Sports & Gaming News
“VEGAS AL” AND THE NEW ETTIQUETTE OF RUNNING UP THE SCORE

By Kevin O’Neill

I know he’s arrogant, I know that his combo with John Madden would have been a lot better five years ago, and I know he makes a lot more mistakes than he used to, but you’ve got to love Al Michaels having the stones to make his pointspread references. He made some kind of “that wasn’t an earthquake that shook Vegas” comment when the Giants took their intentional safety. I don’t think there’s another guy in his business that would do that. “Vegas Al” would really look like he’s on top of things if he said something along the lines of “that caused a tremor that was felt from Vegas to the Caribbean.”

Before the Monday night game ABC’s “Primetime Monday” had a story on the Drexel fraternity brothers who were ripping off other bettors through the pari-mutuel system and mercifully got caught when they had the only six winning tickets in last year’s Breeders’ Cup pick six. They interviewed Glenn DaSilva, who can only be described as an arrogant prick. DaSilva had not an ounce of remorse, and is angry with his buddy for cooperating with authorities, saying that they only had circumstantial evidence. (OK, you have the only six winning tickets and your connected to a guy inside the system, and you really think the evidence is circumstantial?) He clearly had fed the interviewer information that his buddy helped with computers and he helped the guy get girls, then acted embarrassed at the suggestion he was a ladies man. (No word on his love life in prison). Just a smarmy, clueless, jerk who was soooooooo excited to be on TV and thought he was coming off as some kind of bon vivant sophisticated gambler.

ABC did a pretty mediocre job with the story. They didn’t explain how odd and obvious it was for them to single the first four winners and then go all/all in the last two. They didn’t explain that it was a dead giveaway that they had a $12 combo when the most well funded syndicates are simply trying to hit a $2 ticket. They never even touched on the fact that these guys were stealing not from some faceless casino, but from other bettors in the pari-mutuel system (an interview with Andy Beyer would have been perfect). You read ABC’s story at
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/Sports/breeders_cup_031124-1.html. We were flattered that some felt we had the most lucid explanation of the scandal when we reported on it last year at http://www.consumerbet.com/sgn_old/10_31_02.html .

First Oklahoma takes some flack for “running up the score” against Texas A&M in their 77-0 home win. This is despite the fact that Jason White didn’t play in the second half and the Sooners didn’t throw a pass in the final 25 minutes of the game. The following week Nebraska defensive coordinator Bo Pelini accuses Kansas State of running up the score in K-State’s 38-9 win in Lincoln. Kansas State did score a TD with 1:31 left in the game to stretch out a 38-7 lead, but it was scored by a backup fullback and part of a three play, 51-yard drive of nothing of handoffs to running backs. Apparently, Pelini wanted KSU to go into the victory formation and take a knee so as not to further expose his defense’s deficiencies. Husker head coach Frank Solich tacitly supported Pelini’s view.

Some complained about both Oklahoma and Kansas State still having their first string defenses in for too long. OU had some of their top-notch defenders still playing in the third quarter and K-State never changed their defensive rotation. Is there now the concept of running up the score from a defensive perspective? If your opponent can’t stop you and you build up a big lead do you have to let the opponent have a crack at your second team defense to be a gentleman? What if they have a goal to shut you out? Should your opponent’s defensive weakness prohibit you from attempting to achieve your defensive goals?

A few thoughts about the “victims” in this instance. Texas A&M coach Mike Franchione makes $2,000,000 per year and threw a TD pass in the 4th quarter earlier this season in A&M’s 73-10 win over Baylor. This may be why no complaints emanated from the Texas A&M coaching staff; they were simply spoken of in the media. Nebraska’s Solich makes $1.1 million per year, though his job is rumored to be in jeopardy. If scoring 38 points is a sign of running up a score, Solich has run up scores with great frequency. The Cornhuskers have scored 38 points or more 32 times in six years under Solich. Bo Pelini makes over $200,000 per year in salary, and more in outside income. These gentlemen are in high paying jobs in a high-pressure career of their choosing. They should be able to take it when they lose without saying “those other guys were too mean”.

Recently in the Stardust Invitational when queried about my business and the state of the sports handicapping industry by KDWN radio host John Kelly, I told him that my goal is not to become an industry titan, that I merely want to provide meaningful, quality service to a core of sharp customers. I mentioned that I had no interest in growing my business to the scale of Jim Feist or Wayne Root, as I would never agree to do the things that need to be done (mislead and hype) to grow my business to that level. I also wouldn’t want to deal with upset customers who have been led to believe that they would be hitting 70% or 80%, which is simply not possible. I mentioned that I would never want to operate my business in the manner required to get huge growth, as I will always be documented, will not hype games, will not engage in telemarketing, etc. Providing quality content has grown my business at a reasonable pace, and it attracts smart customers who appreciate what can be done on their behalf.

The mention of Root and Feist by name was seen as somewhat controversial by some, though certainly not by anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of their telemarketing efforts. My friend Ted Sevransky was even more overt in the Stardust contest last week. When asked if he would ever consider working for Feist, Ted said no way, calling Feist a “black eye on the industry”. Vegas-based Sevransky will take some heat for his comments, but those of us who are in favor of a legitimate handicapping industry are with him 100%.

Warning, this paragraph has nothing to do with sports or sports betting. On our occasional trips to Europe, we’ve always been amazed by the entitlement attitude over there, as well as the lack of an achievement mentality. People seem to think they should just be able to hang out in a low-pressure job, take their ten weeks of vacation, and retire early. With an aging population, native Europeans barely replacing half their populations due to low birth rates, and tremendous government-funded pensions, Europe strikes us as a demographic time bomb. We’ve finally discovered someone in Europe who agrees. Czech President Vaclav Klaus says Europe is “living in a dream world.” Interesting how the Eastern Europeans have such a firmer grasp of reality than their “sophisticated” Old Europe counterparts. The Washington Times article is here: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20031124-110833-1781r.htm

Whenever media types harangue about attendance or people leaving a game early, they should let us know the last time they paid to attend a game. Or even attended a game where they weren’t on the clock? And have you every heard an announcer refer to how inconvenienced older people and those who must travel a long way to games are inconvenienced by these Tuesday through Friday night college games? One thing that clearly holds down attendance and drives people to leave games early is the ridiculous length of games. Obviously, we’ll never see TV timeouts cut down but the NFL has at least made an effort to cut down on a game’s running time, with slight success. The real problem lies in the colleges, where 3 hour and 45 minute games are no longer rare. Syracuse and West Virginia took an hour and 40 minutes to slog through the first half alone, for no reason other than the way that the officiating crew took forever to do everything. Conferences over nothing, informing the coaches about nothing, more conferences about nothing. It was painful to watch.

Watching a few minutes of the 1969 Ohio State vs. Michigan game on ESPN Classic the other night, the most striking thing was how quickly the officials spotted the ball. The officials seemed to be on a mission to spot the ball as quickly as possible and get the play clock moving. After incomplete passes, first downs, and plays out of bounds, spotting the ball quickly does a lot to speed up play. Something to consider, at least.

Just keeping it close department: Missouri trails 24-7 with just under 8 minutes left, they’re on their own 45-yard line, it’s 4th and 3. You have possibly the premier rollout run/pass option QB in the country in Brad Smith. And you punt? Gary Pinkel is a well-regarded coach but it seems like he was playing to not get blown out, rather than playing to win. Shouldn’t the Simpsons have a character based on Jim Nantz named Bill Blandman? Despite our lack of familiarity with the frozen pond, that outdoor hockey game in Edmonton was pretty cool. The breath in the air, the ice chips flying, the darkness. That’s something that should make its way around the cold weather locales of the NHL.

Remember earlier this fall when we noted that the New York Times had an editorial pulling for the Red Sox to win the American League title against their hometown Yankees? We have more proof as to how lefties (and we’re not talking about Randy Johnson) hate competition in favor of a constant case of the warm ‘n fuzzies. Coddler of murderous totalitarians Jacques Chirac praised the victors when England won rugby’s World Cup recently. "This deserved victory is also a victory for Europe. Thanks to the extraordinary talent of the English players, the World Cup is coming to the northern hemisphere for the first time. All lovers of rugby in France and in Europe share the joy of the English fans," lauded Chirac. This statement was made in spite of the fact that in the semi-finals the team that England beat was France! This has got to be a sharp piece of Roquefort in the eye of French fans upset that their team surrendered (sorry, couldn’t resist) to the Brits 24-7 to fall out of contention for the cup. How galling to French rugby types. (Or should it be “how Gaulling”?)

We’ve swept with our college and pro plays here, going 6-0 over the past three weeks. Our late phone service went 8-2 last weekend and you can keep up with daily analysis by calling our pick line at 770-618-8700 (no charge for that call). Syracuse is a football program in a period of decline due to poor recruiting and frequent turnover among their assistant coaches. Recruiting has been mediocre in recent years and it is really starting to catch up with them. Rutgers is one of those teams that are getting some of the New Jersey and Florida recruits that formerly stocked the Syracuse roster and the improving Scarlet Knights are 9-1-1 against the spread this season. Rutgers is an attractive home dog here, as Syracuse is 2-8 straight up in their last ten road games. This is Rutgers last game of the season and Syracuse may be looking forward to their nationally televised home game against Notre Dame next week even though they still need a win for bowl eligibility. Take the points with the more focused, underrated Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

In the NFL the Niners visit the Ravens. After a team plays a bizarrely unrepresentative high-scoring game we like to look for them to return to the norm. In the first 29½ minutes on this field last week, the Ravens and Seahawks saw 6 points scored. In the remaining 30½ minutes of regulation there were 76 points scored. Look for the defensively sound Ravens to tighten up today, shortening the game by running the clock, and avoiding QB mistakes that hurt them last week. Don’t see the Ravens D getting hurt by Frisco’s quarterbacking. Go with the under here.

Thanks for taking the time to read us. Good luck and be careful, and have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

If you’d like to get this newsletter directly via email you can do so by signing up at http://www.consumerbet.com/email.html

Kevin O’Neill is the director of content for www.consumerbet.com. His 24-hour free telephone selection hotline can be accessed by calling 1-770-618-8700.

Take advantage of the ConsumerBet Best Deal Guarantee at the Industry's Best Sports Books