Baptism of Fire
March 21st 2008 06:23
I think the idea came to me as I was waiting in line at the Centrelink office. I'm unemployed, in debt, living with my folks at home, I'm a joke... I think I'll open an online sports betting account.
I've never gambled much before. I went to Vegas for three days and all I did was play one roulette table, bet on one sports game and put a dollar into a pokies machine.
But somehow I was confident that this was going to be a wise investment, taking the money I'd been given by the government and putting it into sports betting. It was going to be the beginning of a glorious ride back to money and self-worth, or a cliche beginning to becoming a down and out loser. Either way something would happen.
I found the hardest thing is not betting just because it's kind of cool to. I'm still at the novelty stage of it and I'm finding it hard to separate these thoughts from the cold rational sports-intelligent mind needed to get one up on the bookmakers and so I began with a couple of losses on random basketball games.
Then the footy began. I had Richmond to win and when the Tigers turned the game and cruised to victory I was back to even. Next it was the team I barrack for, Geelong, taking on Port Adelaide and I'd taken a line bet so that the Cats had to win by 10 points or more and I'd get the return.
The Cats began to dominate in the second quarter and cruised to a 31 point lead. The signs were ominous, I began to check other games to see how I could re-invest my money now that I would be in the positive. Then it slowly came apart.
The scoreline got closer and closer but I still wasn't worried at three-quarter time and when Ablett goaled in the first minute of the last term I was happy, watching my team win and winning money this was how life should be. But they kept chipping away Port and I watched as they kicked three behinds in a row and suddenly I remarked "Now they only need a goal and a behind and I'm in trouble."
The goal came first and then as I sat on the edge of the couch, the last minute of the game ticking down Geelong leading by 10 points, my team rushed a behind, and cruelly stole my money from me, leaving me a shattered man. My team celebrated as the siren sounded and I should have been happy but, alas, I had missed the money by a solitary point after having it in my hand for almost 90 minutes only to see it go up in smoke in the dying seconds.
I'm starting to question whether this whole sports betting thing is going to lead to a bright future after all.
I've never gambled much before. I went to Vegas for three days and all I did was play one roulette table, bet on one sports game and put a dollar into a pokies machine.
But somehow I was confident that this was going to be a wise investment, taking the money I'd been given by the government and putting it into sports betting. It was going to be the beginning of a glorious ride back to money and self-worth, or a cliche beginning to becoming a down and out loser. Either way something would happen.
I found the hardest thing is not betting just because it's kind of cool to. I'm still at the novelty stage of it and I'm finding it hard to separate these thoughts from the cold rational sports-intelligent mind needed to get one up on the bookmakers and so I began with a couple of losses on random basketball games.
Then the footy began. I had Richmond to win and when the Tigers turned the game and cruised to victory I was back to even. Next it was the team I barrack for, Geelong, taking on Port Adelaide and I'd taken a line bet so that the Cats had to win by 10 points or more and I'd get the return.
The Cats began to dominate in the second quarter and cruised to a 31 point lead. The signs were ominous, I began to check other games to see how I could re-invest my money now that I would be in the positive. Then it slowly came apart.
The scoreline got closer and closer but I still wasn't worried at three-quarter time and when Ablett goaled in the first minute of the last term I was happy, watching my team win and winning money this was how life should be. But they kept chipping away Port and I watched as they kicked three behinds in a row and suddenly I remarked "Now they only need a goal and a behind and I'm in trouble."
The goal came first and then as I sat on the edge of the couch, the last minute of the game ticking down Geelong leading by 10 points, my team rushed a behind, and cruelly stole my money from me, leaving me a shattered man. My team celebrated as the siren sounded and I should have been happy but, alas, I had missed the money by a solitary point after having it in my hand for almost 90 minutes only to see it go up in smoke in the dying seconds.
I'm starting to question whether this whole sports betting thing is going to lead to a bright future after all.
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