Wanna bet?
How long will anthem go? What colour will the Gatorade be that gets dumped on the winning coach?
Super Bowl LI between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots kicks off on Sunday and there are hundreds of prop bets for your consideration of those in Sin City. Most wagers are noted as a money line, with negative numbers representing the favourite. For example, a minus-110 money line indicates a bettor needs to wager $110 to win $100. If the money line is plus-110, a bettor would win $110 for every $100 put at risk. Some prop bets offer value, or available information (cough, cough) can help you put the odds in your favour. But some are just totally random and most, like the ones below, are not worth your time. Odds are as of Friday morning. Heads (-102) Tails (-102) Wagering on the opening coin flip is the simplest of all Super Bowl prop bets and also one of the most popular. “It seems there’s the inclination by most to pick heads, and we cringe when that’s the result of the coin toss,” Jay Kornegay, VP of Race and Sports at Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, told A.J. Perez of USA Today. “We aren’t going to favour heads and move the line. We know each and every year that more people are going to bet on heads.” Historically, the toss has been a 50/50 proposition: since Super Bowl I, the coin has landed on heads 24 times and tails 26 times. The last three Super Bowls saw the coin land on tails and the five before that came up heads, supporting the notion you are putting your money at risk on nothing more than a guess.
TEAM TO SCORE FIRST
Patriots (-130) Falcons (+110) The Patriots are the favourite and have scored first 15 times in 2016, during both the regular season and the playoffs. The Falcons have scored first 11 times, producing a touchdown on their first possession in eight straight games. But so much of this bet is driven by which team gets the first possession, bringing us back to the coin flip which is, at best, betting on a hunch.
TEAM TO HAVE THE FIRST PENALTY
Falcons (-125) Patriots (+105) Perhaps if the Oakland Raiders, the most penalized team in the NFL this year (9.12 per game) were playing in the Super Bowl this prop bet would make sense, but instead we have New England (5.56, fourth-fewest) and Atlanta (6.11, eighth-fewest), two teams that are among the most disciplined in the league this season. Good luck figuring out which will be the first to commit a penalty.
COLOUR OF GATORADE POURED ON THE WINNING COACH
Clear/water (+300) Lime/green (+300) Yellow (+300) Orange (+300) Red (+600) Blue (+750) Purple (+1200) Atlanta has never won a Super Bowl, so there is no historical information as to what flavour of drink they prefer on the sidelines in the big game, but since Super Bowl XXXV, the first championship season for New England in the Bill Belichick era, the Patriots have dumped clear liquid (Super Bowl XXXIX) and blue Gatorade (Super Bowl XLIX) on their coach. They kept him dry in his other two wins. The Falcons dumped green Gatorade on head coach Dan Quinn during the fourth quarter in the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR LUKE BRYAN TO SING THE U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM?
Over 2 minutes 7.5 seconds (-140) Under (Even) Sportsbook.ag has the over/ under set for Bryan’s version of the anthem at 2 minutes and 7.5 seconds. Bovada expects it to go a little bit longer (over/under set at 2 minutes and 15 seconds). Jason Logan of FOX 31 Denver got out his stopwatch and timed some Bryant’s live performances of the anthem. He found the country singer sang the anthem in 1 minutes and 55 seconds (Virginia Beach concert in June 2016), 2 minutes and 3 seconds (2012 MLB AllStar Game) and 2 minutes and 28 seconds (concert at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota this summer). And then there is the uncertainty of when the song actually ends. Lady Gaga officially sang the anthem in 2 minutes and nine seconds during Super Bowl 50, but many thought it went 2 minutes and 22 seconds long — thus going over the 2 minute 20 second mark set by most oddsmakers — due to her holding the last note of the song longer than expected. These propositions, and others for which actual statistical analysis can’t provide an edge, are best avoided. You’ve been warned.