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Pick to Win -- Raiders Lose, Raiders Lose
but all the easy games won...
Did BM's get crushed? I say, indeed they did as the blind squirrels found plenty of acorns
Courtesy of: I.M. Bettor
Boston Herald
I.M. BETTOR
BY THE NUMBERS
WEEK SIX WRAP
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003
This space has long worked by the axiom that if it looks too easy, be careful. Maybe I just have too much respect for the men making the gambling numbers, or maybe I’m just an addled paranoid child of the Sixties. But when I see numbers that look like the means to please Mrs. Bettor with those four-carat diamond studs from Shreve, Crump & Lowe, I simply balk.
Last week, the Dolphins and Bucs were but three-point favorites at Jacksonville and Washington respectively. The Saints were giving six at home vs. the Bears and the Ravens were only 5 ½ (5.5) favorites in the desert against the rather woeful Cardinals. On the surface, with no digging into reasons or applying any handicapping brush, each favorite had “easy win” stamped all over its helmet. But wait, this is the National Football Lottery, and in world of the NFL any given Sunday is supposed to scramble the obvious into a recipe for disaster.
Not so in Week Six. Each of the above made the number, even with the Dolphins and Bucs moving to 3 ½ (3.5) and Baltimore winding up at -6 in Arizona. Looking locally, when the weather came up damp and drizzly, huge money poured in on the visisting Giants. So much so that by 12:30 EDT, the Patriots had dropped from three to but 1 ½ (1.5)-point favorites.
Although local sports accountants may have taken the gong when the hometown heroes made the number, nationally and internationally the Patriots win was huge as wise guys from coast to coast backed the G-Men. In another big move, the Jets likewise attracted money and by kickoff, the Bills had dropped to one-point favorites. In other big moves, the Packers went from 1 ½ (1.5) to 2 ½ (2.5) point favorites, Dallas moved from taking one to laying 1 ½ (1.5) and the Titans dropped from 10 to 9-point favorites. As its done for much of the 2003 season, big money didn’t carry the day.
In this spot’s lone venture into Mr. Tagliabue’s Sunday Brunch Buffet, we had $330 riding on the Browns spotting three to the Raiders. While it was a struggle, the Browns prevailed by six and Oakland looked old in its sixth straight loss against the gambling number.
Working the $300 win into what’s gone before it, the mark after six weeks of punting stands at 6-2 that translates into a healthy and rather hefty $895 that we just may use for a February jaunt to the Castaways on Grenada for a few sniffers of Westerhall Rum and a platter of shrimp curry.
but all the easy games won...
Did BM's get crushed? I say, indeed they did as the blind squirrels found plenty of acorns
Courtesy of: I.M. Bettor
Boston Herald
I.M. BETTOR
BY THE NUMBERS
WEEK SIX WRAP
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003
This space has long worked by the axiom that if it looks too easy, be careful. Maybe I just have too much respect for the men making the gambling numbers, or maybe I’m just an addled paranoid child of the Sixties. But when I see numbers that look like the means to please Mrs. Bettor with those four-carat diamond studs from Shreve, Crump & Lowe, I simply balk.
Last week, the Dolphins and Bucs were but three-point favorites at Jacksonville and Washington respectively. The Saints were giving six at home vs. the Bears and the Ravens were only 5 ½ (5.5) favorites in the desert against the rather woeful Cardinals. On the surface, with no digging into reasons or applying any handicapping brush, each favorite had “easy win” stamped all over its helmet. But wait, this is the National Football Lottery, and in world of the NFL any given Sunday is supposed to scramble the obvious into a recipe for disaster.
Not so in Week Six. Each of the above made the number, even with the Dolphins and Bucs moving to 3 ½ (3.5) and Baltimore winding up at -6 in Arizona. Looking locally, when the weather came up damp and drizzly, huge money poured in on the visisting Giants. So much so that by 12:30 EDT, the Patriots had dropped from three to but 1 ½ (1.5)-point favorites.
Although local sports accountants may have taken the gong when the hometown heroes made the number, nationally and internationally the Patriots win was huge as wise guys from coast to coast backed the G-Men. In another big move, the Jets likewise attracted money and by kickoff, the Bills had dropped to one-point favorites. In other big moves, the Packers went from 1 ½ (1.5) to 2 ½ (2.5) point favorites, Dallas moved from taking one to laying 1 ½ (1.5) and the Titans dropped from 10 to 9-point favorites. As its done for much of the 2003 season, big money didn’t carry the day.
In this spot’s lone venture into Mr. Tagliabue’s Sunday Brunch Buffet, we had $330 riding on the Browns spotting three to the Raiders. While it was a struggle, the Browns prevailed by six and Oakland looked old in its sixth straight loss against the gambling number.
Working the $300 win into what’s gone before it, the mark after six weeks of punting stands at 6-2 that translates into a healthy and rather hefty $895 that we just may use for a February jaunt to the Castaways on Grenada for a few sniffers of Westerhall Rum and a platter of shrimp curry.