Super Bowl 52 Primer: Best Bets, Predictions, and League Notes
It’s been a while since I posted on here with sports-related content, but the Super Bowl deserves as much attention as possible.
It’s a probably one of the greatest sporting championship in American sports because it’s a single-game, winner take all match. In the NBA, NHL and MLB you have to win 4 games before you’re crowned champion so only a Game 7 can carry as high of stakes. And that’s if you even get a Game 7.
It’s always awesome to see Serena Williams dominate her sport, but I’m not literate enough in professional tennis to know which tennis tournament is even considered the most important, absolute pinnacle. Is it the Aussie Open? The Olympics? Wimbledon?
The Super Bowl is an event that millions watch and even though it’s getting a little dry with the New England Patriots going every year, are you really not going to watch it?
This year’s match up pins the Philadelphia Eagles against the Patriots and while the Eagles are fielding a vaunted defense, they’re still starting Nick Foles. So I’m going with the Patriots to win.
The Super Bowl is not just the best championship event in American sports, but it’s also an entirely different animal than your average NFL game. Halftime is longer, the commercial breaks are different, and the build up the week before the Super Bowl has turned into a money grab for the NFL.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have done this dance seven times already.
The Eagles have an objectively better team, but I think this championship more than others favors the experienced.
Boom. Quick, easy, and my only explanation is that I don’t see Foles having the game of his life twice in the span of 3 weeks. Let’s get to the important stuff:
Prop bets.
Using Bovada’s trusty Super Bowl Specials page, I wanted to present my best bets. Selection in BOLD.
Pink’s hair color during the national anthem
White/Blonde -300
Pink/Red +500
Blue/Purple +900
Green +200
Brown/Black +900
I don’t know where this wager came from to be honest. I feel like Pink hasn’t had anything, but blonde hair since 2012. However, this selection is largely based on this evidence posted here:
If she’s a diehard Eagles fan, I think she’ll let people know it. Hasn’t that been her entire aesthetic for her career? Letting people know exactly what she’s about?
Donald Trump tweets
Over 5 -120
Under 5 +150
Surprisingly, I’m going under.
On the day the Nunes “memo” became public, he tweeted exactly five times. Something like that should’ve sent him into a ranting Twitter spiral promoting the “memo.”
He was relatively quiet, though.
Also of note, the Super Bowl isn’t played at 7:00 a.m. when he has free access to his unsecured phone. He’ll be under adult-supervision Sunday evening.
Will Al Michael’s refer to the spread on the game?
Yes +110
No -150
This is a hopeful ‘yes,’ because gamblers know Michael’s is one of us and we want him to give this to us.
How many times will the temperature outside the stadium be mentioned during the broadcast?
Over 1 -330
Under 1 +215
The aforementioned Michaels was born in Brooklyn and Cris Collinsworth was born in Dayton, Ohio and played his career in Cincinnati with the Bengals.
You know what we Northerners like talking about more than talking about times in our lives when it was colder?
NOTHING.
This is easy money.
They’re mentioning this at least three times. And the person at your Super Bowl party who’s from Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin will unrelatedly mention the cold at least five times.
In Other News…
The Washington football team traded for quarterback Alex Smith. They dished out a third-round pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller to the Chiefs.
While many think Washington got fleeced, I think the trade is actually pretty fair for both sides.
I initially didn’t know what Washington was trying to accomplish because the contract extension they’re promising Smith (four years, $70 million guaranteed) is money they could’ve given Kirk Cousins two years ago.
But they didn’t no now they’re going with Smith who, believe it or not, has the 3rd best TD:INT ratio since 2013 (Behind Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady) and an 88–62–1 record.
That definitely makes the lack of Super Bowl births feel more like an Andy Reid issue than an Alex Smith issue. Not to mention, they’re cap situation is iffy. The $11 million cap hit of OT Eric Fisher is panic inducing.
The Chiefs do have a young QB they believe in, a shiny new third-round pick and a corner back in Kendall Fuller that I believe will be a real player in this league. (Hear my thoughts on Fuller here.)
Enjoy Super Bowl week! And don’t gamble too hard.
