hedging your bets?

Posted by yamsmos on November 5, 2009 · Filed Under Commentary 

not sure if there are many gamblers out there… but i have had a long standing debate with a few friends on betting on the team you support, or, as it were, betting against them.

a friend of mine is into the seahawks as much as i am into the sounders. goes to every game, feels sick during much of it, and genuinely bummed out for days if they lose (he is bummed out a lot lately). but he has had a system for the better part of the last ten years that he swears by. he regularly puts down a $20 on whoever is playing the seahawks. needless to say, he has a little extra pocket change these days, as he did last year. oh, and he is a husky football fan as well, so he paid his rent in october – december last year.

his logic, and you can probably already see where i am going here, is that if i am going to watch my team lose, might as well make a few bucks off it. and if the seahawks win, then $20 is a small price to pay for the happiness (or lack of depression) that follows.

you can see the logic… but some of our other buddies chastise him for this. they argue that he isn’t fully supporting the team. he doesn’t fully appreciate the pain of loss that they do so his loyalty is in question. of course this is more banter than anything,  but I do want to raise the question to you lot.

i think we can all agree that whatever you do or don’t bet on the sounders has no outcome on the result, so is it bad for someone to bet against the sounders in order to gain financially should they lose?

oh, and by the way i have $10 on seattle which returns $25.40

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