What follows has nothing to do with sports, but, there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are contained in the nightly scoreboard, and it is the 4th of July afterall. I was recently reminded of the song made famous by Frank Sinatra and Neal Diamond, among others, called “The House I Live In.” It is sometimes known by its refrain, “That’s America to Me.” The particular stanza I thought of was: The "howdy... Read more

It's Preakness Day, and the decline of racing is evident. We've all heard about the racetracks needing to turn to slot machines to stay afloat. The slot machines provide much-needed revenue, but they don't provide quality horses and quality racing. It is not just the tracks themselves that have been going dowhill in this country, but also the quality of breeding. On a day as important to Pimlico as Preakness Day, the... Read more

Here are the answers to some of the questions asked in the Comments to my article, " Teaser of the Year? What's That? " Question 1 : posted by jonpistone2 on 12/07/2009 3:01 AM i noticed u talked lots about 6 and 7 point teasers...clearly in a 13 point teasers you must get FOUR games right, rather than two...and ties are counted as a LOSS (which ive noticed makes these 12.5 point teasers if the line isnt already set at... Read more

Last Saturday, a pay-after-you-win internet sports handicapper promoted a "Teaser of the Year." His recommended teaser was a 7-point beauty on Rutgers/Oregon. Both teams were favored by 5.5 points, and were teased to +1 1/2. Rutgers took a bath, making the teaser a hideous loser at odds of 13-10 for most people. As I thought about the selections and the promotion, I couldn't help but wonder what a "Teaser of the Year... Read more

At the beginning of October, I wrote an article titled, "Lessons from the Hilton Contest." I pointed out that keeping track of the Hiton NFL Contest provides an excellent lesson in short term vs. long term results. There are, however, two more lessons that we can learn from examining the contest: LESSON #1 : Despite what you've heard, you can't win by betting against against the public because in terms of individual game... Read more

Question : How do you stop a chicken from hatching? Answer: Call Rob Crowne You know the saying: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Well, when it comes to hatching chickens, I'm a champ at stopping them. Last night my Crowne Jewel was on Minnesota. I predicted Minnesota would win by 14. My point predictions are sufficiently accurate that I will often back them with my money. Last night, in the " Margin of... Read more

Keeping track of the Hilton NFL Contest can be an excellent lesson in short term vs. long term results. At the end of three weeks of NFL action, the top selector in the Hilton Contest stood at an excellent, and very lucky, 13-2 (87%). You don't expect him to be 69-11 at the end of the Contest, do you? The next four selectors were tied for 2nd place with a record of 12-3 (80%). There are 60 contestants who stand at 67... Read more

Recently, there was a discussion in the Pregame forum regarding the suspected release of opposing sides in the same game by a handicapper. It turned out that there was nothing evil going on, but the attitude of some posters left no room for the possibility of a legitimate reason for opposite sides. Most sports bettors treat the recommendation of opposite sides by a sports advisor as invariably evil. There are many times... Read more

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in the land of Las Vegas, far far away, when Pregame was just a fantasy in RJ's head (when you are surrounded by show girls all day, you fantasize about sports websites), there was something called the PLUS10 Club. Rumor has it the Plus10 still exists. Check it out. Way back then I was given a free $50 account as a promotion by an offshore sports book. I was giving a free pick everyday... Read more

In the first article in this series, we discussed the fact that the standard ways you make judgments about people cannot be used to spot con artists. The good con man is a person that most people trust implicitly, and who can charm the pants off you. Con games don't only exist in the financial industry, or in the sports service industry. Con games are not used only to take your money under false pretenses. You have to... Read more