New York Giants… are you there?

As we get closer to the NFL Super Bowl, fewer football teams are left in the game. Many had their hopes on the NFL defending Champions, the New York Giants. So… what happened? Why are they not in the finals?

On January 10^th, the Giants were defeated and eliminated from the NFL Playoffs by the Philadelphia Eagles. This crushed all the New York Giants fans’ hopes to see them as NFL champions for 2 years in a row. And they actually looked like they could make it! At least during the first games of the football season. How were they eliminated with so little glory?

At the beginning of the 2008 NFL Season the Giants took an impressive lead, remaining almost undefeated for a while. People were sure the past Super Bowl Championship victory wasn’t just luck. Even though they lost their first NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns (which was really surprising considering the Browns are part of the usual teams at the bottom of the NFL standings), they still had their strength and had really good play.

Probably the biggest bump on the road for the NY Giants, what started to make things more difficult for them as they came closer to the end of the NFL regular Season, was their first loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, on NFL Week 14. It seems the Eagles represent the Giants’ kryptonite, their biggest weakness. Philadelphia seems to really understand the Giants’ strategy and knows how to block it off… and that’s exactly what happened that day, when the New York Giants lost 20-14 despite the home field advantage they had.

After that day, the Giants seemed weaker and weaker on every game. They faced another painful loss against the Dallas Cowboys, 20-8, and they ended the 2008 NFL Season with a defeat against the Minnesota Vikings, 19-20. They still managed to reach the NFL Divisional Playoffs, but it only took them one more game against the Eagles to be definitely out of the NFL season.

New York Giants betting fans never thought the Philadelphia Eagles would be such a big threat, and now are probably complaining about all the future bets they made. It will probably take more time until we see the Giants playing a Super Bowl again.

An error that turned into a victory

I used to work in Vegas for this recognized sportsbook, and I was one of the most skilled NFL betting agents in the floor, but as everyone else, I made a few mistakes here and there.

The one I am going to tell you about is one that could have costed me my job, but ended up being my ticket to a better lifestyle.

When you take an NFL football bet, you can’t make a mistake as everything revolves around money. So when you receive a call, the guy on the phone tells you his username and password which you use to access his account and place the wager for him. Well, a man called and asked me for a rundown on all of the NFL football betting lines, he then proceded to do some numbers and wanted a wager on the NFL football point spread for the game Packers – Patriots, taking New England, but I accidentally placed the bet to Green Bay.

What is most interesting is that the amount of the wager was 50 grand, so a couple of hours passed and the guy called in to place a smaller one, at that moment when I was checking his NFL betting account, I realized what I did, and I thought that this particular bettor was going to be the ruin for me, but for some reason, I didn’t said a thing.

Well, the Packers won the game, and when he called to find out what happened I told him the truth, and he couldn’t be more happy, well it was a mix of anger and joy, since he knew I made a big mistake.

But since I was the man taking his wagers all the time, he knew it was the first time I messed up with his account, and he knew I was the most capable person on the floor, so he asked me to go for an interview in order to work for him at his new NFL betting operation, since then, I am making 4 times more cash that what I was making in my previous job...

What can I say? Life is odd...

NFL football cannot save us from Baseball

The time of the year every nfl football fan is waiting for is approaching… very slowly may I add. Right now NBA is over and I am not a baseball fan.

This really sucks.

I’m sick and tired of baseball and we’re really not even halfway there yet. Fuck baseball I say. All we have left is uncertainty and speculation as far as this NFL football season: How much will NFL tickets go for? Where can I find the last minute updated NFL schedule?

If I’m wondering all that only a few days after Independence day and we have until the kickoff game which is on Sept. 4th 2008 to watch some real NFL football that means I got a whole two months to read every online detailed analysis, every ESPN update, every handicapping advice possibly written by some wannabe NFL betting expert and to my disgrace, based on their “oh so wise” choices, I’ll be making my NFL picks.

Yes, that’s how bad it is.

The off-season is just a terrible time of the year for us die-hard nfl betting aficionados although if you got some cash to spare you can still dabble a bit into nfl fantasy football. All I know is I was not born to love every sport. Baseball more than proves it. Golf I can take, I like my man Tiger, even tennis I can take, but baseball? I don’t care if its America’s sport, the excitemente of NFL football is in no way even comparable.

NFL Betting for newbies: a quick guide to sportsbetting

If you are new to the sportsbetting business this is a guide you should read. Of course every sport has a different way of handicapping and odds making yet, this guide should help get a good grip of how things work for NFL betting.

Handicap: points given to teams to level the betting field. These are advantage points.

Point Spread: It is used in high-scoring sports like NFL football and NBA basketball and it is the handicap used to make games competitive for bettors.

Handle - Total amount of money wagered on bets.

Juice or Vig - Percentage of profits earned by bookies from all the bets taken.

Parlays - A combination bet. Instead of making separate bets on different games, a single parlay bet is placed in the hopes to predict the outcome of all games chosen. Pay out is better.

Middling - Additional bets after the line moves, on the opposite side of the game, this is done to make sure you won’t be losing money, but winning both bets and ending up even.

And last but not least…

Odds - It is also called “the line”. The opening line is usually set up by a big Las Vegas casino. The lines in sportsbetting and especially for NFL odds required lots of research and a lot of issues need to be taken into consideration when setting up a line, for example NFL player performances, injuries and statistics in both prior and current seasons, weather forecasts and even the personal lives of the players.

Make sure you also do your own research before betting. Oddsmakers will move the line in response to betting patterns: if too many are coming to one team they will make sure to even the line up, meaning that the line you bet on an hour before a game may not be the same line when the game starts.

I hope all these tips help you with your NFL betting, this year may be the luckiest one.