Stream of Consciousness

I wanted to write a free-flowing blog that kind of bounced all over the place, but I’m just not wired like that. So you’re getting a blog filled with a lot of random thoughts, but still has some connecting themes throughout, like personal stuff, betting stuff, and stuff I want to do in the future. Think of this as my stream of consciousness, kind of like what Jerry Maguire did in the movie, Jerry Maguire. Did you know he titled his manifesto “The Things We Think And Do Not Say”? That title sucks. It’s too wordy and not clever. Actually, the more you think about it, the movie Jerry Maguire kind of sucks. But fun fact - you can read the full manifesto Jerry wrote that night here.

• I woke up at 4:00 AM this morning because I had this weird dream that my child started talking in complete sentences at 2 months old and started running around at 4 months old. For those of you who live an awesome life and do whatever you want all the time haven’t had kids yet, those milestones don’t happen nearly that fast. Couldn’t fall back asleep with so many thoughts bouncing around my head, which makes sense, because we are having our second child on Monday. How do we know Monday? It’s a scheduled C-section at 5:30 AM. Kudos to those of you that a) found someone to procreate with you (I’ve met a lot of you at Bet Bash and seriously, what an achievement) and b) did it the non-scheduled, natural way. I don’t know how you live your life wondering when it’s going to happen. But if I get a bunch of these thoughts out of my head in here, maybe I’ll get some sleep the next couple of nights.

• My son is 5 years old, so we’re going to have a big age gap between the two. That was never the plan, but the two of us and our families have had some really tough times in the last 6 years and I guess everything works out for a reason. Or at least that’s the bullshit we all tell ourselves to get by. We’re having a girl and I have no clue how they work. I grew up with 3 brothers and no female relatives that lived close. I’m mostly counting on my son to raise her.

• That’s it for talking about my family. One thing I’m proud of myself for learning early on in parenthood is that absolutely nobody gives a shit about your children except for you and maybe some close family members. People that don’t have kids and never plan to have kids especially don’t give a shit about your children. There are times when the guest on Circles Off has related their +EV or -EV move to something regarding their kids, and I can almost hear Rob and JFBS (RIP) mentally check out through my headphones. For real, if we’re ever together in Vegas or somewhere else, I would love to chop it up with you about our kids. But I promise you no one else really wants to hear about them.

• I’ve said this before, but I grew up reading Bill Simmons and Matthew Berry and all those other people who got their start writing long-form articles. I feel like I always connected with them because they were pretty open about their lives and made themselves relatable. People love content they can relate to. Too often, and it’s definitely not the creator’s fault, but too often the people we listen to most in sports betting don’t actually relate to a lot of us. The big podcasts and content creators bet for a living while there are so many of us listening that do this as a part-time hobby. Maybe we’ve gotten good at it and it provides a major source of income, but we aren’t full-time. And by listening to the full-timers give their perspective on everything, it skews our personal view of topics like unit size, how much we should be earning, how much time we should spend on this stuff, and general goals when it comes to sports betting. Or maybe it’s more of a me issue. I know that I find myself comparing what I’m doing to what pros are doing, and I’ve sometimes gotta take a step back and remember I can understand what they’re doing, but I will never operate at that level. More importantly, I didn’t get into sports betting to operate at that level.

• Would it be awesome to be a full-time sports bettor? Sometimes I think so. But then I take a look around at where things are and where they seem to be headed and I realize there’s just no chance I could ever make OR want it to happen. Don’t you full-timers ever get scared of some of this shit? I don’t know what all of your experiences have been over the last 1-2 years, but recently, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep beard accounts open. You can prime them, not prime them. Throw in parlay after parlay. Play the stupid pre-made bets offered by a sportsbook. Bet huge on straights to make it look like dumb, whale action. Jam kiosks if you have the ability, but they’re even figuring those out. In the end, you win and you’re done. I know there are still countless opportunities to make money, but they just seem to dry up quicker than ever. And I’m only referring to legal sportsbooks; there’s absolutely no reason to discuss PPH anymore. Good for the account getters and movers still making it happen, but that entire space turned to absolute shit. I don’t see myself ever making another bet into a PPH account. Good fucking riddance. Anyways, I’ll listen to people claiming they know how to make accounts last longer, but the stuff they’re saying doesn’t carry much weight. If you’ve found the blueprint that consistently works for account longevity (which, funny enough, will actually eventually cause the longevity to go away), good for you and keep it going as long as you can.

• Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on why I started betting in the first place - I was a borderline gambling addict and was convinced I could win at a high level. That’s only a partial joke. I definitely did more than just border on problem gambling, but I was always confident I could find a way to make it work. I love sports and math far too much to not find something that would be a profitable endeavor. I had a really smart friend (shoutout Zane) who was extremely successful on a ridiculously small scale. So I latched on to him, surrounded myself with other smart people who could educate, and found a way to make it work. Swear to god when I first started, I thought it would be really cool if throughout my betting career, I made $100k. It was a nice, round number that would be realistic to shoot for and would provide me with a little extra financial cushion while working my full-time job. I don’t want to dunk on all you financially poor readers, but as I figured things out and continued to “stack edges” (think this term is hot in the streets), that goal was hit much quicker than I anticipated.

• What I realized I actually wanted from sports betting was freedom and comfort. As a bettor who will only ever do this as a hobby, I wanted to make enough money so that if my kids wanted to go out for ice cream on a random Thursday night, or pick out a toy while we’re in Target or some other god awful store like that, I could say yes without worrying about our budget. I don’t want them to be spoiled, but I want them to be comfortable and to feel as though we’ve been given some good opportunities in life. I more so see the freedom aspect as something that will happen down the road. When I’m old and burned out from working, sports betting may provide me the chance to retire earlier and live on my own schedule, which is truly what I strive for everyday. Freedom is the goal. Knish tweeted this really short reply last year and it stuck with me ever since (remember how we all love relatable content?)

• So perfectly put. Now, keep in mind that when Knish refers to “Midwest Rich” he’s really referring to “Detroit Midwest Rich,” so you’ve gotta temper your expectations. Detroit Midwest Rich means you live in an area where you can walk out your front door and not immediately get shot. That’s a big deal for Knish and the people of Detroit! But seriously, sports betting has connected with me like it connected with him. It has provided me with a level of current day comfort, while also promising me some freedom down the road. I have to do a better job of remembering what I’m trying to accomplish and not get caught up with how pros operate as it will most likely lead to unrealistic expectations and bad decisions.

• I’m a high school teacher. This is something I’ve always wanted to talk about but have never actually found a way to do it. I’ve shared this with a few people in sports betting, but it’s obviously not something I’m out there broadcasting as I’ve never found a way to make the two worlds blend. I guess Mike R. from RAS did this for me as he put it out there during one of his long rants defending their service. You know, the ones that go something like this:

• Public: “Can you explain [insert question about specific season]?”
• RAS: “But what about [insert any season or performance that wasn’t part of your original question].
• Public: “I was asking about the first thing.”
• RAS: “But what about [insert something else that doesn’t have to do with your original question].
• Public: “Can you answer the original question?”
• RAS: “But what about [insert something that has nothing to do with anything]. You aren’t arguing in good faith, I’m done here.”

• Mike R. edited it when I called him out, but he assured me that he didn’t think it was a big deal. Don’t you love it when someone else tells you what is and isn’t a big deal? Especially when it comes to personal information? Just another example of what a RAS employee thinks of toeing the line when the choices are partially dox someone or defend their service. Anyways, I think Hitman has mentioned he used to be a teacher too, but I believe he was a gym “teacher,” so if you ever need advice on how to show up to work hungover and roll out dodgeballs, you know who to ask.

• Being a high school teacher is awesome - I truly mean that. It’s actually my second career. I graduated from college (Go RedHawks) with a degree in finance and went to work for a massive financial institution that rhymes with TKLorgan Base. I somehow lasted 5 years in that hell hole with most of my time spent trying not to walk to the roof of the building and do some bungee jumping without the cord. I was also dealing with heavy anxiety/depression stuff at the time (and didn’t know or understand how to recognize it), but seriously, I’m not sure I would wish my time there on anyone. Me climbing to the roof of the building was probably a 4-point dog by the time I was ending my tenure in corporate America, but sharps were taking the points and I was cooked. Unless the sharps were RAS and the line closed pick. It lost, but you could rest easy knowing you got sharp CLV and you were a favorite to win on me killing myself.

• Back to teaching - it rules. Oh, and I also get to coach varsity baseball, which is super awesome. I won’t really get into it, but I will say that whatever you remember from your sports glory days could not be further than what it looks like today. Anyways, in corporate America, I hated those fucks who showed up to work all happy and ready to get their day started. I would stare daggers at them and wonder how in the hell they were actually smiling in the workplace. Do they not understand this is a glorified prison? Time has passed and I realize most of them were just living out their passion. I now feel the same way driving into work, every single day. We gonna talk some Income Statements and Balance Sheets? Hell yeah. Maybe throw in a Cash Flow Forecast? Let’s have a day. As for the students? They’re awesome. I’m fortunate to work in an area that is fairly affluent and the students want to be there. Even better, they want to be challenged with difficult work and are eager to develop strong analytical skills. I will continue to do this as long as they’ll have me. Being a teacher is the greatest job I could ask for and I feel incredibly lucky every day I get to do this. Plus, let’s call a spade a spade; I get the entire summer, Christmas break, Spring break, and every major holiday off. Teachers refuse to acknowledge the ridiculous amount of time off we get for fear of being called lazy or less valuable. I’ve never once had that problem. My peers need to embrace this time off - it’s a beautiful thing. Sure, we sacrifice some earning power as teachers, but we also have a big, fat pension waiting for us at the end of our careers. This is assuming the state of Ohio can efficiently and effectively manage our retirement funds. On second thought, my future is probably fucked and I can kiss that “freedom from sports betting” goodbye.

• Sports betting is infiltrating high schools everywhere and I’ve definitely noticed the uptick in conversations since our state legalized it in 2023. Before you make your “Well Ferris, why don’t you just get all your students to find you accounts?” jokes I’m gonna stop you right there because it doesn’t work as well as you’d think I love my job and would never do anything to jeopardize my career. I’ve gone back and forth so many times on how much I want to care about sports betting education and whether I actually want to put in any work to make things better. I’ve finally arrived at the conclusion that I am 1000% committed to helping anyone I can, as long as they’re within reasonable reach. I’m done caring about the Dub Club losers or the Sbinfluencers peddling their bullshit. I will continue calling them out for fun and dunk on them when I get the chance, but I’m not going to act like I can save unsuspecting buyers from purchasing their picks. Floodgates holding in the shit opened and guess what? There’s shit everywhere.

• So sports betting education…I have no clue how to broach the subject, specifically with my students, but I’m happy to give it a shot. The truth is I care about them doing things the right way, or at least not being taken advantage of if we can prevent it. Hand to God, these are real things I’ve heard in the hallways in the last 2+ years:

• “Bro I lost $1,400 betting college basketball this weekend.”
• “What are we taking tonight? Let me get in the lab and cook.” *Proceeds to open a TikTok sports betting account*
• Editor’s Note: Student didn’t realize the TikTokker was already in the lab cooking for him. Plays had been cooked twice, they were too well-done.
• “Let’s put together some ‘lays.”
• Editor’s Note: Nothing super wrong here, but he said the word “lays” instead of parlays and my blood pressure rose to alarming levels.
• “I had almost 6 hours of Fliff screen time yesterday.”

• Listen, it’s out there and it has a good chance at becoming a real problem. I don’t believe in any of the doomsday bullshit you’ll hear from people saying it’s going to become similar to the drug problems of previous decades, but it’s fair to acknowledge problem gambling is going to be a hot button issue in the next 5-10 years, especially for males in their 20’s. I think the work that the Notorious I.R.B. (Isaac Rose-Berman, @roundrobin42) wants to do with responsible gambling content is fantastic and I’m hoping for big things from him. We need people like him that care, and it doesn’t stem from a place of personal gain, but from an innate desire to spread some good. I don’t think a person can take the approach he has without deeply caring about the subject matter. However, for people that find themselves in my position, how do I educate? I think about all the subjects that are taboo in schools, like alcohol and drugs. Sure, the kids are educated on these subjects, but the dangers of those perils are so much more obvious when compared to something like sports betting. How do you bring up a vice like sports betting when you’re afraid that educating people on the subject will lead them to partake in it, when they otherwise wouldn’t have if you never brought it up? How do I discuss a subject they’re not legally allowed to participate in? I’m sure all counselors feel this way to some degree and there’s probably material out there on how to deal with it, but I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t even know how to begin when the problem hasn’t necessarily risen to the level of other, more serious issues.

• Last fun note on teaching…obviously, when you’re dealing with bookies and using your real name, they will sometimes do a little research on you and figure out your profession. Granted, this is like 5% of bookies because most are so stupid they don’t know how to Google anything. But there’s been 2-3 times when the bookie/bettor relationship has gone south and the exchange got to a point similar to this:

• Book: “U better watch urself befor i reach out to ur principle and athletic director”
• Me: “Let me get this straight. You’re going to reach out to my principal about you running an illegal sportsbook with dozens of players sending you illegal funds?”
• (20 minutes later after his brain broke) Book: “We dont pay sharp action!!!!!!!”
• Me: “I paid when I lost I expect to be paid when I win” (this text bubble is green)

• Sometimes, when I’m driving on the highway and see an exit sign, I think about how Dom Toretto lived his life like this.

• Someone needs to create and sell an odds screen made only for full-season bets. The market would be like 23 people, and you would definitely lose money on the project, but you would be helping 23 people in serious need of that odds screen. 

• I hate most of what’s currently happening in sports betting. The Spaces trend could not be less appealing. Sports bettors that have been around for 20 minutes are now seasoned experts and demand credibility. Pick sellers are popping up and buying gaining relatively large followings in a short period of time. Apparently, you don’t even have to win your parlays anymore. All you have to do is put together a list of roughly 8-10 plays and it falls on your followers to “water it down” to only the winning selections. If you don’t water it down correctly, that’s on you, bud. I’ll give these assholes their credit - every time I think we’ve reached a point where scummy behavior has reached its final form, they come up with something genius like this. However, even with all of these terrible trends, I refuse to Principal Skinner meme myself:

• At some point, you gotta come to terms with the fact that you (read: me) are the one that is wrong. There’s obviously an appetite for all of this crap that I find mind-numbingly stupid and boring. I’ve written before on how I really wanted to like Circle Back, and I actually did try one more episode after my first review, but I just can’t do it. I’m not going to continue piling on as there is no upside to me doing so, but 25% of the show is too much to take. I cannot listen to that 25% of the show, even in the short clips they put out on Twitter. And yet, I swear, I am rooting for the show to succeed because I realize that there are so many people downloading, listening, and enjoying the content. I’m the exception, not the rule. I think 95% of projects Pizzola attaches himself to are going to end up successful. So if this show continues to do well, it means a content machine, like The Hammer Network, has more chances at creating something I’ll really enjoy in the future. I have a similar feeling for these Spaces, as it’s given me other ideas I’ll discuss later.

• I’ve reached a point in the ‘limiting of winners’ conversation where I don’t want to hear another word until something, anything happens. Come to your own final conclusion, but here’s mine: Winners should continue to be limited, but the book has to provide you with the exact reason why you were limited. They shouldn’t be allowed to use anything close to “use your knowledge to win big on sports!” as language in their advertisements and there should be safeguards in place to ensure these ads aren’t targeting the most at-risk populations. However, along these same lines, I’m pretty sick of the argument that sports betting commercials are being jammed down our throats at every break. Am I crazy, or does anyone else feel like this isn’t the case? I’m sure it depends on regional programming, but I promise you I’ve been super critical trying to spot all these ads people are sick of and I just don’t see it. You know what I do see too much of on a college football Saturday? Flo and her stupid fucking friend Jamie in the Progressive commercials. Or the Dr. Pepper Fansville cast that is probably laughing their way to the bank as they somehow lucked into the longest running, outstayed their welcome entertainment we’ve ever seen. Or how about Cheez-it’s? DID ANY OF YOU WAKE UP FEELING THE CHEESIEST?! CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE. Let’s make sure we have our arguments straight before we go pushing for all this change. Actually, can someone just let me know how much more time has to be spent educating lawmakers, gaming regulators, government representatives, etc? We have seen the same, tired, almost word-for-word story told, over and over. Wake me up when something happens.

• Speaking of the same, tired, word-for-word story…next time someone in the entertainment business wants to do a short mini-series or documentary on sports betting, is there any chance they can find someone other than Rufus to star in the production? I’m a Rufus fan 70% of the time, so I promise this comes from a place of caring rather than hate. But I have heard Rufus’ life story so many times I can almost recite it for him. Let's go teacher mode - I need you to take this short quiz on Rufus and you get to continue reading only when you get a 5 out of 5.

• Question 1) Where did Rufus go to college?
• Harvard
• Yale
• Princeton
• Dartmouth
• Question 2) Where did Rufus get his start in sports betting?
• Circa
• Las Vegas Sports Consultants
• The South Point
• The Westgate
• Question 3) How did Rufus get his big break in sports betting?
• Betting on fixed horse races
• Betting on Super Bowl props
• Betting NFL sides and totals
• Betting NBA 1st halves
• Question 4) What kind of car did Rufus drive?
• Honda Accord
• Honda Civic
• Honda Odyssey
• Toyota Prius
• Question 5) How many listeners does his podcast, Bet the Process, have that they joke about all the time and the joke is definitely still hilarious and holds up?
• 5
• 7
• 9
• 11

• I’m not necessarily putting the blame on Rufus as I’m sure it’s hard to turn down these requests when they’re coming from people like Michael Lewis and David Hill and will provide him with some pretty major exposure. But seriously, is there anyone else we can find that would give similar access, provide the same type of education, but offer a new perspective? Anyone who has tried to educate themselves on sports betting through podcasts or these mini-series must think that Rufus is our God. And in a way, maybe they’re right. All glory to Rufus.

• As I talked about earlier, the sports betting ecosystem seems to be drying up. I’m sure the people living, eating, and breathing this stuff every day are finding ways to adapt, but for the average nobodies like me, the outlook feels super bleak. I gotta think even the bigger groups are starting to hurt and have to work together more often than not. If you’re good enough to have movers (check out Kirk Evan’s Hammer if you don’t know what a mover is. It’s not very long and pretty unimpressive, but it gets the job done) get money down for you, you’re probably using 1 of the big 4 groups. Or is there more of a medium 6 groups now? I don’t know, I feel like I’m discussing accounting firms from the early 2000’s. Anyways, I’m guessing all of these moving groups have to band together for survival. Where they’re getting their accounts from I have no clue and I really don’t care. But what I think is worth acknowledging is that no matter how much we bitch and fight with one another, we almost always have to work together in some form or fashion in the pursuit of profits. I’m sure there are people out there good enough to work almost entirely on their own and get to tell the assholes what they really think, but that has to be so rare these days. There are people that hate you/me just as much as we hate them, but 99% of the time, we would be stupid not to take advantage of synergies when money can still be made.

• Why do we not air people out who run up huge balances and end up slow paying those who are owed? Recently, there’s been rumors of some people that used to be far more active in sports betting that are in a bad spot as far as paying off debt. If you reach out to anyone who’s slightly aware of a situation, even if they know just the smallest bit, they clam up like a losing tout trying to describe where their edge comes from. Everyone gets worried that if the slow payer hears their name being dragged through the mud, they’ll say “fuck it” and refuse to pay anyone that’s owed. I guess I understand that (from the person who’s owed perspective), somewhat, but definitely not to the level it’s widely accepted by everyone else. I get that in these situations, people just want the money they’re owed. But what I’ve seen happen is that the slow payer will eventually settle (most) of their debts, and word never spreads to others about what a bum they were, so there's an opportunity for them to do it again. I agree the argument against this is “Well, the right people know who not to do business with,” but what about everyone else? These guys pull some shady shit, they never get called out because of people’s fear of not getting paid, and end up getting off relatively easy. Can we at least agree that when the debt is paid in full, the person should be publicly called out so that their transgression can’t be hidden anymore? I don’t think a person should be embarrassed (hmm, re-thinking that immediately after typing it) but it seems reasonable to speak openly about your poor experience with someone from the sports betting community.

• I thought this was a really interesting Tweet that didn’t get a ton of run. It mostly got buried with a bunch of replies from angry touts that were upset Spanky was offering to track their picks, and even angrier he was going to do it against sharp lines. AIN'T NO FUN WHEN YOU CAN’T TRACK AGAINST HARD ROCK AND 365.

• I saw it as twofold. On one hand, it’s an easy way to make touts put up or shut up. Beat the sharpest lines in the world and prove you’re worth your subscription fee. On the other hand, it reminded me of something I’ve really wanted to try. I’m not reinventing the wheel here as I know for a fact other groups have found touts that had real, legitimate edges, but I’ve always wanted to put a bunch of these Dub Club losers on a free roll and have them stop releasing picks to their subscribers. There’s a chance one of them stumbles into being competent and against all odds, lucked their way into an edge. And what does it cost you? You can probably tempt half these guys with a $200/game free roll. Worst case is you lose a little money but you get to laugh your ass off at the real pricks who are terrible sports bettors. Now, I know that Spanky does most things out of the goodness of his heart when it comes to sports betting, but he found a way to free roll his entire customer base without having to actually bet their stuff. If I had to wager, I would lay a pretty massive bet (a “high 3 figure bet” as some would say) Spank and his team have access to any and all data for anyone tracking their picks through SpankOdds. And on the slimmest chance one of his users has a real edge against sharp books that he doesn’t already know about, well…it won’t be that way for long.

• I personally think one of the worst feelings in sports betting is placing bets through a mover and knowing you’re losing money in other people’s accounts. You know that with enough of a sample, you will turn a profit. You know how well your bets have performed in the past. What you really want to say to those account getters/passers is “please shut the fuck up and let us do our thing. If you could win on your own with this account, you probably wouldn’t have passed it off in the first place. So again, please shut the fuck up. Or better yet, how about you start sending out plays for everyone else to bet and win piles of cash?” And you know what? You’re in the wrong when you think or say those things because this is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ league - previous results don’t mean shit. I’ve been on both sides of this dilemma and they both suck. You gotta realize that last season’s performance doesn’t matter to anyone. Hell, for most of these people, last month’s performance doesn’t matter. It’s why certain people in the space, who continue to point to records from a time when you couldn’t use your home phone while using the internet, seem like they will never quite get it and are determined to destroy whatever reputation they once had.

• I want to wrap up this betting section stuff with two pieces of advice that I think have gotten me really far as both a teacher and a bettor:

• Ask questions you already know the answer to. Sure, you’ll come off looking like an idiot sometimes. The person you ask will think “how the fuck does this dummy not know this already?” If you can get over that piece of it, I think this is a really useful tool. It can help you reaffirm things you already know as well as make you see what you already knew from a perspective you may not have considered. Obviously, two people can be right about the same subject, but how they got there is what I want to know. You gotta ask a lot of questions, even when you’re sure of the answers.

• Find a way to say yes. Listen, if someone reaches out to you regarding something you have 0.0 interest in doing/talking about/pursuing, disregard this advice and tell them right then and there that you’re not interested. Maybe try not to be a dick about it, but do it. It saves both parties time and headaches. But if you have even the slightest bit of interest in pursuit of a topic, find a way to say yes. I’ve encountered far too many people at work and in sports betting that will find every possible reason to say ‘no’ to a new opportunity. It drives me fucking nuts, especially when they put in all of 12 minutes effort, or worse yet, never even gave it a shot because “they just didn’t know how to start.” You are completely useless if you don’t even give it a shot. If this is you, say it with me, right now and out loud: “I am useless.” For the rest of you, keep finding a way to say yes to people around you. It will fail more often than succeed, but it will open a lot more doors that the useless people just “didn’t know how to get started” opening.

• Moving into the future, I want to accomplish two things. I hope that by writing them down and having others read them, it will motivate me to actually pursue these opportunities.

• The first thing I would like to accomplish is finding a way to start educating the youth on responsible gambling. I don’t know if that means getting trained in the subject (is that even a thing?) or whether I just forge my own way of doing it based on my experiences. I have direct access to populations that are being impacted by sports betting and feel an obligation to do something. Part of me feels like I’m expecting the worst when it comes to teens and their exposure to sports betting, but educating feels like a path worth pursuing. What I do know is that I can only pretend to not hear so much in the hallways and classroom when an 8-leg parlay lock is being cooked up.

• The second thing I want to accomplish is doing some sort of sports betting podcast. Even putting that into words makes me cringe. But I think there’s still this gap in the market for sports bettors to tell their stories and relate to others in the ecosystem, whether it’s a discussion about what’s been going on in the world of sports betting or bettors speaking about some of their past experiences. My hypothesis is that people actually have a lot to say, but don’t know how they can say it. And you know I'm right because all of you reading this spend your days incessantly tweeting about everything under the sun because you want to be heard. It’s some sort of blend of Circles Off, Circle Back, Spaces, and Be Better Bettors. Parts of it are evergreen, parts of it would make no sense a few months after the fact. Above all else, it’s an attempt for sports bettors to make content that relates to others in a loosely structured environment with people you actually want to hear from. A rotating cast of characters would be a must - this isn’t a 1 on 1 type interview production. It would also be more sporadic than fit a regular schedule. Most of what’s been happening lately makes me believe that people want characters to exist in sports betting and they want to dive deeper into these peoples’ lives/history/opinions. The model I envision is The Business We Chose (TBWC) podcast, but with small changes for the better. This project has to be done out of love for the game, nothing else. Not aiming to attract sponsors. No censoring of what you say for fear of upsetting someone with too much power or sway. No attempt to appeal to the masses. In fact, if it’s done right, it should almost be a goal of the content to never appeal to the masses. The more I think about it, the more I realize the goal has to be to build something that’s actually -EV in almost all facets, except for leaving sports betting in a better place than where it started.

Until next time.

Ferris

@FerrisB_86