Strange Weather Drives Bettors Crazy

This long Labor Day weekend, including Thursday, has seen it's share of havoc on sporting events around the Country.
The NASCAR race in Atlanta has been postponed until 8:00 AM (Pacific time) Tuesday and there is still no guarantee that he race will held then.
Several college football games were delayed because of rain. The biggest game delayed was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs the South Florida Bulls that was played on national TV and the game was delayed about 3 hours.
Then, there have been some games declared over early because of some storms. The Michigan vs Western Michigan game was called with 1:27 left in the 3rd quarter and with Michigan leading. Meanwhile the game played today between Marshall and West Virginia was called with 5 minutes left in the game. West Virginia was stomping Marshall 34-13.
Because the Michigan and West Virginia games ended early, the game was considered to be not played by the sports books in town. From the LVRJ: Michigan, a 14-point favorite, was on the way to a cover while a majority of bettors counted their winnings. But school officials opted to stop the action and declare it a Wolverines win for the record books.
Of course, Nevada's sports books view it differently. According to the posted rules, there was no winner and wagers were refunded. For betting purposes, a football game is considered action after 55 minutes.
"It was kind of wacky. There have been some crazy weather games, but I've never seen that," MGM Resorts sports book director Jay Rood said. "I would rather have seen the game get in and played than end the way it did, when maybe some people feel like they were cheated.
"We were going to lose on the game. That was by far the biggest public-backed game on the board. The ticket count was ridiculous, like 20-1 for Michigan."
So the first weather-shortened game in the 132-year history of Michigan football was a money-back guarantee for both sides, even the lucky non-losers on the underdog.
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/rain-saves-books-from-taking-bath-on-michigan-129246373.html
So, the sports books got lucky when the Michigan game ended early because there was heavy betting on Michigan.
I don't ever recall so many football games, except high school games, being delayed or ending early during a single weekend, I don't know if the home teams and referees are being more cautious or just bad luck.
However, safety is first and foremost. There was a report of a fan being hit by lightening in West Virginia, but it may have been a false alarm. From the Sporting News: West Virginia officials denied a report that a fan was struck by lightning during a weather delay in the Mountaineers' game Sunday vs. Marshall.
"Contrary to a report on ESPN, there have been no reports to law enforcement or emergency officials of a fan being struck or affected by lightning at the West Virginia-Marshall University football game," according to a statement released by West Virginia University Relations after the game.
Fans had been asked to leave their seats at the time of the delay midway through the third quarter, but some fans were still in the upper deck when lightning hit near the top of Milan Puskar Stadium.
Play was delayed for nearly three hours due to lightning and thunderstorms before play resumed at 8:50 p.m. ET. About 20 minutes after the resumption, play was again stopped because of lightning.
The game eventually was called with 14:36 to play in the fourth quarter, with West Virginia leading 34-13. Officials from both schools decided it was unsafe for the game to resume.
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-09-05/west-virginia-denies-espn-report-that-fan-was-struck-by-lightning#ixzz1X3jbK5RK
So, Mother Nature is letting us know who is in charge and who is more powerful. That, or maybe Mother Nature took Western Michigan and the points with her bet at the Flamingo.