RF365’s Odds on the odd (Super Bowl edition)

By Os Davis | Friday, January 30, 2009 | ( 1 )

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but the hardcore football fan and/or serious gamblers don’t need me to say so. As evidence, bookmakers worldwide are laying out the red carpet for your green on what is certainly the biggest gambling day of the year. In fact, the bet-takers are seemingly attempting to draw in even the ubiquitous “I’m only watching the game for the commercials” lot with bets on most favored ad and even the chosen color of Gatorade: You don’t even need to know anything about the game to wager on Super Bowl XLIII.

The standard lines, as of this writing, have the Arizona Cardinals at plus-7, the over/under at around 46.5, and Pittsburgh Steelers' QB Ben Roethlisberger the favorite for MVP – but no need to stop there! The following is a sample of representative props available at BetFred.com, BetUs.com, and BodogLife.com, just to pick three, but if you can’t find it here, it’s bound to be elsewhere.

As always, these lines are for amusement purposes only. RealFootball365.com does not condone gambling of any sort, except for harmless society-approved forms such as lottery tickets, office pools, stock market speculation, casino blackjack, etc. Not even on what is essentially America’s biggest unofficial holiday.

Parlay bet: Team to be winning after second quarter and after fourth quarter
Cardinals - Cardinals: 4/1
Cardinals - Draw: 33/1
Cardinals - Steelers: 13/2
Draw - Cardinals: 20/1
Draw - Steelers: 16/1
Steelers - Cardinals: 9/1
Steelers - Draw: 33/1
Steelers - Steelers: 4/6

Game MVP
Ben Roethlisberger: 7/4
Kurt Warner: 11/4
Willie Parker: 13/2
Larry Fitzgerald: 15/2
Santonio Holmes: 14/1
Troy Polamalu: 18/1, and how can you not like them odds?
Anquan Boldin: 20/1 plus millions more, come contract negotiation time, eh, Anquan?
Jeff Reed: 80/1
Neil Rackers: 80/1

Will there be a special teams or defensive TD?
Yes: 6/4
No: 8/15

Will there be a special teams TD by the Steelers?
Yeah: Surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.

Matt Millen to pick the correct team to win Super Bowl XLIII during the pre-game show (Note: Millen must pick a team to win for wagers to have action.)
Yes: 3/2
No: Is this what we’ve come to as a nation?

Quarterback to be mentioned by full name by John Madden first after opening kickoff
Ben Roethlisberger (remember, it doesn’t say Madden has to get it exactly correct): 5/2
Kurt Warner: 3/2
Brett Favre: 1/100

Commercial to be ranked highest on USA Today’s annual “Super Bowl Ad Meter”
Budweiser: 9/4
Pepsi: 17/4
Doritos: 9/2
Coca-Cola: 6/1
McDonald’s: 8/1
GoDaddy.com: 21/2
Any lame ABC network program: 50/1
Other: 13/4 – a shoo-in if the trailer for the new “Star Trek” movie counts.

City to have the largest market share in TV ratings
Phoenix: 13/2
Pittsburgh: 10/9

Historical quarterback matchups
Over/under, Ben Roethlisberger passing yards in Super Bowl XLIII vs. Super Bowl XLII: 96.5
Over/under, Kurt Warner passing yards in Super Bowl XLIII vs. Super Bowl XXXVI: minus-99.5.
Over/under, any player with a pulse vs. Tony Eason passing yards in Super Bowl XX: OFF

Super Bowl MVP to thank in post-game interview
Coach: 10/1
No one: 6/1
Family: 5/1
Teammates: 3/1
God: 9/5
Bernard Pollard: 1/1

Length of time, the national anthem sung by Jennifer Hudson
Over/under: 2 minutes, 3 seconds; and speaking of football-unrelated Super Bowl bets...

Song with which Bruce Springsteen opens halftime show set
I’m on Fire: 15/1
Radio Nowhere: 8/1
The Wrestler: 7/1
The Rising: 5/1
Glory Days: 5/2
Born to Run: 2/1
Born in the USA: 1/1 (no odds posted on whether this will be the year anyone notices that this 1984 song is actually a condemnation of America’s treatment of Baby Boomer generation veterans and blue collars, however)

Color of Gatorade to be dumped on winning head coach
Lime green: 4/1
Yellow: 2/1
Orange: 5/1
Red: 5/1
Clear/water: 7/1
Blue: 10/13 (really)

And to that, what else may be added except well wishes? Merry Super Bowl Sunday, everyone! Ho ho ho!

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	About Os Davis Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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