The Bets Are In

Haven’t really been too active with my fun online betting account.  I deposited $100, 6+ months ago and my balance before my NFL future bets was $100.75.  Talk about ROE!  I consider myself lucky to have any money after that Royal Wedding – Queen Wears A Yellow Hat catastrophe.  I decided to splash some cash around big dollars on football.

 

Straight SB Bets:

• $5 – Chargers to win the Superbowl +1000, Pays $55
• $5 – Steelers to win the Superbowl +1100, Pays $60

Mike’s Retirement 8 Team Totals Parlay:

• DEN Under 5.5 WINs
• DAL Over 9.5 WINs
• WAS Over 6.5 WINs
• CIN Over 5.5 WINs
• HOU Under 8.5 WINs
• DET Under 7.5 WINs
• GB Over 11.5 WINs
• NO Under 10 WINs

Because the sports books apparently just give away money, the odds are this one are approximately +113348 so my $5 will win me $5672.39.  Hopefully I will be able to send you a post card from my private island.  Talk to you later, suckers!

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Super Bowl XLV

I really don’t have a good feeling about who is going to win the big game today.  There is no score or no scenario that would surprise me.  I would like to see Green Bay take it down but they are a pretty young team and this is the Steelers 3rd trip in the last 6 years.  People keep mentioning that the Pittsburgh offensive line is pretty banged up, but they have been terrible all year and Big Ben is at his best running around out of pocket (well that and in the bar with a few drinks in him).  But unknowing has never stopped me from gambling on the big game.

Normally JayRo is in Vegas this time of year to place some bets for me.  But not this year.  So I signed up at online betting site SportInteraction.  In part because they are Canadian, in part because their website seemed pretty user friendly and in part because their spokesperson Trish Stratus told me to. The site is super easy to use, their odds probably are not as good as one of the pro sites like Pinnacle or The Greek but it is still decent.  My only complaints is that beyond Winner + O/U, you can not place combination parlay’s on the Superbowl.  So as much as I would like to bet “Ben Roethlisberger Hits On Fergie during half time show +2000 w/ Aaron Rogers MVP +150 w/ Red Gatorade Poured On Winning Coach +1200”, I can’t.

So I have $35 whole dollars in play this year.  As I said at the start my ‘regular’ bets are Pittsburgh slanted but I think I have most of it covered here.

• $10 – PIT +2.5 and Under 45 @3.73x – WIN $37.27
• $10 – Ben Roethlisberger wins MVP @4.5x – WIN $45
• $1 – Randomly Selected Attendance Guess (107200 to 107249) @151x – WIN $151
• $5 – To Score a Touchdown Anytime – BJ Raji – YES @26x – WIN $130
• $4 – To Score a Touchdown Anytime – Charles Woodson – YES @10x – WIN $40
• $5 – MANE EVENT – Polamalu Gets His Hair Pulled Before Matthews @7x – WIN $35

Daddy’s going to buy a new car!

Olympic Moments

I realize that the Olympics are not currently over but I figure I would blather on about a couple of things that I have really enjoyed during this year’s even.

First I wanted to talk about the breakout fashion of the event.  The Norwegian Curling Pants.  If you don’t think these things are awesome, then there may be something wrong with you.  Nothing says “I mean business” like pants that I have stolen from a homeless clown.  The internet has really fallen in love as well.  They have a Facebook Fan Page that has almost 500K members.  They were a trending topic on Twitter.  You can even buy a pair for yourself at Loudmouth Golf for $90 USD.

The second item I would like to discuss is the rise of a new Canadian hero … John Montgomery.  Winning a gold medal in Skeleton, a sport where the athletes basically said “Hey all these lugers are sissy’s, lets do this head first!” is pretty impressive to start.  It also points to a possible mental imbalance.  But everything about this guy is awesome.  The jump onto the podium, the random beer from the crowd, the impromptu O’Canada sing a long, the beard and the odd job as an auctioneer (who knew there was such a thing as auctioneer college).  Why did we not hear anything about this incredible athlete before the games?

Here is a question for you.  Are the female athletes of the Winter Olympics much cuter then those of the Summer Olympics?  Just an observation but it appears to be true.  Many of the curling teams to be oddly constructed with 2 cute young girls and 2 scary older women.  I don’t know a lot about the sport, maybe this is a requirement.

Finally I wanted to comment on Wednesday’s hockey game vs the Russians.  Never has one game swayed my opinion so much.  Going into the games I thought we were easily a top 4 team.  After the shootout with Switzerland and the loss to the US, I was getting scared if we would medal at all.  The team seemed to play okay (Brodeur wasn’t great and Pronger has gotten awfully old, awfully quick) getting lots of shots on net but they just weren’t scoring.

Things started to click during the Germany game.  Luongo took over goalie duties, Pronger’s minutes were being limited. They beat a team they really should.  But they look really good in the Russia game.  They came out flying, actually knocking players into the boards and taking the puck away from them.  This is the hockey I like and I think the team is built to play.  The lines are starting to settle into a groove.  Egos have been set aside and they seem more like a ‘team’. Now, as long as they attack their last games the same way, I don’t see how they don’t win the gold.  A finals rematch versus the US where we come out on top really finishes the cake nicely.  With Sweden, Russia and Czech Rep all being out I suspect this will be the final match.  Heidi (and a brainwashed Travis) gave me the business when the US won the first game, I working on my victory dance for Sunday.

Go Canada Go!

Super Bowels

I don’t have a Super Bowels story.  I just thought it was a funny title.  But the big game was on yesterday.  It wasn’t the ‘long bomb’ fest that I was hoping for but it was enjoyable none the less.  I thought the Colts were the better team going in but they certainly didn’t play like it after the first quarter.  The team that played better won that game.

Weight wise … I was in the gym 5 days, I ate very well Monday through Saturday.  I weighed in on Friday for the Biggest Winner challenge at work.  I was down 4.5 lbs and 2.5% in body fat.  Super excited, especially about the change in body fat.  I received an abnormal number of ‘Mike, have you lost weight’ comments and I generated almost 27 points for my team.  For my ‘first thing in the morning, nude’ reference weigh ins I was down 3 lbs over the week as of Sunday morning.  But then Sunday happened.  I was surrounded by chips and dip and nachos and dip and crackers and dip and bulk barn treats, chilli and chicken sandwiches.  I didn’t do the best job practicing self restraint.

This morning I weighed in at 235.2.  Exactly the same a last 2 weeks.  At least the number didn’t go up I suppose?  I suspect I will be down most of that again tomorrow morning.  I am focused on putting 2 good, non-cheating weeks together in a row.  Once again, when I have been good from start to end I have produced results.  I hate to disappoint you, my fans.

Please come by the house, the fridge is full of pop, beer and snacks.  We need to get this stuff out of here!

Two Titans Battle Again

The 4th of July marks a great event every year.  This will be the 3rd year we have mentioned it here at PNN.  I am of course talking about the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Last year Kobayashi reign was ended by American super eater Joey Chesnut.  We covered this here. There were questions about a possible injury that affected last years performance.

Well the re-match is over and Joey Chesnut has come out on top again.  This year in a thrilling battle that ended tied at 59 hot dogs and then went to a 5 hot dog eat off.

Once again, congrats to these true heroes.

In other eating news, I am down 9 pounds since Sunday.  I haven’t had any real craving.  So far so good.

Awkward Silence

Wow, that was weird.  It has been a while, how have you been?  Nice to see you again.  I am glad to be back.

Thanks everyone for your letters and kind words.  I did indeed make it back from my Vegas trip.  The stories about getting into a fist fight with the O’Shea’s Leprechaun and being left for dead in a off strip alleyway were slightly exaggerated.

Life has just been flying by lately.   It has been 7 months since my last post and it only seems like a couple of weeks.  This new job has been extremely time consuming.  I used to spend most of my days surfing the internet, now I work, and I really mean work.  But the drive and the extra time with Travis make it worth it.

Speaking of T-Dogg he just turned 2 a couple of weeks ago.  This last weekend he moved into his ‘big boy’ room and has been out of his crib for a couple of months (we got him a race car bed because I always wanted one).  He is the funniest little dude.  A day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t make me laugh.  But this is just another example of how fast time is going by around here.

What else have I been doing in the last couple of months?  Apparently eating.  I have ballooned back up to almost 250 pounds.  I have been righting the ship this last week and am official back on the right path this week (this mornings weigh in was 246.8).  I knew it was bad when I noticed my ‘fat guy’ appetite was back, I was snacking any chance I could.  No more.

Most of the Boys, some people from work and some other friends have put together a fearsome co-ed softball team and joined a local league.  Everyone is pretty excited.  We probably are going to be pretty bad but we are going to have the most fun.  Currently we are trying to figure out everyone’s batting songs.  Should be a good summer.

I hope to get back to posting a little more often.  I like doing it.  This probably won’t be as well thought through, prepared or edited.  But it should be funny … assuming you like fart jokes.

Aside – This season of Big Brother has been incredible.  Adam is really something special.

Vegas Bound

Sorry about the low post frequency.  Life and the new job are both pretty crazy.  I don’t really expect that to change much until December, but keep checking back … I am still alive.

Last weekend I tried to qualify to play in the Magic: The Gathering Canadian National Championship.  I played in 2 single elimination qualifiers.   64 Players, top 4 qualify.  In the first one I lost in the final round due to a play mistake of my own.  In the second I lost in an extremely close match in the first round.  I was really happy with the deck I managed to put together and played.  I was a little rusty and don’t seem to play well when a crowd is watching.   With time this will fix itself. 

Boyd (who was qualified on rating) managed to drag hall of famer Gary Wise out to play in the tourney but they both did poorly in the event and skipped the second day.  A kid we used to play with in town, Jamie Archdekin almost made the top 8.  It is funny, he used to be a little pip-squeak kid but now he is a huge dude I would not be interested in fighting.

In the world of fatherhood, sometimes it is the really little things are are the best.  A couple of weekends ago Travis and I actually sat in the recliner together and watched the Notre Dame season opener (College Football).  The game was ugly and we both feel asleep in the chair.  But it was so nice to be able to do.  Travis normally has ‘ants in his pants’ and hardly will sit still for a single minute, let alone 15-20 minutes in a row.  Hanging out watching football is more how I imagined fatherhood, I felt really good.

Tomorrow after work I fly out for 4 days to Vegas.  Sean and I (the married guys) are only staying for the extended long weekend.  Another group of 5 bachelors leave today and are staying a full week.  We are staying at The Castle (Excalibur) because it is on the strip and relatively cheap … plus wizards kick ass.  I am pretty excited, this is the first time I have really gone away for several nights, since Travis was born (there was one work trip earlier in the year).  I hope Heidi and Travis make it though.  I am sure Guinness will keep them in line.  Always bet on black!