Julian Dickinson
www.covers.com
A month seems like a long time to wait for a Super Bowl parlay to pay off, but as they say in show business, it's not over until the fat lady sings.
If you remember the prop bet bonanza surrounding the Super Bowl, a few tickets combined the big nights for football and film. For example, Intertops had a parlay at 11-2 odds for Patriots star QB Tom Brady taking home the Super Bowl MVP award and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King winning Best Picture at the Oscars.
That payout looks pretty good as Oscar night looms. But if betting on the movies sounds a little out of whack, just listen to the nominees talk. You'll quickly learn that the Oscar showcase is more than just an evening of film industry pomp and puffery - it's a competition as serious as any of the sporting world's biggest events.
"I think everybody's an underdog against The Lord of the Rings, but you never know," Tom Rothman of Twentieth Century Fox told reporters this week. "But it's like the Super Bowl. It's why you play the game."
And just like the Super Bowl, oddsmakers are setting lines and taking bets. The national media is gathered and everybody is talking about the favorites, such as Best Picture front-runner The Return of the King.
But rather than wasting your money on the pocket change payouts for playing the favorites, take a look at the little guys who make it to the podium often enough to make it worth your while.
Remember Daniel Day Lewis last year? He was brilliant as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York and had probably already cleared room on his mantle for the Best Actor statue until Adrian Brody stole the show and the cash as an ultra-longshot.
The same thing could happen again this year if Sean Penn's ice-cold demeanor doesn't scare the Academy into handing him the Oscar. Penn is a 2-7 favorite to win Best Actor for his role in Mystic River, but don't count out the enigmatic Johnny Depp at 5-2.
Depp's portrayal of a drunken pirate in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean earned him a shocking win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last week in what could be a prelude to an upset in Tinseltown.
In the Best Actress category, the lovely Charlize Theron holds the heaviest odds to win at a daunting 1-12. However, some insider gossip suggets 13-year-old Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes could steal Theron's thunder.
Both actresses' films are distributed by Newmarket Films, and as Oscar campaigns heat up, Newmarket has been spending more effort promoting the lesser-known Castle-Hughes at Theron's expense. Castle-Hughes is a 10-1 underdog.
Even if you're not waiting for some Super Bowl parlays to pay off, we believe Theron's presence is reason enough to make you watch.
www.covers.com
A month seems like a long time to wait for a Super Bowl parlay to pay off, but as they say in show business, it's not over until the fat lady sings.
If you remember the prop bet bonanza surrounding the Super Bowl, a few tickets combined the big nights for football and film. For example, Intertops had a parlay at 11-2 odds for Patriots star QB Tom Brady taking home the Super Bowl MVP award and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King winning Best Picture at the Oscars.
That payout looks pretty good as Oscar night looms. But if betting on the movies sounds a little out of whack, just listen to the nominees talk. You'll quickly learn that the Oscar showcase is more than just an evening of film industry pomp and puffery - it's a competition as serious as any of the sporting world's biggest events.
"I think everybody's an underdog against The Lord of the Rings, but you never know," Tom Rothman of Twentieth Century Fox told reporters this week. "But it's like the Super Bowl. It's why you play the game."
And just like the Super Bowl, oddsmakers are setting lines and taking bets. The national media is gathered and everybody is talking about the favorites, such as Best Picture front-runner The Return of the King.
But rather than wasting your money on the pocket change payouts for playing the favorites, take a look at the little guys who make it to the podium often enough to make it worth your while.
Remember Daniel Day Lewis last year? He was brilliant as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York and had probably already cleared room on his mantle for the Best Actor statue until Adrian Brody stole the show and the cash as an ultra-longshot.
The same thing could happen again this year if Sean Penn's ice-cold demeanor doesn't scare the Academy into handing him the Oscar. Penn is a 2-7 favorite to win Best Actor for his role in Mystic River, but don't count out the enigmatic Johnny Depp at 5-2.
Depp's portrayal of a drunken pirate in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean earned him a shocking win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last week in what could be a prelude to an upset in Tinseltown.
In the Best Actress category, the lovely Charlize Theron holds the heaviest odds to win at a daunting 1-12. However, some insider gossip suggets 13-year-old Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes could steal Theron's thunder.
Both actresses' films are distributed by Newmarket Films, and as Oscar campaigns heat up, Newmarket has been spending more effort promoting the lesser-known Castle-Hughes at Theron's expense. Castle-Hughes is a 10-1 underdog.
Even if you're not waiting for some Super Bowl parlays to pay off, we believe Theron's presence is reason enough to make you watch.
