Football Betting News

This weekend the big shots of American advertising will go head to head in the marketing battle to see who will be the King (or Queen) of commercials. Game day will be the biggest advertising event of the year.

According to Fox, the average cost for a 30 second spot during this year’s game is $2.7 million and with 93 million viewers of the Super Bowl last year, even more are expected to watch this year.

Companies such as General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi are just a few that are going to be spending their millions to get their marketing message to this massive audience.

Lou D’ermillo, senior vice president of communications at Fox Sports said last week that Fox only had one available spot left for the game and that the Super Bowl was 90% sold out by the first week in November.

So what is it exactly that makes a Super Bowl spot such a great investment?

“It’s all about value,” said Michael Pavone, president of the brand consulting firm Pavone, the group responsible for spotbowl.com, a Web site that analyzes Super Bowl advertising.
Over the years Super Bowl commercials have become a cultural phenomena, and according to Pavone, more than half the audience is tuning in just to see the ads.
“The Super Bowl is a good spend because you get the chance to create a lot of buzz a head of the game.”

There are enough Super Bowl bets out there to fill the Grand Canyon. The pointspread might prove the best bet of the lot, if you buy into the theory that the New York Giants are likely to give the New England Patriots the same kind of heated battle the two fought in Week 17.

But man does not live by spreads alone. The Super Bowl props market is bursting with exotic delicacies; I’ve seen people watch the big game with a list of bets long enough to wrap a bridge in. Here are some of my favorites this year.

Best Long Shot: Player to score last TD – Heath Evans (20-1).
 Best Loooooooong Shot: To win 2008 Super Bowl XLII MVP – Sam Madison (45-1) 
Best Brady Bet: Most Passing Touchdowns – Tom Brady in Super Bowl XLII vs. Tom Brady Super Bowl XXXVIII (pick ‘em)
THE Best Super Bowl Bet: Who will the MVP of the game thank first – Teammates (2-1)

The “Daily Record” is published out of Ellensberg, Washington and at first glance it seems like a decent enough rag. So I’m clicking through its news section I came across an interesting article entitled, “Don’t Bet on Internet Gambling”. So, I’m thinking to myself…is this news? What’s staff writer Chance Edman going on about now? What with the Super Bowl just days away…!

And that’s just it. The entire article centered around how sports betting analysts are predicting the New England Patriots vs. New York Giants to make history by breaking the $100 million-dollar mark in wagers and how if anyone is caught gambling online they will be punished. Quite frankly, it reads like a parent’s warning to a child: “Now if I catch you biting your sister again I’m going to ground you, young man.”

Way to take the fun out of the Super Bowl, Chance. Oh, and NICE name by the way.

Forget this guy… You can’t tell me that betting on one of the biggest events of the year isn’t exciting? Whether you’ve gone to Vegas to get your bets in or whether you’ve got bets going with your buddies or co-workers… Betting on the Super Bowl is about as good as it gets.

The Super Bowl odds have taken another twist. The New England Patriots opened as 12-point favorites last Monday, but were quickly bet down to –11 the next day. The spread was back up to 11.5 points at press time.

We’re not expecting the big money to come pouring in until people get off work Friday. But those high rollers who were waiting to bet on the Patriots might have to pull the trigger sooner. Reports on the Super Bowl betting patterns suggest 90 percent of the action was on the Giants before the latest line change.

Books across the nation have been getting hammered all season long by the Patriots and their chalkeating supporters, so it’s a bit of a surprise that there hasn’t been more public money coming in on New England. Perhaps everyone has drawn the same conclusion: that the Giants have far too much value here to pass up. Meanwhile, the line dances.

The Super Bowl props market is absolutely overflowing with football goodness. There are wagers available for nearly every individual player of consequence; the ones pitting Eli Manning’s production against Tom Brady’s are twice as tasty.

Brady is the favorite in all six of his props against Manning, including most pass completions (-5.5) and most passing yards (-65.5, -135). It’s important to look at the Super Bowl matchup itself before taking the hammer to that piggy bank. If it looks anything like Week 17, Brady will attempt significantly more passes against the softer New York Giants secondary.

Otherwise, Manning has plenty of value in the touchdown department. His learning curve appears to have taken him through what started off as an inconsistent 2007 campaign. Appearances can be deceiving, but Manning has eight TD throws (four against the New England Patriots) and one interception in his last four games; Brady has 10 TD passes (two against the Giants) and five picks.

The early reports on Super Bowl betting patterns suggest four out of five people are laying down on the New York Giants to cover the 11.5-point spread (down from 12 at the open). But forget the spread for a moment. Who’s going to win the big game?
Sure, the New England Patriots are undefeated, supremely talented and looking to cement a place in history as the best team ever. Yet the Giants held them to a 38-35 win in Week 17, and New York figures to be in much better shape on Feb. 3 after a couple of weeks rest – and with the newfound impact of Ahmad Bradshaw as a change-of-pace running complement to Brandon Jacobs.

Personally, I still like the New York Giants to at least cover the spread possibly even win the game. A moneyline bet on the Giants could be worth the investment if the price is right.

Not a lot of people predicted a Patriots-Giants matchup for Super Bowl XLII. But now that we’re here, let’s crank up the old crystal prolate spheroid and see what fate has in store for Glendale.


1. Wes Welker will be named Super Bowl MVP. The Giants will leave the middle of the field open for Welker to roam.

2. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw will combine for over 100 yards rushing. Bradshaw is the X-factor in this one.

3. Lawrence Tynes will not miss a field goal. That was the case 14 times this year.

4. Domenik Hixon will return a kick for a touchdown.

5. Randy Moss will catch a TD pass.

6. Eli Manning will throw two interceptions.

7. Tom Brady will throw for over 400 yards.

8. Mike Vrabel will catch a TD pass.

9. Junior Seau will retire after the game.

10. You’ll be very tired of hearing the word “dynasty” very soon.

There will be a new NFL champion this year. The Indianapolis Colts (-11) had the better of the visiting San Diego Chargers on offense Sunday, but two tipped Peyton Manning passes for interceptions were the difference in a 28-24 Chargers victory. San Diego won despite in-game injuries to Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson.

Indy wasn’t the biggest chalk on the Divisional board. That was the New England Patriots (-13.5) in Saturday’s matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tom Brady was 26-of-28 for three touchdowns, and Laurence Maroney rumbled for 122 yards and a score, but the Jags were sufficiently pesky to grab the cash in a 31-20 loss.

The Pats will now prepare to host the resilient Chargers in the AFC Championship game. It was unknown at press time how the knee injuries suffered by both Rivers and Tomlinson would affect their status for Sunday’s matchup. New England reported no significant injuries.

The NFL never ceases to amaze. We saw some amazing things happen both on and off the field in 2007. Some of what we saw, we wish we hadn’t. The Top 10 list of the league’s biggest stories of the year proves that truth is stranger than fiction.


Michael Vick arrested and jailed on dogfighting charges, suspended by NFL. 
New England Patriots go 16-0 during 2007 regular season
. Sean Taylor shot at his home by intruder, dies at hospital
. Marquise Hill dies in jet-ski accident
. Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago Bears at Super Bowl XLI
. Bobby Petrino signs with Atlanta Falcons, leaves for Arkansas after 13 games. 
Bill Parcells retires for third time, comes back as top exec for 1-15 Dolphins
. Tom Brady (50 TD passes) and Randy Moss (23 TD catches) set league records. 
Brett Favre breaks Dan Marino’s career records for TDs and yards passing. 
Pac-Man Jones suspended for entire season following strip-club riot

You’d have to be living under a rock or just come out of a coma if you haven’t heard that the New England Patriots ended their NFL regular season with a perfect record. That’s all fine and good but what about the other teams vying for a shot at the Lombardi Trophy this February?

The Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks: Is this a rematch of the 2006 playoff game? For Washington’s sake let’s hope not. One of the main differences in this year’s team is QB in Todd Collins, who at 36-years-old isn’t exactly one of the youngest players in the NFL but he’s definitely one of the hottest. Behind Collins, the Redskins have won their final four games and they’re coming into this weekend’s matchup with plenty of confidence. The Seahawks, on the other hand, are coming into this game with loads of playoff experience — having earned their fifth straight NFC West title. (And we’re going to forget about that nasty 44-41 loss to the frightful Falcons.) My pick Seahawks by 4.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers: The Jaguars look great, don’t they? I’ll be the first to admit that I won’t be happy if they end up winning it all but experts are saying that could very well be the case. Their ground game, defense and quarterback are playing better than the Steelers and they’ve already proved it to Pittsburgh’s fans back on December 16th with a 29-22 win over the Steelers — in the snow no less. Jaguars by 3.

The San Diego Chargers and the Tennessee Titans: This is a different Chargers team than the one that choked in last year’s playoffs. This Chargers team closed the regular season with six straight wins. LaDainian Tomlinson is chomping at the bit to get back at those nasty Titans who forced the Chargers into overtime not but four weeks ago and turned an otherwise tight game into a dirty finish. My pick Chargers by 9.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Giants: Eli Manning has been inconsistent at best throughout the regular season and will have to find a way to hit more than a few targets in this game against Jeff Garcia and a hungry Bucs team that is also looking to put an end to a long and bitter post-season drought. This one should be a good one but I am taking the New York Giants by 3.