Scott picks the Winner in Super Bowl XLVI……Giants or Patriots ?
It’s Prognostication Day, the day I have to finally relent and make my pick for Super Bowl XLVI. First, full disclosure. The prognostication is only as good as the prognosticator, so a little history. I don’t really look at sports through a gambler’s eye. An incident involving my late, dear friend Randall Smith was proof positive that gamblers and fans look at games from different spectrums and I decided I’d rather concentrate on the game than on the spread. There was a time however, and my first Super Bowl bet did not go well. I took the Kansas City Chiefs and the points in the first NFL-AFL Championship Game figuring they were both professional football teams, each the best in their league, nobody could win that kind of game by that much. Wrong. But I’m also the guy who talked my friendly neighborhood book into giving me season odds on the 1969 Mets, 25-1, instead of World Series odds, 10-1, if I not only picked the number of games the series would go but which games they would win. I bought a diamond ring with my winnings. My Super Bowl record is pretty good, well above .500, and I have produced some moments of pure genius. When the Giants faced the Bills in Super Bowl XXV in 1991 the numbers seemed a little skewed to me, the spread by which the Bills were favored to win not making sense against the over-under, which seemed to favor more of a defensive game than the spread. In examining the betting numbers I came up with a 39 point game that didn’t match the spread and declared on the Friday prior to the game, “20-19, Giants win.” I’ve come close on a number of occasions, but that one I nailed. It is also well chronicled by now that I’ve been picking the Giants and Patriots for this game since before the end of the regular season. As far as playing favorites, more full disclosure. By the time the, then, Boston Patriots of the AFC came to be I’d already been hooked on the NFL by the great Giants-Colts championship game nearly a half decade earlier and was solidly entrenched as a Giants fan, but I’ve spent many Sundays in recent years attending the greatest in-season Patriots parties in New England, at the Bayside Grille in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where they roll out a free buffet at halftime, all the pizza, wings, crudites and egg rolls you can eat. It’s been great fun being able to join the Patriots rooters in cheering on their favorite team in a raucous but friendly atmosphere in near anonymity. I’ve come to cherish those Sunday afternoons cheering on “my” Patriots among died in the wool New Englanders, away from the Mason-Dixon Line of sports rivalries. My rooting interest in this game is almost a wash. Full disclosure now on the table, I think the Giants have more offensive weapons than the Patriots, particularly in the deep game and with Rob Gronkowski less than a hundred percent. The Giants have a better defense, particularly where most games are won, on the line of scrimmage. The line started at 3-1/2 Patriots, quickly fell to three and stayed there, which means the bookies like it, they’re getting even action both ways. I like the three points too, but I like the Giants, 24-21. With more than just a prediction from the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.
Sports Commentary 2/3/12
February 3, 2012 8:19 AM
Filed under
Giants, Patriots, Sports, Sports CommentaryScott picks the Winner in Super Bowl XLVI……Giants or Patriots ?
It’s Prognostication Day, the day I have to finally relent and make my pick for Super Bowl XLVI. First, full disclosure. The prognostication is only as good as the prognosticator, so a little history. I don’t really look at sports through a gambler’s eye. An incident involving my late, dear friend Randall Smith was proof positive that gamblers and fans look at games from different spectrums and I decided I’d rather concentrate on the game than on the spread. There was a time however, and my first Super Bowl bet did not go well. I took the Kansas City Chiefs and the points in the first NFL-AFL Championship Game figuring they were both professional football teams, each the best in their league, nobody could win that kind of game by that much. Wrong. But I’m also the guy who talked my friendly neighborhood book into giving me season odds on the 1969 Mets, 25-1, instead of World Series odds, 10-1, if I not only picked the number of games the series would go but which games they would win. I bought a diamond ring with my winnings. My Super Bowl record is pretty good, well above .500, and I have produced some moments of pure genius. When the Giants faced the Bills in Super Bowl XXV in 1991 the numbers seemed a little skewed to me, the spread by which the Bills were favored to win not making sense against the over-under, which seemed to favor more of a defensive game than the spread. In examining the betting numbers I came up with a 39 point game that didn’t match the spread and declared on the Friday prior to the game, “20-19, Giants win.” I’ve come close on a number of occasions, but that one I nailed. It is also well chronicled by now that I’ve been picking the Giants and Patriots for this game since before the end of the regular season. As far as playing favorites, more full disclosure. By the time the, then, Boston Patriots of the AFC came to be I’d already been hooked on the NFL by the great Giants-Colts championship game nearly a half decade earlier and was solidly entrenched as a Giants fan, but I’ve spent many Sundays in recent years attending the greatest in-season Patriots parties in New England, at the Bayside Grille in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where they roll out a free buffet at halftime, all the pizza, wings, crudites and egg rolls you can eat. It’s been great fun being able to join the Patriots rooters in cheering on their favorite team in a raucous but friendly atmosphere in near anonymity. I’ve come to cherish those Sunday afternoons cheering on “my” Patriots among died in the wool New Englanders, away from the Mason-Dixon Line of sports rivalries. My rooting interest in this game is almost a wash. Full disclosure now on the table, I think the Giants have more offensive weapons than the Patriots, particularly in the deep game and with Rob Gronkowski less than a hundred percent. The Giants have a better defense, particularly where most games are won, on the line of scrimmage. The line started at 3-1/2 Patriots, quickly fell to three and stayed there, which means the bookies like it, they’re getting even action both ways. I like the three points too, but I like the Giants, 24-21. With more than just a prediction from the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.