Long before Draft Kings and FanDuel became omnipresent in the sports universe, offering the "chance" to wager on practically any aspect of any competitive sport, I knew a couple guys at school who introduced me to the idea of "prop bets," specifically on the Super Bowl. They had a side-competition every year during the game with the most random of wagers. They bet on obvious game-related details such as winner, final score, MVP, and individual stats like "how many TD passes will Kurt Warner throw in the game." But then they added in a completely random list of fun propositions.
They bet on the color of the Gatorade poured over the winning coach and which team's cheerleaders would be featured first on a sideline TV shot. They better on whether a beer commercial or car commercial would come first. They wagered an "over/under" guess on the duration of the National Anthem, and tried to outguess each other on songs during halftime, celebrity appearances, and of course, the coin toss.
That was my introduction to the idea of the "prop bet," which is now a huge business during the Super Bowl. And I have to admit I love it, even as I have become quite uneasy with the ubiquitous nature of gambling in sports and in contemporary society. Each year, I join a prop bet pool, or host one myself. I've done them individually with forms made on a GoogleDoc, and I've used websites that have a pre-established list as well as a scoreboard that keeps score and ranks all players. The prop bet has become another Super Bowl tradition, like watching the commercials, and the WashPost recently posted some ideas on their "Favorite Prop Bets for Super Bowl LX."
No comments:
Post a Comment