In the late 1980s, I was working for my hometown radio station and one of my jobs was as an analyst on high school sports broadcasts. This one basketball playoff season started with my alma mater playing a real heavyweight in the Euclid District Tournament. Riverside was expected to get BLASTED by a talented Euclid team. I was on the broadcast team that night.
Riverside only lost by six points.
After the game, I was hanging out where I usually did every night of the week, Nemeth’s Lounge. About a third of the patrons were also Riverside grads. They also knew how badly Riverside was supposed to get beat in this game.
But because they had not listened to the live radio broadcast, they didn’t know the outcome of the game, which was shortly going to be televised on a delayed basis. The whole bar would be watching.
So, as I made my way around the bar, asking for bets on the game, everyone was flabbergasted that I would only want eight points to take Riverside. (For you non-betting people, that means that Riverside could LOSE by seven points and I would still win the bet.)
By the way…I was only asking for a drink as payoff.
After the game, with the Panthers barely escaping the Beavers with their tails between their legs, I confessed to everyone I made the bet with that I knew the outcome before the bet.
Every single one paid up because they thought it was so brilliant.
