Matt Holthe's Fleeting Thoughts

Last year (when the Ravens met the 49ers) set a record for the amount of money bet (handle) on the Super Bowl. This year it exceeded that amount BY 20 PERCENT! Wow. It went way up. A record $119.4 million was legally wagered on Super Bowl XLVIII at the state’s sports books, according to state figures. Sports books won close to $19.7 million on Super Bowl XLVIII, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced on Monday. The sports books' cumulative profit of about 16.5 percent was the biggest return the state’s regulated books have seen since the Patriots defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX (February 6, 2005). The safety on the first play of the game put the bookmakers in a huge hole right away (50 grand at the Orleans). There was a 2 point conversion, a defensive touchdown, a special teams touchdown, and the safety was the first score -  all those "flukey" prop bets paid off and were a killer for the books, but with all the public money on Denver, the books didn't ...

Last November 8, our cat Pepper went in for surgery to have a mass removed from the base of his tail. It turned out to be cancerous. Because of the location, they couldn't do the "usual" of removing extra tissue to make sure they get all the cancerous tissue. So it came back. Today he's going in for round 2 of surgery. He again will have the "cone of shame" around him for a week and a half or so. The vet and I both agree that one more chance at getting this is worth it. We aren't going to do a third surgery - either this one does the trick or we'll just wait to see how he progresses living with it.