Early Super Bowl XLIII Prop Bets

If you're looking for some early Super Bowl XLIII (that's 43) prop bets, you've come to the right place.

We're making Stock Lemon your home for Super Bowl proposition betting in 2009 and thought we should go ahead and post some standard prop bets that will be offered for the matcup between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. (Of course, as we grow closer and closer to kickoff each day, we'll have some of the wackier bets listed as well.)

Here's a general list of what to expect:

First, there are your regular lines. The Steelers are opening at around -6 1/2 or -7 favorites over the Cardinals, but those lines will be different on a quarter-by-quarter basis and updated as the game goes on. The Over/Under is set at around 47. Here are some others you can expect:

• Game line
• Moneyline
• First half line
• First quarter line
• Second quarter line
• Third quarter line
• Fourth quarter line (not including over time)
• Over/Under

Then you get a little more specific:

• Total points scored by the home team (Cardinals)
• Total points scored by the visiting team (Steelers)
• First team to score
• Last team to score
• Will the last team to score win the game?
• Will there be a score in the last two minutes of the first half?
• Will either team score three unanswered times?
• Will there be a score in the first six and a half minutes of the game?
• Which team will have the longest touchdown?
• Will there be a successful two-point conversion?
• Will there be a safety?
• Which half will have the highest point score?
• Which quarter will have the highest point score?
• Will the home team ever have the lead?
• Which team will commit the first turnover?
• Which team will use the coaches' challenge first?
• Which team will be the first to call a timeout?
• Will there be overtime?
• Which team will get the first penalty?

Then, as we inch closer to the game, we'll have plenty of player props:

• Who will have more yards between a Cardinals RB/WR like Edgerrin James and Steelers RB/WR like Willie Parker?
• Who will have more tackles between a Cardinals defender like Adrian Wilson or Steelers defender like Troy Polamalu?
• How many yards will a team's star player like Larry Fitzerald have? (Answers will be in increments: between 1-60, between 60-90, etc.)

Then, of course, there will be the wacky and fun Super Bowl prop bets as well:

• How long will the National Anthem last? (This will be an over/under, usually somewhere between 1:30-2:00. Like last year, it will be sung by another former American Idol, Jennifer Hudson.)
• How many times the announcers will say ____? (Could be the name of a player not involved in the game, for example.)
• How many times will cameras show ____? (Could again be a famous person or player not involved in the game but in attendance.)
• Will this be the highest rated Super Bowl ever? (Game will air on NBC.)
• What color will the liquid poured on the winning coach be? (Multiple Choice.)
• Who will the game MVP thank first?
• What songs will the halftime entertainer sing? (Bruce Springsteen is the halftime performer this year.)
• Will the coin toss be heads or tails?

That's it for now. Hopefully this generic list will suffice. Don't worry, though, plenty more prop bets will be coming, so stay tuned and make sure to check back to Stock Lemon for more updates on your Super Bowl 43 proposition bets for 2009.

Steelers Cover... and Advance to Super Bowl

We did it!

With help from the Steelers, we have achieved what every blog strives for--mediocrity!

With the Steelers 23-14 win over the Ravens, Pittsburgh covered the -6 spread and advanced to the Super Bowl, where they'll face those pesky Arizona Cardinals.

More importantly, the Steelers helped even our playoff record to 5-5 (or 4-4 if you don't count "the lost post"), giving our Free NFL Picks a 2-0 Championship Sunday.

A Troy Polamalu pick six secured the cover, and we love the photo posted above of him running into the end zone while three big Ravens lug behind out of focus. Fitting that there are three of them, since this is the third time this season that the Steelers have proven better than the Ravens.

Stay tuned throughout the next two weeks, as we cover the Super Bowl like never before. We invite you to make Stock Lemon your home for Super Bowl prop bets.

If the NFL Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

While we didn't have a wager on the game between the Chargers and Steelers, in a way, everyone lost.

Especially the NFL. Well, them, and the people who bet on the Steelers.

With the Steelers ahead of the Chargers 11-10, San Diego had time for one last desperation play. It went just about how you'd expect a dump-off-and-lateral-from-inside-the-20 play to go, with Philip Rivers throwing a short pass to Ladainian Tomlinson, Tomlinson flipping it back to Chris Chambers, and Chambers lateralling it to nobody in particular.

Chambers' heave was knocked down and scooped up by Troy Polamalu, who ran it in for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 17-10 lead. Unfortunately, due to an illegal forward lateral by Tomlinson, the touchdown was wiped off of the scoreboard. Still, the Steelers won, so no harm done, right?

Wrong.

The Steelers may have won, but anyone who took the Steelers at anywhere from -3 1/2 to -5 didn't share the victory. Okay, so Steelers bettors caught a bad break, happens all the time, right?

Sure, but does it usually happen when 66% of the action is on the Steelers as opposed to 34% for the Chargers, with bookies looking at a huge profit if the Chargers win? Does it also usually happen when the Steelers are penalized 13 times for 115 yards as opposed to two times for five yards for San Diego? And does it usually happen on a call so clearly wrong? Take a look at a couple of screenshots of Tomlinson's pitch back to Chambers. Notice the arm going behind Tomlinson, followed by the ball.

As you can see, Tomlinson tosses the ball backwards to Chambers, and pretty obviously at that. Could this have anything to do with the fact that, as RJ Bell of Pregame.com points out, Vegas was on the receiving end of a $64 million swing as a result of this lateral? From the looks of it, the referees did everything in their power to make sure the Steelers didn't cover. The zebras even admitted to making the wrong call at the end of the game.

So, was this just a huge mix up, or are we just scratching the surface of an NFL betting scandal bigger than the Chicago Black Sox of the MLB (White Sox players rigging the World Series in 1919 for the youngsters out there) or Tim Donaghy in the NBA?

We might not even want to know the answer to that.