After listening to Michael Lewis talk about fandom and sports gambling-- he was on Armchair Expert and he's doing a season of his own podcast on this topic-- I am convinced that the irrationality of sports fanaticism and the way the sports gambling companies have preyed on this irrationality, which mainly resides in the hearts and brains of young men, and how these sports gambling behemoths have leveraged these emotions in an unethical manner to make boatloads of cash, designing sites and promotions to incentivize the stupidest bets and literally banning anyone who shows skill, rationality, and competence-- and, like the old time tobacco manufacturers, figuring out how to hook them when they're young-- I now believe that just watching a game and rooting for your team is enough of an emotional gamble-- there's no reason to put any money on the line because you're already emotionally invested on an outcome you can't control and probably won't go the way you want, so why lose money too?
The bets I place are almost always against my team’s success
ReplyDeletepsychic hedge!
ReplyDeletewould also be a good band name.
You should read this: https://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2012/07/fans-notes-on-fans-notes.html?m=1
ReplyDeletethis is getting meta-- but i like the idea of a psychic hedge! but what is my rooting worth? what amount would i take for the knicks to lose this series? as i seinfeld fan, i guess it would be 182 dollars?
ReplyDeleteplus i could cancel sling TV, saving me even more money . . .
ReplyDelete