The Thanksgiving Menu for Betting is Quite Tempting

No doubt Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday Americans celebrate. For many the opportunity to enjoy a complete "four days" celebration of gluttony. The treasure of appreciating your family, the best home cooking possible and a very reduced menu of responsibility. Oh, did I mention a full slate of prime NFL and NCAA college games to wager upon. Most important, every single one of them available on television, carefully spaced out for betting optimization.

Uh oh. Hold the turkey leg. Is this a good or bad thing? Like many things, it depends on your perspective. Unlike many things, this issue depends on your wagering budget, ability to select only the optimum opportunities and commitment sticking to your usual "wagering diet".

Sounds like overeating on Thanksgiving, doesn't it? As a hands-up guilty party, I too have fallen victim to this situation. Settling comfortably in on Thanksgiving Day to have action on each NFL game, regardless whether I have a strong opinion or not. Sort of like a three-day Super Bowl with better food.

You Must Bet the Lions Game

The Thanksgiving Day weekend wagering orgy begins at 12:30 PM EST in Detroit every year. It seems that no matter whether a bettor has an opinion on the annual Lions game, they are compelled to wager upon it. It does not help that all major offshore sportsbooks offer a supporting menu of propositions to supplement the two NFL Thanksgiving games along with the traditional game lines and Total Over/Under.

The most popular sportsbooks including BetOnline, Diamond Sports, Bovada and Heritage offer a unique supplementary menu "catered" to the holiday. Here's a sample from Bovada:

Who will record the most Passing Yards on Thanksgiving?

• Kirk Cousins +250
• Matthew Stafford +275
• Philip Rivers +375
• Case Keenum +600
• Dak Prescott +600
• Eli Manning +600

I suppose this type of wager is like the second or third helping of pumpkin pie. Do you really need this? Then again, life is short and suppose Eli does go crazy Thursday night at 6-1. The point is we normally don't make these decisions on any given Sunday.

For Cowboys Game Wagering We Give Thanks

In two weeks on December 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court will be reviewing documents pertaining to reviewing PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act). In "Christie vs. the NCAA" it is too bad video evidence could not be introduced of many American families warmly enjoying their traditional Thanksgiving meals. A high percentage of them would include a television prominent at the dinner table including the Dallas Cowboys-Los Angeles Chargers game.

Also, very visible in the picture would be many aggressively tapping out quarterly, halftime and popular ongoing offshore wagering options available on their iPhone and Android cell phones. Way beyond passing the cranberry sauce, their priority might be both teams passing for more than 23.5 points in the first half.

Imagine PASPA being repealed and sports wagering being legalized in New Jersey and subsequently in other U.S. states. Next year it could be conceivable to hold the family traditional Thanksgiving Dallas game family dinner IN the casino. Turkey before giant mega sports screens and slots for granny. The NFL welcomes you to spend more quality time later with your loved ones by betting along for Thursday Night Thanksgiving Football as well.

In the Black Friday?

Before we land on College Football Saturday, the NCAA offers up a schedule of 15 games on Friday, all offered on either network television or a version of ESPN. From as early as 11:30 AM EST to as late as 10:30 PM kickoff, there are a full slate of college games to play, carefully spaced for your wagering appetite. Likely the most attractive of note is deciding whether Miami will cover -14 at Pitt.

Therefore, as bettors are often creatures of habit, they will be subject to many choices before Saturday at noon. Many folks not accustomed to so much weekly bets during the year prior to the upcoming nightly Bowl crap. Will they be able to make diligent decisions or cave during meals just to satisfy their craving to have action?

As both a particular eater and bettor, I admit it has been a challenge. Here's a few tips to help survive the unusually long weekend:

• Plan out your Thanksgiving wagers ahead of time. If you don't like the Lions or Cowboys game, skip it!! That includes the Thursday Night NFL game as well. Remember, NBC was not planning out broadcasting 2-8 Giants at 4-6 Redskins either.

• Remember this is a FOUR DAY weekend wagering holiday, where we traditionally are zoned in for a two-day pattern. That often means betting more than we might being ahead or conversely chasing to get even for a bad start in that Lions game.

Please keep in mind there's plenty of good food and football spread over the four days to keep every bettor happy and feeling satisfied by Monday morning. Make wise decisions for both diets.

Glenn Greene covers the games from a betting angle every week exclusively at OSGA.com. For weekly betting insights, inlcuding previews and picks from Glenn, click here.