Just like Wednesday is hump-day, Week 9 of the pro football season is hump-week, right at the crown of the campaign.
Just like Wednesday is hump-day — the day we get over the “hump” of the week and start cruising toward the weekend — Week 9 of the pro football season is hump-week, right at the crown of the campaign.
We have a lot of fun with Bettin’ or Braggin’ here at SFBay, but we also realize it’s not the most realistic of betting environs.
Understand that most sports books take at least a ten percent vig on point spread bets, and you’ll see that anything less than ten percent return on amounts bet is actually a loss.
Which leads me to do just a little bit braggin’. At a bankroll of 12,700 SFBay bucks, I’ve cleared the vig and am into the green.
But really only by a negligible amount, and only after sweating out some large, nail-biting-inducing bets — and getting lots of luck along the way.
There’s no question having action on a pro football game changes the way you watch and enjoy. But nobody should ever gamble money they can’t stand to lose. If SFBay bucks were real bucks, I’m sure the ups and downs would be even greater, though I’m not sure I’d take the same risks.
That 12,700 bankroll, incidentally, was reached by largely hitting big on New England laying points against home dog St. Louis. Dog was right, especially after a 45-7 thrashing by the visiting New Englanders. This pick had to be one of the locks of the year — which completely explains Ali and Chelena’s pick of St. Louis.
Ali’s bankroll drooped to 9,300 after Green Bay failed to cover its monster number against Jacksonville, while Chelena inched up to 9,800, in part by figuring out the Seattle-Detroit game that fooled Ali and me.
As we offer up this week’s pick, remember San Francisco had the week off with a bye. I mean, do you really think Jim Harbaugh would have taken time out of a practice week to drive Brandon Belt around The City?
Fair warning: We’re not touts, sharks or bookies. We don’t splash action around the web or line up bets in back alleys. We’re just a few local writers picking games without much of a clue. So using these picks for your own gambling is probably a very bad idea.
| Name | Bankroll | Last week |
| Jesse | 12,700 | +1,200 |
| Chelena | 9,800 | +300 |
| Ali | 9,300 | -500 |
| Game | Ali | Chelena | Jesse |
| Tampa Bay at Oakland (-1 1/2) |
TB 100 |
OAK 100 |
OAK 200 |
| Pittsburgh at NY (N) (-3) |
NY 300 |
PIT 100 |
NY 200 |
| Denver (-4) at Cincinnati |
DEN 100 |
CIN 100 |
DEN 200 |
| Miami (-2 1/2) at Indianapolis |
IND 200 |
IND 100 |
IND 600 |
| Baltimore (-3 1/2) at Cleveland |
BAL 100 |
BAL 100 |
CLE 200 |
| Minnesota at Seattle (-4 1/2) |
SEA 100 |
SEA 100 |
SEA 200 |
To refresh anyone’s memory on how point spreads function, the team with the “minus points” is the favored team, and has the “point spread” deducted from their score at the end of the game. The final score adjusted by the point spread determines the winner of the bet.
If a team is favored by three points, they must win by more than three points to win a point spread bet.
Of course you can play along with Bettin’ or Braggin! What kind of pro football picking game would Bettin’ or Braggin’ be if you couldn’t play?
You can win prizes! (We can’t. All SFBay staff can win are bragging rights over each other. In other words, priceless.)
But first, some rules:
* – Actually, we will be picking two Thursday games, the Seattle-San Francisco game Oct. 26 and the Denver-Oakland game Dec. 6. On those weeks, the deadline for weekly picks will be Thursday at 5 p.m. See why we don’t like Thursday games? Too complicated.
Third-place: SFBay black fleece hoodie, high quality. Nice stuff. $50 value.
Second-place: Limited-edition, authentic SFBay Golden Gate FC soccer shirt, customized with your name. $120 value.
First place: A green Joe Montana Notre Dame Adidas jersey, “True School Authentics,” Size 56. Very high quality retro-authentic heavy mesh. Brand-new, never-worn condition. All tags attached. Very collectible. $250 value.
Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.
Betting from Japan… bragging from home?
Oak $500
Pitt $1000
Denver$1000
ind $500
Balt $200
Minn $1000
I hope i can cover these bets after my last debacle.