6 of the Best – Redzonesports’ Stephen Baumohl

This week’s 6 of the Best comes from Stephen Baumohl, CO-Founder of Redzonesports.bet.

Continue reading to discover all about a four month South American adventure, how a desperate bet resulted in a great weekend and which movie masterpiece’s production was observed from very close quarters.  

Best Holiday

I spent four months in South America in 2011 where there were so many highlights, but spending two weeks in Antarctica on a research ship was my favourite part. Everything from crossing the Drake passage, to camping on the snow and ice, to being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of penguins was totally surreal. Navigating the crystal clear waters with icebergs, whales and seals on all sides, in total isolation, is a memory that will stay with me forever. Jumping in the icy water was perhaps not the smartest moment!

Best Album

I tend to enjoy many different styles of music and take individual tracks on their own merit, so it is difficult to name a particular album as a favourite, but having said that, at the risk of appearing cheesy, I would pick Thriller by Michael Jackson. So many great songs, and at a time when he had such an impact on society and people’s lives. My appalling dance moves are a direct evolution of listening to this album!

Best Sporting Experience

Another very difficult one to answer but perhaps watching Syracuse University, my old school, win the NCAA basketball championship against Kansas in 2003. The game came down to the last shot, after Syracuse missed two free throws to seal the win, but Kansas’ three pointer to tie the game was blocked and Carmelo Anthony and the Orangemen were champions. Anthony was drafted third overall by the Denver Nuggets a few months later.

Best Film

My father was the MD of Lucasfilm and his office was at Elstree studios, so as a child I spent a lot of time on set during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. Watching the production, and then seeing the finished masterpiece, gave me a unique insight, and made the film an experience that stands out to me to this day, and I was at an age when I was in awe of the ground-breaking special effects and technical achievements.

Best Book

Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Having grown up following baseball, I have always had a fascination for the statistics that accompany it, especially trying to find an edge within them for betting purposes. So the story of how Billie Beane and the Oakland Athletics used sabermetrics to effectively find those same edges, and turn the team in to a contender while handicapped by limited spending power, was one that I could really relate to. The fact that Michael Lewis has the ability to turn a relatively mundane story, in to a gripping adventure, only adds to the brilliance of the book.

Best Bet

I was nineteen years old and took a bus from LA to Vegas with $200 in my pocket. I checked in to a motel and planned to stay the weekend, but not long in to that first night I had blown all the money, so I went back to the motel and wondered how I was going to get back to LA. When I checked out in the morning I received a $5 key deposit back so I headed to the Stardust, looked at the day’s baseball games, and put the money on a parlay that came in, paying around $1500. If there was a section here for ‘best weekend’ the rest of that one would be on the short list!