A reporter who thought he was providing Super Bowl players with an in-house service is singing a different song after facing an adverse reaction.
Zach Maskavich of WESH 2 News in Central Florida posted a video on Twitter on Friday in which he timed the live rehearsal of the national anthem outside Raymond James Stadium, site of the Super Bowl 2021.
The duet version, performed by Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church, was timed by Maskavich in 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
In the game world, the length of the anthem is a popular Super Bowl prop bet, so this is very important information. Maskavich’s Twitter account has 1,687 followers, but his video had more than 585,000 views at 5 pm on Saturday.
Before the video went viral, the hymn’s over / under was about two minutes, more or less a second, according to AwfulAnnouncing.com. But that soon changed when a reported cash rush started to appear. This increased the chances of a book from -110 on each side to -1,500 at the end, and forced some sportsbooks to stop betting on that prop.
According to ESPN, “Maskavich’s friends were asking him to keep an eye and ear for inside information on everything from the color of the Gatorade that the teams were using, to information about the pre-game and musical performances of the interval.
Maskavich discovered what many reporters already know to be true about social media: people can become cruel when they hide behind anonymity. His responses are filled with anger at influencing the lines in sports betting.
“I had a feeling that I was going to gain some strength, leading to the Super Bowl, and people liking prop bets,” Maskavich told ESPN. “But I didn’t think it was going to explode like it did. People are looking for me, wondering if Vegas paid me to do this, and all these other crazy antics. “