Still Streakin'

You know that movie "Old School" where Will Ferrell's character has a bit too much to drink at a frat party and decides to go streakin' and yells, "We're going streakin!" while no one follows him? Well, thankfully I'm talking about a different kind of streaking.

I'm talking about ESPN's Streak for Cash streaking, and for those of you who haven't tried it yet, be warned: It's highly addictive. I got invited to a league by one of my law school buddies and have just been totally hooked on it this month. Basically, there's a menu of prop bets that you can select in a day, anything from who wins the game (most common), one team's win margin v. other team's 3-pointers, how many goals will be scored in a soccer match, and which golfer will have a better front 9 score. If you win a bet, you get a win streak of one, and you keep going until you lose.

See now, the whole premise of Streak for Cash is that you know who's gonna win, so it's a little different than the traditional fantasy sports that I do: I don't really know sports that much, I don't follow individual teams, I go with individual players and their stats. But Streak for Cash is kind of a hybrid, where you have to invest in a certain team and look up their stats, see if their worth it or not, and start/sit. Whereas if you're a fan of a sports team, you have to root for them no matter what, in Streak you have a menu of options, and it's similar to fantasy in that you pick up who you like and play them.

Well, I've had some unsuccessful attempts the first part of the month, betting on some ridiculous teams / people I had no idea even existed like a soccer team called Gefle IE (win), a college team called Qunnipiac (loss), some golfer called Michael Bradley (loss), and on the field against some horse named Master Minded (win).

But the last few days have been euphoria as I've been on a long winning streak that puts me in the lead of my league. I chronicle my adventures for you (hopefully with some funny twists), and maybe one day when I become famous I'll look back on this and say, "this is how I started Streak for Cash."

1.) Wake Forest 3-pointers v. Texas win Margin: First game after a loss is always a freebie, you can pick almost anything. Happened to be Thursday night after a long day of opening day of NCAA action, I clicked in right after losing UNLV v. Northern Iowa. Saw the option, had WF in my bracket, and this game seemed like 50-50 Wake Forest would WIN, 3-pointers just a bonus.
Wake Forest takes Longhorns to overtime, but then goes down by 8, my streak's in jeopardy, but then Longhorns collapse and Deacons pull out a victory. Good start.

2.) Brian Gay win or tie v. Nick Watney win: Literally do not know who these 2 are, could just be some random white guys as far as I'm concerned, but in golf my rule is always pick the "win or tie" because tie gives you the extra leg up. Gay shoots 36, Watney a 37. I win.

3.) Xavier Musketeers v. Minnesota Gophers: Probably the one I felt most confident about all day, Minnesota was worse than Illinois but got in, a bad team that got hot at the end and squeezed in. More a bet against them than a bet v. Xavier. (Like seeing my opponent start Al Thornton in fantasy playoffs against me).

4.) Missouri Tigers v. Clemon Tigers: A true 7-10 tossup that I risked cuz a 3-game win streak is not SO much, probably the last level I was really to bet on, plus Big 12 seemed stronger than ACC this year. PLUS common denominator was both played Illinois; Missouri won and Clemson lost. Hence, Missouri. The game turned out to pretty much a tossup, lotsa lead changes and ties but Missouri's 40 minutes of hell wore out Clemson in end.

5.) Gonzaga v. Florida State Seminoles: Another 8-9 matchup, but somehow I felt the Zags were gonna be better prepared for this game and just the better team in general. Also, most of my league had the Zags. Really, this game illustrated luck: I picked with my gut, called heads, and it turned out right. Gonzaga got off to a 15-point lead, lost some of it in 2nd half but still hung on.

6.) Caroline Wozniacki v. Agniezwa Radwanka: I had rushed through all of Friday picking NCAA tourney games just so I could get to the Tennis game at night, which I thought was a STONE COLD DEAD LOCK. I knew Wozniacki was good and had never heard of the other girl, so this was easy. Women's tennis is pretty predictable, the better player usually wins if she doesn't injure herself. Turns out, I had Wozniacki confused with another player called Wickmayer whom I'd seen play well against Justine Henin at the Aussie Open. Moot point as Wozniacki won 2-0 easily.

7.) Baylor Bears v. Old Dominion Monarchs: Now a 6-game streak is pretty serious in a regular league, and the leader had 9. But I had to tread carefully. And I'm glad I did as Saturday morning I avoided all the soccer/ golf garbage I had no idea on (basically avoiding high-cholestrol foods on the menu), and then passed on a HUUUGE trap game, Nova over St. Mary's. Almost chose it but exercised discipline, so after St. Mary's won I felt like I was playing with house money. Then passed on Butler over Murray St., which was a bit overcautious as my opponent got to 7 wins with that, but did get the other absolute DEAD LOCK of the college day: Baylor, a Big 12 team, playing Old Dominion who had just won their first NCAA game ever or something over Notre Dame which just had an awful day. Also, I'd picked Baylor twice before in the month with positive results both times. The Bears made it a 3rd.

8.) Women's basketball Gonzaga Bulldogs v. North Carolina Tar Heels:
Talk about games I knew nothing about, I'd maybe know things if this was men's hoops, but had never seen a single women's basketball game before, and didn't catch this game. All I knew was, the game was in Sacramento (closer to W. Coast), the Bulldogs were hot, and the Lady Heels' season mirrored that of the Gentleman Heels: disappointing, not so good. This game turned out to be back and forth, lots of lead changes, but Zags pulled away in the final minute.

9.) Atlanta Hawks v. San Antonio Spurs: Now in the only-pick locks mode, I got frazzled when my opponent got to 9 early on Sunday with a come-from-behind victory from ManU. My decision-making was sound to pick the Hawks (better record) at home against the Spurs who were .500 on the road and playing without Tony Parker, but it didn't play out that way as the Spurs got off to a 13-point lead in the first half. Hawks led by 2 at half, but then were losing by 4 with 1:30 to go and I thought I was toast. Thankfully, thankfully, Al Horford was a beast and had a series of tip-ins, and Matt Bonner missed a key 3-pointer for the Spurs, and Hawks won in OT. Thrilling game, couldn't have asked for anything more to defend my streak. Absolutely jazzed to win and tie.

10.) NIT, Virginia Tech Hokies v. Connecticut Huskies: This was the big one. Lose and I had nothing to show for my efforts, win and I overtake the lead. Hokies snubbed by NCAA, playing at home against a very disappointing UConn team. Hokies 15-1 at home this season. UConn looked lost in their first NIT game, almost losing to Northeastern (who?) I felt good until about 10 minutes into the game, when UConn came out firing and went up by 10 early. Tearing my hair out, can't believe my eyes, only salvation is VA Tech is at home and may rally.
Va Tech pulled it to within 5 at half, and went back and forth in 2nd half, came down to one play: UConn had ball with 11 seconds to go and down 1, Jerome Dyson drives left, puts up a shot, gets blocked, gets his own rebound, drives the lane again, double teamed and flips to "White Guy in Corner" who had 2 seconds to shoot and wide open layup, but "White Guy in Corner" didn't know how much time was left so rushed the shot, it went too hard off backboard and just barely escaped passed the lip, and Hokies win. Hokies WIN!!!! I TAKE THE LEAD!!!!!!! I literally was standing in the weight room of USC Lyon Center watching the game on ESPN, nobody else in the room giving a second thought to the game, and I'm clapping and cheering like I'm a Hokie cheerleader. Insane. That's what Streak for Cash does for you, folks.

I'm at W10!!!! I feel a grand sense of accomplishment, like one of my life missions has been accomplished.

One last addendum. Honestly, Streak for Cash has a great deal of luck attached to it. In any given game, the max chance I'd say you have of winning is like 75%. That's like flipping a coin twice and hoping Tails doesn't come up twice. There's definitely a chance of losing. You can think a game is an "Absolute Lock" all you want, but when the game starts and the ball is thrown in the air, it's still 5 guys playing 5 other games with the same rules of basketball. There's no extra advantage cuz you picked a game. The last, I'd say, 5 games of my streak could have gone either way. Virginia Tech came down to whether a layup bounced in or out. Hawks game could have been an extra layup by Manu Ginobili. Even in the games that didn't turn out to be so close, anything could have happened within reason that woulda totally been beyond my control; Wozniacki coulda easily pulled a hamstring and retired; Gonzaga could have easily come out flat. These things do happen, and I've been lucky during the 10-game streak that they haven't when I picked. But I'm sure it'll happen soon. All I can do is make the best bet and hope for the best.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan