Everybody loves to bet on sports! Why? Because what better way to prove to your friend you know more about sports than by taking something from him. A proud Cleveland fan might say something like, "The Browns are gonna win 10 games this year!" "Wanna bet?" says his best friend, a rabid Steelers fan. Sports fans love to bet. Every game is predetermined by bets, numbers, lines, over/unders and anything else that can let fans know ahead of time who will win the game. Maybe we all just want to know the future. Some people think they can control the future, just ask Pete Rose. Some people think the future is uncontrollable, like anyone that bet the second half line of the '93 Bills vs. Oilers game where Buffalo game back from a 32-point deficit, who saw that comin'? Face it, people bet on everything, even when they know they can't win. Like Caribbean Stud poker, field bets in craps and the 2012 Chiefs. Betting needs three things: two people to bet, a game and a reward. You can always find someone to bet. That's not a problem. And there's almost always a game of some sort. So when it comes to a wager, people usually go with money, it's pretty easy. When you don't have money maybe you bet something ridiculous like eating a bar of soap, yes that actually happened, and recently. Some Nebraska fan said he'd eat a bar of soap against $200, if Texas beat his beloved Huskers, AND THEY DID! Didn't he ever have his mouth washed out with soap? See, you don't always need money, but you can forget about the gentleman's bet, those days are long gone. Maybe you could bet $1 like the boys in 'Trading Places'? Or maybe you can just get right down to business and bet on PRIDE! That's what the Michael Hancock, mayor of Denver, decided to wager against Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, mayor of Baltimore. The bet was, if Denver lost Hancock would perform Ray Lewis' pregame dance publicly in Denver. Well it's been four days since the loss and still ... NO DANCE. Rumors are fluttering around Denver like the winter snow, that he hurt himself on a horse, pulled a muscle getting ready to dance and one rumor says he hurt himself sneezing. Or was that Sammy Sosa? What is this, 'Dancing with the Stars'? How bad are you hurt that you can't pull of the Ray Lewis shuffle? There is not worse bet than an unpaid bet! And what will come next? Maybe Hancock feels that he's not responsible? Maybe John Fox should do the dance for not going for it with 31 seconds left? What about Peyton? He threw that interception to seal the game, why doesn't he do the dance? It's not the chicken dance, I'm sure his neck will be fine. Champ Bailey? He watched plenty of celebration dances at his expense last Sunday. Tim Tebow? I have no idea why he should dance for Hancock, but I'm sure if he was still in Denver he would bite that bullet. The owner of Papa Johns? I'm sure he'd have no problem turning it into a PR stunt to sell some pies. The bottom line is that someone is going to have to pay up, that's how bets work, after all, a bet's a bet.
