mike@southseasports.com

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Quote Collection…

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. – George S. Patton

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. – William James

There are three things a gambler needs: money, guts and brains. If you don’t have one, you’re dead. I’ve got all three. – Charles K. McNeil

I guarantee you that there are more laws being violated in the first two seconds that the New York Stock Exchange opens Monday morning than there will be in all of sports betting in the next thousand years. – Billy Walters

I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men. – Sir Isaac Newton

Nothing endures but change. – Heraclitus

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:9

The more things change the more they stay the same. – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, Cinderella, & Bon Jovi

Who’s to say the way A man should spend his days Do you let them smolder Like paper in fire – John Cougar Mellencamp

He’s the world’s all-time leading hitter. I mean, it’s kind of like, if you’re a writer, why wouldn’t you want to talk to Earnest Hemingway? You know? If you’re a painter, Picasso. Baseball … Pete Rose. – A-Rod

Well, if I wanted to talk to somebody about hitting, I’d talk to me, too. – Pete Rose

Well, I mean, Petey [Rose Jr.] was in an 0-for-20 slump one time, and asked me what he should do. So I told him, ‘Go call [Dave] Concepcion. I’ve never been 0-for-20.’ – Pete Rose

I’m not an athlete. I’m a professional baseball player. – John Kruk

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The inspiration for the name…

Why SouthSeaSports.com?

I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men. – Sir Isaac Newton

I’m sure you’ve heard of Sir Isaac Newton and Warren Buffett. But have you ever heard of Benjamin Graham? Benjamin Graham is probably not a name you’re familiar with. The folks on Wall Street know his name. The stock market and the sports book function in the same way, they’re both matchmakers. This is why Benjamin Graham is important to sports bettors. Warren Buffett considers him the second greatest influence on his life, second only to his father. The reason? Value investing. Graham was a professor at Columbia Business School when Buffett was attending there. Graham’s book, The Intelligent Investor, is Buffett’s bible. In the book, Graham writes about the “margin of safety” and it’s role in successful investing. In sports gambling terms, the intrinsic value of a bet is more important than the market value, when deciding on a line’s true value. For instance, when a team loses 3 games in a row by double digit points, the value the market places on that team falls, yet the true value does not change. In their next game they will probably be double digit underdogs even if the line should be 8 points. The team’s value in the marketplace changed. If you bet this team based on the intrinsic (8 points) value when the value of the team was down in the market making them 12 point underdogs, you’d have made a winning bet with 4 points in your favor. The difference between the line you bet (12) and the intrinsic value (8) is the “margin of safety”. This is what’s known as value investing.

Ok, but what about Sir Isaac Newton? He was a genius, what’s he have to do with the name? On page 13 (in the commentary on the introduction section, the Zweig version) in my copy of The Intelligent Investor, there is a little story about Sir Isaac Newton. The point of the story is good news for you, assuming you’re not a genius. According to Graham, what is essential for being a successful investor has nothing to do with genius. Being a genius and being a good investor are two different things and one does not necessarily make you the other. The story (quoted from the book) goes like this…

and back in the spring of 1720, Sir Isaac Newton owned shares in the South Sea Company, the hottest stock in England. Sensing that the market was getting out of hand, the great physicist muttered the he “could calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people.” Newton dumped his South Sea shares, pocketing a 100% profit totaling 7000 (pounds). But just months later, swept up in the wild enthusiasm of the market, Newton jumped back in at a much higher price and lost 20,000(pounds). …for the rest of his life, he forbade anyone to speak the words “South Sea” in his presence.

That is the story as I first read it. Newton, though a genius, was no match for the South Sea Company and the fluctuations in the market. Newton got caught up in the frenzy, along with the investing public and lost. The South Sea stock then, was no different than the hottest team today. Contrarian investing. Of course, buying in on the correct line the trick. You have to make bets that with an intrinsic value that exceeds the current market price. If you can do that, your bookie will fear and respect your bets. SouthSeaSports.com is here to help.

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