I have reason to believe we will see $$$$$ coming in on Seattle that will move the line from the current 10.5 to 9.5 or maybe lower by kickoff. If you like Seattle, take the 10.5 now. You might not see that tomorrow or Sunday.

In a related note...The world's most successful sports bettor -- Billy Walters -- will be interviewed this Sunday night on 60 minutes. Definite Tivo alert. His wealth due to sports betting is unimaginable for most people. His analysis and market systems rival those of the best stock trading companies and exchanges. FYI he is one of very few people, if not the only person, who bets enough to move an NFL line by a point or more on weekends.

Certainly the Bears are the better team. DUH. That usually doesn't have much to do with whether something is a good bet or not though.

Good luck.

1+1=2?

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

(CBS) 60 minutes SUNDAY 6pm 
Pro gambler Bill Walters bets tens of millions of dollars on sports each year, calling his losses "feathers" and his wins "chicken." So far, there's been chicken at the end of every year he has made a living on gambling in Las Vegas, a winning streak that's made odds makers call him the "most dangerous sports bettor." 

Lara Logan gets a rare interview with Walters, who lets her in on his technique, for a "60 Minutes" story to be broadcast this Sunday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT. 

On the week Logan visited Walters in Las Vegas, he won close to a million dollars betting on pro football with the sports books run by the casinos. But he also bet on college basketball, not faring as well. 

"Yesterday was a feathers day as we refer to in our household. It was feathers yesterday. There was no chicken," he tells Logan. "I had a pretty bad day...I lost $257,200. I could lose again today...I've had losing weeks...losing months...[but] never a losing year." 

That success, plus big bets - he once bet $3.5 million on a Super Bowl and won - has brought with it a respect and fear in Las Vegas. "He's a shark and a whale. He's a great white," says one of the city's most respected odds makers, Kenny White. "It means he's the most dangerous sports bettor in the history of Nevada...That's the damage he can do to a sports book," says White. 

The gambling life, which he began in earnest when he arrived in Las Vegas broke and in debt in 1980, has made him extremely rich. He owns seven homes and a $20 million private jet. He has a group of anonymous partners who place his wagers for him and consultants who advise him how to bet. He calls one of them a "savant," for his uncanny recall of sports statistics. Walters' influence is so powerful that he can change the point spread on certain games so he can bet on the team he really wants with the point spread he thinks will make him a winner. 

It all began in the hills of Kentucky where he grew up poor and made his first bet, a penny, on a pool game he played at the age of six. He doesn't only bet on sporting events, he'll bet on the golf course, too. He tells Logan he has won $400,000 on one hole alone and once took home "around a million dollars" from a golf match. 

Asked if there is anything he wouldn't bet on, Walters replies, "Not really."

All 9 Seahwak losses this year by 15 or more.

Public liking Seahwwaks +19, to the tune of 59%

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

A lot of money came in on Seattle on Saturday and line dropped to -10 -105, but other syndicates opposed it and public money today strong on Bears. Books may have been holding the number yesterday because they didn't want to create a middle. Not sure but it is clear there are opposing groups with large $$ on both sides of this one.

So if you waited, you didn't lose anything by waiting, but you didn't get the number under 10 I thought you would get.

Personally, I have small exposure on the Bears at -10 and have Bears and NE in moneyline parlay.

Good luck.

Bears certainly did all they could to make that line look good. I'm glad Carrol didn't go for 2 on the last TD.

I didn't think the 60 minutes piece was all that great. It was superficial reporting. I imagine he didn't give them all that much access and the reporter didn't have a great feel for the topic.

Coast, do you have any familiarity with that Computer Group? Is it still around?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I seen the 60 minutes piece too, I am with you on the reporter, it seemed like she wanted to know more about his helpers and he wasn't given that info out. He does do some nice things with his money, like helping people with mental disabalities, but I would guess he got a ton of money from somewhere else, because when you play these games, you need some luck and I would say to make as much as he does, he would be the luckiest man on earth.

Just look at these past weekend's games, the way the Steelers-Ravens game was going, who would have thought the Steelers would cover the 3, or Bears-Seahawks when the Seahawks made it 35-23, they still kicked the extra point and not go for 2, and who would have thought that Jets-Pats would have gone over, I think it was 45, and it's 21-14 with about 2 minutes to go. You get all those, you have got something going for you.

OK let me ask this question.

Not that I doubt there are experts out there that are far better than I am at picking winners. But in my experience in this life, most people who are experts at what they do, in addition to their skill, have a little bit of an edge over other people.

What I'm getting at is this: Take Pete Carroll for instance. I highly doubt he or any other coach is going to throw a game or anything extreme like that. But, let's say that a friend of a friend of a friend who knows Pete, maybe heard him mention over a beer that IF a game happened to reach a point where a meaningless decision (i.e. kick, or not kick, a meaningless field goal, go for 2, etc) affected the outcome ONLY in respect to the point spread, that he wouldn't choose to cover the spread. That would be all you need to get an edge in playing the point spreads.

Am I wrong to think this doesn't ever happen?

I don't know if your wrong, my take on your thought is that the coaches know the spread, but I don't think their thinking about the spread late in the game and what they do affects it.

Not in the NFL for a head coach making millions that already made millions, in a blowout playoff game.

Maybe a SWTex State v Houston El Paso, you got a chance to make a call then.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Not so much about the coaches themselves getting financially comp'd. But they all have friends and relatives who don't have lots of money. It wouldn't be too shocking to think that a coach might mention one time to somebody that they like to try to cover the spread if they can. Or that they have no intention to. If so, then that word becomes gold if it reaches the ears of rightly-placed people. The information itself would be worth hefty money to such a "friend".

Or I'm really just looking for something that isn't there?