FBI Alert

One of my old sports betting buddies made a HUGE bet (more than a lot of people's salaries) on Virginia Tech -20 today. With 2 minutes left they put in a true freshman, he throws an interception on his first pass when the team had no business throwing the ball and it turned into a TD drive the other way just before the final gun to ruin his bet which was ahead since about halfway in the first quarter. Funny how the announcers try to cover for it by saying they are just trying to get the kid some experience. If you hear someone killed Frank Beamer this week, don't blame the terrorists, I have your suspect. Man that was unbelievable. Coaches always complain about people betting on the games but to do something as stupid as that and to cost yourself a cover at home in a TV game...that won't make you friends in the alumni association that is for sure.


My friend is about to leave my house saying he is cool about it, part of sports betting. YEAH RIGHT! If that was my bet on the line I would be incensed beyond belief at that one. Conference opponent you have beaten by 3 TDs you take a knee or at the worst hand it off. Oh well, more reason why I say always account for luck as the deciding factor in many of your sports bets.

Can't believe you posted this WB. It's possible to identify really good bets where you lay a lot of pts but I think many of them are just 50-50 at best and that isn't good enough. Much better off looking for greener pastures elsewhere.


I don't think the coaches are concerned about the spread in the least. Why should they be? You imply that they'll fall out of favor with the alumni if they don't. Coaches are paid to win and if they win the school makes money. Coaches of big time programs make a lot of money and they are not going to be concerned about some cheesy alumni bets. What you wrote here is really stupid:


"Coaches always complain about people betting on the games but to do something as stupid as that and to cost yourself a cover at home in a TV game"


Just shows that the coaches don't care about covering. There is this theory that's out there that you have to run up the score to improve your rankings. Virginia Tech was 5 going into this game. They may slip a spot but it won't be because of this touchdown. If they go undefeated odds are they'll be close to the top and maybe get in the championship game and at least a big bowl game. The coach knows this. It may be some fluke year where many teams go undefeated but if you look who's likely to be ahead of them if they go undefeated it probably will be but may not be Oklahoma OR Nebraska (they both could lose a game) or possibly UCLA OR Oregon and they both might lose a game. Virgina Tech has a date with Miami so they can take care of business there and the meaningless touchdown in the BC game won't mean a thing and it shouldn't except to people who bet on Virginia Tech. Believe me the coach knows this and his focus is on winning only now and in the FUTURE. In that sense giving a player experience under game conditions makes total sense when you have the game wrapped up. So I think it's clear that covering for Virginia Tech isn't important at all to the coach and therein lies the problem with laying big numbers.

There are certainly dangers in laying big numbers, but I disagree with you in the thinking that its not important to the coach to cover the spread. Many coaches have talked about how they have been booed and how top donors have complained to them when they haven't covered the spread. They don't make a big issue of it in the media, but you better believe that its quietly implied that you cover the spread when you can at many big programs. That is why the coaches make the big bucks, they are in a lousy spot. They must balance the interests of everyone. And if you don't think the coaches don't care about winning by a big margin, just look at the defensive coordinator who broke a display board because he was pissed off at his defense allowing a "meaningless" fourth quarter TD. Lets face it, that was a situation of luck. You can't handicap that outcome because VT was far better than just 14 points. My friend admitted that and he has been betting professionally on sports far longer than I have.

has been known to kick field goal in closing seconds to beat spread...gotta know coaches....gl

As a loyal Virginia Tech alumni (and Hokie Club member) I probably follow this team a little closer than you do. The freshman they put in has seen lots of playing time in every game. Part of the reason for this is that he (Bryan Randal) is considered the best quarterback prospect to ever come out of the state of Virginia, and his high school stats were phenomenal. He's also the first true freshman to ever play quarterback for Frank Beamer (Vick was a redshirt freshman when he played.) So they want to get him in and they want him to do more than just hand off.


Another reason they are playing him as a freshman may be the fact that Marcus Vick is now a senior quarterback in high school and is considered the top prospect in Virginia this year. If Vick #2 goes to Tech he would be a redshirt freshman when Randal is a junior. So they need to bring Randal along a little faster than normal.


By the way, I know what a hokie is. When the TV announcers tell you that it is just a word (from a song) with no meaning they are wrong.

Mason, since Michael Vick is the best and most recognizable player to come out of VT since Bruce Smith, how come they didn't even bother to retire his number? I saw a guy wearing number 7 out there on Saturday and was shocked. I certainly would never want to wear that number this soon after Vick left. And Mason, any truth to the rumor that the defensive coach that broke that board was really just pissed because he took a bad beat in your hold'em game? /images/smile.gif

Mason please enlighten me.

They plan to retire his jersey, but not his number. The official line is that they expect to have so many great players as time goes on that they don't want to run out of numbers. My guess is that they were pissed he only played for two years.

The name comes from Confederate General Robert Hoke who played a role at the end of the Civil War. He was second in command (under Joe Johnston) of what was left of the Army of Tennessee that was defending against Sherman's army as he marched out of Georgia into South and then North Carolina. When I went to Va Tech it was understood that the term hokie was also a local expression used to describe people who lived in the sourounding area.