Behind The Betting Lines
Nov
9 2003 By Wilson King
NFL Football Sports Betting - Inside the NFL
football betting lines
In my haste to deliver you a blow-by-blow
account of this Saturday’s college football action, as well as
solicit answers to some of the most pressing social questions of
our time, I failed to bring to light one of the most puzzling
moments in sports broadcasting history. While there wasn’t a
person with a pulse that missed Kellen Winslow Jr.’s
dissertation on the art of war, the truly blessed got to witness
Brian Bosworth’s commentary on the outburst during the TBS
coverage of the Cal vs.Oregon game. After watching the
editorial, I wondered aloud at what point during the broadcast
did the television executives decide it was a good idea to have
The Boz comment on proper etiquette by college students? And
was Dexter Manley unavailable?
But those questions aside, less than twelve
hours after our big money Saturday came to an end, it was time
to get down to business and see if we could top last Sunday’s
windfall. If we were going to do so, we would need dogs across
the board, as the public continued the trend of looking for
favorites to cover both at home and on the road.
The usual suspects were present in this
week’s popular plays as most folks liked the New York Football
Giants hosting Atlanta, Pittsburgh at home against Arizona and
Miami visiting Tennessee. In addition, squares jumped all over
Seattle plus three at Washington and Tampa giving three and a
half at Carolina. These last two games accounted for our two
biggest decisions of the day.
Given the Redskins’ recent history, it was
not a surprise that most folks thought Washington would falter
as the “fun and gun” looks more and more like the “slap and
tickle” with each passing week. It was also no surprise that
the public called for Tampa to avenge their previous loss to
Carolina; however, wiseguys, Jake Delhome’s mother, Steve
Spurrier’s wife and Sports Insighters were the only ones who
weren’t surprised when both Washington and Carolina won
outright, delivering significant winnings to most books. These
wins, in addition to wins by Atlanta, Tennessee, and
Jacksonville put us on pace for the season’s highest pay day.
Despite the good start, the late games were
not as kind as they could have been. Although we picked up a
major decision in the San Diego game, Oakland’s three point push
enabled a ton of exotics to hit, costing us some of our hard
earned profits. However, by the time the late game rolled
around, we were sitting pretty, still up big on the day and
looking for our second consecutive big money weekend.
I am not quite sure who we needed in the
ESPN night cap, because I was knocked unconscious when linesman
Tony Spinner, apparently motivated by Ray Lewis’ “mic’d up”
segment, charged across the room and knocked me out with
shoulder block to the ribs. When I finally came to, the game
was over and everyone had gone home for the night. It was a
fitting end to a hard hitting day.
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