The "Revenge" factor - your thoughts

[HittingGuru]

Being fairly new to this site, I am astounded by the number of times I hear the word "revenge" as a reason for betting on a team that got their asses whipped last year by their upcoming opponent. Am I the only one who's ever played sports in this forum? From my experience, as soon as you start playing the game, you completely forget about "revenge" and just try to play the best you can. You usually don't think AT ALL about the last time you played, unless a similar pattern is arising; for example. you blew a large lead last time, have a big lead and it's slowly slipping away. If a team just flat-out kicked your ass the previous year and they start doing it again, it'll probably continue. There's nothing that "revenge" can do to change that.

Another example: Let's say I play Roger Federer in tennis and he beats me 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 (which he would, by the way). Then we agree to play the following week - is the "revenge" factor going to enable me to kick Roger's ass, even though he's the way better player? Not at all.

Especially in the college game, revenge means very little. College kids get embarassed every day - they get drunk and piss in their shoes, they pass out and their freinds draw private parts on their faces, girls reject them right and left - you think losing a college fooball game stays with them until next season? It doesn't. The next time you think about posting a comment including the word "revenge", I hope you'll think of this thread.

I'd love to hear everyone's comments on this fascinating-to-me topic. Thanks in advance to all that respond.

[BigdaddyQH]

The revenge factor works well for some teams, and terrible for other teams. It is really overblown. I have not done the research, but my guess is that it works for as many teams as it works against. This is a very minor factor in my capping.

[HittingGuru]

Thanks for the reply BigDaddy - I enjoy reading your comments in this forum and value your opinion.

[kp126]

This revenge factor reminds me of another term used a lot in these forums "let down spot". I understand that a team might have relaxed a bit more during the week and maybe not have prepared as hard as they normally would have but it is hard to envision a coach not putting his all to make sure the team wins and goes into the "bigger" game on a good note.

As far as revenge goes, I fully agree with you. I guess you must have had to play some sort of organized sports to make a connection with what your saying though.

[Serbone]

You cite tennis as an example, that is not similar at all, not a physical game.
When you play football, you play hard for some games.
And "FIRED UP" for others.
Big difference.
Revenge matters a lot.
Example:

NFL team A wins opening game at B by say, 6 pts.
They play 8 more games, A is 7-2, B is 5-4.
A plays at home is 10 point favorite over B.
A is coasting, looking at BIG GAME against C in a week, not FIRED UP because of earlier win vs B.
B is FIRED UP, mad about loss to A earlier, plays 100% to the very last second.
A barely wins by 3, does not cover the 10 pts.

[HittingGuru]

I am talking about "revenge" in college football - a smart handicapper pretty much ignores it in amateur sports. In professional sports, "revenge" must be accounted for because all teams/players are good and capable of winning on any given day. That's my take anyway.

You cite tennis as an example, that is not similar at all, not a physical game.
When you play football, you play hard for some games.
And "FIRED UP" for others.
Big difference.
Revenge matters a lot.
Example:

NFL A wins opening game at B by say, 6 pts.
They play 8 more games, A is 7-2, B is 5-4.
A plays at home is 10 point favorite over B.
A is coasting, looking at BIG GAME against C in a week, not FIRED UP because of earlier win vs B.
B is FIRED UP, mad about loss to A earlier, plays 100% to the very last second.
A barely wins by 3, does not cover the 10 pts.

[Serbone]

I am talking about "revenge" in college football - a smart handicapper pretty much ignores it in amateur sports. In professional sports, "revenge" must be accounted for because all teams/players are good and capable of winning on any given day. That's my take anyway.

I know you were talking about revenge in college. It is more important in NFL betting so I illustrated it, it is much more of a factor in betting in the NFL, so I was trying to help.

YES, it is a factor in college, depends upon timing, etc of last year's game since they only play once a year. If a team knocked you off and cost you a bowl bid, you remember that; if a team knocked you off and rubbed it in your face, your remember that; if they threw deep passes late in the game, you remember that. If a team has beat you, say, three yrs in a row, that might fire you up, win this one for the seniors!

If you blew a team out the yr before, you do not take them as seriously so if you are a big favorite, you may not cover, the loser from last yr might be fired up with hate. I could go on and on. But it is not as important as in the NFL. You do not bet "revenge" nearly as often in college as the NFL. In the NFL you do not bet it every time, either.