Opinion Corner: Super Bowl a bettors bonanza

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It’s the one game of the year where compulsive gamblers and overly-competitive people get together and bet on just about everything about the Super Bowl — sometimes even the final score.

It’s the greatest display in the world of the prop bet. The all-to-tempting unusual bet.

The first of such was offered by United Kingdom bookmaker William Hill in 1960 and was “Will man will walk on the moon before 1970?”

Since then the gambling world, especially around the Super Bowl has exploded with prop bets. Here’s a few of my favorites and how I think things will turn out.

Currently there are 2/1 odds that Alicia Keyes will be booed after her rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” — put me down for some angry fans after her song.

I’ll take the 11/4 odds that Beyonce’s hair will be gold/yellow for the halftime show, at least at the start. Also put me down on the 11/10 odds that she will be joined by hubby Jay-Z on stage at some point.

There is currently a 1.5 over/under on the number of times Jack Harbaugh, father to both head coaches in the game, will be showed on TV during the game. I’ll take the over.

Odds are 5/1 that any player from either team will be arrested before the game. I’ll go out on a limb and say no one will be arrested before the game.

Odds are 13/2 that the winning coach will have red Gatorade dumped on him and that’s good enough for me. People can wager on any variety of colors, like Beyonce’s hair.

If Ray Lewis is interviewed after the game on the field or locker room, there is an over/under of 3 that he mentions “God/Lord,” I’ll take the over, but that’s a close call.

The highest Tweet per second during the Super Bowl has an over/under of 15,000 and unless there’s a wardrobe malfunction I’m taking the under on that.

Odds of Randy Moss retiring before the 2014 season are at 1/3. I’d take that one too.

Now to actual in-game prop bets:

Colin Kaepernick and Joe Flacco are odds on favorites to win the Super Bowl MVP award and score the first TD at 7/4 and 11/4, respectively. But I like taking the longer odds and would put something on Anquan Boldin at 8/1 odds.

Odds are in favor of a score in the final 2 minutes of the first half at 12/5 and that’s worth a shot.

Over/under for largest lead of the game is at 13 and under seems like the logical choice.

There are 8/5 odds that a TD will be scored on special teams or defense and that pays too well not to try anything.

Plus there’s an over/under of 13.5 for total penalties in the game, mark me for under, the teams will be too well trained to make bonehead errors.

Total rushing yards for Kaepernick is at an over/under of 50.5 and it seems over is a must take in that category.

I found an even money pick for a cross sport matchup bet of Chris Paul total points vs. Boston on Feb. 3 or Kapernick rushing yards and I like Kapernick again.

I would take even money again to say the Dow Jones falls the Monday after the game.

Why this probably sounds crazy to most people — these are actual bets and odds people can make with legal sports books. Not one was made up.

It proves that the big game draws degenerate and high-stakes gamblers to it, like moths to a bright light.

It’s almost too much to take in and the prop-best list is much longer than what’s included here. If you have no desire for one team over the other to win, try making some prop bets with friends.

It always does make the game more interesting.

Before I go, Vegas has the 49ers as 3.5 point favorites with an over/under of 47.5. I’ll take the Ravens to upset and I’d go with under on the line.

Enjoy the game.

Ben Rodgers is a news writer at the Sun and frequent contributor to the Opinion Corner

Tags: sports, football, nfl