The Next Evolution Of Annoying Guy
I am on record as mostly supporting the legalization of sports betting. My view was always “It’s gonna happen regardless, may as well legalize it so you can regulate it and institute protections” and I still stand by that idea. But it is hard to ignore that we are right now living through the unfortunate growing pains of that decision and it might get even worse before it gets better.
The level of advertising for what is an addictive vice is inexcusable. Children and anyone who struggles with gambling addictions trying to quit are now being bombarded with sportsbook ads on average once per commercial break on every fucking game. Leagues are literally in bed with many of these companies, raising a lot of questions about the integrity of what is happening. Players are being caught up in betting scandals because nobody has quite figured out how to regulate this now legal act among the very athletes playing the sports. It’s all so messy that I can understand anyone who thinks this was a terrible idea and wants to revert back to how it was at a minimum.
On top of the very serious problems, there has also been a rise in casual annoyance! Is it just me, or has a subset of very annoying fantasy guy turned into very annoying gambling guys?
It feels like for a certain kind of fantasy guy (not all, but a certain kind of guy), they were essentially playing fantasy sports as gambling. Which in a sense it always has been. You have control over who you select to be on your team and who you play every week in matchups so with intelligence you can effectively give yourself advantages, but you still ultimately have no control over how the players do. You could tell these particular guys because they were always in multiple leagues based around a winning pot and they were so extremely proud of every good move they made and really bitter when injuries happened. More casual players tend to be in work leagues or leagues with their friends and mostly talk about how they did against their buddy that week. The really irritating fantasy guys would brag about their bench or their trades and show you their lineup as if you had any reason to give a shit.
Then it was like sports betting becoming accepted just…cut out the middleman and let them do exactly what they were really doing all along. Now they can’t stop talking about what bets they made. Try to bring up something that happened in a game? Oh yeah wow I hit the over on that one. Watching a defensive struggle? They get mad as the score doesn’t go up. They root for guys to get sacks and catch touchdowns purely based around them having money on that line in the same way they used to root for particular guys to catch touchdowns because they needed the fantasy points. It’s more…pure now, but that makes it even worse. They never seem to want to talk about the actual game. The sport itself, the plays and standings, the strategy, the majesty…none of that is important. What’s important is TJ Watt gets a sack so I can make 50 bucks. I have found myself instinctively rooting for all of these people to lose every bet they make so that now both of us in this conversation can be miserable.
I guess I must leave this same advice that I used to have for fantasy guys. Nobody cares about your bets but you. If you find a fellow like yourself who does, go to town and have a ball. The rest of us? We don’t care. There are a lot more fun things to discuss than whatever you have money riding on and most of us would prefer to talk about any of them. Most of us are probably even secretly rooting against your bets because it’s satisfying to see gambling guys lose.
As one of those “revert it back” guys, I fully agree with your write up Dave.
All of this is true, but sometimes a ridiculous parlay bet gets shared around the internet halfway into the early games and people laugh at the 12,500:1 shot or whatever it is. Then it gets brought up a little into the mid games because everything went right on the early game picks. The internet at large then swarms around this bet and feels the triumph or heartbreak together. This is basically the only instance of other peoples’ bets being interesting, but it’s intensely so.
I find nothing about this word salad interesting at all.
I’ll be real, I hate when I see that stuff. I remember a guy who had a ridiculous 8 leg $20 parlay that would won him like $500k if France won the World Cup. I remember everyone gassing him up and all I could think about was all of the injuries and illness that ravaged that world cup squad. Somehow they made it to the Final and I think he ended up cashing out for like $250k, but man were people disappointed in him…..until France lost on penalties. People get too greedy with betting and it makes me really uncomfortable to watch it.
I didn’t know so many people hated fun.
lol, not casting aspersions on those that enjoy that stuff! If you like throwing some money down, it’s all you! I bet small amounts with friends from time to time myself! it’s just the kind of high-stakes stuff where people shoot themselves in the foot when they really need the money that doesn’t sit well with me.
It isn’t about the money, it’s about the guy tossing a 5000 sided die and it coming up gold (or failing to at the last second). You and a hundred other guys watching the die tumble together is fun, at least to me.
I’m trying to watch the UFL because, hey, mediocre football is better than no football, but it’s become completely unwatchable because the announcers can’t seem to go two minutes without mentioning the spread or the over/under. It’s messed up.
That’s one of the few experimental aspects of the UFL/XFL/USFL/WTFFL that I pray never makes its way to the NFL (or any pro league for that matter). Keep that mess off the actual broadcasts please.
Maybe I am naive, but isn’t the fact athletes keep getting caught at a rate they weren’t before a sign that the leagues and sports books working together working to catch and prevent (future) athletes from participating in gambling that they shouldn’t be?
I’m not in a tax bracket I can afford gambling, so that part doesn’t effect me, but I dont believe athletes never bet before just because nobody got caught. Now the big change are players are actually getting busted
Eh less annoying than the other guy
Never mind I thought it was the draft guy
I also hate that it’s changed sports writing and shows so much. Now there’s less focus on the game and players and a large segment on the line, who’s playing, what’s a good bet. It’s aggravating enough trying to watch the crap sports shows on ESPN, but betting has somehow made that channel even worse.
Agreed. I almost entirely stopped listening to WFAN on the reg because they were advertising the gambling sites what felt like nonstop. Boomer reads it during his cold open, every ad is for betting, they talk about it midshow, more ads about betting, it just got exhausting having to listen to it.
On the plus side every ad slot WFAN dedicates to some gambling site is one less slot for KARS4KIDZ.
In terms of time on sports shows dedicated to bets, they can be somewhat palatable if its more focused on the hosts reasoning out on why they are making certain picks as its not far removed from plain reasoning on predictions in general. But when it descends into blather about past bets it gets unlistenable.
Let’s also bring up the sports betting guys that are too open about what they’re betting and how much. I’ve got one friend in particular who regularly talks about betting 4 figures on games and parlays….I know what this dude’s take-home is and all I can say is my wife would NEVER let me gamble with that percentage of my income, nor would I want to. I can’t watch (or even talk) football with him anymore because it’s really awkward being around him when things don’t go his way.
In Maryland, there was a short period of time where I could place a sports bet in a casino but not on my phone and I think that was a better system. I’d go once a week to place my bets and pass by slots addicts reminding me of what happens when you fall off the cliff. Gambling online is just way too easy.
Also please get it off SportsCenter and stuff, it’s even worse than the usual sports narratives.
Remember that period not too long ago where Draft Kings and the like, after months of endless over saturation of advertising, fell into a bit of a legal hole and stopped being promoted for a while? Boy, I sure do! I find myself so annoyed by just the ads for sports betting that I kinda wish it was illegal, and carried a medieval punishment.