With the beginning of the NFL Preseason, Cameron a big fan of future bets, and NFL gambling, takes a look at the upcoming odds for who will be Super Bowl champion and a few other prop bets that can help your wallet.

I love gambling. I love it so much, I wish that I could just live in any Las Vegas hotel, so I can wake up, eat breakfast, take a shower, get dressed, walk out my front door, and go gamble. I love gambling like a fat kid loves cake. More than anything, I love future bets. Placing a bet on a team to do something throughout the year, and then watching as they either succeed or, fall flat on their faces, is at times frustrating and other times it’s the best feeling in the world. You feel as if you’re a sports Nostradamus.

NFL Gambling is the best. Hands down, ask anybody. You only worry about bets once a week, if you like betting games, and not just future bets. In MLB, NBA and NHL, there are way to many games to bet on, sometimes driving you to the brink of madness. With the NFL once a week, over 16 weeks, you make your bets, then you make your money or you walk away with agony of bitter defeat. Simple as that. With Major League Baseball you filter through 162 games, constantly trying to figure out, who’s on a hot-streak, which rookie phenom has been called up and which starting pitcher is going tonight and what his xFIP is, with the NBA, it’s already a predetermined sport (in a way). You know Miami is probably going to win everything for a long time and the Celtics, Thunder, Spurs, Lakers, and maybe the newly minted Brooklyn Nets will be in the running for second place. In the NHL it is all one giant crap-shoot. Seriously though, aside from die-hard Los Angeles Kings fans, who really saw the Kings winning the Stanley Cup.

By the end of the NHL season, the Kings were three wins away from winning their division and finishing third in the Western Conference. After dropping the last two games of the season the Kings fell from third and finished eighth. The Kings started every playoff series on the opposing teams ice, playing 11 out of their 20 postseason games in foreign territory. The beat the number one, two and three teams in the Western Conference on way to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. When you look at those odds they look damn near impossible. Definitely not something you’d want to have bet on.

With Football and gambling, it’s all gravy. A small bet here-and-there and you’re bound to walk away in the black no matter what; as long as you’re not throwing down $100 on the Jacksonville Jaguars to win the Super Bowl let alone more than three games you should be fine.

Let us take a look at some of the more interesting lines in Football this year including Super Bowl future bets and some interesting prop bets. We’re gonna run this down list style, so bear with me here, cause I promise some of these will pay off some good money.

Super Bowl Odds –

Detroit Lions 22/1 – Crazy delicious odds for a team that ranked fourth in total offense and have the foremost and up-and-coming dynamic quarterback/wide receiver tandems with Calvin “Megatron” Johnson and Matthew Stafford. Their defense seems to be not able to keep itself out of jail so that could be a big deterrent on this bet, but at 22/1 odds, and in the off chance they can make it to the Super Bowl with no defense, and a super-high powered offense, much like the Patriots last year, this is a solid “for shits-and-giggles” bet.

Baltimore Ravens 18/1 – This almost seems like Vegas is trying to give you money. The Ravens were a solid team last year, and were one miraculous defensive play by Sterling Moore and a missed field goal by Billy Cundiff away from making the Super Bowl last year. With the other Harbaugh brother at the helm, and Ed Reed and Ray Lewis returning, the Ravens still have a solid veteran core with up and coming talent like Torrey Smith and the explosive backfield or Ray Rice, the Ravens look primed to make a run towards the promise land again this year and at 18/1 I’d buy that.

Pittsburgh Steelers 16/1 – Same rules apply to the Steelers that apply to their division-mates above. The Steelers were a clear favorite to make it to the Super Bowl last year, they had a solid offense and a still decent, yet withering defense. The only reason they didn’t get any further in the playoffs last year was because of a blatant interference by god in a football game, because he had some raging religious hard-on for Tim Tebow.

Side Note on Tim Tebow: “Tebow time” last year was phenomenal, just like”Linsanity” in the NBA. Lin didn’t have the same lasting power as Tebow, be it in the medias’ eye, or just physically (seeing as Lin tore his meniscus after 30 games and Tebow lasted the whole year like some sort of unstoppable Jesus-train), Tebow ruled everything in sports media last year and continues to rule everything. The Tebow coverage on ESPN now though has grown to be absolutely unbearable. They constantly debate on “First Take” and “Sportscenter” is essentially a constant Tebow update machine with some sports sprinkled in. The reason why this is more annoying than it was last year? He’s on the New York Jets. Plain and simple. With the Broncos, that team not only added to the charm of an underdog story but it also created an outlet that was tolerable. With the Jets, not a single person on their team has any redeeming qualities and Rex Ryan is a hack. It was three-years-ago that he said the Jets would win the Super Bowl and have they done that? No. They have made two AFC Championship games, which they lost, but other than that they’re a really good defensive team that is offensively incompetent and the addition of Tebow isn’t going to help anything. I can’t wait till the Bills crush the Jets and Dolphins this year, and maybe even the Patriots. Which reminds me.

Buffalo Bills 30/1 – The Bills did nothing but beef up their defense this year with the addition Mario Williams, and the drafting of Stephon Gilmore. Their frontline is Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, and Mark Anderson, built almost like the Giants teams that brought down the Patriots in their undefeated season and just last year. Buffalo this year is built around solid front-line defense, it’s plan of attack, is just that, attack, the quarterback that is, with four super-fast and super-large man-beasts that will strike fear in the heart of Tom Brady, Mark Tebow, and Ryan Tannehill. They already have ball-hawks for Corners and Safeties proved by their 20 total team interceptions last year. Although they finished 30-out-of-32 teams in total defense and 15 in passing defense last year, their weakest position on defense was their front line, which caused for such poor statistical finishes, but that was mainly due to injuries to Kyle Williams and Mark Anderson. With the addition of Mario Williams though and the late-in-the-year awakening of Marcell Dareus last season at nose tackle makes for this Bills team to be able to right the ship. I am a fan of the Bills so a lot of this is bias, but I personally believe that the Bills can shock the world this year. With Ryan Fitzpatrick and Stevie Johnson paid well and healthy this year, as well as Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller in the backfield tearing it up with power and speed respectively I firmly believe that the Bills at the least, can make the playoffs. From there it’s a crap-shoot on where they’ll go. 30/1 is damn fine odds by me though.

Niners 10/1, Texans 12/1, Bears 16/1, and The Broncos 16/1 –

Three of these make damn good sense, one of them may possibly see their star player, possibly, and I mean possibly, die on the fields, thus rendering their playoff hopes moot.

The Niners only got better this year with the addition of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, and I’m sure Alex Smith only tried to get better this off-season instead of worse, I hope. They were the best defensive team all-around last year and they were a few un-lucky bounces from going to the Super Bowl with first year coach, Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh came into a crap situation and turned a turd into a diamond.

The Texans and the Bears are essentially the same team and both didn’t advance farther then they could have in the season due to a plague of injuries. The Bears have Jay Cutler healthy and added one of the best wide receivers in the game, Brandon Marshall – I love Marshall so much, not only is he absolutely insane, but he also added to my fantasy football championship last year. So thanks dude, stay cray. The Texans didn’t really add anyone this off-season but they still were a top-five team last year and only have room to go up.

The Broncos are the ones who may see their star player die next year. Yes, I’m talking about Peyton Manning. All I’m saying is that they’ll look good for like five-or-six games and then, BAM! One good hit from a lineman that has an issue with life itself, rocks Manning and knocks his structurally repaired neck off his shoulders. I’m just saying, I looked for this as a prop bet and couldn’t find it. If anyone knows where I can bet on the over-under for games till Peyton Manning loses his head on-field I would love this information.

Fun Prop Bets –

Offensive Rookie-of-The-Year: Robert Griffin III 5/1, Michael Floyd 12/1, Brandon Weeden 14/1, Ryan Tannehill 22/1

Tannehill is the most appealing at 22/1 odds, and especially the factor that David Garrard’s back could explode at any time and Matt Moore is barely serviceable, this competition for Dolphins starter could be a sinch for Tannehill. Let’s face it though Robert Griffin III, Michael Floyd and Brandon Weeden are your best bets.

Griffin will probably win this, seeing as he has a semi-competent offense and the ability to bail himself out whenever needed with is feet. In the case of Floyd, he’d have to do some really crazy crap to pull out a rookie-of-the-year. A.J. Green was a top tier receiver last season in the likes of a young Randy Moss or even Terrell Owens, but still got beat out for ROTY honors by Cam Newton. Don’t get me wrong, Newton deserved it, but the fact that he’s a quarterback helped his case too. The quarterback reins supreme in this ages NFL. Which leads us to Brandon Weeden. At the tender age of 28-years-old Weedenwas drafted by the Cleveland Browns, and he has the ability to become the oldest ROTY, and if receivers Greg Little and Mohamed Massaquoi finally figure out how to catch a football, and their offensive line decides to actually protect their quarterback this year, who knows, maybe Weeden will be the oldest ROTY at 29.

Most Passing Yards on The Season – Matthew Stafford 6/1, Tony Romo 14/1, Peyton Manning 16/1 (If He Doesn’t Die), Cam Newton 33/1, Jay Cutler 40/1, Drew Brees 4/1.

Stafford and Brees, at 6/1 and 4/1, respectively, are pretty safe bets. With both QBs you’re getting a big arm on offenses mainly catered to their passing abilities. With Tony Romo on the other hand, it’s not about touchdowns or interceptions, it’s about getting yards, and that man can get yards. Romo hasn’t dipped below 4,000-yards in the full seasons he played in 2007, 2009 and 2011. 2012 could be the year though that the Cowboys finally pull their collective head out of their collective asses and finally help this man out. Also, at 22/1 odds for the Super Bowl the ‘Boys’ look fairly decent. With Newton, he threw for over 4,000-yards last year, and that was his rookie season, so there’s really only one way he can go from there, considering he’s a freak of nature. His ability to run, and quickness to resort to scrambling puts a hinder on this bet, but hey what is betting for if not to take a chance on a long shot and win big. Cutler at 40/1 is just too god to pass up. He finally has a number-one target in Brandon Marshall, who can jettison down-field in seconds flat for the long-ball. Speaking of the long-ball, Cutler can “huck-it, chuck-it, football!” That’s always a positive in terms of gaining yards. Finally, Peyton Manning. Never has he dipped below 4,000-yards in any season he’s played in and with his new surgically repaired neck either one of two things can happen. Either he will have the power of 1,000-suns and be huckin’ the old pigskin like nothing happened, or he’ll be rocked and either crippled or killed on field. It’s one or the other and no in-between. And that’s why the NFL is great, it is one of the last true gladiator sports, just like boxing and MMA. Thank goodness football is back ladies and gentlemen, let the gambling begin.

All betting lines taken from http://www.bovada.lv and http://www.intertops.eu/. Check both out for all the latest and up to date gambling lines.

Cameron Heffernan is an editor at HefferBrew. Contact him at hefferbrew@gmail.com or on twitter at @karateparty1.