San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh Annoys Gamblers Everywhere

By Ben Grimaldi
Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

I’m not accusing San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh of anything. I’m not saying he knew the point spread or even took it into account when he denied a penalty that would have given his team two points and a seemingly insurmountable nine point lead, but man he cost a lot of people a bunch of money last night. Or maybe he made people a lot of money, either way it was a curious decision.

You see, the spread on the game was 7.5 points and the safety would have gotten the 49ers a cover. By declining the penalty, Harbaugh allowed anyone who bet on the Seattle Seahawks to rejoice! San Fran backers were left cursing at their television and probably Jim Harbaugh too. RJ Bell of pregame.com said the decision to decline the penalty caused a $75 million dollar swing in the gambling world.

Not that I, or www.rantsports.com, promotes gambling but these are the types of things that causes people to scream “conspiracy!” I’m guessing Jim Harbaugh could care less about the point spread but the decision to take points off the board and leave the game within a touchdown seemed odd. His answer to why he declined the penalty was he didn’t want the Seattle Seahawks to have an opportunity to recover an on-sides kick and be able to win the game.

Well that certainly would have been a miracle because the Seahawks would have had 43 seconds to score 10 points and recover two on-sides kicks, which seems like the unlikeliest of all things unlikely.

Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers got what they wanted from the game, a win. However, there are plenty of gamblers who may not have been as happy with the way things turned out. Harbaugh may have cost little Timmy some new sneakers, someone’s wife a new purse or he may have even cost strippers and cocktail waitresses everywhere a ton of singles in a matter of minutes! I don’t mean to upset any of you who had money on the Niners but I guess that’s why they call it gambling.

Anyway, I do like the Baltimore Ravens getting 7.0 this weekend in Houston. On second thought, I can’t advise you to put more money on a Harbaugh, it isn’t a “safe” bet.

Not that I encourage the practice.

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