Ah the Superbowl, watched by approximately 175m Americans, stuffing their faces with chicken wings, cheap weak lager and popcorn. Settling down to not only watch the game, but to find out if they’re going to be rolling in Benjamins when they find out who appeared with JT on stage and what colour hair Pink had for the national anthem.
Well, I’m here to lend my insight into all the ridiculous prop bets available in the UK, mainly on Paddypower and Skybet… I say mainly, all of the ones below are on those two EXCEPT THE BEST BET OF THEM ALL from WilliamHill. They just love taking stupid peoples money (I may include myself in that category)
***I DO NOT ENDORSE ANY OF THESE MARKETS AND WILL PROBABLY NOT BACK ANY OF THEM***
I’ll copy/paste this directly from last years prop bets section…
- It is expected that “Superbowl related spending” (food, beverages, decorations, TVs, game related merchandise, etc…) will breach $14 billion in the US.
- That’s an average of $89 per view in America
- 4,000 tons of Popcorn will be consumed.
- Beer sales increase by $18m in the US the week of the game
The bookies have also said that this year is likely to be their biggest ever in terms of bets and money taken on the big game.
Pre-game Bets
The Coin Toss –
- Each of the past four Super Bowl coin tosses has come up tails, with the NFC team winning 18 of the last 20 flips heading into Super Bowl 52. The team that has won the coin toss has lost the past three Super Bowls.
- The New England Patriots have made nine Super Bowl appearances, losing the toss in each of their five victories
- The Philadelphia Eagles have only made two Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowls 15 and 39) and despite winning the coin toss on both occasions, Philly would go on to lose both games.
FACTS! And they definitely have some kind of relevance to the 50/50 process of flipping a coin in the air… My pick? Heads – 1/1. If you fancy something a little more ambitious – The Eagles to win the toss with heads – 3/1 (Skybet) – IF by any chance you are opening a brand new, fresh Skybet account and get a free bet, then they do offer Heads and Tails at 1/1 each so you can guarantee a win if you really wanted to waste your free bet on that.
Pinks Hair and Lipstick Colour –
Well, she was born in Philadelphia, she supports the Eagles, so Green seems like it could be in with a shot if she changes away from her usual Blonde mop. – 4/9 for Blonde/White, 3/1 for Green. Just realised that I really don’t need another section for lipstick colour… Pink and Red are joint favourites at 6/5, any other at 5/1 and none at 14/1 although I’m not too sure how they discern whether there’s no lipstick at all. In my professional opinion as a Postman who writes an NFL blog as a hobby I would say Green hair, Red lipstick.
Length of National Anthem –
I don’t think Pink is one to eeeeeelllllllooooongggggaaaatttttteeee simple words and make it last forever. The line is set (in most places) at 2:00, Paddy has kindly given us an extra, vital 3.5 seconds, setting their line at 2:03.50 – I think it makes sense to take the unders on that line at 10/11. The past 12 Anthems are 6-6 for o/u 2:00, and although there’s not much historical evidence to go by, Ms. Moore hasn’t done many to my knowledge, I just get the feeling she won’t mess about.
Now that’s all that seems to be available on UK based sites, there are a few more options at Bovada online if you REALLY wanted to put the effort in to make the game a little more interesting! – Yes/No
- Will Pink be airbourne at any point during the Anthem? 6/4 – 1/2
- Will Pink say the word “Eagles” before, during or after the Anthem? – 11/10 – 4/6
- Will Pink wear an Eagles top/hat for the Anthem? – 2/1 – 1/5
I shall not be taking any of those…
Number of tweets by Donald Trump during the game –
The most powerful man in the world is a twat, we all know that, and we also know that he invested in the XFL back when he was just a power-hungry self-obsorbed rich white guy, a move which cost is him a substantial amount of money. Since he took office he’s made it quite clear that he dislikes the NFL and their players and lets us know quite frequently. Will he be THAT bothered during the game to take his time to tweet 3 times? That’s the line on PP at the moment, o/u 2.5 – both at 5/6 – Bovada has him at o/u 5 tweets during the whole of Feb 4th, I’m assuming the time difference this side of the pond is why they changed that one.
Half time show!
As you may, or may not know, Justin Timberlake is doing the half time show this year, he’s come a long way from the “nipplegate” “wardrobe malfunction” palava when he took to the stage with Janet Jackson and exposed her breast. Something which apparently “outraged” large swathes of middle america, and scarred the eyes of their beloved children. More like it offended a few idiots who let their idiot friends know that they were offended, got them to watch it online so they could also be offended by something they hadn’t even seen and it escalated to be the most complained about TV incident in history. Fun times.
You can bet on how many times “Nipplegate” is said, how many times “Wardrobe malfunction” is said, they’re on the American bookies, I would lean on the unders on both, the NFL won’t want to remind people of it happening! But over in the UK we don’t have the pleasure of those markets. Skybet have gone above and beyond with their options though!
First song –
PP have seemingly assumed that he’ll open with the piece of crap he’s got out at the moment, therefore perpetuating sales of that and his new album so they have gone with a solid favourite of Filthy at 4/6, Skybet have that song at 2/1 though with Can’t stop the feeling! set as their 13/8 favourite. That makes sense, it’s a happy bouncy song and will get people on their feet (I guess) – Rock your body has been mentioned in passing and Sky had boosted it to 8/1 during the week, that’s now back down at 5/1, but the kind Irish people have offered us it at 8/1 anyway. I would have thought he’d start with a tribute to Prince (Minneapolis native) and fellow diminutive popster, bear with me a little here, I’m going to go on a little bit of a journey. How cool would it be for the stadium to be dark, the speakers crackles as the mic is turned on (A headset mic btw, bear that in mind) and we all hear… “Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today, To get through this thing called life, Electric word life it means forever and that’s a mighty long time, But I’m here to tell you there’s something else…. ” *Spotlight hits the middle of the stage trap door opens and up rises JT* Straight into Let’s Go Crazy by Prince. The stadium erupts, the announcers gush and JT is a Minnesotan legend for the rest of his life. *AHEM* Well, that’s what I’d like to see anyway… Turns out that Go Crazy isn’t even priced up anywhere, so… you know… Anyway, I guess I would go for one of the big two. “Can’t stop the Feeling!” at 2/1 on PP, or Rock your Body at 8/1 on there as well.
What songs WILL he play –
So I can’t get odds on him covering a Prince song as the first song, but Sky do have him to cover a Prince song at any time at 5/4, That is a solid, shoe-in, gold plated, diamond encrusted LOCK of the millenium. Well, not quite, but surely he’s got to cover a Prince song at some point? I can tell you that Gaga did 8 songs last year in her set, all her own. Sky have 6 songs that they are convinced are going to be played, all priced at 1/10 and lower, so obviously they’re no-go’s, so in THEORY that leaves 2 other songs to pick from. Paddypower have cover songs set at 1.5, the unders being the favourite at 8/13. I can see a Prince medley, but I doubt that would count as multiple songs. Interestingly Rock your body isn’t one of the awful odds one, you can get 7/2 on him singing it at anytime, which frankly makes the 5/1 on it being the first song a little shit. PP is offering you 7/1 on ANY N-SYNC song being sang at half time, seems unlikely that he regresses to when he was the lead of an average boyband as opposed to the worldwide superstar he is now. I have just been informed that you can get 2/1 from William Hill on him playing any Prince cover during the show. As much as I mock, I think that’s actually a pretty good bet, and possibly the only one I may back myself.
Headwear related props… (Yes, really) –
Will he wear a hat at any time during his performance? Has to be a solid yes there surely? PP has blown Sky away with this one again, 5/6 for yes or no, compared to 4/7 for Yes over on Sky and 5/4 for No there. If you really want to risk/waste your hard-earned cash then you can choose exactly what headwear he will wear FIRST during his performance, ranging from NONE as the 5/6 favourite to a Pilgrims hat at a lovely 80/1. Fedora seems a decent shout in the middle at 9/4 though. – A fun experiment would be seeing how little money it would take to change that Pilgrims hat to the second favourite? I’m guessing it wouldn’t take more than £10 for those odds to half.
Who will appear on stage with JT –
There were no special guests for Lady Gaga last year, she is the ultimate performer and did it all herself. There’s an interesting list of players that the bookies think could be appearing this year from Nipplegate herself, Janet Jackson at 10/3 (16/1 on Sky) all the way down to “celebrity” person – Big Shaq at 100/1, apparently he’s as likely as Barack Obama and Donald Trump… I have no idea who Chris Stapleton is, but he’s odds-on at Sky apparenlty, 4/9 for him to get on stage. I guess he sings on Filthy? … Nope, apparently he sings on Say Something with him and they’ve done a little together. Well I never.
- Any member of N-Sync? – 7/1 on PP, 9/2 on Skybet
- Jay-Z – 11/2 and 3/1
- T.I. – 9/1 and 9/4 (He did a song with him, right?)
- Pink at 5/2 on Sky, I guess they figured, well she’s there anyway, he might get her to double up and jump on stage with him?
- Madonna is 7/1 and 10/1, (4 minutes…)
- Britney at 12/1 on both, well, he was shagging her before she went mental
It make shock you to your very core when I say I’ll be avoiding this market unless any info arises over the weekend!
Post-game bets
What colour will the Gatorade shower be –
Well, the Eagles celebrated with an Orange shower for Pederson when they won the NFC a fortnight ago, that’s had a lot of bets, but is still 6/1 on Skybet, 5s on PP. I can’t remember if they got Belichick last year, I can’t imagine many people trying to get him to be honest, but until last years main event Clear and Orange were tied at 4 a-piece.
So there you have it. If you fancy risking your hard-earned cash on something ridiculous then by my guest. As much as I mock it, I do quite enjoy writing these up, it’s a bit of a break from trying to figure out what 106 players are going to do on the field.
Obviously don’t risk more than a couple of quid, but good luck if you do!
There’s a chance that I do a little bit of a competition based on the props, and possibly sort out a prize, all depends on my funds as I basically run this site by myself and while I like to offer prizes, it’s not easy, or frankly sensible for me to keep giving stuff away for free!
Next up I’ll hopefully have a few hours tomorrow to have a look at the proper prop bets and try and find some gold!
Adam – @Touchdowntips
TouchdownTips 