Bulletin Board Material for SF Game!!

[sportscurmudgeon]

Before I tell you how the public is showing huge disrespect for the Washington Redskins of 2004, let me be sure everyone understands something about betting lines in Las Vegas.

When the oddmskers set the line, they are NOT setting the line where they think the score difference will come out. The books are not in the business of gambling; they are in the business of making money off people who gamble. They do not care who wins any game nor do they care what the differential is - as long as they have set their line correctly.

The betting line is the oddmsakers' best guess at a number such that the same amount of money is bet on either side of the line. They may think a game will be won by two TDs but if the ALSO think the balance point for the public is 6 points, the line will be at 6 points.

Since you bet $110 to win $100 against the spread in Vegas, if they can balance the books, they keep the 10% "juice" and make a profit. That's why they are not in the gambling business; they are in the business of making money off people who gamble.

So much for the preamble...

The line for the Redskins/49ers game this weekend is Skins - 3.5. That is not a typographical error, folks. That means that the oddsmakers are relatively confident that there will be the same amount of money put on either side of that number. Sometimes they are off a bit and the line has to move a little, but this line won't be 8 or 9 by game time; you can bet on that statement! If you want to know why I say that they are generally correct in guessing where the public betting sentiment is, just go to Vegas and look at all the infrastructure costs there. They don't pay for them by losing more money on football betting than they take in!

So the betting public thinks that the Redskins this year are only about a field goal better than the sorry-assed SF 49ers who would probably only be a 7 point favorite over USC. That is an insult of great proportion. Last week, the Arizona "Bleeping" Cardinals were 7 point favorites over that same sorry-assed 49er team. Now the Skins are only 3.5 favorites?

That betting line should annoy the bejeepers out of the Redskins' players and they ought to use it as motivation to go out and put a major beat down on the 49ers. The Skins are 10 points better than SF; with that news, they ought to win by 17.