fb-pixelWhy I’ll be better at NFL gambling in 2014 - The Boston Globe Skip to main content
Ed Ryan | Gambling

Why I’ll be better at NFL gambling in 2014

Hello. My name is Ed and I bet on the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

It feels good to get that off my chest because that wager, and my entire 2013 gambling season, have been eating away at me during the last six months. An occasional roller-coaster ride is all part of this game, but my nosedive began last September and I never recovered. A turnaround was always a nice idea, but never a reality.

That terrible Broncos bet capped the worst season in the six-year history of this space, as I deserved to lose every penny of my staggering $2,630 season-ending deficit. The measly $440 I put up on Denver wasn’t going to come close to digging me out of the $2,000-plus I was down heading into the Super Bowl, but I somehow convinced myself to ignore the hot team, Seattle, and back a Broncos group that waltzed through an incredibly weak AFC.

At least my misery didn’t last through the entire title game. That contest was over and my bet was lost in the opening quarter, when Peyton Manning and his center whiffed on that bad snap. My day had started with so much promise, too. I was in Las Vegas (always a plus), staying at the Mirage, and I had won a good-sized pre-Super Bowl college basketball wager on the Tribe of William & Mary.

Advertisement



Things obviously unraveled later that day. I’m also still kicking myself because during halftime of the Super Bowl, I wandered away from the party I was attending and into the casino. Peeking into the sports book, probably hoping to find out that the first half I just witnessed didn’t happen, I noticed that Denver was actually a slight second-half favorite.

“I should take Seattle in the second half and get it all back. Denver is a joke right now,” I muttered to one of my friends.

Advertisement



I was right, but I have nothing to show for it because, of course, I didn’t make the bet.

And that, in a nutshell, was my 2013 gambling season.

Instead of forgetting what happened last year and pretending it never happened, I’m going to try to learn from my erratic wagering. Losing sinks your confidence and leaves you in a paralyzed state of self-doubt, but let’s look at the 2014 season this way: I haven’t lost an NFL bet in over six months!

The parameters of The Bettor’s Edge are simple. I’ll typically pick 3-5 games per week, and I’ll usually wager between $50 and $400 on each. We’ll track my money and my record, and at the end of the season there should be no need to gloat because the big, sparkling, impressive balance at the bottom of this article will hopefully do all my talking.


Ed Ryan can be reached at edward.ryaniii@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @EdzoRyan.