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They're up: the bowl game matchups and numbers. Bowl season is always exciting and challenging with multitudes of opinions and ideas offered in an effort to identify point spread winners.
We all start looking at the menu and first check out the dogs, then we determine which are the teams who put lots of people in the seats, and of course examine the strongest conference angle.
After many hours of handicapping the games, you step up and back your opinions with cash, only to miss the dreaded suspensions which traditionally come after mid-term exams. Now, it should shake out about 50-50 on whether you get the best or the worst of suspensions, but we only hear about the worst of it. However, that alone doesn't guarantee the books a winner.
Along with exams and vigorous student-athletes having a few extra days off, anything can happen and usually does. So booking the games is a pain in the butt as we face the inevitability of unknown factors over which we have no control influencing the lines.
This dilemma is accentuated by the static numbers that are on parlay cards, and which lay there until we make a decision on what to do. That is why we issue new cards every week covering the same games. By updating the numbers, we hope to avoid giving bettors any advantages. Truthfully, we prefer not to book parlay card or single game action under such circumstances.
Of course, it is not the players' job to worry about the books, but the unwritten rule is that after we accept your bet on a game in which you possess crucial undisclosed info, you tell us. That is as fair as it gets from both sides.
The first time I was involved in such a spot was the '78 Orange Bowl with Lou Holtz's Arkansas team facing Oklahoma, which if memory serves me, was about a 10 point favorite. But then Holtz suspended five players, including his two best running backs. The line adjustment came in as high as 16. We had taken play on both sides, and some guys beat me in and laid 10 and 11, but told me after making the second bet.
Now word spread quick back then, but not at ESPN speed, if you get my drift. Bettors who took the 10 early thought they got heisted, while those who laid the points were elated. BMs don't expect sympathy, but it was an uncomfortable spot and there wasn't anything anyone in the biz could do about it.
That was over 30 years ago, but police blotters around colleges today seem to be bigger than ever. During this period of uncertainty when grades as well as nightclubs and parties become a main focus on who takes the field, if you see a game taken off the board or card that is probably the cause.
So, this year's cat and mouse game will probably go on until Christmas, but as far as helping or hurting bettors, it tends to balance out in the long run. Oh, by the way, the “suckers” who took the undermanned Hogs +10 against the Switzer-led Sooners cashed tickets as the dog won the game outright 31-6. Lou won this game on the field and not from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Take Care,
Jimmy Vaccaro
We all start looking at the menu and first check out the dogs, then we determine which are the teams who put lots of people in the seats, and of course examine the strongest conference angle.
After many hours of handicapping the games, you step up and back your opinions with cash, only to miss the dreaded suspensions which traditionally come after mid-term exams. Now, it should shake out about 50-50 on whether you get the best or the worst of suspensions, but we only hear about the worst of it. However, that alone doesn't guarantee the books a winner.
Along with exams and vigorous student-athletes having a few extra days off, anything can happen and usually does. So booking the games is a pain in the butt as we face the inevitability of unknown factors over which we have no control influencing the lines.
This dilemma is accentuated by the static numbers that are on parlay cards, and which lay there until we make a decision on what to do. That is why we issue new cards every week covering the same games. By updating the numbers, we hope to avoid giving bettors any advantages. Truthfully, we prefer not to book parlay card or single game action under such circumstances.
Of course, it is not the players' job to worry about the books, but the unwritten rule is that after we accept your bet on a game in which you possess crucial undisclosed info, you tell us. That is as fair as it gets from both sides.
The first time I was involved in such a spot was the '78 Orange Bowl with Lou Holtz's Arkansas team facing Oklahoma, which if memory serves me, was about a 10 point favorite. But then Holtz suspended five players, including his two best running backs. The line adjustment came in as high as 16. We had taken play on both sides, and some guys beat me in and laid 10 and 11, but told me after making the second bet.
Now word spread quick back then, but not at ESPN speed, if you get my drift. Bettors who took the 10 early thought they got heisted, while those who laid the points were elated. BMs don't expect sympathy, but it was an uncomfortable spot and there wasn't anything anyone in the biz could do about it.
That was over 30 years ago, but police blotters around colleges today seem to be bigger than ever. During this period of uncertainty when grades as well as nightclubs and parties become a main focus on who takes the field, if you see a game taken off the board or card that is probably the cause.
So, this year's cat and mouse game will probably go on until Christmas, but as far as helping or hurting bettors, it tends to balance out in the long run. Oh, by the way, the “suckers” who took the undermanned Hogs +10 against the Switzer-led Sooners cashed tickets as the dog won the game outright 31-6. Lou won this game on the field and not from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Take Care,
Jimmy Vaccaro