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Sorry if this story is boring, but I thought I would tell you about my own first experience with a sports service;I am sure many of you have similar stories to tell.
Anyways, let me give you a little background:
The time was sometime in the mid to late 1970's.
Sports Services as we know the term today were practically non-existent.
No one had pc's;there were no offshores, and the only way you get scores was by listening to the your local radio stations every 30 minutes for the lastest scores(in my case WCBS or WINS) or by calling the sportsphone every 10 minutes(boy did I have some whopping phonebills).
Most importanly people could not chat on the internet and exchange ideas and opinions on handicappers.
To the meat of the matter:
Since there were not comp. picks back then, I used to buy a Sports Publication which is still in existence called SportEye;this as many of you is for horseplayers, but at least back then there were some pretty good comp. plays for upcoming basketball plays.
Anyways, the paper came out twice a week, and one day I bought the paper to get the freebies(I probably could have just opened the paper at the newsstand and written down the picks without the paper, but I am not that cheap).
Anyways, on the same page with the basketball plays from those contributors who worked at the paper there was a little ad at the bottom from a service(as stated there were very few services back then) giving their record for last 3 or 4 weeks.
Obviously I don't remember all of the weekly records, but it was something akin to 8-1, 10-2, 11-3,12-4, etc.
Anyways, there was a phone number listed to call, and for $50 I could get a week of service(remember back then $50 was worth a lot more than it is today).
Anyways, I wasn't doing that well on my own;so I said what the heck and called the guy up.
Someone answered the phne;I believe he merely said hello, no "Sports" or blah and blah Servicem,etc.
I said who I was and asked him if he was really that good.
He gave me the usual speech about his many scouts, that he owned 4 bars in New York City, that he had purchased with his winnings, blah, blah, blah.
Being a novice at this and gullible back then(I was around 30 but had not bet much until that time) I took him at his word and went down to Western Union and wired him the $50.
To make a long story short, I called this guy every night and on weekends to get the picks.
The picks weren't horrendous;they went something like 6-8.
Ok, anyone can have a bad week, and I figured that I had just picked the wrong week to call and to go back on my home.
The next week I was curious to see what the guy said in the paper about his record fo the week before.
You guessed it;he said he was 10-1.
I was tempted to call and complain but decided not to telling myself the old saying "If something is too good to be true, it usually is."
Most importantly I learned a valuable lesson in life.
Lets come back to the present.
Obviously we live in a different era;most of us have computers, can get scores instantly, have offshores, etc.;some things have changed.
Re: claims by cappers;that is different, and as I am sure most of you will agree that the bs records given out by some cappers have not.
In the same way that a long running play may have different actors and actresses with the same script, the same principle applies to the scamdicappers
In short the scammers of the 70's have been replaced by a new breed of folks. but the "lines'(no pun intended) are the same, and their prime motive it to get your money.
Sorry for the long post but I thought at least some of then old timers(Memphis, Beloxi-no offense)) might get a chuckle out of it.
I would add that I beleive most of the cappers who advertise in the sports service section are honest, hard working and are trying to make some money.
On the other hand, it is obvious who the ones are who are operating on a more sinister level;anyone with an iq over 50 can figure out merely be reading their ads, which services are not telling it as it really is.
Anyways, let me give you a little background:
The time was sometime in the mid to late 1970's.
Sports Services as we know the term today were practically non-existent.
No one had pc's;there were no offshores, and the only way you get scores was by listening to the your local radio stations every 30 minutes for the lastest scores(in my case WCBS or WINS) or by calling the sportsphone every 10 minutes(boy did I have some whopping phonebills).
Most importanly people could not chat on the internet and exchange ideas and opinions on handicappers.
To the meat of the matter:
Since there were not comp. picks back then, I used to buy a Sports Publication which is still in existence called SportEye;this as many of you is for horseplayers, but at least back then there were some pretty good comp. plays for upcoming basketball plays.
Anyways, the paper came out twice a week, and one day I bought the paper to get the freebies(I probably could have just opened the paper at the newsstand and written down the picks without the paper, but I am not that cheap).
Anyways, on the same page with the basketball plays from those contributors who worked at the paper there was a little ad at the bottom from a service(as stated there were very few services back then) giving their record for last 3 or 4 weeks.
Obviously I don't remember all of the weekly records, but it was something akin to 8-1, 10-2, 11-3,12-4, etc.
Anyways, there was a phone number listed to call, and for $50 I could get a week of service(remember back then $50 was worth a lot more than it is today).
Anyways, I wasn't doing that well on my own;so I said what the heck and called the guy up.
Someone answered the phne;I believe he merely said hello, no "Sports" or blah and blah Servicem,etc.
I said who I was and asked him if he was really that good.
He gave me the usual speech about his many scouts, that he owned 4 bars in New York City, that he had purchased with his winnings, blah, blah, blah.
Being a novice at this and gullible back then(I was around 30 but had not bet much until that time) I took him at his word and went down to Western Union and wired him the $50.
To make a long story short, I called this guy every night and on weekends to get the picks.
The picks weren't horrendous;they went something like 6-8.
Ok, anyone can have a bad week, and I figured that I had just picked the wrong week to call and to go back on my home.
The next week I was curious to see what the guy said in the paper about his record fo the week before.
You guessed it;he said he was 10-1.
I was tempted to call and complain but decided not to telling myself the old saying "If something is too good to be true, it usually is."
Most importantly I learned a valuable lesson in life.
Lets come back to the present.
Obviously we live in a different era;most of us have computers, can get scores instantly, have offshores, etc.;some things have changed.
Re: claims by cappers;that is different, and as I am sure most of you will agree that the bs records given out by some cappers have not.
In the same way that a long running play may have different actors and actresses with the same script, the same principle applies to the scamdicappers
In short the scammers of the 70's have been replaced by a new breed of folks. but the "lines'(no pun intended) are the same, and their prime motive it to get your money.
Sorry for the long post but I thought at least some of then old timers(Memphis, Beloxi-no offense)) might get a chuckle out of it.
I would add that I beleive most of the cappers who advertise in the sports service section are honest, hard working and are trying to make some money.
On the other hand, it is obvious who the ones are who are operating on a more sinister level;anyone with an iq over 50 can figure out merely be reading their ads, which services are not telling it as it really is.
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