Ecstacy should come with the beautiful round leather game. Yes, football is an amazing joy giver if enjoyed chilled, with hot enthusiasts and friends. But it can also bring agony If you want a lot more than fun from it. Let's dissect it a bit, shall we?

When you think of a football team, probably you thing of 11 players and a few subs on the bench and the coach by the touchline. Truth be told, there are a lot of people behind the scenes. The physio's, the medics, the coaches, the trainers, the psychologist, the nutritionists, the security, all and sundry working in great synergy to make sure the team delivers. So much hard work, scientific knowledge and great skills put into the mix to deliver the excitement craved by the fans, and the results needed to remain in each competition. You can only imagine, and I encourage you to do so all the more each time you're served a delicious piece of soccer game!

If you're a football fan, imagine the joy of watching your darling team put on their best performance, especially as league rankings are now taking shape as the seasons have gone halfway. Your heart pumps with every attempt at goal and imagine the shear joy of winning the opponent, fair and square! Then, you know you've got a fulfilled weekend...just the joy, perhaps nothing more, yet you're fulfilled! And you have a whole lot to talk about for the rest of the evenings, over beers and barbeque with friends and foes, with your bragging rights freshly renewed and sympathies to those at the losing end; it's a game of football anyway, the winner takes it all, and the losers sulk and sink.

This group you must be wary of, else they can be a real jerk, joy killers, demons of agony, blood sucking leeches and bringers of doom. Sports betting companies or sites have converted the beautiful game into an economic guillotine for youths seeking financial breakthroughs. They make it look as though you can easily make millions in cash should you chose to do more than watch the games but also take part by supporting their predictions through betting. Often though, you lose your bet and they keep the cash. O yeah, you may not have know the global bookmaking industry is worth trillions of dollars, yes from your losses alone! Hell, yes, cos they don't sell company shares! So every stake you lose is profit for them. Poor you!

Sports betting seems to be a fancy trend among the young, old, male, female and queer. For many, the idea is pretty simple: pick a bet or more and make a stake and hopefully, today's your lucky day. But this hope is very bogus for numerous reasons. Yes, there are way too many unknowns in the game: an early red card to the presumably strong side, a bad day for the presumably reliable goal scorer, an unexpected injury, poor officiating, or even an own goal could change things quickly and gravely. (Don't rule out match fixing which has been argued to take on new dimension recently). So you can never guarantee your wining even if the odd is 1.01. Am I correct? Bookmakers need you to lose so they make profit!

To have a great soccer-filled weekend, enjoy the games with friends, talk about it objectively over beers and barbeque, resist the urge to bet, (yes, dO nOT bET!) then you'll have a great weekend!