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March 2006
Shouldn't sportswriters, journalists and commentators know something about odds and oddsmaking before they issue proclamations and offer opinions on gambling? Didn't a newspaper columnist look foolish writing that oddsmakers blew the line on a second round NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament game between North Carolina and George Mason because the Tar Heels, a 6-point favorite, lost the game by five points? Isn't it true that the line cannot be validated or invalidated by the score of the game because only the wagering on a game can do that? And wasn't the betting on the game balanced, meaning that oddsmakers put out a good line?
Shouldn't boxing announcers, including HBO's esteemed Jim Lampley, understand that when he says a boxer is a "5/1 favorite" he really means the boxer is a 1/5 favorite? Is it so difficult to understand that the number before the slash is what you win and the number after the slash is what you bet?
Why can't basketball announcers comprehend that it's not an upset if a lower seed beats a higher seed in the Big Dance unless the lower seed was the wagering underdog? So, when 12th seeded Texas A&M, which went off as a one-point favorite, beat fifth seeded Syracuse in the opening round, that was no upset, right? Doesn't the same hold true for 10th seeded NC State, a two-point favorite, which beat No. 7 California in the first round?
If sportswriters and journalists don't understand odds then political commentators are even worse, aren't they? Didn't Newsweek writer Howard Fineman sound ridiculous when he told Hardball's Chris Matthews that he gauged the chances of Samuel Alito being confirmed to the Supreme Court as "odds-on, maybe 7/5 or 8/5?" If he was going to use a betting term, shouldn't Fineman have known that "odds-on" means "less than even money?"
If you made a total on how many times ESPN's Mel Kiper began a sentence with the words, "You look at" during the last NFL Draft wouldn't the over/under have to be around 300? And wouldn't you still bet the 'over'?" If you ask Dick Vitale a question, isn't it even money that the first three worlds out of his mouth will be "Well, you know?"
If all those shots, passes, catches, saves, moves and plays are that "unbelievable," why do you believe that each one happened? If we have a "red-shirt freshman" then isn't everyone else just a freshman or do we really need the term "true freshman?"
Be honest, when you learned that a big hairy guy was coming to New York did you think of King Kong or Johnny Damon?
Given the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, shouldn't the NCAA turn its wrath on nicknames of natural disasters rather than those named after Native American tribes? Are the Miami Hurricanes, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Iowa State Cyclones, and maybe even Tulane Green Wave, next on the NCAA's politically correct hit list?
Doesn't tennis great John McEnroe have a radio show on XM satellite because he "cannot be Sirius?"
Why did Nolan Ryan try to bring a knife on board a flight from Austin, Texas, recently? Remember when Ryan could handle the opposition with just his fastball?
What are the odds that steroid cheats Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro never get voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Speaking of Bonds, wasn't Giants Manager Dusty Baker a bit disingenuous when he said that he asked other players if they'd used steroids but never asked Bonds? Isn't that like investigating Dick Cheney's hunting accident by questioning a pheasant?
Aren't golf futures the toughest to beat because unlike sports such as baseball, football, basketball, hockey and tennis, your pick has to defeat every other player or team in the field?
Didn't Pat Day retire from racing, claiming that God told him to give up riding horses and do the Lord's work? Don't you know someone who swears (literally) that the very same God told him to drink, gamble and chase women? Staying with Day a minute, didn't he have it awfully easy at those track autograph sessions? Should he have given Kent Desormeaux and Patrick Valenzuela a few pounds, er, letters?
Was it surprising to you when Shaquille O'Neal, who wants to be a law enforcement officer when he gives up basketball, chased a man charged with assault halfway around Miami? Isn't Shaq's pursuit of an accused felon a bit curious when you consider that he couldn't run down Rasheed Wallace at the 3-point line?
Wasn't the Shaq and Kobe hug and makeup at the NBA All-Star Game the most phony display of public affection since Madonna kissed Britney?
Did you see where two Olympic medal-winning horses had their medals stripped after flunking drug tests? Whatever happened to 'Just say neigh'?
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