So the other day my roomies and I made it to the basketball courts. I’m very sketchy on the details but somehow I ended up taking a prop bet that I could make more 3 pointers shooting w/my off hand that my roommate, brandon, could make w/his natural hand. He was offering me 2-1 on $1k. Once again I open my mouth too quickly when taking a prop because I would say Brandon’s expectation is about 20%, which I think is about the peak of my expectation w/my off hand. 2-1 isn’t a bad bet in my mind, but I think I could have gotten 3-1 on $500 which I would have been much more comfortable with. Anyway I accept(keep in mind I’ve never taken a right handed shot in my life) and we take 3 shots a piece from 5 stations on the court. He starts off hitting 1 of his first 3. I match. We both go 0-3 in the next station. I take the lead hittin 1-3 from the top of the arc. I whiff the next station and he pulls a miraculous 2-3 to take the lead and put me in a spot where I’m probably gonna tie at best…this would have been a good spot to swallow my pride and buy out of the bet. He leads off the last station 0-3. I hit the front of the rim on my first shot, rim out the 2nd and totally air ball the 3rd 
Wasn’t a great bet on my part, but I’m pretty sure if we ran that back 2 more times I’d break even at worse. Now as a whole our group makes these bets and usually the loser gets a shot at his cash back, but Brandon is notorious for making bets w/me and then backing out of them so I don’t anticipate getting my fair shake anytime soon…thus to neutralize that fact, I’ve decided I will pay him $10/day for the next 100 days.
I have other action w/my newest roommate as well. The bet is that I won’t be able to dunk a basketball by Aug. 31st. The terms are loser is personal assistant for a week. To win I have to dunk a basketball clean(as judged by 3 impartial people) by the end of Aug. In college I’ve dunked on more than one occasion, my biggest obstacle is I can’t palm the ball. I’m pretty confident I’ll lock this bet up long before Aug. so long as I’m not lazy about it.
Last blog I spoke of my first losing session out of the past 15, I promptly followed that up w/another loser where I’d say I played my B+ game. Still some strides to take but I’m not very discouraged…However, I did decide to do some money hating to make myself feel better about the losses. Between eastbay, guess, buckle and other random mall stores(including $100 at lids, I remember when hats were $15) I managed to go a little over board, but you’ll have that once or twice a year.
The weather is finally getting consistent and I am addicted to being outside. I’m encouraged by the fact that my roomies are getting out in the sunlight w/me to toss the football around. I really look forward to Sundays when I can play ball. I’ve logged more and more innings between 1B and OF which is resulting in me getting some at bats. It’s really rejuvenating my love of the game. I’m still pitching one game a week as well, which minus some lack of defense, is going well. Wood bat team and Aluminum bat team those sites will keep things updated to some degree for anyone interested. I’m really trying to talk myself into getting interested in golf. But it’s soooooo lame to me. It’s low impact, slow-paced, and frustrating. I’ve gone once in my life and renting left-handed clubs is impossible, so the likelihood of me buying a set and starting seems pretty slim. This may change tho if I can keep betting w/Brandon.
Pens should lock up round 1 tonight and are ahead of the curve for the run for the cup again. Hopefully someone will knock Detroit off along the way to actually give us a shot at it. On top of that the Buccos are actually above .500 for the first time since the Bonds era. Given that the Steelers won the Super Bowl, PSU almost went undefeated + Men’s hoops won the NIT + Pitt made a run in the NCAA’s, this may be the best sports year for Pittsburgh, PA since the mid 70’s. Alright kids that’s all I’ve got from sunny Vegas…
A Gambler's Fallacy 