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🏈 Final Goodbye

🏈 Final Goodbye

January 13, 2023

Happy Friday BTP family! The NFL playoffs are right around the corner so grab your snacks because it's going to be a long weekend on the couch watching football! Six games in just three days to determine who's moving on to the divisional round. Speaking of football, Jets owner Woody Johnson recently came out in an interview saying he's willing to break the bank to sign a veteran QB for next season. Looks like the Jets will be making a run for it all fueled behind their impressive rookie play this season.

Today, we break down Derek Carr's final goodbye to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Spurs are set to make history tonight, and an insane World Cup gambling story that might be the greatest cash out of all-time! You're not going to want to miss this!

Have a great weekend!

FINAL GOODBYE

Derek Carr Says Goodbye

It’s been about two weeks since the Las Vegas Raiders benched their longtime quarterback Derek Carr in anticipation of a trade, but Carr’s goodbye letter makes it feel all the more real. Carr was sidelined because his contract contains an injury clause, and should he have gotten hurt in the final two meaningless games, Vegas would owe him a fully guaranteed $33M. Vegas didn’t want to take that chance, and Carr didn’t want to be a distraction, so he left the team, and their nine-year partnership came to an abrupt and sad ending.

Carr’s tenure as a member of the Raiders has had plenty of ups and downs, but it’s clear from his goodbye message that it meant everything to him. Carr said: "It breaks my heart I didn't get an opportunity to say goodbye in person… [but] I can honestly say that I gave you everything I had, every single day, in season, and in the off-season. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I hope that I was able to leave you with more than a few great memories as Raider fans."

Despite adding former college teammate and best friend Davante Adams to the offense, Carr regressed this year, recording his lowest passer rating and lowest completion percentage since his rookie year while also throwing a career-high interception percentage. But still, there are plenty of QB-needy teams looking for a seasoned pro under center, and Carr is certainly that. Even though Carr didn’t get the goodbye he wanted or deserved, he still goes out as the Raiders' franchise leader in passing yards, starts, touchdown passes, fourth-quarter comebacks, and game-winning drives.

BROKEN RECORD

The Spurs Make History Tonight

Don’t look now, but the 13-29 San Antonio Spurs are breaking the NBA single-game attendance record. The Spurs, in a typical understated Spurs fashion, announced they sold 63,592 tickets to tonight's matchup with the Golden State Warriors in their former home, the Alamodome, breaking a nearly 25-year-old record.

We won’t know the final attendance total until later tonight, as it could climb to as many as ~68,000 people with standing-room ticket sales, but regardless, the record is now theirs. That previous record was 62,046 people, set in 1998 when MJ and the Bulls played the Atlanta Hawks at the Georgia Dome.

But games like that are a rarity in the NBA, in fact, tonight's matchup will mark just the fourth regular season game with an attendance of over 50,000 fans. The other two occurred during the late 80s at the Pistons' former home, the Silverdome. Meanwhile, the biggest crowd in league history for a non-regular season game was actually at the 2010 All-Star game in which 108,713 people flocked to the Dallas Cowboys stadium, which boasts the highest spectator capacity in the NFL.

GAMBLER'S DREAM

The Greatest Cash Out in Gambling History

It’s been nearly a month since the World Cup, and we’re still not over the wager of a lifetime. Nothing against the first basket kings of Pennsylvania, but this seven-leg championship parlay was nothing short of sorcery.

In case you missed it: Many months ago, a man named Daniel Forte created an absolutely insane 7-leg parlay. Forte risked $26 on a 7-leg championship-winning ticket that included the following events: Kansas men’s basketball to win the NCAA tournament, the Warriors to win the NBA Finals, the Avalanche to win the Stanley Cup, AC Milan to win Serie A, Los Angeles F.C. to win the MLS Cup, Manchester City to win the Premier League, and lastly France to repeat as World Cup champions.

The details: Going into the World Cup, the first six legs of this +2145172 parlay had inexplicably cashed, meaning he just needed France (+650) to potentially turn $26 into $557,770.91. The World Cup couldn’t have gone smoother for this bettor as France, despite missing some of their top players, cruised to a World Cup Final. Obviously, we know Argentina ended up winning the Cup, despite some individual brilliance from France’s Kylian Mbappé, but this story still has a happy ending.

The decision: Before the match, Forte weighed his options of what to do with this once-in-a-lifetime ticket. He had three choices; let it ride, hedge, or cash out. Letting it ride would have been complete insanity, and hedging would have required an obscene amount of money to properly execute. In the end, a cash-out was the only real option, and thankfully, FanDuel stepped up with an offer. Forte was given a one-time-only offer of $283,538.52 to cash out, which he accepted, and it was one of the best decisions of his life. Forte said it best while watching the most exciting World Cup Final of all time: “Thank God I cashed out…[or] I’d be leaving on a stretcher with a heart attack right now.”