Super Bowl LI Predictions Including Prop Bets

On the eve of Super Bowl LI (51 for those of who are wondering where the Roman numeral X's went), predictions and bets are being placed on just about anything and everything. Not just the score, but things such who scores first, who wins the coin flip, and even the over/under on the time it takes to sing the national anthem. If you're in Las Vegas, these are referred to as prop bets and are all things you can gamble on. You're probably able to place similar bets on sports gambling websites as well.

Not immune to this completely, while not placing money down on these various facets of the game, here is the Millhouse list of Super Bowl LI predictions.

Score/Winner: Falcons 34 Patriots 24...
Many may scoff at this prediction, but look at the facts. The Falcons have a more potent offense than the Patriots. Matt Ryan had a career year, the backfield is full of weapons, and they have possibly their best receiving corps in team history.

On the other hand, many act like Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever. Sportscasters have been pointing out that Brady is extremely accurate, throwing only two interceptions the whole season. What many don't want to see is that Brady averages an interception every game when it comes to the playoffs. That's not counting the fumbles (or non-fumbles if you're a Raiders fan). Brady isn't the clutch-performer many think he is. Add that to the fact that he lost Rob Gronkowski, his favorite target, to injury and you can see that the passing game of the Patriots is potentially flawed. Add that to the poor running game they've displayed in the playoffs this year (Lewis 2.7 yards-per-carry; Blount 3.3 yards-per-carry; Brady -2 yards total) and there are holes everywhere for the Falcons defense to expose.

MVP: Matt Ryan...
People love voting for the winning quarterback as an MVP in the Super Bowl. Matt Ryan is poised to be that MVP while throwing to targets such as Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, and to his backs in the flat.

First Score: The Patriots when Tom Brady hits Chris Hogan...
Despite scoring first, they won't be able to stop the Falcons from scoring more.

First Play: A 2-yard run up the middle by LaGarrette Blount.

First Turnover: Ricardo Allen intercepts a Tom Brady pass.

First Sack: Vic Beasley sacks Tom Brady.

First to Challenge a Play: Bill Belichick in the second quarter

Score at Halftime: Falcons 14 Patriots 14

Leading Rusher: Devonta Freeman with 108 yards rushing.

Leading Receiver: Julio Jones with 138 yards receiving.

First Song Lady Gaga will Perform at Halftime: "Just Dance" seems like a good song to get the energy flowing, but "Born this Way" may end up being the winner with the political atmosphere in the United States and her stance on LGBTQ rights.

Guest Singer Most Likely to Sing Along with Lady Gaga: Tony Bennett.

Length of Luke Bryan's National Anthem Performance: Not being the same time of singer that Lady Gaga or even Whitney Houston is, Luke Bryan will most likely sing the national anthem straight up and not embellish on it. A good number would be 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Heads or Tails: Tails...but I could be wrong and it could be heads.

Color of sports drink (Gatorade) that is Poured on Winning Coach's Head: Red

Chance Donald Trump will Mention the Super Bowl: He already has, promoting an interview he's doing on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly just before the Super Bowl. Beyond that, if the Patriots do win, Trump will almost definitely congratulate his buddy, Tom Brady.

Miscellaneous Stats: Matt Ryan 330 yards passing along with 3 touchdown passes; Tom Brady 368 yards passing along with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions; Devonta Freeman 108 yards rushing and 32 receiving along with a rushing touchdown; Tevin Coleman 48 yards rushing and 3 receptions for 67 yards including one touchdown reception; Chris Hogan 7 receptions for 123 yards and 1 touchdown reception; Julio Jones 138 yards receiving from 10 receptions and one touchdown reception; Deion Jones 41 yards rushing; Julian Edelman 5 receptions for 110 yards receiving and 1 touchdown reception; Taylor Gabriel 4 receptions for 52 yards; Vic Beasley 6 tackles along with 1 sack; Dont'a Hightower 7 tackles; Stephen Gostkowski 1 for 2 in field goals; Matt Bryant 2 for 2 in field goals

Patriots Show Disrespect to Bills

Looks like the New England Patriots are at it again. In their last game against rival Buffalo Bills the Patriots ran right through the middle of the Bills' pregame warmups. Is there a specific rule against this? No. It's a matter of respect...or disrespect in this case.

Every year the Patriots find themselves embroiled in a new controversy. Deflategate being one of the most recent ones which led to Tom Brady being suspended for the first four games of this season.

Another being that multiple visiting teams have complained their headsets don't work when they visit Gillette Stadium. It isn't until a referee checks that they magically begin to work again. If a team's headset doesn't work, the other team is supposed to go without their headsets as well to even up the odds. Opposing coaches have complained that they hear the radio broadcast of the game instead of their coordinators.

Somehow, despite constantly pulling things that would dirty the image of any other team, the Patriots seem to be able to shed the dirt and remain a favorite of millions of fans. How? Maybe it's because they win. It would be hard for the NFL to come down on a team that brings them millions of dollars in revenue. Plus Patriots owner Robert Craft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell are known to be good friends.

Now this...

For whatever reason, the Patriots ran right through the Bills pregame warmups, disrespecting their rival in the process. But why? There was no reason other than the Patriots decided to be punks. It's doubtful that the whole team had an airheaded moment at once and accidentally did this.

These two teams will face each other again this season. The Bills have already publicly said that if the Patriots do this again, retaliation will be a guarantee. And who could blame them? If the Patriots do it again, they deserve to get their butts kicked.

Will it happen again? Who knows.

Rams Moving to LA Short of What City Deserves

Photo taken by Daniel Millhouse

As of yesterday, the NFL announced that they have granted the Rams franchise of St. Louis the okay to move to the Los Angeles area. With a vote of 30 to 2, NFL owners granted the Rams approval to move the site of the old Hollywood Park horse racing track which is located in Inglewood. Is this really the best move for the NFL though?

While this news breaks the hearts of many Raiders fans in Southern California and leaves Chargers pondering if their team will join the Rams within the next year. The Chargers will have one year to decide whether or not they want to move to Inglewood and if they pass, the Raiders will have one year to make a similar decision.

Stan Kroenke, owner of the Rams has also promised that the stadium will be surrounded by entertainment, retail, and restaurant venues, upgrading the entire area surrounding the stadium that is expected to be completed by 2019.

Everything sounds great on the surface, but what about building a loyal base? Though the Rams played in Southern California from 1946 to 1994, some of their fan base still feels the sting from when the team left the first time around along with the Raiders. Some of the loyal fan base still remains, but it now feels like Southern California is getting back a recycled team that couldn't thrive in a part of the country that adores football more than any other sport.

If the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, they would have that same recycled team feeling. Raiders fans on the other hand are masochistic in a manner, not seeming to care that their teams moves every couple of decades on a whim of the Davis ownership. They're in Oakland, they're in LA, they're in Oakland, now they want back in LA. Just stay put in Oakland or move to St. Louis or San Antonio as some have proposed.

What Los Angeles deserves is a new expansion team. One that can build that fan base and feel like they truly belong to Southern California. Even if you disregard that the Rams played in St. Louis since 1994, the fact is they originated in Cleveland, though many of us alive today wouldn't remember that. A team in the second largest market in the United States shouldn't feel like they're getting a recycled team.

Bringing in an expansion team would allow fans to feel more invested in their team from day one. From logo and mascot creation, to the expansion draft, to their first college draft, fans will feel like they are part of the ride. Yes, the team will probably have a few poor seasons before finally pulling everything together, but it's not as if the Rams, Chargers, or Raiders were winning teams either.

Two teams seems ridiculous in Los Angeles as well. There are so many markets ready for a football team such as San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Omaha all come to mind. To many teams in the same market saturate the fan base and the money that could be spent on sports. It would be one thing if there was some sort of history with two teams in the same city such as Chicago with the Cubs and White Sox, but Los Angeles doesn't share that same die-hard devotion to their teams that Chicago does.

No, an expansion team would have been best for the city of angels. Bringing in an existing franchise falls just short of what the football fans of Los Angeles deserve. Something to call their own, from the start.

Super Bowl Pay To Play

With the new season only starting less than a week ago, the NFL has already taken some major bumps this season. Beyond the most recent developments in the Ray Rice incident, the NFL recently announced that it wants musicians/artists to pay to play during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Citing free publicity and bumps in ticket sales for up and coming tours, the NFL claims that the music artist is the biggest winner.

First off, the point of the music artist to perform at the halftime show is to retain the viewers while the gameplay is on pause. Without the halftime show, just as with many regular season games, fans use this time to grab food, talk, hang out with friends, and various other things which take them away from the television, effectively minimizing the impact the companies who advertise during halftime have. Without the music artist, it's hard for the NFL to justify $4 million for 30 second spots during the downtime from the game. The NFL would like to argue that the performance itself is a form of advertisement, but more fairly, it can be said that the advertisers are drawn in because of the music performance.

Many of the artists that perform at these shows can draw in as high a million dollars plus for one of their own concert performances, but perform three to four songs for free during the halftime show. Performing for free, while the NFL reaps the benefits. Because of the music performance, the female demographic is more likely to watch the game, especially at halftime. The same can also be said for non-NFL fans who are fans of the music artist performing, but not necessarily football in general. These are viewers that the sponsors hit, that normally would be lost if the halftime show consisted only of the standard commentators talking about the highlights of the game to that point.

Years ago, before the NFL stepped up it's halftime show productions, the Fox Network stole away many of the possible halftime viewers by airing an In Living Color special that aired exclusively during halftime. By counterprogramming against the Super Bowl, Fox effectively minimized the impact by the advertisers who (over)paid for 30 second spots on CBS during the halftime show.

During 60's, 70's, and 80's, the NFL primarily used marching bands and generic music to entertain those watching the halftime show. This was a dead zone for advertisers, wishing to wait until the second half to resume their advertising. It was not possible for the NFL to justify charging $4 million (or the equivalent to those particular years). Once the NFL started to invite music artists to perform free of charge during the halftime, they were able to charge a premium for advertising.

Various unions including the NFL Players Association and American Federation of Musicians have also come out publicly against the NFL's proposed idea. Twenty-two unions in all have sided against the NFL citing that no one should ever have to pay to work. For a musician, even if they love what they do, performing is their job.

The trade off for performing for free is the potential bump of people who might pay for the musician's music or attend one of their concerts. It's a fair trade considering how much money the NFL makes from advertisers when the game isn't even being played. It's better for both sides, especially the NFL which will never want to go back to marching bands performing at halftime while losing millions of dollars to the lack of halftime advertising.

Photo credit by IndianBio uploaded to Wikipedia.

Great Stadium Eats

Whatever the sport, the fan is always number one. They are the ones whom cheer for their teams. They are the ones whom pay for the tickets so their favorite team can afford better players. They are the ones whom become a "twelth man," "sixth man," and whatever else to the players on the field. The die-hards know everything there is about the team and the stadium. They visit multiple times during a year. So what is the best way to make these fans happy? Food.

Many stadiums have unique food they serve, unlike the other teams in their league. This gives local flavor to the team and the taste buds of the fans. Some teams have horrible food and have vendors outside that cook better than the cooks inside -the street vendors that make the sausage sandwiches outside of Staples Center in Los Angeles for one. Even if the food comes from a greasy looking cart, the food has great possibilities.

My first memorable food experience at a stadium was at Angels Stadium, chowing down on lasagnua from an Italian food booth. I loved that lasagnua and found myself sad when the food server was no longer there after the stadium was remodeled and fitted with national names like Panda Express, Ruby's and more. During my pre-teen years, it was probably my favorite Italian food in general and being at a baseball game made it extra special.

At Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, they serve a capicola and cheese sandwich made on Italian bread, and containing provolone cheese, cole slaw, french fries, and of course, the awesome meat calle capicola. It's a heart attack waiting to happen, but I would eat it in a second.

The peach cobbler, served at Atlanta Falcons games, has a reputation of being one of the best dessert items in football. Any why not? Georgia, the state known for their awesome peaches should be known for a dish using these same peaches.

Can a team be known for it's condiments? Yes. Cleveland stadium mustard is probably the best mustard served in the United States. It has flavor, a little bit of brown sugar mixed with a little spice. It's a perfect combined with a brat and beer.

AT&T Ballpark in San Francisco has the reputation of being the best stadium food in sports, especially if you like garlic. They love spreading garlic butter on many of their sandwiches, have world famous garlic fries, straight from Gilroy, California, sourdough bread right from Boudin, and even some of the best hot dogs, soaked in beer.

Also, if you ever get a chance to go to a minor league baseball game, go. If not for the game, for the food. Most teams have unique dishes that will open your eyes. Even the television show Man Vs. Food did a whole show dedicated to minor league baseball game food.

Stadium eats are unique and part of the fun to a ballgame. People aren't usually satisfied with just the Crackerjacks and popcorn. Don't be afraid to try something new, especially a non-national named brand company. Local food is the flavor to every team.

Photo credit: CrazyPaco from Wikipedia.com