[2/14/24] #42 - The Content That Creates You Can Also Break You
By Eddie Walls
[2/14/24] The Content That Creates You Can Also Break You
Way before there was Youtube channel for every kind of sports bettor to indulge in and well before there was such a thing as a content creator for such a space I sat in a dingy studio with Dink on my left, John Kelly on my right and a older gentleman was the sound engineer.
I sat nervous, sweating internally as they spoke about the MLB lines of a Tuesday and what Dink had bet. I was there to discuss the top 25 that was just released by Phil Steele and what I agreed with and disagreed with and after they went to the first commercial I was told to go slow we had to fill 47 minutes... 47 minutes!
This was the first time I'd be on radio or be public about my opinion on college football teams and I don't remember exactly how it went but I do remember at the end I was asked by Dink on air if I would be a guest every Tuesday during the season and I readily agreed not thinking much of it.
That one appearance lead to a multitude of things taking place that I never considered at the time.
As I sat down at a 30/60 game I checked Twitter to see if anyone had liked my MLB card I had posted that morning. I had maybe 200 followers if you count my mom and sisters and in that moment my life changed.
I was up 20 units on a young MLB season I saw the board well every morning and while I had no bankroll it was growing. My normal card and results would attract 2 likes. One from dink and one from mom but not tonight there were 7! 7? How could there be 7 and then I checked notifications and I had 80 new followers. 80! In one day, I'm a god damn rockstar!
The next week that number grew as Dink retweeted everyday my plays as he sensed the run I was on needed more attention and as followers counts grew so did the pressure.
I didn't know at the time that a decade later some bettors would have 30-90k followers but I had 400 and in my delusional, self inflated ego everyone of them was hanging on my every number I tweeted.
The flip side of winning and gaining attention I would learn as everyone who posts plays publicly didn't take long to come around as in any sport or endeavour the peak has a valley.
July 1st I would go to Cape cod to see my entire family back home for 10 days. Ill never forget showing Danielle how popular I had become on the bus ride to the house after 7 hours of flying together and her asking how much I'm getting paid... Nothing but that is besides the point.
She made it a point to tell me how crazy I sounded. You make everyone money and they like your tweet and then you just keep making them money? Eddie just give me money and I'll like you too, she would tease.
The very next day I only remember because it was before my mom's 60th birthday party and our family reunion I tweeted 6 plays for July 3rd and my stepdad and me settled into MLB Network for the night and one by one every play lost... Every single play 0-fer.
I had lost 4k with my $700 bets and while staring at that figure which was normal in my poker career this was abnormal in sports at the time but I wasn't as much worried about that, what about all those poor people who followed?!
Most weren't even around in April and May they could have lost 50% of their entire bankroll because I was surely the only person they were following for MLB plays!
I scrambled to twitter and apologized perfusely. Will do better, got to get better. One tweet apology followed another and then I posted my card for July 4th fully shaken up.
I don't recall the next day or truthfully the rest of the season. I do remember that I was no longer playing to win money but also a audience.
This would only grow as CFB season began. I would not only tweet every play at open to close but would do the radio show every Tuesday. I not only tweeted my plays but got into Twitter/forums engaged in beefs, debated politics and began checking for notifications over scores. The more I won, the more attention I seeked.
I wasn't alone. Everyone was tweeting, doing radio shows, YouTube and even something VSIN was being launched!
Bad partnerships, being stiffed by agents and a mediocre year lead me to joining up with Waz, Erin Running and Andrew Lange to launch bettoriq. Except before it was bettoriq it was just 4 dudes very serious about winning.
We had built a tool called infoq where every coach quote from each team, every injury, etc etc would go in there it would do all the work for the bettor and make the decision easier as he or she went.
We decided after year one to sell it for $40 a month thinking thousands would line up for that and also a newsletter. After 6 months we had 4 subscribers and dink was one of them even though we just gave him the plays . I think it was a pity purchase haha.
It was clear this wasn't a company. It was a betting group with a payroll.
We decided to do a podcast to grow our subscription base and I have met a lot of sharp men in my life I would put Andrew right near the top but neither of us thought this one through.
We did a conference preview starting in July and went over every team publicly for free and not the run of the mill I like Texas tech but I like over specifically weeks 1, 3, 6 and 8. They fired their DC because they don't care about defense with this Mahomes kid and this weirdo coach Kingsbury... Followed by rsws bets we had made and futures.
We started doing weekly shows going over every game we bet on Monday nights, releasing it on Tuesdays and we were oblivious in the beginning that we were moving the market off our little podcasts that got 12 whole likes.
We were killing our own betting market oblivious to it. If I liked Alabama unders in week 3 there was no Alabama under money to be bet by week 5. I gave you 10 minutes for a month on why Alabama was a great under but at least I got those 30 likes!
The pressure grew for all of us as the company didn't make much money and we were all so focused on betting over anything else in the end.
I still chuckle that you could get Erin's NBA, my NBA and CFB for like 500 a season or something nuts. We weren't sharp in business I'm fairly certain.
Even after deciding to sell plays it became what do we give out and what do we bet privately and that became a whole other bag of worms.
Suddenly I didn't want the attention. You know what's worse than paying a huge figure? Wondering if you caused someone else to do so as well.
I see it everyday now. A person who I loved seeing what they were on is now using weird language. It used to be full cards and fun times now it's strong leans and if this number gets available I'll PROBABLY bite.
Who can blame them? Today's social media can be a cruel partnership. Where memes run rampant and names get thrown around. This guy is washed after a bad week or this guy has lost it after even a bad night. This group who's won 14 years in a row is a fish after a bad 2 month stretch.
In my personal case the more I won the more attention I wanted, needed those likes, those followers, that adoration from people I'll most likely never get to know. The empty fulfillment of a existence.
I recently decided to go back to sharing a joke a day on X. I used to do this after every winning day on the card I would put out in the morning. Every winning day was a joke and every losing day was a song from someone you've probably never heard of. Humor and music I'm passionate about both.
I don't ever want to play to a audience with my life on the line again because many years throughout my life those games I was tweeting to be liked meant more than anyone will know financially.
I want my world to show that I care more about making others smile or think, hear and taste what I have enjoyed.
My advice if your giving away content make sure your down first. Be unapologetic when you lose. Embrace being yourself because so many can't and won't. Tell your story and by all means don't let your content change your opinion or hold you back because it can.
Hope all of you are on the run of a lifetime. Next week I'll go over the second half of the NBA season. Thank you as always for the space sincerely, Eddie