Who's Yer Bookie?

In case you haven’t noticed, we are hanging by a thread around here. Valentine’s Day has already snuck up on us, we still haven’t recovered from our holiday spending (two words: holiday party), and rent is late (again). How will we ever survive? Two more words: Super Bowl. With over $450 million to be bet online on the biggest single sports event of the year, what harm is a small, friendly wager? By no means does Houstonist endorse gambling as way to make a living, but if you have a few greenbacks to lose, we say “Place your bets right here.”

These days, you can bet on every aspect of the game and its surrounding events. For example, will Mick Jagger have a wardrobe malfunction? To all that is holy, we hope not, but we’ll take the odds. Whatever you're willing to lay it all on the line for, we have a few interesting stats to help you decide on whom to place your last minute wager for Super Bowl Extra Large.

• The Coin Toss: The most popular of all “prop” bets. You'd think this is a 50/50 shot. Close. The flip winner is actually one game under .500, a surprising 3-7 in the last 10 Super Bowls.
• Root for the Underdog: Seattle is the fifth No. 1-seeded underdog. Of the previous four, one has won outright (Baltimore in SB XXXV), and two others have covered the spread. Advantage: Seattle.
• Platinum Records: Teams with even records in the regular season have only met seven times in the Super Bowl. For the other 32, the better record is 24-8. The Seahawks win again, finishing 13-3 vs. the Steelers' 11-5.
• Conference Call: With the strength of the Patriots and Broncos in the recent past, the AFC has been on a roll, coming out on top six of the last eight. This one leans toward Pittsburgh.
• Man or Mouse: Who's the more dominant specie? Man, of course. Man has met beast 28 times for the Lombardi Trophy, slaying his foe in 78 percent of the struggles.

We try to remain unbiased, but more important, we would hate to sway the spread by pushing you to bet on one team or the other, so we divulge stats evenly for both teams. We have a good idea where our friends at Seattlest put their money. Houstonist has laid down our rent money with hopes of — well — paying next month's rent. If a couple of refined gentlemen by the names of Moose and Rocko happen to stop by Sunday night, you haven’t seen us.