I’m no stranger to bad beats. Looking back at all the wagers I’ve made in my life, there were certainly a number of them that really hurt; shit, looking back at this year, there have been a number of gut punches that I’ve already mentioned. Sure, there are bets that I should have never made, losers from the start, and bets that I’ve made with my head over my heart, which doesn’t usually end well, but then there are those where you feel like… you were on the right side… until you weren’t. Monday Night Football provided the latest, not-so greatest moment of the NFL season.
Yes, as I’m sure you could guess, I was on the Cleveland Browns +6.5; why though? Why do I keep betting on bad teams? Maybe that’s my problem. But hold on for a second… bad teams may not win a whole heck of a lot, but they do cover from time to time, especially in a national TV spotlight game where everybody and their mama is on the other side, a handicapping well that I go to quite often. Let’s just skip over the majority of the game and get to the nitty gritty. The Browns were up by 1 point late in the 4th quarter; the Broncos were driving. If they scored a TD, and successfully got the 2 point conversion which they most certainly would have went for, I would lose by a half a point; been there done that… those are especially fun. On this night though, I was in for a much worse fate. The Browns stopped them, Coach Payton didn’t take his stupid pills, so he took the 3 points and a 2 point lead with just under 3 minutes to play. This is where it really gets fun.
Down 2 points with the ball, under 3 minutes to go in the 4th quarter… my +6.5 bet is looking mighty fine. Worst case, they get stopped on downs, the Broncos take over, and run the clock out… worst worst case the Broncos kick a FG and I still win my wager. As long as they don’t turn the ball ov… Winston threw a pick; the dude jumped up, caught it, and fell down… surely the WR touched him… wait, his back was on the out of bounds line… nope and nope. Dude jumps up and runs it in… just perfect. Now, the Brownies are down by 9. Over? Nothing is over until Vegas says it is. I couldn’t have just went to bed with that nut punch. No, there was an even more special ending to come.
The Browns are still trying to score, yes! They converted a 4th down, yes! They need 2 scores to win; all I need is 1 score. Just kick a FG. They threw a deep pass… defensive pass interference!!! Oh yeah baby… here we go. 1st and goal; kick a FG? Nah, just punch it in. Just don’t throw another pi…. Winston throws it right to the guy with the wrong jersey on in the end zone. Tell me there’s a flag… somebody save this from entering into bad beat central. Nope, nobody is coming to save this bet… game, over.
I’m sure there are guys who had a lot more on this game than my piddly 0.5 unit… I guess this makes it hurt a little less for me??? Sure… silver lining man, silver lining. It’s like, I wish I had bet more on a game when I win, and glad that I bet what I did on a game when I lose type thing. That’s the discipline. This is the business that we chose. Either way though, I feel like we’re owed one… ugh.
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