NFL Nfl Gambling

Each week, FanHouse takes a deeper look at the obvious -- and not so obvious -- options for your NFL suicide pool. Standard rules apply: pick one team to win straight up (no point spreads), and each team may only be used once.

If you were alive in your pool heading into Week 3, then it's pretty much a given that you're alive as we get ready for Week 4. With no major surprises, and with the obvious pick in the Ravens cruising to an easy blowout victory, even the most inexperienced of players couldn't help but advance.

While there might not be one team that sticks out as the clear-cut, obvious choice this week, a few games should provide the opportunity to make it safely to Week 5. Let's take a look.

Each week, FanHouse takes a deeper look at the obvious -- and not so obvious -- options for your NFL suicide pool. Standard rules apply: pick one team to win straight up (no point spreads), and each team may only be used once.

If you were fortunate enough to stay away from the Packers and Titans last week, the good news is that you're still alive. The bad news is that you were probably forced to suffer through a shaky first half with the Vikings, or an entire game of misery while rooting in the Redskins.

Thankfully, things look to be a lot easier in Week 3.

WILMINGTON, Del. -- There are plenty of reasons why Sunday afternoon, on the second weekend of the NFL season and with no thoroughbred racing scheduled, license plates from at least seven states and the District of Columbia were spotted in the parking lot of Delaware Park. Simulcasting was still going on, and the slots floor was still busy -- and, besides, people might just be slow in updating their car registrations.

But that wouldn't explain, for example, why one cream-colored Cadillac with Florida plates sported four Miami Dolphins flags. Or why many of the cars were expelling, or re-admitting, customers wearing NFL jerseys, caps, T-shirts and other paraphernalia, and carrying long white, beige or yellow strips of paper. Or, most transparently, why the infield videoboard was showing one of the network pre-game shows.

Football may not have taken over the biggest of the three tracks in the state now taking NFL bets, but it has staked its claim and apparently won't let go any time soon, at least without the interruption of the courts.

Here's to hoping LaMont Jordan makes the Denver Broncos roster. New head coach Josh McDaniels brought in just about every available free agent running back this offseason to compete for a handful of spots.

And in light of the recent news that the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas has sued Jordan over allegations that he owes them $20,000 in gambling debts, well, he could probably use the steady paycheck.

Via the Las Vegas Sun:

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- One of the issues NFL owners discussed before wrapping up their meetings this morning was expanding the so-called "Rooney Rule" to the hiring of general managers as well as coaches. The rule, established in 2003, currently requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for vacant head coaching positions or face a fine. The change would apply the same rule to vacant GM positions.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the change could be implemented "almost immediately," though he first needs to speak with Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the father of the rule and the chair of the league's diversity committee. Rooney did not attend these meetings because he is currently undergoing the training required of him to become U.S. ambassador to Ireland per an appointment by President Barack Obama.

Gisele Bundchen, if the reports are accurate, may have somehow become even more attractive than previously thought. Provided, of course, that you're a degenerate gambler like me. You see, Bundchen, according to the stories we're hearing, evidently likes to put large sums of money on soccer games.

Specifically, $1 million-large, which is the rumored amount that she's won so far this year, betting on soccer matches.

Our friends at BoDog are always working hard to accommodate our favorite addictions gambling curiosities. So, naturally, when the news dropped that the Dallas Cowboys had released Terrell Owens, I checked the site a few times to see if any odds had emerged on where T.O. would end up.

They didn't show up last night, but they're certainly there today. And, frankly, they're not particularly shocking. At least, not if you know anything about Dan Snyder and Al Davis.

With, presumably, a healthy Tom Brady at quarterback, the New England Patriots will head into the 2009 NFL season as the favorites to win the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Prop Bets are as American as your mother and as addicting as, um, stuff. Will Brinson's got a program for your all-American fix.

Super Bowl Prop Bets are as American as your mother and as addicting as, um, stuff. Will Brinson's got a program for your all-American fix.

For the remaining few days until the Super Bowl, I'm going to be gathering prop bet stories from around the blogosphere (and you, if you're interested, so e-mail me if you've got a funny one).

Now that we've covered that, obvious apologies are due for the tardiness of this (because we're actually on Day Five -- coming soon also). But you know how life as a blogger is -- wake up, look at your pants lying crumpled on the bed, laugh at them, play some Sega Genesis, laugh at your pants again, get in your desk chair and start cranking out the snark. Tough.