Nearly 1,000 people have bet on the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl at MGM sportsbooks in Las Vegas.
That seems risky.
Caesars Palace has accepted close to 750 bets on the Browns, and the ticket count on Cleveland at sportsbook operator CG Technology is approaching 500, which includes a $1,000 bet at 175-1 and a $500 bet at 200-1.
"City of champions, right?" MGM assistant manager Jeff Stoneback joked with ESPN staff writer David Purdum. "We've had the Cavs. The Indians are good. Why not the Browns?"
The Cleveland Cavaliers began the season as the second favorites to win the NBA title, and the Cleveland Indians started at 20-1 to win the World Series. The Browns opened at 200-1 to win the Super Bowl. No other team was worse than 60-1 when the Westgate SuperBook first posted Super Bowl odds in January.
Since the Cleveland franchise was reborn in 1999, the Browns have had two winning seasons. Yet, heading into this season, the Browns have attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than 11 other teams at CG Technology, including the Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles. They have nearly the same amount of bets as the Washington Redskins, a playoff team from last season.
The New England Patriots are the consensus favorites to win the Super Bowl and have attracted almost four times as many bets as the Browns at CG Technology, but the Browns have nearly twice as many bets as the Tennessee Titans, the team with the fewest bets to win it all.
Overall, the vast majority of bets on the Browns are small. Some were even done as a joke, such as Chris Hovan's $5 ticket at Bally's during an annual March Madness trip to Las Vegas with friends.
"It was made strictly as a joke," Hovan, a 35-year-old maintenance worker in Brooklyn, Ohio, told ESPN. "I just wanted to place the ticket on the wall of my bar in the basement. I've been a season-ticket holder for 14 years, and I know that the Browns are going to be horrible again this year."
The Browns winning the Super Bowl is the worst-case scenario entering the season at Station Casinos' sportsbook.
"They're our biggest loser, but I can promise you I'm not sweating them," said Art Manteris, vice president of race and sports for Station.
Close-knit group
We all love our favorite baseball teams, and we want them to do well, but perhaps no one wants that more than 67-year-old Cleveland Indians fan Jacque Mazey, who crocheted an afghan for every member of her favorite team ... and then some.
Indians Manager Terry Francona seemed pretty happy with his gift.
"If people think we need help, I'll take anything they're willing to send," Francona said, according to a tweet from MLB.com writer Jordan Bastian.
So that's more than forty crocheted blankets, which equate to about 1 million stitches each. How was this fact determined? From the personalized handwritten notes she included with them. According to a tweet from the Indians, which included a picture of one of the notes, each afghan took more than three weeks to complete.
"Millions of stitches are one thing, but writing actual letters in 2016? That's real love. And the Indians love her back -- they'll be bringing her to a game at some point during the team's final homestand," Bastian and Gemma Kaneko wrote on the "Cut 4" blog on MLB.com.
Sports on 09/09/2016