By Chewy And Lewy
Greetings fellow sports gamblers! Well, the NCCA men’s tournament finished, and not too shockingly, Kansas prevailed over UNC. What was shocking was the manner in which they accomplished this, making a comeback to overcome the largest first-half deficit in the tournament’s title history. Now I was on UNC getting 4.5 so I was fine as a bettor with the outcome. However, I am sure there were a number of money line UNC bettors who were severely “disappointed” (aka very fu*king pissed). I almost bet the UNC money line, so I checked some of the second-half stats to see how Carolina managed to cough up a 15 point lead. The very first thing I checked were the calls made by the refs. Not surprising to me, the refs made calls (fouls and calls leading to turnovers like traveling) 7 against UNC and 2 against KU in the first 11:11 of the second half. Obviously, this doesn’t include non-calls which could have led to UNC turnovers and more KU scores or possessions (I wasn’t going to rewatch the game). Regardless, at around 9 minutes left in the second half, suffice it to say that KU had erased the deficit and taken the lead. Does this mean the refs threw the game in KU’s favor? I am not necessarily suggesting that. But I do think refs are human, they know a close game is more exciting for the fans, more compelling for the broadcasters and advertisers and ultimately better for the whole tournament. I would say subconsciously at the very least, the refs made it a closer game.
That being said, I am the first person to say most refs suck. I mean I really think a lot of these clowns think people come to watch them. You can see this in basketball when a ref calls charging with the ferocity of a Tiger fist pump after he sinks a 30-foot eagle putt. I mean why call blocking which is so boring when a charging call brings all the fans to their feet? Recently retired (thank God) MLB umpire Joe West personified an umpire of astounding mediocrity, consistently ranked at the bottom of umpires by MLB players, yet still was rewarded with being at the helm of some of baseball’s most important games. Oh, and did he ever make sure he was an element of each and every game. If you google how often MLB umpires get it wrong you will find there are tons of articles explaining how often – 20% seems to be a good consensus. One in five calls WRONG. Hello? I even saw an article that delved into two-strike bias, meaning when the count was something and 2, the next pitch was called a strike even if it was a true ball at a rate two times that when the strike count was lower. Unreal. And baseball wonders why they are losing fans. Bring on the robots please.
As a gambler, having the refs determine a game’s outcome is quite simply the absolute worst thing that can happen. Remember when the NFL refs went on strike and they had a couple of weeks with the Replacements? I don’t know which was worse, the movie or the reality (they BOTH sucked, sorry Keanu). When the refs get involved to change the game’s outcome, I can tell you it makes my blood boil. Tennis moved to an electronic eye decades ago – even McEnroe can’t make an argument against a machine. So now there is very little human involvement in the calls of tennis and the sport is better (and faster) for it. The MLB should take note. Balls and strikes are literally the entire game, yet MLB management still doesn’t believe in technology to ensure proper calls. Hey, maybe call the Astros, they seem to have a good feel for tech to track not just the ball but a catcher’s fingernails. And the camera wouldn’t even have to be hidden in the stands…..
Unsurprisingly, the place where I find the refs the least intrusive is the wonderful sport of hockey. There was that one mini-scandal where the ref was overheard saying he was trying to make a makeup call, but in general, I think those guys are getting it right. It’s a little annoying that they often get in the way of plays, but until they learn how to fly, I guess that’s going to be part of the game. And while power plays obviously can lead to easier scores, short-handed goals are a constant threat (thus giving the penalized team a chance to score too), and for sure no team’s power play is so strong that it ensures a goal. Basically, hockey exemplifies the qualities I love in America, hard-working players (like our citizens) and pretty democratic penalties where the refs (the government) can’t really screw the outcome up unless they do something nuts (ha, ok that’s debatable in the real world). Well enough of my bitching about the refs, hey they are just people too and while it often seems in hindsight that they screw up, I really do think they are all trying their best.
Our picks this week are Calgary PL, Toronto PL, CBJ/Detroit over, and NY Rangers ML. We had an ok week last week but definitely room for improvement. Let’s stay off the positive parlay and still hedge with the Costanza small just in case me and Lewy pull a Hindenberg. Best of luck to you all in these and all your other bets. Let’s go get those ducats!
Click HERE for a detailed explanation of why we like the picks of the week.
Last week’s results = +$15 (Single game picks 3-2, Costanza 0-1)
(FLA ML +$100, COL ML +$100, BOS ML +$100, CAR ML -$160, CGY PL -$100, Costanza -$25)
Our overall record can be seen HERE.
