A Black Woman’s Journey Into Sports Betting: JR Smith Refused To Let LeBron And I Secure The Bag

Entry #3: June 1, 2018

I hate basketball.

Hiding under the covers while watching your favorite NBA team in the 4th quarter of the NBA Finals is frightening. If I had actually wagered on Game 1 of the NBA Finals between Cavaliers vs. Warriors, it would have been a full-blown emotional rollercoaster. By that I mean, the referees and their questionable calls at the end of the game made it so my ability to be rational was completely ruined, even though it looked like LeBron James would be able to secure the bag for me.

The wound inflicted from a charge call that was overturned and changed to a blocking foul is still very fresh.

The clang of George Hill's bricked free throw still echoes in my brain.

JR Smith's lack of awareness will sting for ages.

It's become obvious that sports betting isn't meant for the weak. If you love your team AND you're betting on your team for fun, you're dipping yourself in a boiling cauldron of anxiety.

Watching Game 7 of the Cavaliers vs. Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals helped me realize that gambling piques the levels of uncertainty, and I have to be okay with that, otherwise, I'll probably pull out my weave. Or I'll walk out like LeBron did after dealing with stupid questions during the post-game press conference.

This journal entry paints a clear picture in one respect, sports betting is for the brave.

Am I brave? Maybe.

Do I trust the referees to make good decisions after last night? No. Which makes me really scared to put real money on these games.

Anyway, Carden left me with homework: What are betting odds? How do they pay out?

Since I’m still in my feelings over Game 1, I’ll get to the second part of the question another day when I'm not cursing out various actors in the opening stanza of the Finals and checking for football updates at 777score.com.

Betting odds are what they sound like, what is the likely outcome of the game you’ve wagered on. It's likely that many people wagered the Warriors would win Game 1, but then I was made aware by our EIC that the cost to actually wager on the Warriors to win is staggering. $100 to win $10? Good grief.

In other words, while the odds were in their favor due to logical reasonings like more talent and home court advantage, gambling on them might not have been the move. That's a lot of money to wager for such a small payoff.

"What more can I do?" -- Hov (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Betting on Cleveland to win game one would've been a nice payoff. $100 to win $500? Yes. If I had wagered this, and the referees not been… terrible (this was the nicest word I could type without the FCC dragging me), wagering on the Cavs would have been a big win.

Who knows, as a Cleveland fan, maybe this is the way our story has to be told. I mean, it is in our DNA to shock the world. (Let's not talk about the 52-year championship drought okay? Okay.)

It's time to heal and prepare myself for Game 2.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *