Bennie the Bookie makes his picks
The playoffs are here, and so we called Bennie the Bookie, the only Las Vegas sports betting establishment taking bets on the SCISL playoffs, to ask how he was setting the odds. (Bennie carefully watches tapes of all the games, but doesn’t know any of the players’ names.)
SCISL News: So, Bennie, let’s start with the boys. Who are you picking to win?
Bennie: I´m sending off Christian Learning and Cambridge as co-favorites, you pick ém, at 3-2. I´m not saying they can’t be beat, I´m just saying that they haven’t been beat. You know the old saying, “The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift – but that is the way to bet.”
SCISL News: Well, fine, but if they end up facing each other, who´s the favorite?
Bennie: We´ll have to see how it goes in the first round. So much will depend on who´s hot, and who’s not. The problem is that they´re such different teams. The Eagles have a lot of big guys who are pretty good. Cambridge has two guys that are really good, but aren’t so big, and then they got that kid who’s going to be a superstar. But, hey! He’s only about twelve. Ya gotta give him time.
SCISL: So how about the other teams – Cooperative and International?
Bennie: I´m sending them both off at 8-1. I think either one of them could win in the first round, but I can’t see either of them winning twice. Unless they end up facing each other. You see, winning is a habit, and neither of them have it.
SCISL: But Cooperative has the better record – you’re giving them the same odds?
Bennie: You gotta look at trends. International has been getting better all season. They have almost beaten almost everybody. Sooner or later they will – though it may not be until next year.
I liked Cooperative a lot at the beginning of the year. They got big guys that can shoot and pull down rebounds. They have experience. They know how to play the game. What they´ve lacked is heart, and desire. It’s hard to suddenly find those in the playoffs, though it can be done.
SCISL: Let’s take a look at the girls.
Bennie: Yes, I like to do that
SCISL: Who do you pick to win?
Bennie: You have to go with Christian Learning. They’ve been the class of the league all season, except for that one game they lost. All those long, tall blondes with pony tails. They must clone ‘em out there. They go off at even money.
SCISL: But they have been beaten.
Bennie: Yes, if they have a weakness it’s that they don’t have any “pure shooters” – players that have a real touch for tossing the ball in the net. But then neither does the team that beat ém – Cambridge. They’ve only scored over 20 points once this year, and they lost that game. Cambridge could win, sure. They finished strong. But I´m putting them at 4-1.
SCISL: How about International?
Bennie: They are tough, sure enough. But they have to have everybody there. No absentees. And everything has to be clicking. I´m putting them at 5-1
SCISL: And Cooperative?
Bennie: Here is somebody’s chance to make money. I look at their record, and I have to put them at 6-1. But this is a team that has more hard luck stories than the Chicago Cubs. If they’d scored 12 more points this year, at the right times, they could be 5-1 instead of 1-5. The problem is that they got too many young kids in key positions. But those kids have been maturing fast. They could shock a lot of people.
SCISL: Thanks, Bennie.
Bennie: De nada, fella.
