We’ve all had time to adjust to a world where sports gambling is legal in Colorado. It’s now perfectly woven into the fabric of the sports entertainment we all enjoy in our great state. But I’m old enough to remember lamenting the fact that the only thing to gamble on when it became legal on May 1st was baseball.
How weird and wrong that was.
Not only was baseball not available to gamble on in May, there were no sports to gamble on. Not American ones anyway. May 2020 would have put us right in the thick of the Stanley Cup and NBA playoffs as well as the second month of MLB but because of the well documented Covid-19 pandemic, all of that was naturally shelved.
You know the rest. After betting on darts and table tennis, German soccer and then English soccer, we got our American sports back and things were good again. Well, as good as they could be considering.
But now as we’ve settled in to this new sports normal (Nuggets playoff game followed by an Avs playoff game followed by the Rockies getting ethered) and we’re well into these so-called seasons, how are we doing out there? Are you a millionaire yet?
If you’ve ever been to Vegas, the reminder that “they didn’t build all of this on the backs of winners” haunts you everywhere you go. Sure, you might take $15 out of a slot machine, but you’re coughing it back up when you stop at a blackjack table ten minutes later. The same goes for the world of app betting in our home state of Colorado. The only difference is someone isn’t swinging by every few minutes offering you a beer. You win some, you lose some and you’re getting your dead ass up and getting your own beer.
But that’s the nature of gambling. You get up, you get down. You score big, and then you face a bad beat that makes you want to throw your phone into traffic. It’s all a part of the experience and if you don’t go into it knowing this can happen, you may need a refresher. Gambling is (for us amateurs) for “entertainment purposes only.” Of course it’s nice to make a little money, but if you’re expecting to get rich off of it, I can guarantee you that you probably don’t have the time nor the bankroll to make that happen.
That’s why you have to do it for fun and don’t sweat the losses. I do that by not wagering much which helps, but if you look at it as a way to spice up your sports watching, there is nothing better. Sports gambling does nothing but enhance the experience. And like enjoying sports in general, which way it’s enhanced is how well you (or your team) are doing.
Did you bet the over in the first round clinching game the Avs played against the Coyotes the other day? Then you received that cool drip of dopamine as they scored goal after goal. It all depends on what you bet on, where your interests lie and how much you can take when things go bad.
I bring this up because I rode the Rockies for a while and when things started going south, I stayed the course and rode into the ground with them. That’s what’s called in the business a “Blake Street Folly.” But you can’t let your local team’s shortcoming turn you off.
If things in our world aren’t on fire and in a ditch by the end of the year, we should have something to bet on from here on out. By the time football ends, hockey and basketball should be starting back up again and we start it all over. So if you’re hitting a bad patch, you can either ride it out or just take a break. It will still be waiting for you. If you’re doing fine and those hockey parlays are hitting, congrats. May the good times never end.
Now here’s some picks for the weekend to get you back on track:
The pain train will keep a rollin’ for the Rockies. After enduring the Astros home and away, they Rockies pack up and head to Los Angeles for a weekend of torment. The bats might break out while in LA, but don’t expect a brand new winning streak to start up anytime soon. Stay away from the Rockies unless you want to bet against them. But that’s a bit like betting the Don’t Pass line in craps isn’t it? Pretty uncool. But profitable.
The Avs punched their ticket to the second round by thoroughly dominating the Coyotes and they won’t know their second round matchup until that’s decided sometime this weekend. So in the meantime, I like the Flyers to put away the Canadiens on Friday and the Stars to do the same to the Flames on Saturday if they haven’t already. St Louis has somewhat climbed back in it and putting some green on them to push this to seven games seems like a good bet as well.
And then there’s the Nuggets. Brain fart games are still going to happen to this team and you just saw one on Wednesday. Friday night is alright for fighting and I say a superior Nuggets squad gets it together, for at least this game, against the depleted Jazz. I think the Nugs blow them out so if the line is low, get on the Nuggets.
