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Sportsbook Scene by Buzz Daly
Sportsbook Scene by Buzz Daly
December 5, 2001
Players Crash and Burn
As Bad Beats Come in Bunches
We didn't survey any bookmakers, but after Sunday's NFL results, lots of bettors were feeling like Custer at Little Big Horn, Napoleon at Waterloo . or the Taliban, anywhere in Afghanistan.
The sportsbook where we watched the games, Sunset Station, seemed to be populated with bettors on the wrong side of a few games that suddenly went south. We're not talking mere bad beats or back-door covers. We're talking fundamental breakdowns that had bettors furious.
Peyton Manning and the Colts vs. Baltimore was a popular choice, with many bettors getting the opening of +7, which was bet down to +6 by game time. With the Ravens leading 32-27, under two minutes left in the game and the Colts driving, even those with the worst of it spread-wise were feeling confident.
But with 1:34 left, Manning's scoring pass to Rod Woodson broke the heart and bankroll of Colts backers. Woodson of course is a Ravens DB, whose 47-yard INT return for a TD burned a lot of players' money. Normally, with so much real estate to negotiate enroute to the goal line, a DB will run out of bounds or get tackled. But Woodson took Manning's errant pass and was virtually unmolested as he streaked to the end zone.
Steelers fans were chirping most of the day, as the team's opponent, the seemingly hapless Minnesota Vikings, were losing comfortably by more than the opening number of -7 as well as the final number, which was driven all the way to -9½. Leading by a convincing 21-3 in the fourth quarter, and with Vikings star QB Culpepper sitting on the bench, it was concession time for Minny.
Unfortunately for Steelers' bettors, Vikings backup QB Todd Bouman didn't get the word. He engineered two scoring drives . not good enough to topple the Steelers, just those who bet on them.
Meanwhile, in the Chicago-Detroit matchup, the Guardian Angel for the Bears took an unusually long coffee break, figuring with an opponent like the Lions, Da Bears wouldn't need any heavenly help.
Wrong. By the time Chicago's good luck provider had punched back on the job, the Bears needed their usual dose of good karma. Lions kicker - the normally reliable Jason Hanson, who had missed a few FGs earlier - was lining up for a 21-yarder, which would have tied the game.
But Hanson couldn't fight off the pixie dust blown in his eyes by the Bears' Providential protector, and so the chip shot was shanked. After the game, Bears players knew the drill.
"We'd rather be lucky than good," was the mantra given to the media. Indeed.
What do the results of last weekend and others like it reflect? Simply that parity has kicked in with a vengeance.
During Monday Night Game's halftime interviews with three head coaches, the Ravens' Brian Billick neatly summed it up: "When a 3-8 team now beats an 8-3 team, it is no longer an anomaly," he stated.
Bad camera work by the networks covering the game is also not an anomaly. Recently on ABC-TV we saw this:
With the refs bringing in the marker to measure for a first down, before the chains were fully stretched the camera shifted away from letting us see the exact yardage. Instead, it showed the ref indicating with his outstretched hands how much was needed for a first down.
Only a TV director would think an approximation of reality is better than the real thing.
JUNK MAIL. We have smoking gun evidence that main stream marketing companies are joining hands with tout services to seek business.
Recently we received a two direct mail pitches - one for insurance from General Electric Capital Assurance Company, and the other for digital phone service from Worldcom Wireless. Just the usual junk mail.
But what was interesting was our address. Both letters were addressed to a name which we used several years ago in responding to a sports betting solicitation. It is a permutation of our name, which we never used before or since.
Apparently, touts are now selling the names of clients to companies who think those sucker lists are fodder for what they are selling.
If companies like G.E. and Worldcom are buying these lists from touts, sports bettors had better get ready for a deluge of direct marketing.
BUSINESS IS DOWN. In the course of setting up a radio interview with Costa Rica-based Score Sportsbook (www.scoresportsbook.com), we chatted with marketing manager Greg re the state of business.
He said it was a good year. Last weekend in particular saw a number of juicy decisions land for the book rather than the player.
However, volume is down, he stated. Handle for this year is falling short of projections.
Greg feels that since the book's clientele is so diverse, many customers might be doing their holiday shopping.
He also acknowledged that since 9-11, the U.S. economy has taken a serious hit, many people have lost their jobs and others are seeing reduced income.
Greg understands that for most players, betting is a lifestyle activity, and reduced business simply reflects economic realities in the U.S.
Please send questions, comments, etc., to buzzdaly@aol.com.
December 5, 2001
Players Crash and Burn
As Bad Beats Come in Bunches
We didn't survey any bookmakers, but after Sunday's NFL results, lots of bettors were feeling like Custer at Little Big Horn, Napoleon at Waterloo . or the Taliban, anywhere in Afghanistan.
The sportsbook where we watched the games, Sunset Station, seemed to be populated with bettors on the wrong side of a few games that suddenly went south. We're not talking mere bad beats or back-door covers. We're talking fundamental breakdowns that had bettors furious.
Peyton Manning and the Colts vs. Baltimore was a popular choice, with many bettors getting the opening of +7, which was bet down to +6 by game time. With the Ravens leading 32-27, under two minutes left in the game and the Colts driving, even those with the worst of it spread-wise were feeling confident.
But with 1:34 left, Manning's scoring pass to Rod Woodson broke the heart and bankroll of Colts backers. Woodson of course is a Ravens DB, whose 47-yard INT return for a TD burned a lot of players' money. Normally, with so much real estate to negotiate enroute to the goal line, a DB will run out of bounds or get tackled. But Woodson took Manning's errant pass and was virtually unmolested as he streaked to the end zone.
Steelers fans were chirping most of the day, as the team's opponent, the seemingly hapless Minnesota Vikings, were losing comfortably by more than the opening number of -7 as well as the final number, which was driven all the way to -9½. Leading by a convincing 21-3 in the fourth quarter, and with Vikings star QB Culpepper sitting on the bench, it was concession time for Minny.
Unfortunately for Steelers' bettors, Vikings backup QB Todd Bouman didn't get the word. He engineered two scoring drives . not good enough to topple the Steelers, just those who bet on them.
Meanwhile, in the Chicago-Detroit matchup, the Guardian Angel for the Bears took an unusually long coffee break, figuring with an opponent like the Lions, Da Bears wouldn't need any heavenly help.
Wrong. By the time Chicago's good luck provider had punched back on the job, the Bears needed their usual dose of good karma. Lions kicker - the normally reliable Jason Hanson, who had missed a few FGs earlier - was lining up for a 21-yarder, which would have tied the game.
But Hanson couldn't fight off the pixie dust blown in his eyes by the Bears' Providential protector, and so the chip shot was shanked. After the game, Bears players knew the drill.
"We'd rather be lucky than good," was the mantra given to the media. Indeed.
What do the results of last weekend and others like it reflect? Simply that parity has kicked in with a vengeance.
During Monday Night Game's halftime interviews with three head coaches, the Ravens' Brian Billick neatly summed it up: "When a 3-8 team now beats an 8-3 team, it is no longer an anomaly," he stated.
Bad camera work by the networks covering the game is also not an anomaly. Recently on ABC-TV we saw this:
With the refs bringing in the marker to measure for a first down, before the chains were fully stretched the camera shifted away from letting us see the exact yardage. Instead, it showed the ref indicating with his outstretched hands how much was needed for a first down.
Only a TV director would think an approximation of reality is better than the real thing.
JUNK MAIL. We have smoking gun evidence that main stream marketing companies are joining hands with tout services to seek business.
Recently we received a two direct mail pitches - one for insurance from General Electric Capital Assurance Company, and the other for digital phone service from Worldcom Wireless. Just the usual junk mail.
But what was interesting was our address. Both letters were addressed to a name which we used several years ago in responding to a sports betting solicitation. It is a permutation of our name, which we never used before or since.
Apparently, touts are now selling the names of clients to companies who think those sucker lists are fodder for what they are selling.
If companies like G.E. and Worldcom are buying these lists from touts, sports bettors had better get ready for a deluge of direct marketing.
BUSINESS IS DOWN. In the course of setting up a radio interview with Costa Rica-based Score Sportsbook (www.scoresportsbook.com), we chatted with marketing manager Greg re the state of business.
He said it was a good year. Last weekend in particular saw a number of juicy decisions land for the book rather than the player.
However, volume is down, he stated. Handle for this year is falling short of projections.
Greg feels that since the book's clientele is so diverse, many customers might be doing their holiday shopping.
He also acknowledged that since 9-11, the U.S. economy has taken a serious hit, many people have lost their jobs and others are seeing reduced income.
Greg understands that for most players, betting is a lifestyle activity, and reduced business simply reflects economic realities in the U.S.
Please send questions, comments, etc., to buzzdaly@aol.com.