CHAMPAIGN – You had to like the matchup Saturday night of Bears defensive end Bobby Setzer against Indianapolis' third-string left tackle, Makoa Freitas.
If you were not previously tempted to take the Bears, who were giving three points in their exhibition-season opener against the Colts at Memorial Stadium, that information undoubtedly had you picking up the phone to call the nearest bookie.
And yes, the sarcasm in the preceding two paragraphs should be apparent.
The concept of wagering actual money on an exhibition game – a preseason game, as the NFL likes to call it – is quite possibly the most absurd in sports.
And yet all you have to do is turn to the scores page of almost any newspaper, and you can find betting lines for every last one of these games.
How is anyone supposed to develop an educated opinion about these games? The majority of the participants will either be off the roster by the end of the month or relegated to special teams and mop-up duty.
You would have to be utterly sick to do the research necessary to come up with a worthwhile assessment of an exhibition game. I am talking a level of sickness beyond that which compels Mel Kiper Jr. to come up with a seven-round mock draft each April.
I'm talking about actually taking the time to gather and analyze the following sort of information.
Adam Herzing, the Colts' first-year wide receiver out of Cal-Poly, is a dynamo – for a third-stringer, anyway. He figured to give all sorts of problems to Bears third-string cornerback Jason Goss, who missed a couple of assignments during practice last week (just pretend).
Alas, quarterback James McPherson was the one throwing to Herzing. That had the potential to mess up everything! Herzing has a much better rapport with usual third-string QB Jim (don't call me Gary) Kubiak, but an injury to Brock Huard forced Kubiak to move up a notch on the depth chart.
Also working against the Colts was the performance of their third-string special teams. Not only have Bears rookie return men Brock Forsey and Maurice Hicks been gangbusters, but have you seen the goofballs Indy has on its reserve coverage teams?
OK, so the above information is probably a crock. The point is, there were people out there trying to find it out.
If such people did not exist, the Vegas sports books would not have posted odds for these games. They do not just provide these services to be nice, you know.
They are in it to make money, and apparently they can reap a profit even with these lame exhibitions.
The NFL is easily the No. 1 sport in the United States, with ratings for prime-time exhibition games usually topping any regular-season NBA or Major League Baseball contest.
But there is a point at which the madness has to stop. To all you NFL/gambling fanatics who are jonesing for some football, please get off-line or put down that phone, and go find a support group.
Wait to throw away your money until the games actually count.
http://ww2.nwherald.com/NWH/news/285308882855601.bsp
If you were not previously tempted to take the Bears, who were giving three points in their exhibition-season opener against the Colts at Memorial Stadium, that information undoubtedly had you picking up the phone to call the nearest bookie.
And yes, the sarcasm in the preceding two paragraphs should be apparent.
The concept of wagering actual money on an exhibition game – a preseason game, as the NFL likes to call it – is quite possibly the most absurd in sports.
And yet all you have to do is turn to the scores page of almost any newspaper, and you can find betting lines for every last one of these games.
How is anyone supposed to develop an educated opinion about these games? The majority of the participants will either be off the roster by the end of the month or relegated to special teams and mop-up duty.
You would have to be utterly sick to do the research necessary to come up with a worthwhile assessment of an exhibition game. I am talking a level of sickness beyond that which compels Mel Kiper Jr. to come up with a seven-round mock draft each April.
I'm talking about actually taking the time to gather and analyze the following sort of information.
Adam Herzing, the Colts' first-year wide receiver out of Cal-Poly, is a dynamo – for a third-stringer, anyway. He figured to give all sorts of problems to Bears third-string cornerback Jason Goss, who missed a couple of assignments during practice last week (just pretend).
Alas, quarterback James McPherson was the one throwing to Herzing. That had the potential to mess up everything! Herzing has a much better rapport with usual third-string QB Jim (don't call me Gary) Kubiak, but an injury to Brock Huard forced Kubiak to move up a notch on the depth chart.
Also working against the Colts was the performance of their third-string special teams. Not only have Bears rookie return men Brock Forsey and Maurice Hicks been gangbusters, but have you seen the goofballs Indy has on its reserve coverage teams?
OK, so the above information is probably a crock. The point is, there were people out there trying to find it out.
If such people did not exist, the Vegas sports books would not have posted odds for these games. They do not just provide these services to be nice, you know.
They are in it to make money, and apparently they can reap a profit even with these lame exhibitions.
The NFL is easily the No. 1 sport in the United States, with ratings for prime-time exhibition games usually topping any regular-season NBA or Major League Baseball contest.
But there is a point at which the madness has to stop. To all you NFL/gambling fanatics who are jonesing for some football, please get off-line or put down that phone, and go find a support group.
Wait to throw away your money until the games actually count.
http://ww2.nwherald.com/NWH/news/285308882855601.bsp
