Sarah J. Phillips keeps her sports betting activities on the down low.

Sarah J. Phillips: Undercover cover and the shame game

I had 10 minutes until tipoff and I wanted to place a wager on the Memphis Grizzlies’ moneyline against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the Western Conference playoff series.

I usually do very well with time management and planned to place the bet earlier in the day, but the stars didn’t align.

I rushed to my boss’ computer and quickly placed my wager. I actually use her computer pretty frequently to place my wagers while I’m at the office.

However, I made a careless mistake this time: I forgot to delete the web history.

My boss doesn’t have a problem when I use her computer, but I never told her I am an avid sports bettor.

She walked over to me a few moments later. She starred at me as though I had three heads and asked, “What’s BetJamaica?” (If you want to know what it feels like for someone to stare at you in the same fashion, go tell your significant other that he/she gained a little weight. I don’t recommend this.)
Have you ever had to go undercover to place a wager? SJP has.
I remember tensing up and feeling my body yelling, “AHHH!” This must be what boys feel like when their mothers walk in on them for the first time during happy time.

My face remained stoic like Annie Duke. I went all in and introduced my boss into my world of sports betting. She laughed for the majority of my explanation. Her reaction meant she, A) didn’t believe me, B) didn’t want to believe me, or C) believed me and felt a myriad of emotions which could only be reflected by laughter at the time.

I felt dirty for a few minutes after speaking with her. She’s self righteous and her mannerisms make most people feel unworthy of being around her. I can only imagine how she feels about gamblers. Come to think of it, I don’t want to know.

This was a new experience for me. Only a few people in my inner circle (and the Covers.com family) actually know I bet on sports. I’m very careful with who I choose to inform versus who I choose not to inform. I’m especially low key when it comes to divulging this information with people I know who are extremely conservative like my boss.

Whereas, I feel it is a completely normal activity, sports betting carries a stigma with certain individuals. And being a female that bets on sports adds another layer of judgment under the microscope.

I make a point to coach myself out of subconscious bettor behaviors in order to avoid outing myself as a sports bettor to those who don’t need to know.

You know what I’m talking about.

Have you ever seen a non-bettor finish watching a blowout game which has obviously been decided before the final buzzer? Only someone with action on a game stays intently watching in order to see if a free throw in the final 10 seconds of a blowout pushed the total over or covered the spread. It’s this type of behavior which I coach myself against.

I’m very good at being a covert bettor. I mean, seriously, can you imagine what would happen if my mom found out her Mother’s Day gift is being funded by sports betting? Oh, brother.

‘Til next time, cover the spread.

SJP's NBA Playoffs picks: Chicago Bulls -8.5 (Game 2) and Los Angeles Lakers -7 (Game 2).

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Posted by anna31204
2 years ago

She’s self righteous and her mannerisms make most people feel unworthy of being around her. HAHAHA !!! i love to wager on sports but if you were one of my employees and did that on my computers at work ... i'd fire your ass ... seriouly, of course she thinks you're a dumbass and looks down on you ... you've earned it !!! like most of your stuff but couldn't abide this ... as someone stated above ... "drivel" ... completely missed the mark on this one sjp did you at least win the bet !??!
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Posted by sgamble077
2 years ago

IT'S PRETTY FUNNY THAT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY BUY INTO THIS SCAM. YOU CAN GET IN TROUBLE POSTING FALSE PIC, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY THE INTERNET.
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Posted by mylife23
2 years ago

SJ is legit in my book. It's called changing your hair color if people think it's two different pictures. Brown hair is better than blonde hair anyways ;)
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Posted by 2169
2 years ago

So did Rizzo let you borrow his aviators?
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Posted by 2169
2 years ago

Put a hat on her and add some chin hair, and you got Rizzo!
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Posted by superbeets
2 years ago

Good Job on the BULLS pick..
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Posted by SarahJPhilli
2 years ago

Thank you, sir!
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Posted by Jaysvdubwhat
2 years ago

Yum picture
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Posted by timdogs17
2 years ago

If my wife only knew her mothers day gift was coming from my bookies pocket this year.
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Posted by zenmachine
2 years ago

Stealing Facebook photos from other people and using them to portray yourself isnt very nice
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Posted by MontGarry
2 years ago

Sarah has to try and stay undercover, because let's face it...Sarah moves lines
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Posted by Irisheyez
2 years ago

It's all good girl......I'm a guy and I have to watch it. Certain people in my life would frown on it and I don't want to upset them. No big deal. Like Run DMC once said in a tune......."It's like that, and that's the way it is!" If you gamble, there are always people who are gonna look down their nose at you and if you are employed by one of these people, it would be foolish to flaunt your taste and lifestyle with them. It won't help you, only possibly hurt you. If you are one of the people who say screw everybody, I don't care what you think and I'll do what I want, when and where ever I want........well, then you probably are the kind of person I stay away from anyway and you most likely lead a a life with limited, serious, meaningful relationships and don't have the real respect from other that you think you do. Be honest with yourself here. You and others you have relationships with......parents, employers, church leaders, a good neighbor, your kids sports coach or your wife, brother or sister don't need to know your personal preference in sports wagering.......and if some of them did know.....it will affect how they perceive you like it or not. Nice write up Sarah......I can relate.....and I'm a guy.
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Posted by badreligion
2 years ago

im pissed i waste my time reading this and responding to these articles when things are this stupid, i feel compelled to ,its like a bad wreck you just cant help look at im done , its a waste of time, im sorry i ever responded in the first place good luck believing you are a good bettor and that you will continue to win in the future you do have a good future in scamming these covers idiots into paying you though, so i have to give you props on being savvy in that way
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Posted by badreligion
2 years ago

which is it? you want to write as a female who bets on sports or from other articles, you don't want to be treated any differently and you are surprised when others see girls making a bet in vegas you can't have it both ways either premise is completely asinine as sportsbetting is a beast that doesnt care if you are a man, woman, or child and your responses where you brush legitimate points by the wayside by saying "thats not true, or you don't understand" without and reasonable counterarguments isn't a good argument and how do you not have time to post your picks in any threads if you have all day to respond to every single comment about this article and bump your own threads like you were pointing out some genius information i dont know what is worse, the lack of substance in this article, or the fact that someone actually hired you to write this drivel
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Posted by mcd5403
2 years ago

SJP, just do your thing... Always going to be negative commentary, b/c you are a female. You are on here with your opinion and take on being an avid sports fan just like every other one of these clowns on here, to include me! Lol...I always like comparing different writers analysis and predictions. Good luck...
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Posted by Vesco
2 years ago

Sarah, what city are you located?
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Posted by FoolishTool
2 years ago

I dont know which picture is you but i like both!! ,,,,,,,,, in fact, this reminds me, i aint had no happy time lately, gotta go, it's time to get to work!!!!!!!!!! :)
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Posted by hammer22
2 years ago

OK covers enough of this garbage seriously. 1. what the F was the point of this column. AND 2. how many different girls pictures are u guys going to use from the internet, none of them look alike at all.
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Posted by tony_come
2 years ago

covers: a blonde will not increase the numbers but sex do sell.
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Posted by Sidehatch
2 years ago

Ironically enough, I've also found myself wishing that Covers.com actually worked on my Blackberry. Can't get the pages to load properly, otherwise Covers.com would probably be getting a lot more midday traffic.
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Posted by Sidehatch
2 years ago

While I probably could do that at my current job, I don't just to avoid potential stigma. My prior employer had a permaban on a ton of links. Bookmaker is cool w/ the phone bets, and has changed its technology to allow all kinds of teasers and parlays. Bodog sometimes has better odds, but Bodog still makes you phone it in (they want you to make ginormous bets if you want to bet while on the road), which is a pain in the ass. That being said, I will always lean toward any site that has an easy-to-use phone app. These sites should wisen up to that fact, yet many are stuck in the stone age (despite making millions of dollars). If these were publicly-traded firms, they'd have to compete a little more and get out of the stone age. Nice post, and it's spot on. BTW, you misspelled "stared." "She walked over to me a few moments later. She starred at me as though . . ."
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Posted by SarahJPhilli
2 years ago

I appreciate all your support. If you would like to see anything different with the column or added in, please e-mail editorial and we'll see if we can work it in. See you guys next week! :)
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Posted by CRS
2 years ago

Sarah wher do you place your selections on covers, ususally. Do you go to the individual sports section and post them? What sports do you specialize in? Thanks.
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Posted by SarahJPhilli
2 years ago

I used to put them in threads here and there, but it's really hard to keep up sometimes. I'll be posting picks each week in my columns.
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Posted by SarahJPhilli
2 years ago

I specialize in college sports, primarily Basketball and Football. UFC is 3rd, and then followed closely by MLB/NBA/NFL.
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Top Response

Posted by Slovak
2 years ago

"so in other words you are not who you originally claimed to be?"

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