RCS Sidelines

February 5, 2010 6:00 AM

Pay Homage to Gamblor - Super Bowl

It's time for the most gambled upon event of the year, with at least $90 million to be spent in Vegas alone it's the degenerates Christmas, Super Bowl Sunday.

Never is there another day so in tune with the philosophy of 'gambling makes everything better.' People bet on everything for the Super Bowl - the traditional bets are there as well as MVP, player prop bets, team prop bets, commercial bets, halftime bets, coin toss bets, anything you want.

Side note on the halftime show - Isn't it kind of funny that the Super Bowl is on CBS and The Who will be playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show? The Who also happens to be the band that sings the theme song to all three CSI shows, CBS's cash cow. The Super Bowl is also in Miami, the home of the most annoying of the CSI shows. Even though I like the Who I'm hoping CBS goes really overboard with some sort of cross-promotion involving David Caruso being on the pre-game and post-game shows, and dancing at center stage for the entire halftime set.

You want to make six bets specific to Donald Brown? Not a problem, sports books have you covered. Who scores first? How many yards each player accounts for? Completion percentages? How many tackles certain players get? Yep, it's all there, ready to make you rich, or more likely, take your money. Unless you bet the over on four camera shots of Archie Manning, because there's no way CBS doesn't show him at least eight times.

I'm not going to break down each prop bet for you, but I will look quickly at the MVP odds. They span from Peyton Manning at 4:7 all the way to Matt Stover and Garrett Hartley both at 75:1. Let me save you some time, all three are bad bets. A better bet would be Reggie Wayne at 10:1 or Dallas Clark at 12:1 or Marques Colston at 12:1. (But back to the Manning odds for a second, the sports books apparently think it's more likely that he will win MVP than it is that the Colts will win the game.) If you think a defensive player is going to win MVP, it might be worth your money to bet on all of them. The worst payout for any D player is Darren Sharper at 28:1.

Now, on to the actual game, which has the potential to be a highly entertaining offensive slugfest. I'm concerned however, because we have never had three good Super Bowls in a row, and the last two Super Bowls were unquestionably awesome. But I'm saying (hoping) we break the trend and are treated to yet another awesome Super Bowl.

The Colts are favored by five points in the game, but most people are acting as if the Saints are some sort of huge underdog. Lest we forget, this is the same team that started the season 13-0 and has the most diverse offensive attack in the NFL. That said, the Colts are still the better team and the smart pick to win the game. However, I am for the Saints, and I will try to find a way to justify picking them.

The Saints aren't going to stop Manning, but they know that. They are just going to try to slow him down a little bit and hope to win the turnover game. The Saints defense isn't great, but they know what they are and what they can do - and their strength is in forcing turnovers. Obviously they can't expect another five turnover game like the Vikings gave them, but if they win the turnover battle they have a very good shot at winning the game.

Just as the Saints aren't going to stop Manning, the Colts aren't going to stop the Saints. The Colts defense is strong enough to stop a one dimensional offense, but the Saints have too many weapons. Everyone knows about the passing game, but people seem to brush over the fact that the Saints had the sixth best rushing attack in the NFL as well. Throw in the fact that a hobbled Dwight Freeney will be in the game and the Saints offense should be able to move the ball with relative ease. If they are smart they will run right at Freeney when he is in as he won't be able to change directions fast enough on his bum ankle to shift from pass rushing to tackling a running back zipping by him.

Despite all this information, it's very hard to look past the fact that the Colts are the best team in the NFL. I don't think the Saints will be able to pull it out in the end, but they will be close enough to cover.

RCS Sidelines

Pay Homage to Gamblor - Super Bowl

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