The same can not be said for many of my friends. A handful of which (from both highschool and college) are full fledged sports gambling afficionados. They spend countless hours looking at point spreads and evaluating over/unders. In fact, one of my friends runs a sports gambling website in his spare time that I occasionally contribute to. Gambling (sports related or not) is such a part of his life that he can't go more than 10 minutes without making a bet of some sort. For example, in late August a bunch of us were in Atlantic City for a little guys weekend (golf, fantasy football draft, and a friend's birthday) and he must have made upwards of 30 bets in the course of 2 days. It got to the point where he wanted to bet someone on the amount of happy birthday Facebook wall posts our friend had received from midnight to the time of the proposed bet (3:30 am- give or take an hour).
Now I am no stranger to the world of sports betting. I briefly dabbled back in my college days. I figured that my knowledge of sports would serve me well and for a while it did. True to my nature I was a very conservative gambler. I usually only bet on 1-2 games a week and about $20 per contest. This all changed, however, when the opportunity to score big presented itself.
The day was Monday, November 28th, 2005. The Fairfield University basketball had started the year 0-2 and were poised for a miserable season. In town that night to take on the Stags were the 2-0 Providence Friars. Providence, led by Kennedy Catholic great Donnie "Be cool. You know me" McGrath, were by no means a powerhouse in the Big East, but they were much more talented than the bottom feeders of the MAAC.
My cousin who will not be named received a call from his dad in the early afternoon hours and he mentioned how Providence was only favored by 5 points. We were stunned by this information. We both agreed that Providence was more likely to win by 55 than Fairfield was to keep the score within 5. Although I had never bet on a college basketball game and I'd be breaking my own rule #1 of gambling (never bet against your own team) I was all set to place a hefty wager on the game. Minutes later that hefty wager soon turned into an all out splurge.
My cousin had played on the Fairfield basketball the year before and was still close with many of the players. He told me that one of Fairfield's star players was walking around on crutches after suffering an injury in practice the night before. I was convinced that the spreadmakers in Vegas had no knowledge of this injury; therefore this bet was truly a sure thing. So much so that I called a few of my friends from highschool and told them to bet the farm on Providence.
To say that Providence's 35-34 halftime lead made me feel uneasy would be an understatement. Not only were my armpits in full on fire hydrant mode, but a cold sweat slowly dripped down by back as I tried to reassure myself and my friends from home (the game obviously wasn't televised) that Providence would pull away in the second half.
Providence maintained a slim lead late into the second half and although they were clearly the inferior team Fairfield just would not quit. Finally Providence extended their lead to 9 with about 3 minutes to play and I quickly updated my friends from home.
As the final minutes counted down the Stags were in desperation mode. They were running a full court press, sending Providence to the free throw line when they didn't get a steal, and jacking up 3's on offense....and for some God forsaken reason they were making them. I've never seen Fairfield get so hot from behind the 3-point line. It was ridiculous.
With 10 seconds to play Providence had pushed their lead back to 5 at 80-75 and Fairfield was down to their final gasp. All I needed to win the bet was for Fairfield to miss a three and to have the Providence rebounder make 1 free throw on the other end. In a cruel twist of fate Alvin Carter, known for his rebounding and defense (aka he wasn't an offensive threat) banked in a three-pointer to cut the Providence lead to 2. Fairfield fouled immediately. The Providence player made 1-2 from the line and Fairfield heaved up a half court shot as time expired. Final score- Providence 81, Fairfield 78.
Rule #1- Never bet against your own team.
Not that I'm still bitter about that game or anything (I am), but I'm pretty sure that Alvin Carter had never even taken a three-pointer in practice, let alone in a game. Also, to illustrate how much better of a team Providence was. They shot 64% from the floor that night whereas Fairfield shot just 43%. For those of you that also bet on the game (I'm looking at you Kyle Korver), here is the boxscore.
After the game I vowed to never gamble on sports (through a bookie, website) etc. again.
I've held true to that vow, but I haven't completely eradicated gambling from my life because 1.) it makes things a lot more exciting and 2.) it's fun to make a little wager with a friend every once in a while.
To the best of my knowledge in the past year I have made six such bets.
1.) In May I bet my cousin who will not be named $50 that Syracuse guard Andy Rautins would be drafted in the NBA draft in late June. Rautins was selected in the 2nd round (38th overall) by the New York Knicks. My cousin claims that this was the luckiest bet of my life and that the bet was only $20 (which I have yet to collect on).
I want to say that there was also a bet as to whether or not he'd be on a team's opening day roster, which he was, but I can't remember all the details.
2.) In June I bet my buddy Mark on the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals. He, from Boston, had the Celtics and I had the Lake Show. The winner of the bet (me) won free drinks for a night (which I have yet to collect on).
That's 5 for Kobe in case you aren't keeping track at home.
3.) In July I bet my friend Jaclyn on who Ali would pick in The Bachelorette Finale. She thought that Ali would pick Chris and I thought Ali would pick Roberto. The winner of the bet (me) won a few drinks (which I have yet to collect on).
4.) During guys weekend in Atlantic City I bet my friend Alex, who runs the sports gambling site, $50 on the win total of the Tampa Bay Bucs. The line was set at 5 1/2 and I took the under. The Bucs are currently 5-2 (3-0 on the road) and would have to lose their last 9 games for me to win the bet.
5.) In an effort to make watching TV more enjoyable, Alex encouraged our friend RJ and me to partake in a fantasy draft of competitors on The Real World/Road Rules Challenge. We each put $20 down and drafted 3 guys, 3 girls, and a team (the draft was done via email). The rules stipulate that whoever has the most players left at the time of the final challenge wins. In the event of a tie, the team that we drafted serves as the tiebreaker. We weren't really sure how the show worked, but it makes sense. RJ's team is still completely intact and Alex and I have each lost a player.
By the way, this is the perfect example of how gambling makes everything more exciting. There is no chance that I would ever have wasted my time watching this show, but now that I'm invested in it I can't get enough.
6.) With the NBA season starting my excitement for the new look New York Knicks has gone through the roof (maybe that's what cause debris to fall from the Garden). After noticing that I was watching a Knicks game instead of a World Series game that I was working on, my boss and I got to talking and eventually a bet was made. For some reason (I'm mildly delusional when it comes to the Knicks) I claimed that the Knicks would finish ahead of the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference. Things are looking good so far as the Knicks are off to a hot 1-2 start and the Hawks have stumbled out of the gate, going 5-0.
Thankfully there is nothing riding on this bet other than my credibility as an NBA fan around the office.
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