Super Bowl LV confounds the experts — and the bettors
America’s Super Bowl has become the world’s unofficial gambling holiday with some unbelievable amounts of money changing hands this past weekend.
Sunday morning, a bettor placed $1,160,000 on the Chiefs. Actually quite a few people placed bets in the hundreds of thousands over the days leading up to the championship game in Tampa.
The bets aren’t just about who wins. It’s about who wins by how much, who scores what, and bets on just about every statistic kept in the game took place. A man in Illinois bet $100 that Tampa Bay would only score 4 points, on two safeties. Had that happened (it didn’t), the man would have pocketed $500,000.
Lots of money was bet on who would win the MVP trophy, who would score the most, who would make the most tackles. There were even bets taken on who would win the coin toss at the beginning.
The American Gaming Association has estimated that around 4.3 billion — BILLION — dollars will be bet on the game just by Americans. The numbers are much higher when you take into account all the foreign countries that use the game as a gambling platform. According to all the experts, whatever the final amounts are, this year will be the all time bettingest year ever as far as the Super Bowl goes.
The game itself was surprising. The 43-year-old Tampa Bay quarterback and former New England Patriot Tom Brady along with former Patriot Rob Gronkowski were unstoppable and the Buccaneers’ defense held the Chiefs to zero touchdowns, defying all the predictions.
The Chiefs got up on the Bucs 17-0 early on in their regular season match. The Bucs came back, however, finally losing by just 3. Since that time, Tampa Bay has been on a tear, winning all their games and playing like the old New England teams did with Brady at the helm. They were fired up and chomping at the bits to get another chance at KC. With some of the Chiefs displaying poor sportsmanship, that only served to fire up the Bucs.
When I heard someone say that everyone knew that the Chiefs can’t lose, then I knew there was a chance they could lose. I’m a Chiefs fan, but playing a Super Bowl in one of the teams home stadiums doesn’t usually happen. I thought it was a bad omen. I should have bet on that, huh.
I think the most motivated team out there Sunday was the team that won.
4A-1 Conference Girls standings West
1. Pea Ridge 8-2
2. Farmington 8-3
3. Gravette 5-4
4. Prairie Grove 2-8
5. Gentry 1-9 East
1. Harrison 9-0
2. Shiloh 5-4
3. Berryville 4-6
4. Huntsville 1-7
4A-1 Conference Boys standings West
1. Farmington 9-1
2. Prairie Grove 7-3
3. Gravette 4-4
4. Pea Ridge 3-7
5. Gentry 0-8
East
1. Berryville 9-1
2. Huntsville 4-5
3. Shiloh 4-6
4. Harrison 2-7
Final week of league play
Tuesday night, Huntsville visited Gravette, Gentry went to Farmington, Shiloh invaded Harrison, and Pea Ridge traveled to Prairie Grove.
In last Friday’s boys games, Pea Ridge hammered Gentry 57-26, Berryville got by Harrison 56-53, Shiloh nipped Huntsville 52-50, and Farmington whipped Gravette 64-51.
In the girls’ games last Friday, Gravette shocked Farmington with a 59-47 victory, Harrison downed Berryville 51-43, Shiloh crushed Huntsville 56-23, with Pea Ridge besting Gentry 52-40.
This Friday: Farmington comes to Pea Ridge, Berryville plays at Gentry, Huntsville hosts Harrison, and Prairie Grove goes to Gravette.
MaxPreps/CBS 4A North Region Girls poll
1. Harrison 15-0
2. Farmington 16-5
3. Pea Ridge 17-4
4. Pottsville 8-7
5. Shiloh 15-6
6. Gravette 12-6
7. Morrilton 13-3
8. Berryville 7-9
9. Ozark 15-6 10.Prairie Grove 7-12
MaxPreps/CBS 4A North Region Boys poll
1. Dardanelle 18-3
2. Farmington 16-4
3. Berryville 19-3
4. Ozark 16-5
5. Subiaco 10-7
6. Gravette 7-8
7. Huntsville 9-11
8. Prairie Grove 10-8
9. Morrilton 11-6
10. Shiloh 9-12
MaxPreps/CBS 4A Girls state poll
1. Harrison 15-0
2. Star City 21-3
3. Farmington 16-5
4. Pulaski 15-3
5. Pea Ridge 17-4
6. Pottsville 8-7
7. Magnolia 10-5
8. Shiloh 15-6
9. Brookland 13-0
10. Valley View 8-3
11. Crossett 10-8
12. Gravette 12-6
13. Pocahontas 7-6
14. Morrilton 13-3
15. ESTEM Little Rock 14-6 This has been a peculiar year for polling. When the AAA used the MaxPreps system, the date and stats were fairly up to date and accurate. When the AAA went to SBLive instead, it has been a mixed bag for sportswriters. The conference standings are pretty up to date and they have the schedules to reference.
Some schools still use MaxPreps and some don’t and right now, there is no reliable polling service that is anywhere near accurate.
I prefer the MaxPreps personally for a lot of reasons, though they do have the problems from time to time. Trying to cover the entire United States is a bit daunting, but I admire their attempt.
However, with Nashville putting up a 20-4 record and with Mena at 16-2, they ought to be on the polls. No one sends in the data for those teams, I am sure, so their strength might go unnoticed by fans statewide. Our district is the toughest one top to bottom with five teams deserving to be in the regional. However, only four spots are granted for district.
The Region Tournament will be held in Ozark; the State Tournament will be held in Morrilton up through the state semifinals. The state championship game will be held in Hot Springs.
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Editor’s note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwadg.com.