Super Bowl Bets for Everyone

Without wagering, the Super Bowl would be just another game.

Las Vegas Sports Consultants sent me a list of the different Super Bowl betting lines it has set for the Arizona-Pittsburgh matchup Feb. 1. We already knew Pittsburgh was a 7-point favorite. And the over/under is 46.5 points.

But LVSC has a series of other lines posted, and kookier ones will come from other sources next week. Among LVSC' serious football-related lines:

The over/under on Kurt Warner's passing yards: 268

The over/under on Warner's number of touchdown passes: 1.5.

The odds that Warner will score the game's first TD: 22-to-1.

The odds Warner scores the game's last TD: 20-to-1.

You can win $65 on a $10 bet if you bet the game goes into overtime and it does. But you'll have to bet $105 to win $10 if you say the game won't go into OT.

A Phoenix-based Web site has its own prop bets for the big game at http://phoenix.fanster.com/2009/01/23/super-bowl-xliii-prop-bets-steelers-vs-arizona-cardinals/

Among the over/unders:

Number of times Brenda Warner will be shown on NBC during the game: 3 1/2.

How many times will John Madden and Al Michaels refer to Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as "Big Ben" during the NBC telecast: 7 1/2.

This betting stuff is nutty, of course. The bet that always gets made is between mayors or governors involving products indigenous to their cities and states.

Glendale (Ariz.) Mayor Elaine Scruggs is challenging Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to a bet. "If the Arizona Cardinals win, Scruggs would send Pittsburgh a native cactus plant that would have to be planted somewhere outside the Steelers' Heinz Field.

If the Steelers win, she would expect to receive a plant native to Pittsburgh, which would be planted somewhere near University of Phoenix Stadium.

I figure the cactus would last about three hours in Pittsburgh. If the weather didn't kill it, angry Steelers fans would.

It sounds like a prickly situation, really.