It’s never too late to cash in on Federer

After winning his record-tying seventh Wimbledon men's singles title Sunday, Roger Federer wasn't the only person in seventh heaven.

The late Nicholas Newlife lived up to his name when he cashed a futures bet on Federer from the great sports book in the sky.

Newlife, an Englishman who died in 2009 at age 59, bet in 2003 the equivalent of $2,350 at 66-1 odds that Federer would win seven Wimbledon titles before 2020.

The winning wager, which paid $155,000, went to the anti-poverty charity Oxfam, to which Newlife had left his entire estate.

Newlife had previously won more than $25,000 for Oxfam - on a $387 wager at 66-1 odds - when Federer won his 14th Grand Slam title in 2009.

According to Oxfam, Newlife made a series of futures bets with bookmaker William Hill from 2000 to 2005 on Federer, American tennis star Andy Roddick and West Indies cricket player Ramnesh Sarwan.

We're betting big that under a total of two readers have heard of Sarwan.

■ JUST A BIT OUTSIDE - Before managing the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star Game on Wednesday, 51s manager Marty Brown poked fun at his fielding foibles early in his playing career.

Drafted as a first baseman by the Cincinnati Reds in 1985, Brown was moved to third base in 1986, when he made a whopping 40 errors for Single-A Cedar Rapids. Despite his struggles, Brown was still voted the Midwest League's "infielder with the strongest arm."

"I think I got all my votes from the people in the stands behind first base," he said.

Brown bounced back the next season, when he led the Double-A Eastern League in fielding percentage.

"It's kind of embarrassing when you go in the clubhouse and every bit of catching gear we had would be in my locker," he said. "It was a joke, but to me it wasn't a joke, so I just worked hard and got better."

■ NO COKE, PEPSI - Countless Las Vegas visitors have consumed their share of $100 beers, in which they drop a c-note in a slot machine and leave with only a "free" drink to show for it.

Ronaldinho can relate. The Brazilian soccer star was caught on camera at a news conference drinking the equivalent of a $750,000 can of Pepsi. This didn't sit well with Coca-Cola, which terminated its $750,000-per-year endorsement deal with him.

■ JUST DEW IT - On the subject of soda, Cincinnati Reds prospect Billy Hamilton appears to be a natural to endorse Mountain Dew.

The speedster, who has 104 stolen bases in 82 games this season for Single-A Bakersfield (Calif.), credits the soda for his success.

"It's the Dew. There's something about Mountain Dew that gets me amped up," he said. "I feel like if I drink Mountain Dew, everything in my body gets ready to go. It helps me steal bases. Even the coaches will bring it to me."

That's good enough for us. Forget Gatorade and milk - there go our sponsorships - drink the Dew. It does a body good.

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL