithm was originally created.

Since Google launched this algorithm it has always been known as PageRank and this is a number ranging from zero to ten that can be used as a rough guide to the amount and quality of backlinks that any page has pointing to it. This information has been publically available via the Google Toolbar and other online services, although the public data is not up to date it is still very useful to webmasters.

Unfortunately Google are now moving away from PageRank or at least from publishing it online so this can no longer be used as an accurate measure of a web pages authority or backlink profile.

Despite this fact there is no question that backlinks are still one of the most important factors in determining a pages authority and there are still plenty of tools out there that you can use to check your sites backlink profile. With the information provided by these tools as well as some of the metrics that are provided by third parties you can get a really good idea of your websites authority and an understanding of where and why it ranks for any particular keyword.

Different ways to check your backlinks

There are many different ways that you can check your backlinks. There are some free services such as monitorbacklinks.com which will show you a limited amount of information. There are also paid for services such as ahrefs.com which you can use to provide a comprehensive backlink report for your entire website or any particular page within it.

Some of the information that is included in a typical ahrefs.com report includes the URL where the backlink was found, the page on your site that it points to, the anchor text that is used in the link as well as a score of the linking URL as determined by ahrefs.com.

At the very basic level this report is great because you can see how many websites are linking to your site. In very general terms, the more links you have coming in the better. These links tell Google that your site is popular and that the subjects on your site are clearly of interest and therefore should be ranked within their search engine.

It does get a little more complicated than that of course and taking a deep dive into the world of backlinks can give you a real insight into the effectiveness of your link profile.

The first and easiest thing you can determine from your link profile report is the anchor text that is used by sites linking to you. The anchor text is the text that a site uses to link to your site and this text helps Google and other search engines to determine what content the destination page contains from the viewpoint of the endorser. The basic theory is that if your page has 10 links pointing to it and they all have “blue widgets” as the link text then your page is probably about blue widgets. In addition because other sites are linking to your page with this text it must have some good information on the subject so the search engines are likely to rank it highly.

Once again this becomes more complicated because Google take many other factors into consideration including the percentage of links that have this text in the anchor – based on this percentage Google and other search engines will decide how relevant the page is, whether the information is honest and accurate and whether there is any fowl play going on in terms of anchor text manipulation.

If you have access to the source of your backlinks either directly or through reaching out to those linking to your site you can modify these external links to decrease or increase the frequency in which any particular anchor text appears. Changing this frequency can help to improve the ranking of your page for the keyword in question.

Another very important metric when it comes to backlinks is the domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) of the links pointing to your site. Generally speaking the higher the value of these two figures the more beneficial that backlink is likely to be for you. These figures can be checked for each and every backlink that points to your site and using the results you can gauge the effectiveness of each link.

This information is very useful when trying to facilitate relationships with sites that link to you as well as for building new links. If you find inbound links that have a very low score then you can write to the site owner and request the removal of such links or you can use the Google disavow tool to instruct Google to ignore such links.

This is really just an overview of a very complex subject and the best way to learn all of the intricacies involved in backlink profile monitoring is to sign up to a service link ahrefs.com and start experimenting.

Oakland Raiders 2015 NFL Draft and Offseason Recap

Chris Maurice

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July 30, 2015

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Oakland Raiders 2015 NFL Draft and Offseason Recap

After finishing 3-13 in 2014 and picking in the top five of the NFL Draft for what seems like the tenth year in a row, the Oakland Raiders tried to be go-getters this offseason. With lots of cap space to blow and even more positions to fill, the Raiders had their work cut out for them trying to fix the franchise.

Head coach Dennis Allen was fired shortly into the 2014 season, so the Raiders went out and hired Jack Del Rio, the defensive coordinator of division rival Denver Broncos, to replace interim coach Tony Sparano.

Del Rio had very little defensive success with the Broncos after taking over in 2012; and even less offensive success in 2013 while John Fox was out with his heart condition. Del Rio is not exactly an upgrade, but the Raiders are willing to try anything at this point. At least Del Rio has playoff and Super Bowl experience. He has been in a winning organization around winning coaches, so he’ll at least bring a winning attitude to the team.

The team also made some big player moves, resigning future Hall-of-Famer Charles Woodson and bringing in linebacker Curtis Lofton, running back Trent Richardson, safety Nate Allen, and quarterback Christian Ponder. Whether or not Ponder, the former Minnesota Vikings starter, will be able to compete with Derek Carr for the top slot on the depth chart is yet to be seen; but bringing in Ponder does have the added benefit of being able to cut backup Matt Schaub and save a few million.

The biggest thing for the Raiders this offseason was bringing in help for Carr do give him the best chance to succeed in his second professional season, and you could tell that they were really trying to accomplish this goal. Michael Crabtree will provide solid veteran leadership for the young receiving core, and hopefully he can serve as a good role model for 4^th overall pick Amari Cooper out of Alabama.

Cooper was easily the most talented offensive player in this year’s draft, but the Raiders were torn between the star receiver and defensive lineman Leonard Williams out of USC. They definitely made the right decision here. The Raiders are not looking to make the Super Bowl this season, they just want more than the three or four wins they usually manage. Passing up Williams has a large opportunity cost for the team’s defense (or lack thereof), but providing Carr with a legitimate No. 1 receiver will pay out in the long-run if the Raiders decide to stick with Carr moving forward.

Florida State defensive lineman Mario Edwards, Miami tight end Clive Walford, and Miami guard Jon Feliciano round out the Raiders first four selections.

After passing up on Williams earlier in the draft, the Raiders brought in Edwards to fill their huge gap at defensive tackle; but, ironically, they chose a very undersized player to do so. We’ll let this one slide though because they need anything they can get on defense.

Walford was a relatively good selection in the early third round; however, the organization dropped the ball once again by taking Feliciano in the late fourth round. Very few teams had him on their boards at all, and the ones that did had him going in the late seventh round. Typical post-2002 Raiders.

Overall it was an average offseason at best in Oakland. The Raiders clearly improved themselves, but they didn’t bring in any franchise players outside of Amari Cooper. Hopefully that’ll be enough for Derek Carr to avoid a sophomore slump.

American League Winners & Losers Week 16

Peter Tebin

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July 30, 2015

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American League Winners & Losers Week 16

The calendar month of July is cruising along as teams around the American League look to position themselves as buyers before the upcoming trade deadline. That being said the top three teams around the American League continue to be the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Angels.

While each of those three teams are deserving a spot on our American League Winners list we elected to skip past them and look at other teams as well as players who should be on the list. One team that has been hot of late has been the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are 6-4 over their last ten overall games while winning their last five ball games.

The hot stretch of ball has them at 47-50 sitting just one game behind the Detroit Tigers for third place in the American League Central. For the White Sox a few players deserve a spot on the Winners list as the team’s starting pitching has allowed one or fewer runs in three of those five wins during their winning streak.

Two players that stand out are outfielders Adam Eaton and Melky Cabrera. Eaton is hitting .346 over his last seven games with one home run to go with three runs driven in. Cabrera on the other hand has picked up two home runs while batting .414 over his last seven games with 11 runs batted in.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers around the American League to open up the second half of the 2015 Major League Baseball season. Check back next week as we will have a complete list of winners and losers at the MLB trade deadline.

Winners:

Rougned Odor, Texas Rangers: The Texas Rangers infielder has been somewhat hot of late picking up 10 hits over his last seven games including three doubles, one triple and three home runs to go with eight runs batted in. Odor is now hitting .265 on the season with eight home runs and 34 runs batted in.

Toronto Blue Jays: While the Blue Jays still sit behind the Yankees in the standing the team does land on our winners list after trading for Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki will give the Blue Jays another big bat in the middle of the lineup for a playoff push down the stretch.

Scott Kazmir, Houston Astros: The Houston native didn’t disappoint in his first start for the Astros after the team was able to acquire him from the Oakland A’s. The 10 year veteran threw seven scoreless innings allowing just three hits while striking out three. The outing improved his record to 6-5 on the season while lowering his earned run average to 2.24 in 19 starts.

Andrew Heaney, Los Angeles Angels: Could the Angels recent success to the top of the American League West have something to do with this 24 year old starter? Since his call up back on June 24^th, the Angels have won all six starts he has pitched while Heaney has posted a 5-0 record. Last week, Heaney made two starts going 13 innings allowing just four earned runs while striking out eight to improve his record to 5-0 on the season

Andrew Miller, New York Yankees: Much of the Yankees success this season can be contributed to the back of the bullpen. Part of that success has been Miller who has yet to blow a save this season in 34 appearances. Last week, Miller picked up three saves including two against the first place Baltimore Orioles.

Losers:

Toronto Blue Jays: Yea we have the Blue Jays on both our winners list and losers list this week. While we love the trade for Tulowitzki losing Jose Reyes will limit the Blue Jays atop the lineup. The main reason for landing on this list is the team needs pitching as they have outscored opponents by 95 runs this season.

Stephen Vogt, Oakland A’s: While the A’s have struggled all season, Vogt posted a big first half. His struggles continued this past week in series against the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants. Vogt picked up just three hits in the two series in 22 at bats helping his batting average drop to .274 on the season.

Cleveland Indians: The struggles and disappointment continues in Cleveland is just 3-7 over their last ten games including losing five straight contests. Overall the team has lost six of their last seven games while scoring just 10 runs in those six games. The losing could continue for the Indians over the next few days as they still have two games remaining in their current series against the Kansas City Royals.

Ubaldo Jimenez, Baltimore Orioles: The Baltimore Orioles starter looked brilliant in the first half of 2015. That can’t be said of his second half start as he allowed 14 earned runs in two starts failing to reach the fifth inning in either start. His latest struggles came last week against the New York Yankees as he allowed seven earned runs over just 2.1 innings.

Adam LaRoche, Chicago White Sox: The White Sox have been red hot but that can’t be said for their first baseman Adam LaRoche. LaRoche is hitting just .212 on the season but picked up just three hits over his last 25 at bats. In that stretch LaRoche has failed to pick up a single extra base hit while only picking up just one run batted in but has picked up 14 strikeouts.

National League Winners & Losers Week 16

Peter Tebin

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July 30, 2015

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National League Winners & Losers Week 16

The playoff picture continues to look cloudy in the National League as August approaches. This comes after we have seen a few teams get red hot including the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. Along with a few teams that deserve a spot on our winners list a few players also deserve a spot.

One of those players is Carlos Gonzalez for the Colorado Rockies despite having to hear his name on the MLB trade block day in and day out. For the Colorado Rockies outfielder the warm months of Summer have been his friend after a very slow start to the 2015 season.

Gonzalez hit just .200 in the month of April with two home runs and six runs batted in. The struggles continued in to May as he added just two more home runs and seven more runs batted in while batting .235 for the entire month. That is when Cargo’s bat came alive.

In June, Gonzalez hit .280 with six home runs and 15 runs batted in helping raise his season average to .241 while seeing his home run total increase to 10. That was just the start to landing Gonzalez on our winners list. Gonzalez is hitting .405 in the month of June with 10 home runs and 23 runs batted in. This includes seven home runs over his last five games including three multi home run games.

The Rockies outfielder is now hitting .278 on the season with 20 home runs and 51 runs batted in. Now the question everyone would like to know is if the Rockies will hold on to their star outfielder or part ways with him much like they did with Troy Tulowitzki.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers around the National League to open up the second half of the 2015 Major League Baseball season. Check back next week as we will have a complete list of winners and losers at the MLB trade deadline.

Winners:

San Francisco Giants: After a little rough patch, the Giants have gotten back on the right track picking up nine wins over their last ten games. This includes winning six straight games to move them within a half game of first place. Currently the Los Angeles Dodgers hold that spot at 56-44 while the Giants sit at 55-44. The teams recent hot stretch including winning two of three over the San Diego Padres before sweeping the Oakland A’s. The team added another win on Monday on the road at Milwaukee.

Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds: The Reds first baseman has been hot of late picking up 13 hits over his last seven games to help raise his average to .305 on the season. In that same stretch, Votto put together a five game stretch last week with at least two hits in each game. Overall Votto picked up one double, two home runs, four runs driven in, ten walks and nine runs scored. On the year Votto is hitting .305 with 18 home runs and 48 runs batted in for the Reds.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: The former Cy Young Award Winner has returned to the top form that we have seen from him over the past few seasons. This comes over his last three starts as he has fired two complete games along with another eight inning out. In that stretch, Kershaw allowed zero runs to go with 38 strike outs. In his last start last week against the New York Mets, Kershaw pitched a complete game shut out while striking out 11 total hitters.

Jacob deGrom, New York Mets: The Mets starter made two starts last week going 1-0 against the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers. In those two starts, deGrom allowed just two earned runs over 13 innings while striking out 16 total batters. For the season, the Mets starter is 10-6 with a 2.05 earned run average while striking out 128 total batters.

Losers:

Colorado Rockies: The bad news continues for Rockies fans as the team continues to sit in last place in the National League West division. This time the news doesn’t come with how bad the team has played but with the news that the team has traded away short stop Troy Tulowiztki. Tulo has been one of the faces of the organization but the team has had trouble building a winning ball club around him and Carlos Gonzalez. Now the team has another trouble task in deciding whether or not to keep Cargo.

Nick Ahmed, Arizona Diamondbacks: The Arizona Diamondbacks infielder continues to struggle as he has seen his average drop to just .223 on the year. His recent struggles include going just two for his last 20 over the past week. In that stretch, Ahmed picked up just one triple to go with one run batted in while striking out six times.

John Axford, Colorado Rockies: One Rockie who won’t be going anywhere before the MLB trade deadline is the teams current closer. Axford struggled his past week allowing runs in all four of his appearances including three blow saves. In that stretch, Axford allowed six earned runs on two home runs with five total walks. On the season, Axford has 16 saves in 33 appearances with a 3.90 earned run average.

Kyle Lohse, Milwaukee Brewers: The veteran starter has struggled this year in route to a 5-12 overall record and 6.24 earned run average. The struggles continued this past week as Lohse made two starts total allowing a combined nine earned runs on three home runs while walking six batters. In his last four outings, the Brewers have failed to pick up a win.

Kansas City Chiefs 2015 NFL Draft and Offseason Recap

Chris Maurice

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July 30, 2015

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Kansas City Chiefs 2015 NFL Draft and Offseason Recap

After looking like one of the best teams in the NFL in 2013, the Kansas City Chiefs struggled to a 9-7 finish this past season. The Chiefs were the only team to defeat both the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, so they clearly have potential; but before they can make it to the next level they have quite a few holes to fill.

The Chiefs offensive ineptitude was bad pretty often this past season. Andy Reid truly believes that Alex Smith can lead this franchise to and throughout the playoffs; but a Kansas City wide receiver hasn’t caught a touchdown since the end of the 2013 season, making Smith’s job even more difficult.

Basically, the Chiefs came into this offseason desperately in need of a go-to receiver for Smith and an offense line that can keep him on his feet. Justin Houston was franchised tagged, so at least they didn’t have to worry about that.

Reid and company did a great job of attacking these two glaring needs. First, they brought in wide receiver Jeremy Maclin who was pushed out of Philadelphia with the whole Chip Kelly-gone-crazy situation over there. The team released Dwayne Bowe the same day. Bowe was the best receiver on the roster, but that wasn’t saying much after this past season.

The very next day, the team brought in offensive lineman Ben Grubbs by sending a fifth-round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints. Grubbs isn’t coming off his best season, but he is still one of the better veteran guards in the NFL; and giving up a fifth-round pick is the best deal possible for a guard of his caliber.

Despite their great offseason, the Chiefs made some questionable decisions in the NFL Draft, starting with their first round selection of Marcus Peters out of Washington.

Peters was a fantastic coverage corner for Washington, one of the best in college football; but he was dismissed from the team due to his inability to get along with coaches and other team officials. This is a huge red flag, but Andy Reid personally visited Peters’ hometown leading up to the draft; and he must have really liked what he saw to take a gamble like this in the first round.

More recent reports indicate that Washington head coach Chris Petersen simply refused to deal with Peters or anyone else who didn’t buy into his newly-implemented system, but that still does not absolve the young cornerback. Being dismissed from the team is the most severe punishment a college athlete can receive, so putting all the blame on Petersen is clearly leaving something out.

The bottom line is Peters is an extremely talented corner with top-10 potential. Peters is good friends with Marshawn Lynch, so if the Seahawks running back can keep him on track, Reid may have gotten a great deal for his 18^th overall pick.

With their next two selections, the Chiefs brought in guard Mitch Morse out of Missouri and wide receiver Chris Conley out of Georgia. Both of these picks address the Chiefs immediate needs, especially Morse. 49^th overall was a little early to take a center or guard, but Morse is a player who can compete for a starting position this season and potentially be a solid contributor for years to come.

Overall, the Chiefs definitely could have done worse. They addressed their biggest needs, and on top of that they improved their defensive secondary. The team may not have done enough to compete with the Denver Broncos for the division title, but they will surely be able to keep up with the San Diego Chargers and the other teams competing for the AFC Wild Cards.

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