WHILE IT GOES without saying that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose, the Super Bowl presents any number of betting opportunities for NFL nerds and novices alike.
This Sunday, the Carolina Panthers take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 and you can pretty much put a bet on anything you like, from the length of Lady Gaga’s national anthem performance to who will score the last touchdown of the game.
Here, with the help of The42 team, are 10 of our favourite bets — broken into fun and football-related ones — that could make you a millionaire* in the early hours of Monday morning.
Fun
Coldplay to play ‘Paradise’ as the first song during their half-time show – 8/1
We asked our resident Coldplay fan and he reckons that ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ (10/1) will probably be the last song and some of the other candidates are “too slow” or “will be saved for later in the set”.
Length of the US national anthem, under 134.5 seconds – 4/5
Over the course of the last ten years, the average length of the Star Spangled Banner is 117 seconds leaving Gaga with lots of room to stretch it out and still be comfortably under the mark. Gaga has performed the anthem publicly before, at a Pride rally in New York in 2013, when she came in at exactly 134 seconds though she somewhat milked the applause.
How many times will CBS go to Mike Carey for a review, over 4.5 – 5/6
Mike Carey is the NFL replay official of choice for CBS and they will almost certainly cut to him at least five times given the nature of the game — it’s the Super Bowl so everything is under even more scrutiny than normal — and, as with every game, all scores inside the two minute warning are reviewed, they could even hit five before the fourth quarter.
Will Donald Trump be mentioned during the CBS play-by-play broadcast, yes – 9/2
It’s a long-shot, but picture a scenario where the favourites — the Panthers — are losing. “Well Jim,” says Phil Simms, “Donald Trump was favourite going into Iowa and look how that worked out.”
First Gatorade colour dunked over the winning coach, orange – 6/5
Again, the Panthers are favourites so, if they win, it’s likely the Gatorade will be the same as the NFC Championship Game when it was orange. Even if Denver win, the arrived in San Francisco in an orange aeroplane so why would their victory drink not be the same colour?
Football
Mike Tobert rushes for 8.5 yards, over – 5/6
Tolbert doesn’t play a huge role in the Panthers’ offence but this season he’s averaging 14.2 yards per game, nearly double his over/under figure in this match-up. Despite an average of only 3.4 touches per game, the fullback has only failed to get over the 8.5-yard total once in his last eight games.
First play of the game to be a safety – 50/1
Three times in history (IX, XLVI and XLVIII) the first score of the game has been a safety. Of course, the last time the Broncos were in the Super Bowl, they gave up a safety on the very first play from scrimmage. Could history repeat itself?
Peyton Manning passes for 229.5 yards, under – 5/6
Manning has passed for more than 229.5 yards six times in his 12 games this season but only once in his last five and not at all since he was benched against the Colts in mid-November. Since then, Manning has returned as more of a game manager and 200-ish yards appears to be all that’s expected from the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
Denver defence/special teams to score a touchdown any time – 11/4
We’ve already pointed out that the Carolina special teams may be their one weakness in this year’s Super Bowl and only the Chiefs and Cardinals have more defensive touchdowns than Denver this season so the combination of the two could find their way into the endzone. The same selection is 18/1 to be first touchdown scorer.
Thomas Davis makes 5.5 tackles/assists, under – evens
Davis has 11 total tackles/assists in his two playoff games so far but that was before he broke his arm against the Cardinals. Since then he’s had an operation that has seen pins and screws put into this arm in a bid to play in the Super Bowl. It’s the sort of injury that could re-occour after just one tackle which is why we’re taking the under.
*Note: Will almost certainly not make you a milionaire.
