Behind The Betting Lines Nov 9 2003

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.