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DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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28 - Monday, February 5, 2007
'M' SCHEDULE
TUESDAY - 2.6
M Basketball at OhioState, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY -2.8
W Swim/Diveat BigTenChampionships
W BasketballatIowa, 8p.m.
M Gymnasticsat Winter Cup Challenge
FRIDAY - 2.9
MTrack& Field at TysonInvitational
W Track & Field at Tyson Invitational
Softballat Wilson Demarini Invitational
W Swim/Dive at Big TenChampionships
M Gymnastics atWinter CupChallenge
S MennisatWilliam&Mary 5 p.m.
Ice H-tckeyoat Bawling Green, :05 p.m..
W GYMNASTIC7S VS
SAID AND HEARD
"I've decided to attend the University of
Southern California."
- Five-star cornerback RONALD JOHNSON announced
from the podium at his church in Muskegeon concerning
his highly anticipated announcement on which college
he would play for next year. He was long thought to favor
Michigan as his school of choice for next season.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
ANDREW ELKIND
MEN'S GYMNASTICS
The redshirt junior led Michigan to its sec-
ond-consecutive big win, defeating No. 2 Penn
State. Elkind finished first on the parallel bars
(9.45) and also turned in solid performances
on the rings and high bar.
I
4
Gambling transcends the gridiron
NEBR
Wresli
SATUR
M Track
M Track
W Track
Softball
W Swir
M Gym
Water P
M Tenn
Ice Ho
at Joe
M BASK
SUNDA
Water P
Softball
WREST
ASKA AND ILIN01S,7:30 P.M. ix-foot subs, multi-million-
dollar commercials and
ngatlndiana,8p.m. Lupstanding players getting
DAY-2.10 arrested for
K& Field at Tyson Invitational their night-
& Field at E. Michigan Open before-the-big-
k & Field at Tyson Invitational game antics
at Wilson Demarini Invitational symbolize
/Dive at Big Ten Championships some of the
so-called pag-
nastics at Winter Cup Challenge eancry that
olo at Triton Invitational engulfs the
is at Virginia, 6p.m. Super Bowl.
keyvs. MichiganState Butif there's
Louis Arena,7:35 p.m. one thing that
KETBALL VS. MINNESOTA, 8 P.M. has become JACK
Y -2.11 synonymous HERMAN
withtheout-of- _
olo at Triton Invitational control nature
at Wilson Demarini Invitational the two-week event has taken, it's
LING VS. OHIO STATE, 2P.M. the millions of dollars exchanged
(and thousands of kneecaps bro-
*home games in all caps ken) because of various forms of
*all times ESgambling.
Even those who attend a Super
Bowl party for free chips, dips
E BLOG A LOT. and beer can get in on the action
with those box pools that reward
AILY SPORTS. an ever-growing number of win-
ners using increasingly complex
rules. For $5, you can be part of a
phenomenon almost as popular as
NCAA Tournament pools, and you
don't even need any football knowl-
edge. Heck, even Matt Millen could
win one of these things.
Politicians have also found ways
to capitalize onthe gamblingfrenzy
(surprising, I know) with the tradi-
tional yearly bet waged between
mayors from the cities of the two
Super Bowl teams. This year, Chi-
cago mayor Richard Daley offered
potato chips, soda, Bears apparel
and furniture. In return, India-
napolis mayor Bart Peterson put up
tickets to the Big Ten Tournament
and all three races at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, as well as meals
at 13 different restaurants. Con-
gressmen, senators and governors
typically get in on the act, too.
And, of course, there's the bet-
ting that goes on in Las Vegas, on
the Internet and with local bookies
across the country.
Maybe you're just a casual fan
who wanted to test his casual
knowledge. You could have bet
on the outcome of the game, the
1 halves or any of the individual
quarter or will run more plays in
the first half.
Or maybe you're a basketball fan
who wanted to test his ... I don't
even know what to call this knowl-
edge. You could have bet on wheth-
er Cleveland Cavalier Zydrunas
Ilgauskas will total more points and
rebounds in his game against the
Pistons than Peyton Manning com-
pletes passes against the Bears.
These last two sets of bets may
sound silly, but they're part of
a very popular group of wagers
called propositions, or "prop" bets.
They've grown substantially since
Super Bowl XX in 1986, when the
sports book at Caesar's Palace in
Las Vegasnoffered 20-to-a odds (that
shrunk to 2-to-1 by gametime) that
the Bears popular, 300-pound-plus
defensive lineman William "the
Refrigerator" Perry would score a
touchdown (used occasionally as
a goal-line fullback, he had two in
the regular season).
Even though Chicago coach
Mike Ditka said before the game he
wouldn't use Perry to run the ball,
the coach went to him in the fourth
quarter, and Perry barreled into the
end zone, vindicating all those who
placed the novelty bet. Makes you
wonder if Ditka got in at 20-to-1.
Taking even a quick look at
Bodog.com, an Internet betting
site, you have to wonder who
even comes up with some of these
things.
There were 299 different bets
you could have placed before the
game, and, by the time the ball was
kicked off, at least four of them will
already be settled. If you felt like
throwing money around based on
pure luck, you would have wagered
on whether the coin flip would be
heads or tails, which team would
winit and which teamwouldreturn
the ball. Even Daily Arts writers
could have played, as Bodog set
the over/under of Billy Joel's Star-
Spangled Banner at 1:42. The clock
started when he hit the "Oh."
The rest of the bets range from
absurd to ridiculous.
The football-only, team bets
included what the first scoring play
of the game will be, what the last
scoring play of the game will be,
which team will score first in the
last two minutes of the first half,
whether or not the team that scores
first wins, how long Chicago's first
punt will go, whether the Colts will
score an odd or even amount of
points, how many Bears will catch
a pass, and just about everything
else you can imagine.
Wanted to bet on individual
players? Should have guessed who
would score the first touchdown or
intercept the first pass. Could have
estimated Reggie Wayne's yard per
w
W
DA
catch total total or the length of
Bernard Berrian's first reception.
Nine different defensive players
had an over/under on their total
number of tackles, sacks and inter-
ceptions.
You could even have wagered on
how Manning's game would stack
up against the historical perfor-
mances of other great quarterbacks
like Montana, Elway, Bradshaw,
Marino and Aikman. And how he
will do compared to Richard Ham-
ilton, of course.
You could have pitted a number
of the gridiron stars against their
counterparts on the hard court
or on the golf course or on the ...
stage. With the Grammys coming
up on Feb. 11, you could have bet
on whether Marvin Harrison will
have more catches than Mary J.
Blige wins awards and Rex Gross-
man touchdowns versus John
Mayer trophies.
I was only half surprised there
was no over/under on how long it
would take me to write' this col-
umn.
But I'm holding out hope for next
year.
Don't believe in me? Well, I'm
willing to bet.
- Have your own idea for
crazy prop bets? Let Herman hear
it at jaherman@umich.edu.
d-setting
Blue
meter hurdles. Ofili's winning
time of 8.05 seconds beat her
previous record by .01 seconds.
Her run was fast enough to mark
a qualifying time for Nationals
in March.
Senior Erin Webster and the
distance medley relay team won
events as well, each earning a
spot at Nationals.
Badgers' late surge Ofli's recor
dooms Grapplers race paces
The fourth-ranked Michigan
women'n track and field had a
The No. 21 Michigan wrestling But the tide turned quickly, and ucenstful weekend, claiming
team couldn't hold an early lead Wisconsin won thenext five match- three event titlen and earning
against No. 9 Wisconsin, falling es to go into the intermission. nix NCAA automatic qualify-
to the Badgers 21-15 at Cliff Keen Wins from juniors Josh Churel- ix tCAA atot D an fyo
Arena yesterday. la and Eric Tannenbaum helped Ingtimes at Notre Dame s Meyo
Redshirt freshman Jordan Michigan in its uphill battle, but Invitational this weekend.o
Sherrod and sophomore Tyrel Badger victories in six of the last For the third time this season,
Todd both won their matches eight duels would seal the home sophomore Tiffany ofili broke
t 1A--c nr 1A in~ f ,mc nt her own school record in the 60-
I
Three Wolverines
run qualifying times
The Michigan men's track of 52-6 3/4. The jump set a pro-
and field team picked up three visional qualifying mark for
NCAA provisional qualifying the NCAA Championships next
times this weekend at Notre month.
Dame's Meyo Invitational. Senior Jeff Porter and sopho-
Senior Michael Whitehead more Lex Williams also earned
broke an indoor school record provisional times in the 60-meter
with a triple jump distance and 3,000-meter, respectively.
for more information call 734/615-6449
The University of Michigan College of Literature,
Science, and the Arts Presents the
Twenty-Eighth Distinguished Senior Faculty Lecture
Take a FREE practice test at this event and
you'll receive a detailed score analysis and
exclusive strategies to help you prepare
for Test Day!
Saturday, February 17th
U of M Campus
Angell and Mason Hall
Visit us online or call for times!
vrotessor on vatnematics, Economics and
Public Policy
Director, Center for the Study of Complex Systems
2
Pur
zl"-by
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
4:10pm
Rackham Amphitheater
LSA
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