Nature vs. Nurture
Why it's important to pay attention in school
I have a confession.
I didn’t pay attention in high school science class when the “Nature vs. Nurture” lesson came up.
Hand up, that one’s on me.
I was never the best student. Don’t get me wrong - I was smart enough, I just found it difficult to put my full effort into subjects that I wasn’t interested in.
If you tasked me with a creative assignment to summarize the novel “Grapes of Wrath”, I could write you a full-blown musical to the tune of “Dead and Gone” by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I. (and I did do that, of course).
But if you asked me to solve Y = mX + B, I’d usually just start drawing straight lines until I made a March Madness-style bracket of my top 68 cartoon characters.
But despite my worst efforts, the dilemma of Nature vs. Nurture has always fascinated me.
Are we the way that we are because of some magic chemistry deep inside our hearts and minds? Or are we the way that we are because of the direct results from the people that raised us?
Am I an ex-rapper turned three-time Matzoball Jewish 3 on 3 League champion turned drug testing lab Marketing coordinator turned mediocre podcast host turned maniacal betting wizard that hits 11-leg parlays for $18,000+ because I’m special?
Or am I that very odd, overly-specific, ridiculous combination of unique qualities because I’m exactly what my parents raised me to be?
This leads me to this past weekend.
If you have followed Sleepers for long, by now you know that I got my Michigan basketball fandom from my Dad. He’s a UofM alum.
My earliest college football memories are watching a VHS tape of the 1997 Michigan national championship team on repeat in the living room. My first jersey was a Braylon Edwards jersey. I still have it.
My Dad is a regular Sleepers listener so he knows all of this. He also knows it all because he lived it. But he also listens every day because he’s the best Dad.
So anyways, I asked my Dad to join me for the Michigan State - Ohio State game in East Lansing, assuming his response would be “Ha ha ha, no thanks” given that Michigan State and Ohio State’s football teams are two of his least favorite things on the planet, and he’s not a drinker so an East Lansing tailgate is essentially what I imagine jail feels like to a regular person.
To my surprise, he said yes. He even put on a brand new Michigan State hoodie that I’m pretty sure he bought specifically for this occasion.
So we drove to EL, we arrived at a friend’s tailgate, and we had a great afternoon. An all-around lovely day. I asked my dad if he wanted a beer and he even hit me with a “yeah!”, which has probably only happened roughly 15 times in our lives.
It was around 4PM ET when I realized the aforementioned parlay had major life. Exciting stuff.
Quickly into the tailgate, my friend and I were making fun of our fathers who are both huge Michigan fans. Because they were wearing Michigan State gear, and this was the first time in 30 years of life that we had ever seen anything like it!
So we made them take a picture together to commemorate this event.
In the midst of our jokes, my Dad said the following words: “Hey wait, I’m just like you!”
He then went on to explain that when he was a kid, he grew up a Michigan State fan (because HIS DAD went there). Then he got into both schools. Then he went to Michigan. Then he flipped fandoms.
Which is the exact same origin story of my fandoms, 30 years later.
Which leads me to yesterday!
For 10 years, I have forgotten that baseball exists. Intentionally so. Blame Al Avila.
But if you haven’t heard, my hometown Detroit Tigers are in the midst of arguably the most special, unlikely run in MLB History.
The team just personifies grit, and resilience, and perseverance, and working when nobody is watching, and patience, and a bazillion other special adjectives that you could take and apply to your life and become a better person with.
It’s awesome.
It’s also distinctly possible that my daughter’s responsible for this.
She popped into this world last May, and since then every damn team in this state has started winning. It’s absurd.
I mean in 15 months she has seen the Lions become a contender, the Tigers make the most unlikely playoff push in MLB history, Michigan football win a Championship*, Juwan Howard and REDACTED getting fired, it’s been nothing but good sports news!
And the crazy part is….she may not even know any of this.
I was four years old in 1997 by the time I made my first memories with my dad of watching that damn championship tape on VHS.
She’s one year old, in this damn Tigers jersey already smiling for the pictures with me because I want her to be. Now in my head, she loves it. But let’s be honest, she doesn’t have a choice!
Sometimes I wonder what she’ll say when she looks at pictures of us now, years later. Her first jersey’s a Tarik Skubal jersey.
Maybe she’ll grow up to work for the Cleveland Guardians. That would be an on-brand path for our family.
Whatever happens, I’ll love her just the same.
WHICH LEADS ME TO RIGHT NOW, RIGHT THIS SECOND.
I know, this is getting long-winded.
It’s 1:03 AM ET Wednesday morning, forgive me.
And I still don’t know whether to blame nature or nurture for the person that I am. Like most things in life, the answer is probably in the middle.
I love sports because it reminds me of the time I spent with my mom and dad growing up. I love football because of the feeling a Saturday afternoon used to give me knowing we would skip out on 4 o clock mass to watch a Michigan game together.
I love basketball because of the friends I made playing it, and because of the bonds I made with my mom texting during Michigan games. I love baseball because right now, it gives me an opportunity to make memories that could somehow end up foundational to my daughter’s life.
One point nurture.
But I also love sports betting and the occasional adult beverage because I am a savage. I didn’t spend years placing parlays with my dad, and I certainly didn’t learn how to take Jell-O shots from him. I didn’t ask my mom what the live odds were on what time dinner would be served when I was 6. That’s just me. And it’s fun. And I like it. And once a year, dammit I’m gonna hit some crazy parlay, shotgun a beer and feel like no one can stop me.
One point nature.
When my dad and I listened in the car as Alabama picked off Georgia in the end zone to seal the win (for the Tide and for my parlay), it was a little after midnight. We were 10 minutes from home.
There was some audible excitement for a few seconds. And then…silence. Until….
Dad: “Did you win it?”
Me: “Yeah”
Dad: “Seriously?”
Me: “Yeah…”
**fist bump**
…
Dad: “Wanna get a beer?”
LAST WEEK RECAP:
GREG RECORD: 7-6-1 (+5.67 Units)
CART RECORD: N/A, UNAVAILABLE
GREG WINS:
Rutgers -2.5 vs. Washington (-110)
BYU +3 at Baylor (-105)
BYU ML (+145 ML)
Oklahoma -2.5 at Auburn (-105)
Alabama +110 ML vs. Georgia
Illinois +18.5 at Penn State (-110)
BIG TEN BIG HOME FAVORITES PARLAY (+108) ***5 UNIT PLAY***
GREG LOSSES:
Michigan -9 vs. Minnesota (-110)
Arkansas ML (+160)
Duke -2.5 vs. UNC (-110)
Michigan State +24 vs. OSU (-110)
Stanford +21.5 at Clemson (-110)
WEEK 5 UNDERDOG PARLAY (+2452)
GREG PUSH:
Arkansas +4 at Texas A&M (-110)
SEASON RECORDS:
GREG RECORD: 30-45-2 (-9.58 Units)
CART RECORD: 5-7 (-2.04 Units)
GREG’S PICKS:
Every solo bet I am betting this week (with write ups):
Editor’s Note: yes, I hit that parlay last week. It wasn’t written out in this newsletter (I would never truly encourage all of you to place something like that on a weekly basis) BUTTTT I did send it to our Discord at 11AM on Saturday. Good vibes. In the spirit of positivity, I cooked up a similar longshot one for this week that is listed below. Bet responsibly.
Editor’s Note #2: Carter will return to the newsletter next week. He’s currently nurturing a child. That’s two points Nurture. Suck it, Nature.
Syracuse +7 at UNLV (-125)
The whole UNLV scandal feels like it will come crashing down at some point. This line shocked me. Cuse can play offensively. This is a former Ohio State QB (Kyle McCord) vs. a team whose starting QB just abandoned them. Shoutout to the UNLV backup but let’s see if the emotional comedown after last week doesn’t bite him in the ass against a Cuse team that beat a Georgia Tech team I really like. Buy it up to +7.
Pitt -3 at North Carolina (-110)
Simple one here. North Carolina is dead. They blew a big lead on Duke, and that’s the final game of the season they should even remotely get up for. Pitt is undefeated and Pat Narduzzi just strikes me as the type of guy that gets excited to pick on someone who isn’t his own size.
Ohio State -20 vs. Iowa (-108)
Play of the week for me here. Don’t get this line at all. I think Iowa is awful - they ran through Minnesota and their only redeemable quality is Kaleb Johnson, their star running back. Johnson is an Ohio kid and he told reporters that he “wouldn’t have committed to Ohio State if they offered”. Please excuse me for a moment.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YEAH RIGHT.
Johnson has been held under 3 yards per carry in three career games against Michigan and Ohio State (aka elite defenses). OSU will shut down the run and smoke the Hawkeyes in Columbus. Don’t be surprised if starters are out before the 4th quarter for the second straight game.
Georgia -24 vs. Auburn (-112)
I think 2nd Half Georgia is closer to who Georgia really is than 1st Half Georgia. Any other team in CFB gets down four scores to Bama and lets it become eight. Instead, they stormed back to take a late lead. There’s no Ryan Williams on Auburn. Plus Payton Thorne has shown that he is always willing to make a huge mistake to swing the game in our favor if we fade him. ROLL DAWGS.
South Carolina +9.5 vs. Ole Miss (-110)
Brian Rauf tells me LaNorris Sellers is back, and that’s all I needed to hear. Lane Kiffin is entertaining, but it might be time to consider that he’s just not that guy, pal. SCAR has been insane when Sellers plays (they destroyed Kentucky by 25 right before Kentucky almost beat Georgia and beat Ole Miss). Transitive property says go Cocks.
Stanford +8.5 vs. Virginia Tech (-110)
The only thing that scares me here is that I feel like I might be missing something. So I’m just going to speak in questions for the rest of this blurb. Doesn’t Virginia Tech stink? Didn’t they lose to Rutgers a week before Rutgers got thoroughly outplayed by Washington in Piscataway? Should I Stop doing the transitive property? Isn’t this an obvious let down spot for VATECH after narrowly losing to Miami in their Super Bowl? Isn’t this an obvious buy low spot for Stanford after getting blown out by a Clemson team that is 10 times better than the Hokies?
ANSWER KEY: Yes, yes, no, yes, yes.
Vanderbilt +22.5 vs. Alabama (-110)
Take everything I said in the Georgia paragraph and flip it. LET DOWN SPOT. Bama had the most emotional regular season win a team can have and now they get…..Diego Pavia. They should be TERRIFIED. Vandy took a top 10 team to Overtime on the road (Missouri) in their last game, then had two weeks to prepare for this one. Too many points given the spot.
UNDERDOG PARLAY (+9879)
Stanford ML (+260)
South Carolina ML (+260)
Minnesota ML (+250)
Florida ML (+120)
Not many underdogs worth playing this week, I’m giving this a small play.
12-LEG BOMB LONGSHOT PARLAY (+1796)
Ohio State ML
Georgia ML
Indiana ML
Nebraska ML
Alabama ML
Arizona ML
Syracuse +17.5
South Carolina +14.5
Stanford +14.5
Arkansas +21.5
Minnesota +17.5
Florida +10.5
Bet responsibly of course, all spreads are alt lines and key football numbers. Moneyline winners should be easy. Enjoy!
WEEK 6 PREVIEWS YOU SHOULD WATCH:
not out yet, keep an eye out on Wednesday on the channel though!
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DISCORD!!!
(THIS IS THE #1 WAY TO SUPPORT US AND MAKE SURE WE CAN CONTINUE TO MAKE CONTENT LIKE THIS…IT’S $9.99 A MONTH, THERE’S 260 CRAZY SPORTS FANS LIKE US IN THERE, AND CARTER NEEDS TO BUY DIAPERS NOW)
MYBOOKIE NEW SPECIAL OFFER:
DOUBLE your first deposit with promo code SLEEPERS here^^
Gosh. I think about nature and nurture all the time. It’s both. And I think about my dad and son every day in this way (Nats, Dodgers, Washington, Tarheels, Cavaliers, Deltas - ask Guy). Thanks for the words tonight.