Gambling, with all its veneer, risk, glamour, luster or whatever else you may call it is in reality little more than an opinion. Your opinion vs. the opinion of the odds maker and as the line gets tweaked by the public; you can throw them into the opinion stew.

Kind of like wine, women and song, in each of those categories are not all are created equal. Need help- think Barry Manilow, then think Frank Sinatra. How about Rosie O’Donnell and Ashley Judd or a jig of Carlo Rossi and a bottle of Mouton Rothschild? Okay, you get the idea.

Some of you may recall “The Bronx Tale.” In the movie, there was a character with the nickname Eddie Mush.

Here’s a snippet from the movie between the young Calogero and Eddie Mush:

Calogero:  Eddie Mush was a degenerate gambler he was also the biggest loser in the whole world.  They called him Mush because everything he touched turned to mush.  

Eddie Mush:  Enough about my luck I need a winner.

Calogero:  He would go to the racetrack and the teller would give him his tickets all ready ripped up.

Eddie Mush:  How’s the Yankees? They lost -- if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

Going back to the days of Prohibition, there’a story about Meyer Lansky and a not so bright cohort; in the tale, Lanksy’s pal bet the cagey gangster on which of the two men they saw running would be first to reach the door of the bus.

Lansky, being a keen judge of human nature, goaded his friend into making a prediction. When his friend said the man in the brown coat would get there first, Lansky said, “Ill bet you $100 that the guy in the blue coat beats him.”

When the blue coated stranger was first to the bus, Lansky’s friend handed over the $100 and asked, “How did you know the guy in the blue coat would get there first?

 “I didn’t,” said Lansky, “I just knew you'd be wrong.”

Flip a coin 50 times and if all 50 tosses land on tails, what are the chances that number 51 is a head?

The answer is one out of two. And such is the reality of gambling with a built in point spread, a number that’s intended to find a median. Just as Paul Tagliabue would love to se every NFL team finish 8-8, in perfect gambling world every team would go 8-8 vs., the number.

Over this season, NFL underdogs have crushed the favorites. Last week, dogs won 5 of the 14 games played outright. Where’s Eddie Mush and Lansky’s pal when you need them?

As for you, I know you’re all looking for an Eddie Mush, the guy who walks under a permanent black cloud. Find him, and ask “Who do you like?” and what to do from there?

In my circle, my Eddie Mush loves “BYU to get back on track,” and wonders, “How can the Dolphins win with Ray Lucas?’ I don’t know about you, but UNLV and Miami sure look good this weekend.

Good luck everyone.

Nick Rizzo