When my friend Justin, introduced me to the spread in 2008, it really made me more aware of the rest of the NFL games going on around the league.
While on that trip, I always made sure I backed the team I was watching that day and the Bears. That’s probably why I never won squat that year.
Anywho, so going into last week’s week 16 spread, i was 3 up with two weeks to play. My Father who gamble on sport daily, firmly told me that in order for me to win this year, I have to put the fan in me away. He was more than hinting that I should stop picking the Bears in the spread.
I was on the cusp of winning the spread as the season winner, pocketing me quite a bit of money. By this point the Bears were damaged on all fronts. To make the playoffs they would need to have to beat the high scoring Packers. The boys in green had only lost one game, but still needed a win over the Bears to claim a first round bye in the playoffs.
The Bears would also need the Lions to lose, then they would to win the following week, and still hope other results would go their way. It was looking pretty ominous that they would not qualify for the playoffs, despite playing in the NFC championship last season. A healthy Jay Cutler and Matt Forte and I’m sure they would have sewn up the wildcard spot.
So here was my predicament, can I really not back my Bears? When picking the Bears this season I had won just six and lost seven. That’s not good at all. The Vegas spread, gave the Bears a huge 12.5 points. So the Packers had to win by 13.
Come Christmas night, I was two points ahead, with two chaps, both two points behind, both of whom had picked the Bears and Atlanta the following night, when I had the Saints for MNF. The Bears-Packers game is the best rivalry in the NFL, and there I was with Steph’s family, hours after Christmas dinner turning on the T.V. Of all the Bear’s matchups this season, the Packers, is the one, as a Bear’s fan, should be the one that i would moist want us to win.
Yet there i was wishing not only for a Bears loss; a Packers win, but an actually thrashing of the Bears by 13 or more points. The gambler in me kicked in and I was cheering on the green and yellow of the Pack. I felt so sick. Who had I become? When did I care about money over the team? When did I care about personally having the feeling of winning over watching my team win? When did i lose faith in the Bears?
Watching the game, I rarely focussed on the Bears players, like I normally would. It was a blur that our new QB Josh McCown looked decent, despite his two INTs. Rodgers meanwhile zipped in five TDs. I was no longer frustrated by our missed tackles.
Yet despite all this, the Bears stayed in the game for a long time. At the end they could have gone for the TD on fourth down, which I normally would be begging for. But thankfully for me Lovie smith called a FG and I won another point, but I didn’t feel good about. I guess this is what it feels like to go and see a prostitute. It’s a fake thrill, or rather a sickening thrill. I didn’t like, but I guess I had to do it.
That Packers win put me back on track. The next night Drew Brees broke Dan Marion’s record for passing yards in one season, just like I knew he would. The Saints tore the Falcons apart and I pushed those behind me further at bay.
Though I had put 43 points on the tie break and there was a whole lot more than that. Which means my nemesis, AJY213 is three behind me in the points, but he has 12 or so points better than me in the tie break.
As week 17 looms, I am still three points ahead of AJY231, and FreePlaxico. The latter hit an 11 and really bumped himself up. I am four behind RPC372 and five behind TimAdams5 who has won four times this year, so he is certainly a threat.
Yet if me and AJY231 can simply every game the same, then come 6pm on Sunday when the games kick off (London time) I will know if i have won straight away, or if i have 9 hours of torture!
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