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Column: Super Bowl safeties, sidebets

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Column: Super Bowl safeties, sidebets

Doom lingered in the air only seven minutes into the game. It was a play that Las Vegas betting stations placed odds at 50-to-1. A play that Tom Brady may have seen as his black cloud. The fact that a safety was the first scoring play of the Super Bowl still has me saying “unbelievable.”

It seemed like I knew from that point forward that the Patriots were going to lose the Super Bowl. With Brady being a perfectionist, he had to play the rest of the game with such a rare mistake looming over his head. Although he may not have known it at the time, a safety in the Super Bowl could put him in the record books for a while.

The last time a safety was called as the first scoring play in the big game dates back to Super Bowl IX in the year 1975. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings battled at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans in a game that went into the second quarter without any team scoring.

The Steelers had the Vikings backed up to their goal line when Dwight White sacked quarterback Fred Tarkenton. The Steelers capitalized on that play and used to momentum to win the game 16-6.

I like to look for patterns in sports plays and this one seems to have “cursed” written all over it. In Super Bowl history, there have now been seven safeties and five of those have caused the team that they were scored against to lose. Brady’s and Super Bowl IX are two of those five. In Super Bowl X, the Dallas Cowboys ended up losing to the Steelers 21-17 when a blocked punt in the fourth quarter resulted in a safety against them.

In Super Bowl XX, the Chicago Bears sacked New England’s quarterback in the final play to finish 46-10. The last one occurred when John Elway of the Denver Broncos got sacked for a safety in Super Bowl XXI. Denver lost 39-20.

I was rooting for the Patriots two Sundays ago, and I will say that the call against them was fair. I think that Brady has the ability to be one of the NFL’s all-time best quarterbacks, but he fell short on that play. He dumped it straight into the middle of the field, not only risking an interception, but throwing well over 15 yards away from the closest receiver. Not his best performance to date.

There was a shining moment from the Patriots’ mistake, though. According to USA Today and The Big Lead.com, Jona Rechnitz bet $1,000 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas and walked away with $50,000 in cash after Brady’s folly.

There had been speculation from TMZ.com that he would donate some, if not all, of his winnings to charity. He said he would give $5,000 to a charity of Brady’s choice and $5,000 to the charities of choice of the New York Giants’ linemen that helped force the safety. I couldn’t find any news that confirmed if he went through with his claim.

Maybe by some freak chance in the future I’ll be down in Vegas during a Super Bowl celebration. I wouldn’t be completely crazy like Jona Rechnitz and place my money on a safety for the first play, but if I see a safety I’m going to go with the odds and bet against the team it was on. When it comes to paying off my school loans, I guess you can call it my “safety” net.

Opinions expressed in editorial and opinion articles are the views of individual NIC students. These views do not necessarily  reflect the opinions of the Sentinel, North Idaho College, or any other organizations or groups there-in. North Idaho College is not responsible for the accuracy of statements or opinions shared.

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