Is The Mintzy Curse Finally Ending?

Every morning on this trip, I write my blog while shaking my head in utter disbelief. For the 5th night in a row, the College World Series produced yet another unbelievable one run game with a crazy ending! Vanderbilt has been involved in three of these games and the ‘Dores clearly have a flare for the dramatic as they pulled a 6-5 win from the heavens last night. I still don’t believe they won that game and are still in the CWS.

We had another good time doing Picks Central live at DJ’s Dugout in downtown Omaha. Our crew appreciates their hospitality and the shows have been getting solid turnouts. Our esteemed host Brandon Walker continues to do a good job interacting with the crowd daily too. At the end of the show, I jumped the gun on him thanking the Stoolies for coming out in a pretty funny clip. We will be back there today and tomorrow live at 10:55 central on the Barstool Sportsbook YouTube channel. Please subscribe or come see us if you are in Omaha!

I also survived an appearance on The Dave Portnoy Show which is always an accomplishment that I feel is worth acknowledging.

I have spent a bunch of time with Barstool Carl on this trip and cannot say enough how much I am enjoying getting to know him as we work together. He is a true man of the people and has an infectious positive attitude that I strive for daily to live my life. We hung out at the Ameristar Council Bluffs Sportsbook with Stoolies yesterday afternoon and he bought them beers. Ameristar is still giving away Barstool In Omaha shirts with a $50 CWS single bet today. They are almost out of shirts so come to the Sportsbook to place a bet today if you want one Stoolies! 

There are so many amazing things about this event in Omaha but one of my favorites is the accessibility of literally everyone. All the players, coaches and fans are hanging out in the same 3 blocks downtown and in the stadium every night. Carl spent 40 minutes talking pitching with Al Leiter yesterday at Starbucks for example. I met Al at the game last night and he had heard all about my bad luck jinxing his son’s no hitter in this iconic video from Monday night’s 1-0 Vandy loss to NC State.

Carl and I did this After Dinner Mintz together in the Ameristar Sportsbook giving my picks of Vandy and Over 10.5 runs in the Bet With Mintzy parlay on the Barstool Sportsbook App. I was 0-4 in these on the trip and had lost all 4 very badly.

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We ran into Virginia closer and Barstool favorite Stephen Schoch at DJ’s Dugout before the Vandy/NC State game and took this picture together. The dude is awesome and hilarious. I jinxed him on Twitter Tuesday night and he could not have been cooler about it.

I did this pre game video outside the stadium before Vandy/Stanford game. I have Vandy +350 to win the CWS and their backs were squarely against the wall facing elimination. I also took Vandy -137 and their fans were PISSED as my losing streak has become one of the biggest stories in Omaha. Hell, I even got a mention on the Paul Finebaum Show.

It felt like Groundhog Day in the stadium. I sat in the same great seats on the 1st base line and watch Vandy completely melt down early with 3 errors in the 1st 4 innings. They were down 4-0 and it easily could have been 8-0 going to the bottom of the 4th.

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I am a big believer in vibes and energy and knew I had to get out of the Stanford section and those cursed seats. The moment I walked to the Vandy side Dominic Keegan blasted a two run homer to make it 4-2. I then committed to being on the Vandy side the rest of the game.

Carl, Brandon Walker and me did this mid game video where I was legitimately happy it was only 4-2 as it could have been A LOT worse.

At this point with Vandy facing elimination I decided to sell my soul to the devil and went to support the most hated man in Omaha, the Vandy whistler. I actually enjoyed being near him and clapping along. These were desperate times and I was willing to do whatever it takes to help will a comeback.

Vandy made a comeback closing the gap to 5-4 in the bottom of the 7th. Then Stanford brought their Ace Brendan Beck out of the bullpen and he mowed Vandy down completely into the bottom of the 9th.

With 2 outs and no one on base in the 9th, I was resigned to my fate. I actually had already typed out parts of my Tweet with Xs on Vandy to win CWS bet, my parlay and my bet for the night. Then lightning struck. Vandy got a walk and a hit from their 8th and 9th hitters setting up star lead off man Enrique Bradfield with a shot to tie the game. He ripped this single into right field to tie it up and it was pandemonium in the Vandy section!

Then the unfathomable happened. Brendan Beck threw a wild pitch and the Vandy runner scored from 3rd to win the game! 

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Vandy was still alive by a miracle and I hit Vandy bet and the Vandy/Over 10.5 parlay on the 6-5 final score! Vandy moves on to face North Carolina State again on Friday. It was one of the craziest and luckiest wins of my entire life! Is the curse finally over?!?!? 

I have taken a public beating from Dave Portnoy on social media for weeks and finally had a shot to get him back some. He always goes nuts about me smiling in food pics so I had to get some victory ice cream after the dramatic win.

After the game we called the night fairly early and I have been in such a happy mood since. Maybe this damn losing streak is finally ending! Time to go face another exciting day in Omaha. Texas/Virginia play tonight at 6pm in an elimination game with the winner playing Mississippi State on Friday.