Talking Simpsons - Lisa The Greek With Alex Navarro

Sorry you didn't pick up on the heavily heightened irony we were saying "sportsball" with, because we would never say such a hacky phrase like it's actually funny. Also, our guest has been a football fan his entire life and has professionally reviewed football video games for decades, so I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say "well versed in the topics" doesn't describe our choice of guest. - Henry

Talking Simpsons

Guys, hearing you say “sportsball” and other such things is basically the nerd equivalent of some jock saying “Pokemans”. it’s cringey as fuck. I really wish you’d expand your guest possibilities and get someone on who is well versed in topics with which you are not. missed opportunities here and the KotH fishing episode among any others i forget

notsmohqe

This episode is where I truly bonded with the Simpsons. Years before I'd seen this episode, when I was a child, my mom had also said to me more than once something along the lines of, "If other kids do X, well then they're not your friends." In my mind I'd say, thanks Mom, I kinda did the math on that one. That knowledge doesn't stop them from still bullying me. But this moment in this episode made me at least feel seen and not alone in lame parenting moments.

Sean Ryan

As someone who is an oddsmaker in Vegas, yes it's an odd career path, but just goes to show that The Simpsons is for pretty much everyone, maybe I can help explain how the betting lines work. For Football the main 3 bets are Money Line, Point Spread, and Over/Under. The Money Line is connected to the Implied Probability of the team to win, the bigger they're a favorite the more you need to risk. In Suberbowl 26 Washington was the -300 favorite Meaning that a bettor would have to bet $300 to win $100 plus their wager back ($400 total) if they wanted Washington to win outright. If they thought Buffalo the +250 Underdog was going to win outright their $100 bet would win back $250, plus their $100 wager (350 total). Washington was 7 point favorites in the game, that meant if you took Washington Laying the 7 points (Washington -7) they had to win by 8 or more for you to win your bet. If you took Buffalo getting the points They could win the game outright or lose by 6 or less and your Buffalo +7 bet would cash. If Washington won the game by exactly 7 Points then bets on the spread would be a push. Spread betting almost always has -110 odds, meaning you have to bet $110 to win $100 ($210 total). Washington not only won the game outright but they also covered the spread they were 7 point favorites and won the game by 13 points. The Over/Under (aka Total) for the game was 48½ so you could bet if the teams combined would score more or less than that, so if you took the over you would have won as the game ended 37-24 (51 total points). I have included a link to a video I did on a friend's youtube channel explaining sports betting basics, it's a little long winded (a problem of mine) but I'm more than happy to answer any questions anyone has about sportsbetting. https://youtu.be/kM89v6cJ8g4 If you need any additional info you can hit me up on Twitter or Instagram I'm @Mitzula on both

here's my stab at a definition of the point spread and the over/under, a classic example of exclusionary language that gets easier once you try it a few times: The point spread is a symmetrical number between two teams playing against each other. The number represents the points as expressed in the sport (points for football, runs for baseball, etc) that the favored team must clear. So, if the then-Houston Oilers are favored to win against Homer's benighted Denver Broncos, the spread might be given as Oilers -3.5 / Broncos +3.5 (typically stated verbally as 'the [plus/minus] 3.5 [team]' or 'the Broncos are dogs by 3.5' translating to '+3.5', etc). If you placed a bet on the Oilers to cover the spread, they would need to win by 4 or more (half-points aren't given in football); if you placed the bet on the underdog Broncos they would need to lose by 3 points or fewer _or_ win outright (the Broncos winning would count as 'losing by less than 3.5 points'). The over/under is a _total_ number of points scored, again typically expressed in the modern era as a half-point like "38.5" -- if both teams score a combined total of 39 points or more, those who bet the 'over' win; if 38 or fewer points are scored those who bet the 'under' win. Two additional thought on this that come to mind -- 1. Odds against the player are typically bad enough that if you are a bettor familiar with the sport you tend to place 'parlay' bets -- multiple bets that must all win for you to be paid out in which the odds shift (often dramatically) in your favor -- e.g. you might bet $5 and win $3 if you correctly predict the over/under on a single game, but you might bet $5 and win $50 if you can chain your correct predictions on the over/under or point spread on several games 2. You most often see a half-point or otherwise 'impossible' number of points given in a spread because the alternative is a possible number of points in which the player and the house might tie. When this happens it is sometimes referred to as a 'push' or a 'scratch' and the player's money is refunded (essentially 'nobody wins'). An example would be if the hypothetical Oilers/Broncos game had a 4-point spread and the Broncos lost by exactly 4, nobody wins money and everybody goes home a little sadder Finally, before the other commenters swarm me, I know that the Oilers are now the Tennessee Titans but at the time of Homer's ownership of the Broncos that move would not yet have taken place. I hope the Titans this year do good but we are at the top of the worst division in football, so ... here's to another likely first-round playoff exit :cheers:

Byron Lagrone

Quick story up front which might be a confession of illicit activity (though the statute of limitations is CERTAINLY passed by now). In eighth grade, a bunch of acquaintances and I set up a betting pool for the NHL play-offs of the year (2010, if you want to feel old), where we picked teams and players and put down a set amount ($10 a person I think? so it totalled just over $100) and would get points based on teams winning, tying, or losing, and how well individual players performed. At the time it was just an excuse to be a part of something and have added reason to watch hockey when I thought I actually cared about it (yes, I'm Canadian, but I'm also queer, so it cancels out), but in retrospect there's surely some kind of law against a bunch of 13 and 14 year olds running this over lunch periods and on a Facebook group. -- Anyway, while obviously gambling CAN be a serious problem and ruin lives, even as a kid I never understood the ridiculous MORALIZING against it. If there's some kind of restriction upon it and you do it in moderation, I really don't give two shits if someone chooses to gamble or not. It's not like cigarettes or something where the harm in doing it at all is essentially *assured* to harm you, and outside of cases like lootbox systems that are meant to target kids, if adults wanna blow some money then why not?

Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag

All you need to know about point spreads is that it's just a way to make sure Vegas (or bookie) wins more than they lose. If bookies just let the public pick a winner, they would likely win more than they lose so they tack on a point spread. Everyone knows Team A is better than Team B, but are they 3 points better? 6? 12? Sports betting is currently a big topic where I live in Massachusetts where it has been illegal up until recently. I think it's finally going into effect next year, but for now, if you were to drive over the state line to NH on a Sunday morning you'll find lots of people pulled over in their cars firing up Fan Duel or something similar on their phone in order to place bets. Once it is legal in MA, there are probably lots of bars in NH that won't be too happy about it.

Joe Hodgson

“Everyone was very aware of that episode because it had aired 15 years before they were pitching it. You probably remember something that aired in 2006?” - from the podcast about an episode aired 1/23/92, 30 years ago

Ben

I am not a football fan, but I am a soccer fan - so I guess I am a football fan - who lived in the Czech Republic for several years. No matter how ubiquitous people think ads for sports betting have become here in the US (and it's definitely noticeable, don't get me wrong), it's insignificant compared to the deluge of ads we would get during matches over there. The Czech national league is literally sponsored by a gambling app company (this is not exactly uncommon, as for example the English lower division is also sponsored by a betting company), so their ads and name are everywhere, and commercial breaks for every league are nothing but gambling apps, some not even sports related. Meanwhile no one is allowed to advertise alcoholic beverages on TV, presumably to protect the children. It's a mind-boggling thing to behold as an expat. This is all a long way of saying that Moe handling all of the booking is the really weird part of this premise these days no matter where you live.

SomeBloke

A relative of mine was a body paint person at a football game a while back. They were at a Seahawks game, a no-prize for anyone who guesses what they dressed up as.

Lockerus

I would like to formally apologize to the non-horse-poop-eating people of Philadelphia. - Bob

Talking Simpsons

Chiming in from the Philly area, as someone who lived through the previous Phillies win and the eagles win (damn flyers let me down) and even this most recent Phillies appearance, the podcast is underselling our capacity to completely destroy something in celebration. Before the eagles Super Bowl appearance, they ran ads on tv in which an older man begged people not to riot. He asked “is this what champions would do”. This probably betrays my local bias, but I thought it was really funny. I will also say they podcast undersells our ability to come together in a positive wAy, even if it is in the weird Philly way. There were massive celebrations over a continuous quarter of the state when the eagles won. I literally got a paid day off of work for the parade. And even when the Phillies lost this year, the next day every one turned their attention to a guy who was eating a rotisserie chicken every day, for how ever many days he could. People were coming up to watch him eat, day after day. Philly is great.

Andrew Giachetti

By the way Bob, that fan that ate Horse poop, was from Cleveland, not Philadelphia. It happened in 2016 after the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first NBA championship.

Eli Hernandez

You brought up gambling in video games, I just got to an area in Omori called Last Resort where you can play slot machines just like in all those other great games you mentioned.

littleterr0r