FanDumb
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I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. My family still recounts how my motivation for learning to read came from a desire to understand baseball box scores. I was a fan in the purest sense of the word because salaries, contract demands, and the ability to bet were all lost on me. Looking back, I can’t believe I viewed sports through such innocent eyes.
Ask most sports bettors and I think they would relay a similar story. No five-year old calls a bookie or uses an offshore account (I hope). Sports bettors begin as fans of a team then everyone seems to reach the conclusion that we know more than we actually do. How can we lose? This way of thinking usually hits in either high school or college; flush with a bit of spending money and an excess of stupidity where young gamblers tend to take their lumps during formative years. Some develop handicapping skills while many never do still, at the end of the day, most of us remain fans above all else. That balance between fandom and handicapper is a delicate one that every gambler must be willing to address if he plans to bet sports with any level of success. We all know the adage: “Bet with your head, not with your heart,” but I think its time to move beyond a simple saying and establish a few ground rules to guide the fan and the bettor within us.
1. Never bet against your own team
Listen, I’m sure a few of you have bet against your favorite team and ended up with money in your pocket. Still, those successes don’t compensate for the crushing feeling when you bet against your favorite team and you lose. Not only can’t you enjoy your favorite team’s win, but you feel like a moron for not believing in them. I’ve been guilty of this crime one time back in 2002. The Philadelphia Eagles traveled to San Francisco to play a Monday Night game and Donovan McNabb was out with a broken ankle, so the immortal Koy Detmer started in his place. So, like every sane bettor I took the 49ers. Why do I remember this game ten years later? Because Koy Detmer pulled passes out of his neckbeard and made big play after big play before suffering a dislocated elbow. I sat in a bar feeling like the worst kind of traitor, lesson learned that sometimes its just better to pass.
2. Don’t hate a team to the point that you can’t bet on them
Rivalries move sports to a heightened level of importance. We enjoy disliking teams but we can’t let those emotions cloud our judgment when it comes to betting sports. “Bet with your head not with your heart” usually applies to avoiding your favorite team, but in actuality it’s just as important when dealing with teams that you disdain. Just because your disgusted by the sight of Yankee pinstripes or the Cowboys’ star does not mean you should never seek opportunities to bet on these teams. Options are good; you don’t want to avoid teams because they constantly beat your team, have players that you dislike, or an owner that mugs for the camera at every chance. Instead, avoid the teams you cant figure out at all rather than those you’d rather just see go down in a blaze of glory.
3. You love a team, use it your advantage
Ideally, a fan has a broad knowledge base about his team. We listen to the radio, read articles, and constantly consume information about the teams we love. The true fan should have an excess of data to enable a unique perspective on his team’s ability to win. A perceptive fan knows his team’s strengths and weaknesses; we know when our team struggles to contain running quarterbacks or hit left handed pitching. Of course, you still need to proceed with caution and approach it from a truly analytical standpoint. The pain of losing a bet and seeing your team lose a game on top of it can be tough to swallow, particularly in the postseason but there’s no sense being hurt financially at the same time.
The next time you place a wager, ask yourself if you’re making the play as a fan or a bettor. If your answer is both, follow these rules and hopefully you’ll find success.
