Steelers-Chargers gamblers: Get over it

by | Nov 17, 2008 | NFL Gambling

The first item in Peter King’s column this morning at SportsIllustrated.com indicated that the officiating call nullifying a touchdown on the last play of the Pittsburgh-San Diego game created a $66 million swing for gamblers.

Apparently $100 million was wagered on this game, $66 million of it on the Steelers, who were favored by four points, give or take depending on the venue. Thus, the final play was the difference between the Steelers covering the spread or not.

Conspiracy theorists apparently have concocted a brilliant story about the league getting a call from someone in Vegas discussing all the money that would be lost if the Steelers were allowed to keep the touchdown and then relaying that information on to game official Scott Green.

Conspiracy theorists, get over it.

NFL officiating has been, at times, abysmal this season. Quarterbacks might as well be wearing dresses for all the late hit calls and none of the zebras seem to be able to figure out what a fumble is anymore, which has screwed San Diego more than once.

But this was a remarkably fluky play at the end of a weird game that didn’t make a difference in the outcome of the game. Both teams, especially the losing Chargers, wanted to get off the field and Green was probably rushed a little bit into making the call, which, though wrong, was that LaDainian Tomlinson’s lateral went forward, thus ending the play.

It was weird, but I am highly, highly skeptical that there was anything crooked about it. It was too confusing a situation that happened way too fast for anything untoward to take place. So, gamblers, get over it. Sure, I like to see Vegas get beaten as often as possible. But football is a quirky game and weird things are going to happen sometimes.

if you can’t afford to lose it, don’t bet it in the first place.

Critics of Raiders offseason – including us – vindicated

by | Nov 14, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

We here at Zoneblitz.com were moderately amused by – and critical of – several of the moves made by the Oakland Raiders during the last off-season. And we weren’t the only ones, not by a long shot.

The team threw eight-figure signing bonuses at a half-dozen players who, at least from an educated fan’s perspective, didn’t make any sense.

We even had the audacity in March to suggest that perhaps the team, ergo Al Davis, was trying to sign a collection of stiffs and dogs so gross that it would put Lane Kiffin in an unwinnable situation and give Davis a reason to get rid of him.

Well, it’s mid-November. The Raiders have the league’s highest payroll this year for yet another 2-7 record.
Kiffin is gone. A couple of the lesser-name guys like defensive end Kalimba Edwards, who has five sacks, have turned out to be solid additions. But as far as the big-name guys who backed Brinks trucks up to the front office complex to drive their bonus bucks home, we’ve been pretty close to right on the mark.

Here a synopsis of how some of the Raiders’ high-profile signings have worked out so far this season:
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Reviewing Week 10 Best Bets

by | Nov 13, 2008 | NFL Gambling

I’m back, baby!!!

Okay, that’d be a stupid thing to think when it comes to gambling. And it probably does nothing more than tempt fate. But I did hit three of four Best Bets during week 10, just a week after flubbing all four of my picks.

Game by game, the Giants hung on to beat the Eagles straight up. The Vikings held on to beat Green Bay by a point but the Packers covered the spread. And Baltimore slobberknocked Houston, so not only did I hit my first three picks but they were all underdogs – a valuable thing when betting for real in Vegas.

I did stumble on picking the over in the San Diego v Kansas City tilt. But my 3-1 mark for the week brings me to 5-6 for the three weeks I’ve been doing these picks – not bad … if you take out the 0-4 second week. Uggh.

So, anyway, here we go with Best Bets Version 3:

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Jury awards former football stars $28.1 million

by | Nov 10, 2008 | Business of Football, NFL Breaking News

Jurors in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Monday awarded more than 2,000 former professional football players a $28.1 million verdict against the NFL Players Association and its licensing and marketing division, after determining that the union and its subsidiary, Players Inc., failed to market retired players’ marketing rights under a group licensing authorization contract.

The contract was supposed to cover licensing of electronic games, collectables, and other merchandise. The jury award included more than $7 million in actual damages and $21 million in punitive damages for the claim, which was originally filed by Herb Adderley.

Adderley wept following the announcement and told the Associated Press “I won three Super Bowls and this feels better than all of them combined.” NFLPA Acting Executive Director Richard Berthelsen told the AP the union planned to ask U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup to toss out the verdict. If that fails, the union intends to appeal.

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Best Bets? We’ll try again this week

by | Nov 9, 2008 | NFL Gambling

Well, last week anyone reading this page would have been better off betting against me – they’d probably be on their way to an early retirement, in fact.

One lesson I think I should learn is to just stay away from betting on Cincinnati games. You just never know what is going to happen when the Orange and Black hit the field this season.

In fact, bad teams in general have tended to screw me up this season, so perhaps staying away from Oakland, St. Louis and Detroit would be wise as well…

Nah.

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