Stay in that gray!

So I've gotten relatively good at backtesting. It's akin to sitting in an office and crunching numbers, but there is a small difference. You have these theories and you test these theories, and just a night, couple days, week, or month later you have concrete results based on your original theory. All the while the rush of betting on a game still exists (whether this is good or bad is still a question mark, but that is a whole different subject matter)

In this intellectual type of world so much of academia is based around these ideas and theories that can't be tested going forward, or if they can be used going forward it takes months if not years to see if the original hypothesis even made any sense.

In the sports betting market this is a night and day difference. You have a theory and if your theory has only a few parameters you will be able to obtain some results for your theory with a relatively healthy sample size in a short period of time.

The question remains:
I have a profitable model/angle. Will this model/angle remain profitable or will the bookmakers find the flaw within their lines?

This is the inherit risk with sports betting or any kind of financial market for that matter (some may even say this is the risk with obtaining a fulfilling life in general). If you become content in whatever you are doing and are not always on guard and are not always sharp you will go through struggles that could have been avoided.

I have learned a tremendous amount about life from living in Las Vegas.

You always have to be keenly aware of your surroundings to be successful.
You always have to be prepared for whatever situation you encounter and if you are not prepared life will teach you an expensive lesson.
You can't screw up if you want to "make" it.
People are judgmental, but in this society all judgments can be overcome if you have traits/qualities that the general society values.
(Side note about this quip: If you are good looking you will always being given some sort of initial respect that non good looking individuals are not afforded.
If you have money you will always be respected by people that value money the same way that people that value good looks will always respect others who are good looking.)
In the real world the concept and execution of being "free" and "true to yourself" and being a "free spirit" is much more difficult than I ever imagined.

One thing about Vegas it is so crazy/wild and you see so much that someone getting wild and doing something outrageous is not a concern of yours and you don't even think twice about it. While in many other places/segments of society people care so much about what others do. I think it comes down to this idea that the normal American's life is pretty boring. And I don't mean this in some mean spirited way, "oh, you live some boring life with your boring spouse, your boring dog, and boring kids" (although sometimes I do think that way, which may be some sort of jealousy or may be this desire for these people to experience more of life, but different strokes for different folks)
I mean, I went on some cruise and we were at dinner and someone started talking about tv shows and these individuals talked about television shows for about 30 minutes straight, and these were not amazing tv shows mind you, they talked about some of the most cookie cutter tv shows (reality cooking shows, dexter, entourage), just incredibly mundane.

I think Vegas turns one liberal (libertarian) in that sense, you let people be who they are going to be and the judgments start to phase out of ones psyche. It's actually pretty rad to think about, because if you want to practice the idea of no jealously, no envy, no hate, getting rid of idealistic judgments is a step in the right direction.

This society is flawed in so many ways, but being a person in a society I guess I believe in the idea, get respected, and once you are respected you can make a greater contribution.

But on the flip side I also believe in the idea of making a great contribution and then being respected.

Not really sure what the answer is, probably a combination of sorts.