Week 6- Lack of Sleep

 

2011 began Eric’s 4 year stint over in China.  His commitment on still making the trek back to Vegas was still very high.  I would typically pick him up at LAX and then make drive out with Eric acting like a zombie because he can’t sleep on flights.  He would always doze off for like 1-2 minutes and wake up thinking he was asleep for hours, expecting us to be almost to Vegas.  While the trips to Vegas were always a struggle, I loved driving him back to Vegas on that Sunday. This was typically when they made the selections for the tournament and we would spend the entire trip either predicting the seeds or making fun of John Thompson, who for some reason was always the commentator on the announcement shows on AM radio. 

 

And then there were the trips to Target, Walmart, and other random places to pick up supplies for the family.  So many times we would clear out all the children’s medicine at multiple stores.  Having a shopping cart full of this stuff was always entertaining.  And I loved watching Eric get so mad about trying to pack all this crap up on Sunday. 

 

Anyway, this was the year that we started to do group parlays for basketball.  Everyone would chip in $20 and pick one team and Eric would put in a parlay.  The payoffs would be pretty high.  We also had a penalty that if you were the only one that picked a loser, you had to pay for dinner.  Below is Eric’s story on his innocent mistake.  This was anything but innocent.   

 

 

Before the craps run, I placed my bets for the late afternoon games. I was doing well, and - for whatever reason - put in a few wacko bets for the afternoon. I don't like the Big East at all, so for no reason I took Florida State. I wanted to play a parlay as well, so I said "what the hell" and put in a $50 money-line parlay on VCU and Florida St. That means both of those underdogs have to win for me to get a nice 13-to-1 payout.

Anyway, before the Kansas game, the four of us got together to put in a group parlay for the two late games, Kansas-Illinois and Fla St-Notre Dame. We each would pick a side or total for a 4-way parlay.

Wiz took the Fla St under.
Layup took Kansas -8.
It was my turn. I had no feeling whatsoever on the Kansas over/under, so it was up to the Notre Dame/Fla St game, with ND giving 5.

I really didn't want to drag everyone down with me on the Floridat State flyer. And it was a flyer! There was no reasoning at all for me to pick them earlier in the day - it was just because I hated the Big East!

So I chose Notre Dame -5. Leland took the Kansas under. We put $25 down each to win a total of $1100 if all 4 came through.

Well, the Kansas game ended up 73-55 or so, so we were 2-0 for that game. It was down to the final game of the night, Fla St-ND.

Now, VCU was the upset of the day, and they beat Purdue, so now my underdog parlay to win $650 is live. And Florida State got out to a big early lead, shutting down Notre Dame....and the under was looking good....

Layup asked me what I have left for my betting slips. I showed him the Fla St bet and the live parlay.

He was a bit confused. "What did you do?"

Well, I don't really like the Florida State bet, I stammered.

"You hedged against us!"

No! That's not it at all!

I was really waiting for Sean Connery to show up.....in that scene from Entrapment, when he realizes that Catherine Zeta-Jones is a double agent...

"YOU'RE PLAYING BOTH SIDES!!!!!"

No! I protested. I just didn't want to take you down on a losing Florida State bet.......

Florida State, of course, won by 19 in another big upset; the under covered as well. I collected my Fla St straight bet, my VCU-Fla St parlay, and we lost the group parlay because of my pick........

Dinner that night was a bit cold as we watched the end of the game.

 

 Onto the games. 

 

Bucs at Eagles: Love the eagles here.  And boy what an amazing backdoor cover.

Dolphins at Jaguars:  Are we sure the right team is favored here?  I was high on the Dolphins earlier, but I’ve watched enough.

Rams at Giants:  Giants playing with their second string offense.  

Texans at Colts:  Colts have to be gutted after that Monday night loss.  Looking for some good effort from the Texans

Chiefs at Skins:  I don’t trust the Chiefs anymore.

Vikings at Carolina:  Vikings favored on the road? I’ll fade them again and again. 

Chargers at Ravens:  How are the Ravens giving less than 3 at home.  Chargers D is improved, but so is the Ravens offense. 

Bengals at Lions:  Think there is value on the Bengals on the road here.  I know the Lions are such a great story and they are fun to watch, but I think the Bengals will take care of business here.

Packers at Bears:  Packers still don’t seem right.   

Cards at Browns: This should be an amazing game.  Seems like everyone is injured on each side.  I’ll take the better O line

Cowboys at Pats:  I know that the Pats seem like the sharp play here.  O-line is back for them, but something is wrong with their D.  But I don’t see them keeping up with the Cowboys.

Raiders at Broncos:  Should have maximum effort by the Raiders here with Gruden gone. 

Seahawks at Steelers: I honestly don’t know who is worse, Big Ben or Geno.  Must win game for the Seahawks in a classic spot where the Steelers tend to fall short, but there are too many holes for the Seahawks and am I really going to take Geno on the road?  

Bills at Titans:  Everything that the Bills do well, the Titans suck at.  I’m not getting in front of this Bills train just yet.

 

Best Bets: Was doing so well and then got destroyed last week.  (34-38-1)

Eagles

Texans

Skins

Skins Over

Carolina

Ravens

Ravens over

Bengals

Bears

Browns

Cowboys

Raiders

Steelers

Bills

Bills Over

 

Supercontest 9-14-2

Bears

Panthers

Browns

Raiders