Pitchin with Pritch: Nothing’s ever a sure bet
A gambling complex is being planned to be built in Southwest Lincoln. Not sure what all will be included but sports betting is pretty big in a lot of places.
You can almost find anything to bet on if you look hard enough.
One bet a lot of sport gamblers make is what team will win and will they cover point spread on the game that Vegas has set.
I ran across a story about a gambler who made a bet on the Seahawks and Eagles football game a couple of weeks ago.
The Seahawks are having a pretty good season while the Eagles are struggling a little. So, the Seahawks were the favored team and the spread on the game was 6.5 points. That s means the Seahawks had to win by seven since there isn’t a way to win by 6.5 points.
The Seahawks were winning the game in the 4th quarter and were covering the spread. However, Philadelphia managed to complete a Hail Mary, garbage-time touchdown and added a two-point conversion in the last 12 seconds.
That cut Seattle’s lead to six, 23-17, meaning they were no longer covering the spread.
Now I am pretty sure that all the Seattle cared about was winning the football game BUT some person had made a bet that Seattle would win and cover the spread—their bet was $500,000 dollars.
Now I feel sorry for someone who lost $500,000 dollars but the tears were few, because if you have $500,000 and that is how you want to spend it, fine. You better be able to afford it if you bet it.
The first time I ever went to Las Vegas, the bus driver who took us from the airport to downtown told us he had a sure fire method for all of us to double our money-—fold it over, and put it back in your pocket! Good advice.
Good luck, bad luck
Another instance of good luck and bad luck involved two teams in Alabama that were playing for the 7A high school state championship.
With just over a minute left in the game, Thompson High School players were certain their year would end as runners-up in the state championship game.
They had just turned the ball over on a fumble and were trailing 28-19 to Auburn High School. Auburn then ran the clock all the way down to 30 seconds left in the game.
Sometimes you think there is no way for a team to mess that situation up but then you hear about something like this game.
The Auburn team had gone to their victory formation and Thompson had two time-outs so now there are only 18 seconds left and Auburn has to punt. That still seems pretty safe if you play your cards right.
But on the punt, Thompson blocked it and returned for a touchdown. Now you know an on-side kick is coming, and sure enough, there it was. Thompson recovered on the 46-yard line.
Now, with not much time remaining, and Thompson having no time-outs left, all Auburn had to do was get a couple of stops and the game was theirs.
But the football gods were looking down on Thompson and they ended up kicking a 35-yard field goal to win the state championship.
It doesn’t hurt to have a good team and a little bit of luck to win a game that looked impossible to win with very little time left.
Husker cut-outs
COVID-19 has cut into the finances that college teams are used to having, but I did see that the cut-outs at Memorial Stadium brought in $600,000. That’s not close to the financial impact that COVID has had, but I was surprised at the amount the cut-outs brought in.
I wrote this week’s column earlier than normal. Nebraska plays Doane tonight (Dec. 17) and the football team goes to the blizzard in the east to play Rutgers (Dec. 18) in what will probably be their last football, game of 2020.
Nebraska didn’t have Doane on their schedule but both teams agreed to play because of missed games etc. that have gone with 2020.
Hopefully the Huskers will be better prepared for Doane than K-State was for good old Fort Hays State University.
I have no clue what to expect for the football game Friday night. Whatever happens, happens and we move closer to 2021 and hopefully a better year in all aspects.
So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the readers!
We still have a ton of things to be grateful for this year. The good Lord has been very good to me again this year.