Prop Bets Crash Course: How To Blow Cash During The Super Bowl
Prop Bets Crash Course: How To Blow Cash During The Super Bowl
Your guide to losing (or winning, but probably losing) money on prop bets during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The Super Bowl vastly transcends the traditional football audience in a way that no other sporting event can even remotely compare to—thanks, in large part, to the abundance of alternative entertainment that is, in many cases, only loosely tied to the game, itself.
The commercial-watching is always great, so there’s that. Day drinking is always a winner (sorry Eastern time zone). And, of course, the food. The Super Bowl cuisine is so often the thing of legend.
But the real key to ultimate Super Bowl enjoyment is the prop bet sheet. From Gatorade colors to wardrobe malfunctions, virtually anything that could come up does come up—and none of it really favors one participant over another.
Sure, it’s nice if you have an excellent working knowledge of Jared Goff’s tendencies as a quarterback, but it will also benefit you to have an astute grasp of Adam Levine’s hat game.
Here are some of the best of the bets available to us on Sunday:
Heads or tails?
When it comes to the Super Bowl coin toss, from 2013 until last year, tails never failed. That run came to an end, however, when the Eagles went to the well one too many times.
One streak that did prevail: The toss loser has won the game four years in a row.
How many times will the broadcast mention Sean McVay’s age?
The over/under is set at 1.5, which feels embarrassingly low considering every Rams broadcast this season has just been one long exercise in reminding us all how much more McVay has accomplished than we have during his 33 years on earth.
… or maybe it’s just me.
Also, turning 33 before the Super Bowl was an important factor to consider, here, as it made him exactly half Bill Belichick’s age—and you know that’s coming up. So, really, you just need one more mention.
What will be the predominant color of Adam Levine’s top at the start of the halftime show?
The favorite, here, is black (-200). All other colors are created equal (+150) through the eyes of the oddsmakers.
What was that? Nothing matches? PERFECT. pic.twitter.com/OZs88232xk
— Adam Levine (@adamlevine) June 7, 2018
That said, if you’re familiar with ‘The Voice,’ then you already know that Levine plays the fashion game with no rules, so this one’s anybody’s guess.
What will be the first song performed by Maroon 5?
For context, this is what we’re looking at:
“One More Night”: +300
“Makes Me Wonder”: +500
“Sugar”: +550
“Animals”: +600
“Girls Like You”: +600
“Moves like Jagger”: +600
“Don’t Wanna Know”: +700
“Payphone”: +1,000
“Maps”: +1,500
“She Will Be Loved”: +1,500
“This Love”: +1,500
It’s tough to remember a year when the favorite seemed as obvious as this one. ‘One More Night’ is a legitimate no-brainer.
That said, if you want to roll the dice a little bit, ‘Moves Like Jagger’ is also the type of high energy piece that literally everyone but Lady Gaga goes with in the lead-off spot, so there’s that.
How many plays will Tony Romo correctly predict before the play?
Romo went 12-for-15 on his pre-snap play predictions during the AFC title game, but 7.5 is the number, here, and it seems pretty ambitious.
I can watch this clip of Tony Romo predicting plays from the AFC Championship ALL DAY LONG!pic.twitter.com/xKyZBSfDfX
— NFL MEMES (@NFLMemes4You) January 22, 2019
Keep in mind, first of all, that Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was so predictable that he was no longer employed two days after the loss to New England.
Keep in mind, also, that Super Bowl pressure is real for everyone, including the talking heads. Point being, Romo is more likely to play things close to the vest than he is to let the predictions fly in front of the largest audience he’s ever done anything before.
What color will Bill Belichick’s shirt be?
Belichick is 4-1 in navy blue, 1-2 in all other colors, when coaching in the Super Bowl. But, his first loss in navy came just last year.
Maybe it’s time to switch it up. Maybe it’s just time to go back to the well.
What will be greater? James Harden’s total state line vs. Utah or the longest touchdown of the Super Bowl?
Want to live on the edge with some cross-sport betting? Mix some NBA into the NFL with this little gem. If Harden hits all of his averages, you’re looking for a 52-yard touchdown. That would seem relatively inviting were it not for Harden averaging 48 points, alone, over his last seven games.
He also just went for 61 points, 15 boards and four assists in New York on Wednesday, which would’ve left bettors begging for an 81-yard scoring play.
Who will win Super Bowl MVP honors?
Depending on your sheet, this one will probably look something like this: Tom Brady, Jared Goff, Sony Michel, Todd Gurley, or other.
Going other is always an enticing play because Malcolm Smith, Santonio Holmes, Deion Branch and Dexter Jackson were most definitely “others.” But Brady has won the MVP in four of the Patriots’ five wins.
What color will the Gatorade be that’s poured on the winning head coach?
A quick Google image search of "Bill Belichick Gatorade baths" reveals that the Patriots’ ball coach has been drenched in damn near every shade in a 24-count box of Crayolas. Sean McCoy is just 33, in case you hadn’t heard, so he has not yet compiled the number of electrolyte showers needed for any of us to locate a trend.
The point, here, is not that you can really know which way to go with this, but it’s always one of the best props on the sheet simply because, inevitably, a room full of people are going to watching a pair of grown men pour a sports drink on the head of another grown man with a pot full of money resting on their flavor of choice.
Will Fyre Fest organizer Billy McFarland be caught selling counterfeit Super Bowl tickets?
If you get a collect call from Rikers about a sweet deal on tickets to the big game, just hang up.