BIG AL RULE - My Dad, known as Big Al to his friends, joined us for many of the early GO JUMBO weekends. Sadly, he passed away early in 2007. That year, his Alma Mater, Connecticut was a underdog to Louisville during our Vegas weekend. The rest of the Drunken Bums were betting heavy on Louisville but I abstained, fearing the wrath of Big Al. Sure enough, in the 3rd quarter, UConn's punt returner calls for a fair catch and with the Cardinals stopping play, he runs it for a tying TD. It was one of the worst non-calls I have ever seen - but I knew who was behind it. From then on we never bet against UConn during the GO JUMBO weekend. In 2010, the rule was expanded to never bet on the UConn game at all (see the 2010 VEGAS BABY weekend recap for more details). Here's a link to Big Al's Handiwork Big Al'sWarning
BIG FLIPPY - Mike, one of the Drunken Bums, claims that flipping a coin (aka the Big Flippy) can beat the Big Book of Guesses. Results so far for the Big Flippy have been stunningly average.
DOOFUS DECK - My deck has hosted numerous Whiskey Swilling Cigar Chomping Football Society and Glee Club parties. Decked out with flags from the gang's schools, multiple TVs, a dry erase board showing the betting lines and an outdoor heater - its the ideal place to watch all the weekends football games. Originally known as the Man Cave it was changed when the term was determined to be overused.
DRUNKEN BUMS - Many years ago, my buddies came to visit me in B school. After a real good night partying - we woke to the TV showing an old rerun of "Black Sheep Squadron". In the episode, Pappy was rousing the squadron, who were also recovering from a good night partying, with the admonishment that they were "Nothing but a bunch of drunken bums!" We immediately adopted it as our group nickname.
FFDY - Favorite F..cking Day of the Year - The Saturday of the GO JUMBO weekend. After a year of waiting, it's betting and watching 50+ games of NCAA Div 1A football while drinking and smoking cigars with my buddies
GO JUMBO - Guys Only, Joyous Unencumbered Male Bonding Occasion. Our annual trip to VEGAS BABY!! Wives and girlfriends are allowed on the trip but it is incumbent on the spouse/significant other to keep them entertained and under no circumstances are they allowed to sit with us in the Sports Book! Paul's wife has been given a conditional exception (see the 2009 VEGAS BABY WEEKEND recap)
GO MICRO - Gloriously Oblivious Men Ignoring Covid Restriction Orders. In 2020 when Covid had everyone sheltering in place at home, cancelling GO JUMBO. Woz and I ventured to Vegas anyway wearing "He has trouble with the snap" masks provided to us by the Big Flippy. We discovered that money line parlays can be quite profitable.
HE HAS TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP - A legendary play in Spartan history. A miracle last second win over scUM in 2015. Watch the video! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqv48MwEbaQ
MEGA BETS - 3-5 picks made every week against the spread. If a normal bet is 1 quatloo, a mini mega bet would be 2.5 quatloos and a MEGA BET would be 10-15 quatloos. The Doofus sends out a weekly email with the MEGA BETS, the rationale and results from the prior week.
PETE BET - Meaning to take a bet on a team - you get the window and goof the number, ending up making a bet on the opposite team. In 2008 I made an extraordinarily difficult reverse Pete Bet. I'll explain next time we are in Vegas.
POINT WHORE PARLAY - Taking 3-4 underdogs of at least 10 points on a parlay card.
PTZA - Pat's Time Zone Angle - Pat likes to bet against teams travelling 3 times zones. He likes to bet heavy when the are going east to play an early game. Results have not been too bad but he really cleans up on slots. I'd like to figure out his strategy on that.
Sagarin Favored - Jeff Sagarin ranks all Div 1A and Div 1AA football teams using some complex statistical methodolgy that I will never understand in a million years. While I don't understand the methodology, I am able to figure out the resulting analysis. He gives points to every team and posts them weekly. If you take each teams point score, subtract the difference (adding 3 points for a home team) you can then compare them to the spread to see if the spread may be off. For example, in Week 13 of the 2013 season MSU was playing at Northwestern. MSU's Sagarin points were 84.0. Northwestern's points were 70.5. Subtracting Northwestern's points of 70.5 + 3.0 (for being at home) versus MSU's 84.0 leaves a expected point spread of 10.5. The actual spread was 7.0. MSU was not giving enough points according Sagarin by 3.5 points. If this difference is more than 3.0 points, I call it the Sagaring favored team. The system works better later in the year as the Sagarin rating gets more accurate with more games played. I include the Sagarin rating for all teams every week in the Weekly Bettors Guide.
WANNSTEDTED - In 2009, I bet heavily on Pitt to beat Notre Dame. Late in the 4th quarter, Pitt stopped Notre Dame on downs deep in ND territory. Ahead by 5 points, Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt opted to go into the victory formation rather than kick a FG. Unfortunately for me, the spread was 6.5 points. See the 2009 VEGAS BABY weekend recap for a fuller explanation and the 2010 VEGAS BABY weekend recap when we got reverse Wannstedted that year.
BIG FLIPPY - Mike, one of the Drunken Bums, claims that flipping a coin (aka the Big Flippy) can beat the Big Book of Guesses. Results so far for the Big Flippy have been stunningly average.
DOOFUS DECK - My deck has hosted numerous Whiskey Swilling Cigar Chomping Football Society and Glee Club parties. Decked out with flags from the gang's schools, multiple TVs, a dry erase board showing the betting lines and an outdoor heater - its the ideal place to watch all the weekends football games. Originally known as the Man Cave it was changed when the term was determined to be overused.
DRUNKEN BUMS - Many years ago, my buddies came to visit me in B school. After a real good night partying - we woke to the TV showing an old rerun of "Black Sheep Squadron". In the episode, Pappy was rousing the squadron, who were also recovering from a good night partying, with the admonishment that they were "Nothing but a bunch of drunken bums!" We immediately adopted it as our group nickname.
FFDY - Favorite F..cking Day of the Year - The Saturday of the GO JUMBO weekend. After a year of waiting, it's betting and watching 50+ games of NCAA Div 1A football while drinking and smoking cigars with my buddies
GO JUMBO - Guys Only, Joyous Unencumbered Male Bonding Occasion. Our annual trip to VEGAS BABY!! Wives and girlfriends are allowed on the trip but it is incumbent on the spouse/significant other to keep them entertained and under no circumstances are they allowed to sit with us in the Sports Book! Paul's wife has been given a conditional exception (see the 2009 VEGAS BABY WEEKEND recap)
GO MICRO - Gloriously Oblivious Men Ignoring Covid Restriction Orders. In 2020 when Covid had everyone sheltering in place at home, cancelling GO JUMBO. Woz and I ventured to Vegas anyway wearing "He has trouble with the snap" masks provided to us by the Big Flippy. We discovered that money line parlays can be quite profitable.
HE HAS TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP - A legendary play in Spartan history. A miracle last second win over scUM in 2015. Watch the video! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqv48MwEbaQ
MEGA BETS - 3-5 picks made every week against the spread. If a normal bet is 1 quatloo, a mini mega bet would be 2.5 quatloos and a MEGA BET would be 10-15 quatloos. The Doofus sends out a weekly email with the MEGA BETS, the rationale and results from the prior week.
PETE BET - Meaning to take a bet on a team - you get the window and goof the number, ending up making a bet on the opposite team. In 2008 I made an extraordinarily difficult reverse Pete Bet. I'll explain next time we are in Vegas.
POINT WHORE PARLAY - Taking 3-4 underdogs of at least 10 points on a parlay card.
PTZA - Pat's Time Zone Angle - Pat likes to bet against teams travelling 3 times zones. He likes to bet heavy when the are going east to play an early game. Results have not been too bad but he really cleans up on slots. I'd like to figure out his strategy on that.
Sagarin Favored - Jeff Sagarin ranks all Div 1A and Div 1AA football teams using some complex statistical methodolgy that I will never understand in a million years. While I don't understand the methodology, I am able to figure out the resulting analysis. He gives points to every team and posts them weekly. If you take each teams point score, subtract the difference (adding 3 points for a home team) you can then compare them to the spread to see if the spread may be off. For example, in Week 13 of the 2013 season MSU was playing at Northwestern. MSU's Sagarin points were 84.0. Northwestern's points were 70.5. Subtracting Northwestern's points of 70.5 + 3.0 (for being at home) versus MSU's 84.0 leaves a expected point spread of 10.5. The actual spread was 7.0. MSU was not giving enough points according Sagarin by 3.5 points. If this difference is more than 3.0 points, I call it the Sagaring favored team. The system works better later in the year as the Sagarin rating gets more accurate with more games played. I include the Sagarin rating for all teams every week in the Weekly Bettors Guide.
WANNSTEDTED - In 2009, I bet heavily on Pitt to beat Notre Dame. Late in the 4th quarter, Pitt stopped Notre Dame on downs deep in ND territory. Ahead by 5 points, Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt opted to go into the victory formation rather than kick a FG. Unfortunately for me, the spread was 6.5 points. See the 2009 VEGAS BABY weekend recap for a fuller explanation and the 2010 VEGAS BABY weekend recap when we got reverse Wannstedted that year.
