Vegas may not be the Holy Grail of sports betting, but it is far and away the best option for American gamblers, especially for recreational gamblers, which is what the vast majority of people on this board are. There are about 70 sports books in Vegas and I don't think any one of them is going to give a crap if you win $300 to $1,000 a week betting sports (especially when you'll also be suffering the losing weeks every gambler experiences).

I'm not a pro, never will be a pro, and rarely post on this forum anymore after making a...

OMG Santoro, you could not have hit the nail on the fukkin' head any stronger than you just did. [B]"It's a severe addiction."[/B] You bet it is. It is damn near impossible for a gambling addict to lose $100 in one day and then abstain from gambling for a month just because "oooh, golly gosh, I don't have the [I]budget[/I] to gamble any more this month, no, no, no!" I went through that shit, man. Chasing heart-crushing losses and then capping games like my life depended on it, trying to convince myself that I had at least one [B]sure-fire lock-of-the-year...[/B]

That was exactly my point, Joe. SBR needs short-form writing. Members want short-form writing. Whatever you think of the quality of the Free Picks game previews, it certainly can't be called long-winded or long-form. The definition of long-form writing is probably dependent on the channel (or medium) that the writing takes place. Long-form writing for the Web might be considered any article that runs over 2,000 words (the column I mentioned above by Bill Simmons runs over 3,000 words). The Free Picks write-ups look to be about 500 to 700 words; definitely not long-form.

One of the aspects I don't like...

I've had a few people PM me and asking if I had my own picks thread, and I told them I didn't do those because it wasn't worth the trouble or the time. Especially the trouble, since on this forum, as soon as you lose a few in a row you are worse than gutter slime and last week's sour milk. But let's just say fuk that for now, start this thread, and see if I can keep from losing my bankroll in the blink of an eye. I can guarantee you this: This will be a no-bullshit capping thread...

You will not be thought less of if you convert to Reform Judaism, unless you travel to Israel, where most Jews are extremely Orthodox and won't even consider you to be Jewish (especially as a convert). But around the rest of the world, you will be welcomed by both Reform and Conservative Jews, who usually get along pretty well together. And American Orthodox Jews won't think any less of you than they do of all Reform Jews, which is to say you are barely a Jew if you aren't an Orthodox Jew.

The Orthodox Jews, frankly, are a little nuts in...

[B]I like Tennessee -3 at home against Kentucky.[/B]
Tennessee has been steadily improving since their loss to Alabama and I have picked up three winners in a row backing them the last three weeks. At 5-6, they need this home victory to get first-year coach Dooley into a bowl game, and with the momentum and confidence they have been building up for the past month, I expect them to roll to a comfortable win here.

Kentucky has been very competitive this year, but they already have their six wins, this is not a rivalry game, they seem to start sluggishly in...

Okay, four days later my 28 parlays have shrunken down to 11, but those remaining 11 parlays have a lot of earning potential, as far as points go. Like, if everything hits right in 4 NFL games, I will make over 33,000 points in the SBR Book. Or, if everything goes wrong, I could end up broke, holding only the 10 points I haven't put into the book yet.

The graphic below summarizes the four games I will be tracking to win 11 parlays on Sunday. The green-highlighted areas are the remaining teams I need to win that particular parlay. I...

That's a pretty decent write-up you have on the game, Eric. But I think you give Tyler Thigpen too much credit. Yes, he had 18 TDs vs. 12 picks with the Chiefs, but he completed less than 55% of his passes and his QB rating was 76.0. He was effective vs. the Titans for one quarter last week, but that isn't enough to expect him to be effective against the Bears. If anything, that one quarter against the Titans will work to the Bears advantage as they now have recent film on him. Remember this; [B]the Bears lead the NFL...[/B]

I built up a couple thousand points by beating the [url="http://contests.sbrforum.com/beat-prick-2010-contest-1569/"]prick[/url] the last couple weeks (450+ points) and hitting a 5-team parlay in the SBR Book, so now I'm dumping what I have left into 28 different SBR Book parlays that will end Wednesday through Sunday. The 28 parlays consist of 2-teamer to 12-teamer plays (mostly 4- to 6-team plays). This stupid little thread is to keep track of the plays that have a chance to win the following day.

I have three parlays that could win (but probably won't) tomorrow (Wednesday):

Ticket#:460994
PARLAY (2 TEAMS)
Nov 16 08:05 PM [709] LA LAKERS -3½-110...[/709]

I think it's time for me to give up my gambling obsession and that means giving up my continual presence on this terrific forum. I've lost a fair amount of money in the past year and a half and it has definitely affected my family life.... It's time to face facts and realize I can't keep up with the pros around here or around anywhere else.

One of my favorite retirement fantasies is living in Las Vegas and hitting the sportsbooks a few times a week to rape the casinos for a tidy profit. And maybe some day that fantasy will...