In this week's P.O. Box:

It’s hard to make good sports betting content.

Being a profitable sports bettor requires many unglamorous things like shopping around at multiple books for the best price, understanding line movement, finessing an account so it doesn’t get limited, etc.

All of these things are important—and there is certainly a market for educational content around all of these topics—but it’s mostly boring, tedious fare that doesn’t lend itself to engaging content.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have all of these social media handicappers and touts who bombard their audience with a non-stop barrage of half-baked picks in hopes of converting them into affiliate dollars via first time deposits at whatever book is offering the best CPA at the time.

It’s a topic we’ve explored on LOLz—including last week’s episode with Joe Holka—and often has me asking the same question…

Does a legitimately “good” version of sports betting content even exist?

The only type of sports betting content I’ve ever personally felt comfortable with is content that features the “communal sweat” angle.

On the ShipCast (a TNF companion stream), we dial up some Underdog Pick ‘Ems that the Ship Chasing community tails and we then all sweat together.

On Off & On The Clock (a weekly Underdog strategy show), we always finish with a segment where we build long shot pick ‘ems with both a big payout and a high likelihood of failing.

As anyone who has tailed these picks can attest, they don’t always hit (especially since they are mostly longshots).

But…that’s also because the goal of these selections isn’t to be “+EV” or find “the best price” or “grind out an edge.”

Sure, some thought and strategy goes into them, but that’s a secondary concern to maximizing entertainment and facilitating a fun, communal sweat that everyone can share.

This dynamic really crystallized for me on my recent trip with my college buddies, who constantly hit me up for picks and bets for the games.

What I’ve learned over the years is that my buddies—who are not steeped in the world of expected value and advantage play—do not care one iota about line shopping or “getting it in good.”

In fact, they don’t even care how big the payout is.

All they really want is something to sweat with the boys that has a realistic chance of hitting.

On our trip this year, I ended up scrapping almost anything with long odds and just built us a handful of simple, 2-leg Pick ‘Ems (yes, I’m aware 3-legs is better than 2-legs from an odds perspective) for each game that gave us clean, simple sweats and a rooting interest on every snap.

The structure of the picks was such a hit—it helped that we won more than we lost—that I ended up replicating the format for the Super Bowl in a Fantasy Life piece:

On a similar note, Underdog hooked up the OOTC crew with our own “Pick ‘Em Pack” that you can find in the lobby or tail via this link.

They even boosted the odds for us, which is always nice bonus.

I certainly have not solved the sports betting content quandary yet, but I’ve at least found a version of it that I’m comfortable with for now.

Enjoy the game.

P.S. If you’re looking for a Super Bowl props sheet to print out for your party, I got you covered.

😭 I’m taking credit for motivating Jalen Hurts to victory. The comment stands.

⏰ OOTC: Super Bowl Picks & Top Plays w/ The Badge Bros. Final Super Bowl prep.

💪 THE SWOLECAST: Solving The Super Bowl. This one went off the rails.

☣ LOLZ: DFS Has A Public Relations Problem. Covered a bunch of fun DFS/sim-related topics with Nerdy Tenor.

🚢 SHIP CHASING: What The Early Mock Drafts Mean For Fantasy. Ashton Jeanty to the Jets.

💃 They asked for a crazy prop. What was I supposed to say?

A Super Bowl Eve After Dark for Youtube members as we build some final Pick’ Ems and Showdown Builds..

🚂 Book #1 for February (30%): The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

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