Any Given Day the Best Team Can Lose.

I know I and everyone else at The Positioning Group stress all the time that there is no such thing as a lock. A lock, for those who are new to the game, is when some team is without a doubt in no way to lose game. Why would we say there is no such thing as a lock? Wouldn't the best team in the world always beat a weaker team? NO.

On Any Given Day the underdog has a chance to beat the best team there is. Least we ever forget that, we get reminders thrown our way all the time. This last reminder was pretty big. Greece slamming the US in the semi finals of the World Championships 101-95 yesterday.

Ok granted, the Greek squad is not the worst team, I mean hey you don't get to the finals by being horrible. But the squad does not have one single athlete who plays in the NBA. Why is that a factor? It is considered the premiere league for basketball, where all the greatest from the world want to come and play.

The US squad was a killer squad on paper with new blood both on the team and in their coach, Coach K. Come one, Lebron, Carmelo, Wade on the same team alone tilts the odds totally to one side. Who in there right mind would have laid down some money on Greece when on paper they shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

The Sports Investor, the handicapper would have. He would have seen that the US squad for the last few years has always lacked some heart in international play. They knew they were good, too good, and that took away from their game. The Greeks came out with nothing but heart. No big names, just plenty of heart and desire to win for their home country.

Their pride pushed them to a superior shooting display. Shooting from the three-point range so proficiently that the big stars of the NBA just could not match and keep up with. Yes, the US got some consolation by beating Argentina in the bronze medal match today, but it wasn't Gold.

The country with the bigger heart, pride and desire to win will be playing for the gold tomorrow. So remember guys, no matter how good a team is, no matter how many times they have won in a row, no matter how weak their opponent is... on any given day, the outcome can and is decided by the intangibles. Skill and stats are not enough to guarantee a victory any longer.

For the sports investor, this means you need to prepare better and look beyond the field when doing your homework. For the beginning sports gambler, this means to always stay away from "the lock". It'd be the same as if I were to tell you that I can flip a coin 100 times and I guarantee you that it will land on heads each time. Unless it's a coin with heads on both sides, the only guarantee is that I have a fifty-fifty shot on each flip for it to be heads on that flip.

Remember that the next time you get told about laying some big money on a lock. One gust of wind, one lucky bounce, the desire of one single player pushing his game up just one single notch is all it takes for the person betting on the lock to go from looking like a sure winner to a sorry loser.

BTW I was advising anyone who asked and in a PPB Play update email, to take Greece over the US. Even as sick as I was this week, didn't let me fall for the hidden lock trap here. This is an example of some of the investors picks our newsletter subscribers get. If you're interested in becoming a member visit www.powerpositionbetting.com for more information.