Wagering on Football

There are a few things I've been doing since as long as I can remember; sleeping naked, picking my nose, playing video games and betting on football games.

I've been betting something on football games since the first time I watched a game. It started out with my step dad saying 'if the Viking's win, we can get dairy queen'. Of course he wanted Dairy Queen more than I did, so he only did that in games they were heavy favorites. But that parlayed into him explaining what the number next to the teams represented in the newspaper. Then we took it a step further, we'd each pick all the games every week, and the person who picked the most correct games, would win 5 bucks at the end of the year.

Soon that moved into me betting football cards and lunch money on all football games. In junior high I bet a friend on a Monday night football game that if team X won, he'd have to wear a Herschel Walker jersey to school the next day. Which doesn't sound all that bad, but Walker had been a huge bust for the Vikings and had moved on a few seasons before then. He actually gave me some money at lunch and said he couldn't handle wearing it the rest of the day.

I never used a bookie, but I did make small wagers with friends and during every trip to Vegas. But then came internet gambling. I had been a huge fan of online poker, but online sports books took it to the next level. I bet during every week in football and I have for probably 6 or 7 years. Do I have a problem you ask?

What constitutes a problem? I've always wagered within my means. I make enough money that I could bet 50-100 a game, but I actually only bet 15 a game unless I really like it than I'll go up to 50, but that only happens once or twice a year. Plus, I've been successful. Last year I lost 75, but the year prior I was pulled in 300. Since I've been an adult, I've never stolen for gambling money, nor have I spent Lucy's college money (even though I joke about it). It actually seems like one of my more reasonable hobbies. It is step above drinking German beer and way ahead of video games.

Gambling in the US

I just got done watching a European Union heavy weight boxing match where the underdog pulled off an upset of Buster Douglas proportions. After the fight, the new champ said "if you had money on me with the bookies, enjoy it." To which the interviewer responded, "I heard that you had a spot of money on you as well?"

Can you believe that? If Roy Jones won his next fight, which would be an upset since he is a shell of his former self, could you imagine the interviewer asking him if he had money on himself? The press would be outraged. There would be investigations into the book makers even if they were legitimate and the wager was on themselves.

You know what I say, you should be able to bet on yourself, especially if you are a boxer. Not only that, we should force them to put a portion of the net worth up as a wager. Wouldn't boxing be that much more intriguing if the fighters had a substantial portion of the net worth on the line? I guarantee that boxers wouldn't show up to the fight completely unprepared. You see them fight their brains out because if they lost, they really lost.