Wanna Bet?

It's a good thing I don't wager on sports. In recent days several teams that I fully expected to win, came up on the short end of the score. The Spanish National team had convinced me that they would play a competitive game, control the ball with precision and rapid passing and pull out another win against the very capable Orange. Of course the Spaniards single penalty kick goal pales in comparison to the five tremendous strikes and headers that became the final tally for the Netherlands. On the other side of the soccer story, the United States successfully undersold their chances and worked out a physical victory over Ghana.

But predicting soccer matches, since I really don't know that much about the worldwide game, would just be a guess anyway. Perhaps I would have better luck with something like basketball and the NBA championships. Once the Spurs and Heat finalized their Conference Championships I considered the two teams and their respective strengths -- I'm not sure that they really have weaknesses -- and easily concluded that the Heat should be able to manage the victory. Rooting against Lebron James may be as easy as vilifying Tiger Woods, but neither will bring positive results. I even chatted with a coworker who has a pretty good pulse on the game and his comments that the Spurs would win in five or six games while surprising to me, met unwilling ears. Lying in bed this morning, I heard that the Spurs had won and was again pleased that I hadn't wagered anything on a game that I can't control.

Whether it is soccer, basketball or even golf, where a German golfer can come to the U.S. Open and lead wire to wire causing everyone else to play for second, wagering is an activity that will lead to losses for almost everyone but the house because ultimate outcomes are, oh so very unpredictable. Some of my gambler friends have almost convinced me to give it a try because most anything we do for fun costs money, so they say that as long as I limit my wagers to a specific dollar amount, the worst I can do is spend some money for entertainment purposes and the best I could do is actually return with more money than I began.

I am still unconvinced. Placing a wager would change the way I watch the game. I watch sports hoping to witness beautiful and imaginative feats. I have watched games where the team I root for loses and still fully enjoy the match because the players performed at high levels of competition and executed plays that I couldn't even imagine until after I saw them do it. I know that these athletes are highly payed professionals and much of what they do is business instead of simple fun. I think the same thing would happen if I wagered on a game, the fun of the contest would disappear in exchange for a myopic focus on outcome.