The Story Of A True Christmas Gambling Miracle
The 2020 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl couldn’t have been further from “famous.” In fact, I didn’t even know the game was going on until I was scrolling through the live feed on my favorite app to feed my addiction.
The match up featured the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Tulane Green Wave (might be a lazier name than “The Football Team”) — two teams I could not tell you a single thing about. All I do know though, is that there was a juicy live spread of +13.5 (+120 odds) for Tulane at halftime that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Tulane was only down 26-7 — consider it Lock of the Year. For those of you who aren’t familiar with point spreads, this means that I can’t have The Green Wave lose by more than 13 points. I was literally itching and scratching while mulling this over in my head, so I hammered it before someone saw me and called the police.
After sweating through the majority of the second half, I went upstairs to change my clothes. When I returned to the television, Tulane had given up a touchdown late in the 4th quarter to go down by 18 points. Then, to make matters worse and curb stomp my hopes and dreams, Tulane turned the ball over, setting up Nevada to run the clock out and effectively end the game. It’s not over until the fat lady sings, but knowing my luck, my fate had just been sealed.
Maybe it’s 2020. Maybe it’s a “Christmas Miracle.” Maybe it’s Maybelline. Whatever it was, what followed in the remaining two and half minutes will one day be enshrined into the sports gambling hall of fame, if it hasn’t already.
Due to the fact that Tulane had no timeouts remaining, Nevada took four consecutive knees to run out the clock (or so they thought). What the Wolf Pack didn’t take into account was that there would still be 10 seconds remaining in the game, with Tulane taking over on downs. So, while all that was going on on the field, here’s what was happening on the sidelines…
The ref was not a fan of this premature celebration, or he was disappointed they weren’t curly fries from Arby’s, either way–PERSONAL FOUL. 15 YARD PENALTY. AUTOMATIC FIRST DOWN.
Still not giving a single f*** and force feeding each other french fries, Nevada leaves only 8 men on the field. The Green Wave proceed to run one final play that resulted in a 65-yard house call by Cameron Carroll, kicking in that backdoor and covering on one of the wildest rides I have ever been on.
If there is one thing to take away from this, it’s don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. It’s probably also to not throw a bucket of french fries onto the field while there is a game going on hahahahahahah IDIOTS.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
