With $1,000,000 USD on the line, professional sports handicapper Joe "The Factsman" Apricena took an early lead against BookMaker.com CEO Mickey Richardson on their first college football bets of the season by winning his double play pick for the University of Buffalo to win and to win by a margin greater than three touchdowns. The University of Buffalo went on to win 45-17 against UTEP, while Richardson's pick for Baylor University lost big-time to #23 Wake Forest 13-41.
Earlier in August, BookMaker.com CEO Mickey Richardson announced that the online sportsbook would accept a record-setting $1,000,000 USD bet on U.S. college football by professional sports handicapper Joe "The Factsman" Apricena.
The million dollar bet is whether The Factsman Apricena can finish the 2008 college football season with a better win-loss record than Richardson after making 30 picks on BookMaker.com with a minimum of one pick per week. The Factsman's BookMaker.com challenge starts on August 28th, 2008, the opening weekend of the college football 2008 season, and goes on through the college bowl season in December 2008 and must include the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship game in January 2009.
On his sports handicapping website, sportsforumpicks.com, home of The Factsman, Apricena boasts a winning percentage of 64% on his college football picks over the past 10 years, and although Apricena has agreed to not pick any teams favored by -130 or more, a number of professional sports handicappers in Las Vegas and lines makers at offshore sportsbooks have noted that The Factsman is masterful in his ability to exploit betting lines on small schools in college football and basketball, where most sportsbooks lose their edge.
"Sportsbooks do most of their homework on the top 25 college teams in the country because that's where they'll see most of their action," explained Apricena. "But on the other games each week, I'll find five- to eight-point mistakes all year long." After consulting with his line management team at BookMaker.com regarding the million dollar bet, CEO Mickey Richardson has a different take on The Factsman's challenge. "Bring it on," said Richardson, "I'll bury him by Thanksgiving."
This is not the first time The Factsman Apricena has made a million dollar bet against Richardson. In 2006, Apricena won a similar $1,000,000 USD bet against Richardson on Major League Baseball. The Factsman needed to win better than 68% of his picks and won the bet with a winning percentage of 72%. When Richardson refused a rubber match on baseball action, Apricena challenged Richardson to a similar wager on the National Football League (NFL) season in 2007, which Apricena lost after falling behind early in the season.
This year, Richardson refused the rubber match in NFL action, but agreed to Apricena's wager on college football action. "I have a great deal of respect for The Factsman," said Richardson. "In 23 years of business our sportsbook has never shut out a player, sharp or otherwise, and we're not going to start now."
Joe "The Factsman" Apricena is a professional sports handicapper with a well-documented reputation for being the strongest baseball handicapper of the last two decades. It's well-known that most sportsbooks in Vegas and online will not accept plays by The Factsman himself. Based out of Clearwater, Florida, The Factsman and his weekly college football picks for 2008 can be found at www.sportsforumpicks.com
