Hockey : The Dish: Olympic (Hockey) Fever!

exciting game, and some of the calls were brutal and most probably took the life out of the Seahawks. The offensive pass interference call on Jackson was weak, and the reviewed Roethlisberger touchdown should have been overturned due to the football clearly not crossing the line. Even the Hasselback penalty for blocking below the waist after the interception had me scratching my head. All that said, the Seahawks lost the game due to a really poor performance on the field. Stevens dropped easy catches all game long and Seattle punter Tom Rouen seems to have forgotten all about the coffin corner. I think he had six punts in the game, most of which went into the end zone for a touchback. This game was theirs for the taking as I don't believe the Steelers' performance was all that great either. Just look at Roethlisberger's numbers. His QB rating was 135.7 points lower than Randle El's! A disappointing 22.6 rating on the biggest day of his life! And don't get me started on the Rolling Stones. Time to put a fork in them I think. Aretha, however, brought chills down my spine during the anthem, I must admit.

In retrospect, what was the overall handicapping landscape like for the big game? Did the books do well? Were there any particular bets that you saw that made a few select bettors extremely happy?

GJ, BoDog.com: I think all books did pretty well, mostly due to the total falling well out of teaser range, as well as the spread knocking out most teasers. The spread itself made us big Seattle fans, however we were big fans of the Steelers on the moneyline. The perfect outcome would have been a last-second Seattle touchdown and two-point conversion, but in the end was a nice finish to a roller coaster of an NFL season. Our bookmanagers down south did a masterful job of balancing the action for this game, thus ensuring any losses on the day would be minimal. Bettors betting on the Steelers obviously were the happy ones, thus the number of late wagers coming in on Seattle helped balance the action quite nicely.

What happens now that football is over? What do 'cappers and books turn their attention to?

GJ, BoDog.com: One thing, and one thing only: March Madness. The final three games of the Tournament equal the Super Bowl in terms of hype and handle, thus there is no rest for the sportsbooks at all after the Super Bowl. We do everything we can to convince football bettors to keep a little in their accounts and throw some money down on college basketball action.

Do you have any interest (gambling or otherwise) in the Winter Olympics?

GJ, BoDog.com: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Aside from the hockey, I can't think of anything that will generate interest with me or with our bettors. We will have a few lines up, particularly on some of the American athletes, but aside from that this should be a non-event.

About the author:

Christopher Harris is a featured writer for the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at www.procappers.com
Written By: Christopher Harris