What were oddsmakers thinking when they installed the Los Angeles Rams as the favorite of over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII?
Oddsmakers don’t make many mistakes. Otherwise, casinos and sportsbooks wouldn’t be in business. They certainly don’t make mistakes on NFL games, which attract the vast majority of sports gambling activity in America. And, it’s beyond inconceivable that a major attraction like the Super Bowl, which generates billions of dollars in betting action, would have a pointspread that’s quite possibly off by perhaps 4 or more points.
What were oddsmakers thinking? Or smoking?
Installing the Rams as a -1 favorite was the worst opening line on a Super Bowl game in history. Bar none. It wasn’t just a terrible number. The line was so bad that the wrong team was favored.
Note: Here’s the follow-up to yesterday’s column on Democratic presidential candidates which focused on those who have announced, so far. Today’s continuation features a look at the top candidates who remain, at least for now — “undecided.” READ HERE: AN EARLY LOOK AT THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL FIELD
The 2020 presidential campaign started on November 9, 2016.
That’s the morning after the utterly unthinkable happened when an antediluvian mechanism known as the electoral college anointed an infantile reality television star to be the 45th President of the United States, this anomaly despite losing the popular vote to a pantsuited ragdoll by a whopping 2,915,391 ballots — all of which alleged to be cast by MS-13 gang members who usually hang out in the parking lot at Home Depot.
Every week is different in handicapping. Circumstances which apply one week might not apply to the next. Yet, there are some commonalities which apply to the first two weeks of the NFL playoffs which are unique.
