UMLAUTS

The NFL has made me go broke

Romer Bautista, Staff

There are many reasons to love and watch NFL football. Some watch for their favourite teams; some watch for their favourite players. Some love seeing the bone-crushing hits; some enjoy the acrobatic catches. Some can’t get enough of the bitter rivalries; some can’t get enough of a team’s total domination. Some even watch to see what Ocho-Cinco or T.O. will do or say next.

One of the reasons I love the NFL is because there are so many ways to gamble on it, you know, if gambling were legal. Watching the NFL is already an exhilarating experience, but when watching it with something on the line the excitement reaches a whole new level. It doesn’t even matter to me that I’ve lost way more times then I’ve ever won; just knowing that I have the chance to win keeps me coming back for more.

So if you’re looking for a way to spice up Sunday afternoons, here are a few ways to make watching the NFL watching experience even better.

Wager with a friend

This can be done for any game between any two teams, but works the best when your favourite team plays a friend’s favourite team. The rules are simple: you and your friend ante up into a pot (no real pot is needed), and whose ever favourite team wins the game is the winner of the bet and takes the entire pot. This is an especially fun game when your friends are fans of the Miami Dolphins.

Football pools

A wager is made between groups of players in a challenge to pick the correct winners of each game in a given week. The game often ranges from single week competitions to challenges for a specific number of weeks to even season-long pools. The winner is the player who correctly picks the most number of winning teams.

Another variation of the football pool is the suicide pool. In this challenge, players each choose one team each week that they feel is going to win its game. If that team does win its game, the player who chose it will advance to play again in the following week. If your team fails to win, you are eliminated from the pool. By rule, however, you can only chose a team to win its game once. So, if you picked the New England Patriots to win in week one, you wouldn’t be able to choose them for the remainder of the pool. The game ends when there is one winner left standing or when the season ends.

Fantasy football leagues

This game is a little more time-consuming, and each league seems to have its own set of rules and scoring systems. Basically, however, the game involves a group of players getting together and becoming “owners” of their very own teams, which are comprised of players playing in the NFL. Each week the teams are pitted against one another to see which players accumulate the most points based on the leagues scoring system. The team that scores the most points between the two teams gets credited with a “win” for that week, with the teams that have the most wins after a specific number of weeks advance to the playoffs, which are usually during the last couple weeks of the NFL regular season. The team that wins its playoff games is the winner of the league and takes home the winners purse.

Sports Select

Sports Select is actually a group of legal betting games that can be played at any lottery centre across Canada. There are three main games: Pro-Line, Over/Under, and Point Spread. The odds and payouts vary depending on the type and amount of wager.

Pro-Line is probably the most popular of the Sports Select games. It involves correctly selecting the winners of any three to six games in a given week. Each team has a fixed odd to win, and those odds are factored into the amount of the possible payout. For a selection to be correct, that team has to win its game by four points or more. Any game which is decided by three points or less is considered a tie. A player can even wager that games will end in a tie-scenario. For a player to win his or her ticket he needs to have all of his or her selections correct.

Over/Under is a game where chooses between two and 10 games and tries to decide whether the combined score of the two teams in each game will be over or under the number quoted by the bookmakers. If all of the player’s selections are correct then the player has won.

In Point Spread a player is choosing a winner of between two to 12 games. In this type of wager, the teams who the bookmakers see as the favourites are given a “spread,” a set number of points that they need to defeat their opponent by in order to be considered a winner in this wager. For example, if the Patriots are favoured by 16.5 points, they will need to defeat their opponent by 17 points or more to be considered a winner in Point Spread. Winning this type of wager means correctly selecting the winners in all of your choices.





Volume 95 Issue 11	The Official University of Manitoba Students' Newspaper Website	October 31, 2007

Home About Us Advertising Rates Contact Staff Current Issue PDF Employment Letters to the Editor Meet the Staff Online Archives Volunteer Online Classifieds St. Vincent's Academy Diaries	Font Size Respond Email Print-Friendly UMLAUTS The NFL has made me go broke Romer Bautista, Staff There are many reasons to love and watch NFL football. Some watch for their favourite teams; some watch for their favourite players. Some love seeing the bone-crushing hits; some enjoy the acrobatic catches. Some can’t get enough of the bitter rivalries; some can’t get enough of a team’s total domination. Some even watch to see what Ocho-Cinco or T.O. will do or say next. One of the reasons I love the NFL is because there are so many ways to gamble on it, you know, if gambling were legal. Watching the NFL is already an exhilarating experience, but when watching it with something on the line the excitement reaches a whole new level. It doesn’t even matter to me that I’ve lost way more times then I’ve ever won; just knowing that I have the chance to win keeps me coming back for more. So if you’re looking for a way to spice up Sunday afternoons, here are a few ways to make watching the NFL watching experience even better. Wager with a friend This can be done for any game between any two teams, but works the best when your favourite team plays a friend’s favourite team. The rules are simple: you and your friend ante up into a pot (no real pot is needed), and whose ever favourite team wins the game is the winner of the bet and takes the entire pot. This is an especially fun game when your friends are fans of the Miami Dolphins. Football pools A wager is made between groups of players in a challenge to pick the correct winners of each game in a given week. The game often ranges from single week competitions to challenges for a specific number of weeks to even season-long pools. The winner is the player who correctly picks the most number of winning teams. Another variation of the football pool is the suicide pool. In this challenge, players each choose one team each week that they feel is going to win its game. If that team does win its game, the player who chose it will advance to play again in the following week. If your team fails to win, you are eliminated from the pool. By rule, however, you can only chose a team to win its game once. So, if you picked the New England Patriots to win in week one, you wouldn’t be able to choose them for the remainder of the pool. The game ends when there is one winner left standing or when the season ends. Fantasy football leagues This game is a little more time-consuming, and each league seems to have its own set of rules and scoring systems. Basically, however, the game involves a group of players getting together and becoming “owners” of their very own teams, which are comprised of players playing in the NFL. Each week the teams are pitted against one another to see which players accumulate the most points based on the leagues scoring system. The team that scores the most points between the two teams gets credited with a “win” for that week, with the teams that have the most wins after a specific number of weeks advance to the playoffs, which are usually during the last couple weeks of the NFL regular season. The team that wins its playoff games is the winner of the league and takes home the winners purse. Sports Select Sports Select is actually a group of legal betting games that can be played at any lottery centre across Canada. There are three main games: Pro-Line, Over/Under, and Point Spread. The odds and payouts vary depending on the type and amount of wager. Pro-Line is probably the most popular of the Sports Select games. It involves correctly selecting the winners of any three to six games in a given week. Each team has a fixed odd to win, and those odds are factored into the amount of the possible payout. For a selection to be correct, that team has to win its game by four points or more. Any game which is decided by three points or less is considered a tie. A player can even wager that games will end in a tie-scenario. For a player to win his or her ticket he needs to have all of his or her selections correct. Over/Under is a game where chooses between two and 10 games and tries to decide whether the combined score of the two teams in each game will be over or under the number quoted by the bookmakers. If all of the player’s selections are correct then the player has won. In Point Spread a player is choosing a winner of between two to 12 games. In this type of wager, the teams who the bookmakers see as the favourites are given a “spread,” a set number of points that they need to defeat their opponent by in order to be considered a winner in this wager. For example, if the Patriots are favoured by 16.5 points, they will need to defeat their opponent by 17 points or more to be considered a winner in Point Spread. Winning this type of wager means correctly selecting the winners in all of your choices.


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