Do you bet on the Seahawks? If you do, do you think...

[hawksfansinceday1]

I generally don't bet the Hawks In individual games even when in Vegas, it's uncanny how accurate Vegas is with the lines. Plus I received some great advice from a random guy at a sports book one time when I was about 21. He said never bet on a game where you either love or hate the teams as those emotions will skew your betting and burn you in the end.

I place a futures bet every year at the start of the season for the Hawks to win the Super Bowl, and it worked once! 8)

Yeah I used to live 4 hours from Vegas (Temecula, CA) and when I bet football over there, it was never on the Hawks for the reasons you were told by said random guy. You undervalue your team when they aren't playing well and overvalue them when they are. A futures bet or a wager of beers with a friend that is a fan of the team the Hawks are playing are different matters altogether though.

 

[MissoulaHawkFan]

The only games I make bets on are when Seattle plays San Fran, or Green Bay - one brother in law is a 9ers fan, the other a Pack fan, so we usually wager a growler when our teams play each other.

 

[capncrunch]

No. I don't. I stopped participating in a pool my neighbor runs after doing poorly several years in a row. I don't want anything to do with FF either. I enjoy playing poker and betting on horse races at the track. Only small wagers in both cases. I just love to watch the Seahawks play.

 

[StaffAmerica74]

I bet against them every week with the money line so if they lose I atleast get money out of it to reduce the disappointment. Usually only 20 dollars but more for bigger games... Made allot for this last superbowl. Didn't really help the sting though.

 

[djb28]

No, Never. I bet with my wallet, Not my heart.

 

[Hawks46]

First off, it makes it worse for me. I get emotionally invested enough, when I lose money, I get really pissed off.

It's also superstitious for me. In 2005, I quit betting on the Hawks and they went on an epic roll and went to the SB. The next year, literally every time I bet on the Hawks, they lost. The few times I bet against them, they won. This was when I lived in Vegas, so there was a lot of activity we're talking about here.

Now I don't bother. It makes it better for me.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Only maybe a coffee bet w/an opposing smack talking fan. I'll be enjoying from free Java today. Dude was talking mad smack about his precious 39ers. :th2thumbs:

 

[RiverDog]

I agree that Vegas wants even money to eliminate risk of losing big and are happy to take their rake. Doesn't change the fact they are damn good at setting the lines most of the time.

I think you might be missing my point. The point is that Vegas isn't the ones that set the betting lines. It's those that participate in the betting that set the line. It's completely market driven and has absolutely nothing to do with the play on the field, players, coaches, their opponent, etc., except as it relates to betting activity.

Las Vegas bookies will look at past betting activity along with other factors that might influence potential bettors, and will try to predict which team will garner the most interest then set an initial betting line. As the actual bets come in during the week, they will adjust that line accordingly to maintain or achieve a balanced risk. It's a purely mathematical function rather than some type of football analysis.

Think of it like this: The New York Stock Exchange does not set the price of stocks. It is simply a venue where trading can occur. The investors, by virtue of their investment activity, determine the price of the stock. As more people buy, the price goes up. As more sell, the price goes down. The same holds true for Las Vegas bookies and the betting lines.

The trick is finding a really crappy team that a lot of rich, mindless, passionate followers will blindly bet on then bet against them. Like the Cowboys.

 

[Largent80]

Hawks are -5.5 right now.

 

[drcool]

I "miss" the days when the Seahawks were underdogs and you could get a good return on the money line. The BeastMode game was a great example of this. I think the Saints were favored by 10 or so? No way I would want the points in a situation like that and be "happy" with a 3 point loss. I took the Seahawks to win straight up when it was something like +450.

If the Hawks are favored I might throw them in a parlay with a couple other teams but I rarely just bet the point spread for the Seahawks. I just want to root for a win and don't really care by how many points.

 

[RiverDog]

I also sort of feel this way about fantasy football. Fantasy has corrupted the experience so much that I simply refuse to watch games with my friends anymore. I have Sunday Ticket, and I used to invite people over to watch games with me. It got extremely annoying, because friends would constantly beg me to jump around to different games so they could watch their players. "Hey, could you switch to [garbage game that's a blowout and not interesting whatsoever]? I need a few more points out of [random player], I want to see if he can pick them up." No! I want to watch a hard-fought game that's coming down to the wire, we're not switching games so we can see if your fantasy player picks up an arbitrary number of yards in a meaningless game!

I can understand there being a conflict of interest if you're having to share a TV with someone interested in a FF player. But it's really no different than having to share it with an avid fan of another team (like me and the Hawks) that insists on watching their team until the final conclusion no matter what the score.

I've found that FF, and the various pick'em leagues I participate in, gives me more of a reason to watch a game or pay attention to the outcomes. I don't gamble per se, just a nominal entry fee or in some cases, just for bragging rights, but it does enhance the experience for me.

 

[Barthawk]

No, I don't bet. I used to dabble a little bit, but not anymore.

What I don't like about betting is that it kind of taints the experience of watching the game. I just want to watch a game and not worry about inane details. For example, let's say I were to bet on the 49ers/Seahawks game, and I take the "over" on the combined score. If we're up handedly (like we were on Thursday), I don't want to root for the 49ers to march down field and kick a garbage time field goal to meet the point spread just so I win the game.

Or, if I bet on a certain number of passing yards for Wilson... I don't want to get frustrated at the end of a game because we're up big and just run-run-run to wipe out the clock. It almost becomes a conflict of interest.

I also sort of feel this way about fantasy football. Fantasy has corrupted the experience so much that I simply refuse to watch games with my friends anymore. I have Sunday Ticket, and I used to invite people over to watch games with me. It got extremely annoying, because friends would constantly beg me to jump around to different games so they could watch their players. "Hey, could you switch to [garbage game that's a blowout and not interesting whatsoever]? I need a few more points out of [random player], I want to see if he can pick them up." No! I want to watch a hard-fought game that's coming down to the wire, we're not switching games so we can see if your fantasy player picks up an arbitrary number of yards in a meaningless game!

I hate fantasy football as well. Everyone thinks I should care about their fantasy team and their players. I know I'm in the minority but IMHO it delutes the football watching experience for everyone around as some FF goober needs Romo to throw for 350 yards so he wins his tough matchup that week.

I sent my friends a message before the season started-- "Nobody cares about your fantasy players/teams except for you, therefore, please tell your glorious/inglorious stories about your fake team to someone else"

 

[mikeak]

I agree that Vegas wants even money to eliminate risk of losing big and are happy to take their rake. Doesn't change the fact they are damn good at setting the lines most of the time.

I think you might be missing my point. The point is that Vegas isn't the ones that set the betting lines. It's those that participate in the betting that set the line. It's completely market driven and has absolutely nothing to do with the play on the field, players, coaches, their opponent, etc., except as it relates to betting activity.

Las Vegas bookies will look at past betting activity along with other factors that might influence potential bettors, and will try to predict which team will garner the most interest then set an initial betting line. As the actual bets come in during the week, they will adjust that line accordingly to maintain or achieve a balanced risk. It's a purely mathematical function rather than some type of football analysis.

Think of it like this: The New York Stock Exchange does not set the price of stocks. It is simply a venue where trading can occur. The investors, by virtue of their investment activity, determine the price of the stock. As more people buy, the price goes up. As more sell, the price goes down. The same holds true for Las Vegas bookies and the betting lines.

The trick is finding a really crappy team that a lot of rich, mindless, passionate followers will blindly bet on then bet against them. Like the Cowboys.

Vegas sets the opening line. They set the line to where they think it will end up and then people jump on it when they think it is wrong.

Adjustment is based on risk but the initial line is set by Vegas and ties into anticipated outcome of the game.

 

[mikeak]

As in ruining the game watching experience

Fantasy - absolutely which is why I stopped doing it

Gambling - absolutely not. If anything it makes every game more interesting.

Now I am mostly in agreement on Sports Hernia's statement "He said never bet on a game where you either love or hate the teams as those emotions will skew your betting and burn you in the end."

The only exception I have made is if I think I know something about my team that has changed dramatically and I don't think the line reflects it. I will then bet on my team but this rarely happens.

 

[ZagHawk]

I have only put money down on the Hawks once, and that was to win the SB in 2014. Bought myself a fancy SB frame for my program and ticket with that money (and a dinner).

 

[irocdave]

When I was younger (18 - 20 years old) I made bets on the Hawks, I picked the wrong years to bet on them. 1988 - 1990. Never money but being that I lived in Sacramento, it was always Hawks gear. Raider fans were absolutely the most obnoxious at that time, my niner friends were cool and didn't take it so seriously. I remember the Hawks losing to the raiders in 1990 and having to hand over my Hawks front license plate. I worked with this guy for a year, 45 YO little Mexican dude from Oakland. He was hardcore Oakland, gangs, crazy women, getting arrested while partying was no problem to him, and more importantly, funny to watch him interact with cops while being arrested. He was a responsible hood rat though, had a house, boat, decent car and truck and was really talented with a gelcoat gun.

He took my plate and left it on the front seat of his car for a week. On Friday it was still there so I took the his front plate off and put the Hawk plate on. When he came in Monday morning he was pissed and through the plate at me. It was full of bullet holes. He made some comment about that's what going to happen to me, I laughed and asked if he wanted to go double or nothing.

I haven't bet on a Hawk game since.