What a sigh of relief for those of us who aren't New York Knicks superfans! We need to give a big shout-out to the Indiana Pacers for giving us all a break from the relentless media frenzy. This episode, we're not just talking sports; we're diving into the fanfare that sometimes feels like it's more about the hype than the game – think Stephen A. Smith and Spike Lee levels of zeal. And for anyone who's flirted with lady luck in sports betting, I've got a story about Drake's latest misadventures that might sound uncomfortably familiar. Plus, I'll reveal a time when I learned the hard way that there's a time to bet and a time to just watch the game.
Gambling Mad with Norman Chad is written by Norman Chad and ghost written by...Norman Chad. Executive Producer Rick Barrio Dill and Jon Sheinberg. Produced by Rick Barrio Dill and Bri Coorey. Additional graphics and writing assistance by Dan Telfer. Socials and Marketing Nick Wolferman. Engineering and Editing by Bri Coorey. Equipment provided by SLAP Studios LA (SLAPStudiosLA.com) and studios provided by SLAP Studios LA and 360-Pod.
If you, or someone you know needs help around gambling related issues, there are more ways than ever to get connected with help. Call the Problem Gambling HelpLine at 888-ADMIT-IT (236-4848) or go to www.gamblinghelp.org
What a sigh of relief for those of us who aren't New York Knicks superfans! We need to give a big shout-out to the Indiana Pacers for giving us all a break from the relentless media frenzy. This episode, we're not just talking sports; we're diving into the fanfare that sometimes feels like it's more about the hype than the game – think Stephen A. Smith and Spike Lee levels of zeal. And for anyone who's flirted with lady luck in sports betting, I've got a story about Drake's latest misadventures that might sound uncomfortably familiar. Plus, I'll reveal a time when I learned the hard way that there's a time to bet and a time to just watch the game.
Gambling Mad with Norman Chad is written by Norman Chad and ghost written by...Norman Chad. Executive Producer Rick Barrio Dill and Jon Sheinberg. Produced by Rick Barrio Dill and Bri Coorey. Additional graphics and writing assistance by Dan Telfer. Socials and Marketing Nick Wolferman. Engineering and Editing by Bri Coorey. Equipment provided by SLAP Studios LA (SLAPStudiosLA.com) and studios provided by SLAP Studios LA and 360-Pod.
If you, or someone you know needs help around gambling related issues, there are more ways than ever to get connected with help. Call the Problem Gambling HelpLine at 888-ADMIT-IT (236-4848) or go to www.gamblinghelp.org
Speaker 1:
Thank you, indiana Pacers, thank you for beating the New York Knicks in Game 7 and saving the nation from what would have been at least two more weeks of Knicks overkill and Knicks mania and Knicks folklore telling us about Willis Reed coming off his deathbed and playing on crutches and a broken arm to beat the Lakers in 1970. Deathbed and playing on crutches and a broken arm to beat the Lakers in 1970. But most of all, indiana, thank you for getting Stephen A Smith to shut up and Spike Lee to sit down. Espn's pregame showed us Stephen A arriving to the arena like he was the Pope on Easter Sunday, and then we had to watch Stephen A with his signature pimp walk where he acts like he's the most important person in the tri-state area.
Speaker 1:
Still, that's nothing compared to the striking, sad spectacle of Spike Lee, america's number one annoying celebrity fan. He's the anti-Jack Nicholson. Spike is 67 years old but he dresses like he's six or seven years old. He takes his white privilege I'm sorry, he doesn't have white privilege he takes his Hollywood privilege and buys a front seat to every Knicks game, home or away. He yells at the refs, he yells at the players, he yells at the vendors. He never heard of the concept on something good happens in the game, you just go like this. Or if something bad happens, you do boo boo. Rather, he stalks the sideline like a lunatic on the subway, terrorizing everyone with an earshot. Because it ain't about the Knicks, it's always about Spike Lee. So, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, indiana Pacers and Spike Lee, you can do the right thing and sit your tired ass.
Speaker 1:
Brooklyn, butt down before I go. Gambling Mad, gambling Mad, gambling Chat. Gambling Mad, gambling Chat. Gambling Chat, gambling Chat. And welcome to another edition of Gambling Mad. I'm your host, norman Chad. Gambling Mad brought to you, as always, by Fritos Picked every morning fresh off of Central California trees, direct to your retailer the same afternoon, and by the refreshing taste of Fresca. Is there anything better than Fresca? I don't think so. Fritos and Fresca. It's a meal Coming up this week. On Gambling Mad, massachusetts has an interesting problem gambling situation. How come bowling now costs an arm and a leg? Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are going through a rough patch and we'll have the Mount Rushmore of diet soft drinks.
Speaker 1:
But first let's talk about Drake. Drake bet $565,000 on Tyson Fury to beat Oleksandr Usyk in their heavyweight title match. Fury did not win. Drake lost $565,000. Drake bet $615,000 on Francis Nagano to beat Anthony Joshua back in March. Nagano did not win. Drake lost $615,000. Drake bet $700,000 on Sean Strickland to beat Drikus Duplessis at UFC 297 in January. Strickland did not win. Drake lost $700,000. Drake bet $850,000 on Logan Paul to beat Dylan Danis last October. Paul did not win. Drake lost $850,000. And Drake bet $500,000 on Israel Adesanya to beat Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last September. Adesanya did not win. Drake lost 500 grand.
Speaker 1:
We have an old expression in the Chad household Once an accident, five times a trend. Drake even lost to Kendrick Lamar. Okay, drake is how should I say a loser? Drake is a loser. The rapper should just rap. He's pretty good at that. You know, if Drake bet $1 million and told us that the sun was going to set in the west tomorrow, I guarantee you it would set in the east. Now I am also a gambling loser and I have a story similar to Drake's. I haven't lost as much as Drake, but here is my story and I've told the story many times before and I'm going to tell it many times more in the future because I think it helps people.
Speaker 1:
Last century, when I was a young, good-looking man, I decided to start betting on sports as a 20-something and I wasn't betting much. I was betting essentially $50 on a game, maybe $100 on a game. I started it in the fall and I'd bet on the NFL, college football, nba and Major League Baseball pretty much and over the course of close to a year, betting pretty small, I was up $1,500 or $1,600. That's not a whole lot of money, but it's hard to win sports betting. So I was ahead of the game, not betting much and also keeping my volume low. You bet more games, you're going to lose.
Speaker 1:
Then came a week in August where on Tuesday I bet $50 on a baseball game and I lost. On Wednesday I bet another $50 on a baseball game and I lost. On Thursday I decided to double up my bet to get back, to even bet $100 and lost. On Friday I decided to double up again, bet $200 or so to get back my money, and I lost. On Saturday I made the bet $400 to try to get back all my losses and I lost. And then on Sunday, the final day of the betting week, I decided to put down eight or $900 to get all my money back, and I lost. Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday I lost every single game and I kept doubling my bet. What I did in one week is wipe out the entire profit of an entire year.
Speaker 1:
On Monday, it's the day I would settle with my bookie, chuck, and so first I had to go to the bank and take out $1,600, $1,700, which is a lot of money at the time for me, put it in an envelope. I gave it to Chuck and I said to Chuck you know, I don't think this is for me, I won't be betting anymore. And Chuck said sure, you know, I'll see you in a couple of weeks, because that's what bettors usually do. But I decided I had to go cold turkey. If you look at me you might not know it, but I'm reasonably intelligent. I'm reasonably rational, I'm well grounded. And I decided in one week if I could lose control that way and keep doubling up my bet, well, this isn't a good thing to do. So I went cold turkey no more betting. And to this day I have not been back to a bookie. I have not made any bet with a sports book. The most important decision I made as an adult by far Forgot the fact that I'd probably be losing money over the last century.
Speaker 1:
Okay, the thought process you put into betting. Every day in the morning you look at the point spreads and you figure what am I going to do? You keep waiting for it. Then in the afternoon you got to make a decision. I used to have to call Chuckie at a one hour window where you'd call him and make your bets late afternoon and then at night you'd have to track the bet and back then it was really tough because you didn't have television, you didn't have cable. The same way, it was tough to track your bets, but your whole day was surrounded by trying to make bets. It's not a good living. It's not a good way to make a living, even if you make money. So that is my suggestion to you you can bet if you want, if you can control yourself recreationally, go right ahead. But chances are you can't, you probably shouldn't, bet. That raises the question why am I the host of Gambling Mad? Hey, I got to make a living. I can be hypocritical. I don't bet, but I talk about betting. What are you going to do? Shoot me, it's my show Time for DGEN's gonna. Dgen.
Speaker 1:
Massachusetts legalized sports betting last year. The state's gambling helpline saw a huge increase in calls, as you might expect. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Office of Problem Gambling Services. Now, was this because of a surge in problem gambling? Not necessarily. Of the 2069 calls to the gambling helpline between February and June of 2023, half of them were from people looking for technical videos. Half the calls to the problem gambling helpline were callers seeking tech help for their mobile sports apps, draftkings and FanDuel would like to thank the state of Massachusetts for its tax-funded tech support.
Speaker 1:
You know I've never been fond of Boston sports fans, but I've got to sympathize with their stupidity here. Fond of Boston sports fans, but I got to sympathize with their stupidity here they are calling a problem gambling helpline to get help with problems they have with their gambling gadgets. I guess these are the same people who might contact a weight loss clinic for help finding their barbells and dumbbells. I hate Boston sports fans. It is now my solemn duty to offer a clarification Not a correction, but a clarification to our Mount Rushmore of soft drinks. That was Dr Brown's Black Cherry, canada Dry Ginger Ale, orange Crush and Coca-Cola.
Speaker 1:
I need to put an asterisk next to Coke why I forgot about Mexican Coke. Now let me be abundantly clear on this topic. If I died and went to heaven and there were no Mexican Coke there, I would only give heaven 3.5 stars on my Yelp review. My friends, mexican Coke. If Donald Trump ever tasted Mexican Coke, he would stop trying to build that border wall. We want them flooding our border. We want them piling into America with truckloads of Mexican Coke. I don't know if it's more sugar, or better sugar, or maybe a touch of cocaine, but Mexican Coke is a jolt of joy. If I had known about Mexican Coke 25 years ago, my second marriage would have lasted at least one more year. What y'all don't think I could have two different women agree to marry me? Stuff happens, I've got a third one right now. She has no idea what hit her All right from Mexican Coke.
Speaker 1:
It is now time for the Mount Rushmore of diet sodas. Let's go Coca-Cola zero sugar with an asterisk. Why? Okay, this used to be Diet Coke. I love Diet Coke. It crushes Diet Pepsi. But some mid-level manager at Coca-Cola decided to tamper with the Diet Coke formula and somehow made it better. Then some mid-level manager decides to name it Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. That man should have been fired. No product should have the word zero in it. Zero is a losing number. Trust me, if you have zero in your bank account, you are a loser. But despite the name, coke Zero is fabulous.
Speaker 1:
Next, dr Brown's Diet Black Cherry. This Dr Brown fella I don't know what his first name is. I don't know what his medical specialty is. Not only does he find the best black cherries for Dr Brown's black cherry soda, but he also knows how to take the sugar out. Take the sugar out and make an equally delightful Dr Brown's diet black cherry. I hope Medicare covers Dr Brown's diet black cherry because I buy it, by the case.
Speaker 1:
Next, diet Dr Pepper. So apparently you have to be a doctor to invent a good diet soda. Dr Brown Dr Pepper, love Diet Dr Pepper. Finally, what do you think? The fourth soda? What do you think the fourth soda is on the Mount Rushmore of diet soft drinks? Take a wild guess you huckadoodles, fresca, who said tab Fresca, fresca, Fresca. Rejuvenating, revitalizing, refreshing, remarkable. That's your Mount Rushmore Coke Zero. Dr Brown's Diet Black Cherry Diet. Black Diet Dr Pepper. And Fresca.
Speaker 1:
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, two kids with a dream, rekindled their romantic flame, as you may recall, and got married in July 2022. Now, sadly, less than two years later, they appear to be separating, and that is the subject of today's foreign language rant. Erebueno, nadia, cambia. J-lo Sean Combs, chris Judd, mark Anthony, alex Rodriguez, a-rod Icaramba, e-e-2 Ben. Jennifer Garner, jennifer Lopez otra vez, no más.
Speaker 1:
Jennifer's Ben escúchame Mujeres. No puedes vivir con mujeres. Jennifer escúchame. Ben es un cerdo. He is a pig. Bennifer schmanifer Eso es todo. He is a pig, benefer shmanifer Eso es todo. Vaya con Dios.
Speaker 1:
Now I'm hoping. I know we're still short on money. I'm hoping we get subtitles in there. We might not be able to this week. You know we did fire the PA last week, Spoons. If we could just move the money from him budget-wise to get us some subtitles for some people who don't understand what I was just talking about, that would be very nice. Thank you very much, not asking for much.
Speaker 1:
Before we wrap up, I'm going to say this one time and one time only when did bowling become a rich man's game? My local bowling center now charges $14 a game plus $6.99 for shoe rental. Bowling is an escape, but it shouldn't cost as much as an escape room. $14 a game and $6.99 for shoes. So I'll just stay home. I won't be charged for any games. Plus, I can wear my own shoes for free.
Speaker 1:
If a family of four wants to go out for a night of bowling and everyone just bowls two games, that's $140, before food, drink and the video arcade. So realistically, we're talking $200 of entertainment for two hours of entertainment $200. And this does not include lap dances for mom or dad. So this is what happened best I can tell. A few years ago they decided to change their business model because bowling wasn't doing real well, and a few years ago all the local bowling centers became boleros Bolero, I believe, is Spanish for better, bring cash. Maybe I'll take up golf. Okay, sure, golf is more expensive, but if you sneak onto the third hole to start your round, you don't pay a thing, and then you're only playing 15 holes, so you'll have a lower score. Bye-bye bowling, and that will do it for another edition of Gambling Mad. I am Norman Chadd, hope to see you again and remember, if you're going to roll the dice, make sure they're loaded.
Speaker 2:
Gambling Mad with Norman Chad is written by Norman Chad and dose. Written by Norman Chad, executive producer John Scheinberg, rick Barriodil and produced by Norman Chad and Rick Barriodil. Associate producer is Brie Coorey. Showrunner is Dan Telfer. Audio, video engineering and studio facilities provided by 360 Pod Studios Beverly Hills and Slap Studios LA. If you want to complain to Norm about anything, make sure to reach out at Gambling Mad Show, anywhere you get your socials, and at Gambling Mad with Norm Chad on YouTube. And if you really want to get at him, send a message to info at slapstudioslacom. And big, big thanks to tony the special sauce, who truly is the boss. Thank you for the cookies and the treats. Uh, we promise you to make the post-production.