Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 26 May 2009 /

While on my way to St Ives I saw a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats, and each cat had seven kittens. Kitten, cats, sacks, wives - how many were going to St Ives?

All you Die Hard fans will know that the answer needed to save the day is one. However, there seems to be a lot more pressing questions than who is going to St Ives here. Firstly there's a man who is just roving around with seven wives in tow who are all seemingly quite happy with the situation. Secondly, how strong are these women? Seven sacks each containing seven cats and 49 kittens would take some serious elbow grease. And thirdly, surely the NSPCA should be getting involved here! That's a total of 56 felines being carried around in each sack, surely a little cramped in even the most spacious of sacks.

I've put my multiplying skills to better use this week to come up with this week's Multiple...

Bet One: Football - Champions League
The eyes of the world will descend on the Stadio Olimpico in Rome this Wednesday in eager anticipation of European football's show piece.
Despite a rather unsavoury night in south-west London we have undoubtedly got the final that everyone (bar Chelsea fans) wanted to see. The best team in England take on the best team in Spain in a game which is likely to answer some questions and add fuel to the fire in equal measure surrounding the debate of which is the greatest league in world football.
Much of the conclusion of that argument, and in-turn this game, will centre around the two greatest players in the world today. If either Messi or Ronaldo can get a strangle hold on the final, they have the potential to single-handedly win this competition, if they don't perform it will be left to the supporting cast to carry the torch.
For two teams that are so evenly matched throughout, any slight edge or seemingly trivial weakness could make the difference on Wednesday. Man Utd have the upper hand in terms of experience and to my reckoning have the stronger of the two defences.
It should be a classic, and it could take longer than 90 minutes to separate these two, but I expect Man Utd to come out on top as both the players and managers' experience on this stage shines through.
Selection: Lay Barcelona to beat Man Utd @ [2.9]

Bet Two: Cricket - Twenty 20 Cup
Worried about filling that void left by the conclusion of the IPL before the launch of the T20 World Cup? Fear not, as England's very own T20 cup kicks off this week for 10 days of non-stop action taking us right up until the opening game of the world cup.
You won't see any fireworks, ticker tape or scantily clad dancers on the boundaries here and thankfully there won't be any mention of 'DLF'ers' or 'Citi Moments of success'. But you can be certain that there will be no shortage of the drama that comes as part of the package with T20 cricket.
The Sky cameras will be in Hove on Thursday night to witness Sussex take on Essex. Sussex suffered a nine wicket defeat in their opening game against Hampshire, and Dwayne Smith aside (63 from 47 balls) nobody really got going with the bat. Essex had to settle for a point as the weather put pay to their chances of victory after posting a more than respectable 187 from their 20 overs.
Selection: Back Essex to beat Sussex @ [1.9]

Bet Three: Tennis - French Open
The second Grand Slam of the year is well under way, and there'll be no more buoyant a man in Paris than Rafael Nadal. He is the king of the clay and Roland Garros is his castle, but as the Romans learnt there is always more than one man looking to dethrone a leader.
As far as betting prospects go you will need to luck further afield than the usual suspects in the early rounds as their superiority is reflected in their extremely short prices. It's the 30th seed Victor Hanescu who interests me on day four, as he takes on Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
The Romanian has recently achieved his career high ranking of #32 in the world and all nine of his career titles (only one on the ATP tour) have come on clay. His head to head record against his second round opponent is evenly shared with both players winning two matches, but the latest meeting came in Qatar where Hanescu won in straight sets.
On paper this looks a very even match up, but with the odds on offer, the value has to be to take Hanescu.
Selection: Back Hanescu to beat Youzhny @ [2.7]

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