okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Friday, January 09, 2004
G is for gambling
Now that Brittany Spears' wedding is no longer the big news, Pete Rose's gambling admission has been all over the newspapers.
Pete -- after years of denial -- has now gone public and admitted that he gambled on baseball, in violation of the rules of the sport.
Pete inspired me....
I have to admit it. I gambled on orienteering.
The last time I ran 25-manna, the huge Swedish relay race, I put 100 Swedish Crowns on my team to win. We had a strong team and, in fact, we led the race with just a couple of legs to go. But we couldn't hold the lead and dropped back to 8th; a good result but I was out my 100 Swedish Crowns.
That was in 1991. But, that wasn't all.
I gambled again in 2001. That time I put down a small bet at the 2001 WOC long distance final. I picked Frederick Lowegren to win. I wasn't convinced he'd win, but I thought the odds looked good (and the odds for the other favorites looked low). Lowegren had a good race, but he didn't win. I think he finished 5th. I lost my bet.
Gambling on both 25-manna and the 2001 WOC were through the national betting systems of Sweden and Finland. I guess it says something about the size of the sport when you can gamble on it.
posted by Michael |
8:24 PM
