MNF

Tonight, on Monday Night Football, the Steelers play the team Myron Cope always referred to as “the Fish.” Vegas has Pittsburgh as 16 point favorites. Given that it’s a home game, that Miami is 0-10, and that Roethlisberger and Company are likely itching to atone for last week’s loss to the Jucking Fets, the spread seems reasonable. But with Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu out, I’m not sure the Black and Gold will sustain for a full sixty minutes, so I’m not taking that bet.

On the other hand, the first half line has the Steelers -9.5; I’m predicting Pittsburgh will score at least two touchdowns before halftime and I’d be surprised if the Dolphins can put the ball in the endzone, so I did put ten bucks down at Sportsbook.com on that one. In a way, this is a worse bet than the full game; after all, assuming I win the first half wager, all it would take would be another touchdown and the 16 points would be covered. I don’t know, though, something just tells me a second half letdown is possible—look how close the Eagles played the Patriots last night, and they were 24 point underdogs.

I’ve been enjoying my few small bets each weekend on pro football. Yesterday, I pulled off a three team parlay with Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Chicago; even though I lucked out on the Bears game with Denver’s late collapse, I was still kicking myself for not getting some action on Philadelphia, which seemed certain to do well (though not as well as they did) against an overconfident New England.

Sports betting is undoubtedly one of the stupidest forms of wagering; even less than casino gambling, the outcome is out of your hands. But I think that’s what I like about it: you just cast your fate to the winds. (Except, of course, when the Steelers are playing; then, by housecleaning, you can positively affect the result.)