The bookmaker likes color of money; the fan loves black and gold

To the outside world, bookmakers are like those Easter Island stone idols you see on the Travel Channel: impassive with thousand-mile stares and hearts of granite.

Emotionally detached, cooler than James Dean. Harder to crack than the vault at Fort Knox; that's the image they want to project.

Fortunes shift each time they adjust the point spread. To them the game is more an arithmetic puzzle of probability than a sporting event. The world might cheer while watching the Super Bowl, but the bookmakers remain as calm and calculating as the devil's own accountant.

Then came Sunday afternoon and Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla., with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Arizona Cardinals. About 3,000 miles west of Raymond James Stadium, Station Casinos' vice president of race and sports book operations Art Manteris was a kid again.

A Pittsburgh native, Manteris was raised adoring the Steelers in a city that worships them. The characters of few cities and their sports teams are as inextricably interwoven as Pittsburgh and its Steelers. The Pirates have a place in the past, the Penguins a spot in the future, but the Steelers will forever define the city.

On Sunday, Manteris was deeply conflicted. The bookmaker in him said to remain cool, crunch the numbers, get through the longest day of the year. The fan inside was ready to shout at the big-screen television and raise a toast with every touchdown.

"I grew up in Pittsburgh and was there during the '70s when the Steelers were great," says Manteris, who comes from a family of oddsmakers and sports bettors and at age 52 has been in the business more than three decades. "Pittsburgh has had its ups and downs as a city. A lot of people will say that, in those down years, all they had going for them was the Steelers."

How big a fan was he?

As a young ticket-writer, Manteris finished the late shift in the early morning hours of Jan. 20, 1980, and joined his relatives, fellow sports book guys Chris Andrews and Zack Franzi, for a road trip to Pasadena to watch their Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.

"We had a blast," he says. "It turned out to be one of the greatest days possible for a young man."

Especially one from Pittsburgh. The Steelers not only won, 31-19, but also covered the point spread.

"That kind of sealed our fate in this industry," Manteris says.

Fast-forward nearly 30 years to Sunday. Manteris is no longer the youngster getting schooled by legends such as his uncle, "Pittsburgh Jack" Franzi and Bob Martin. Art's hair is gray. He's now one of the senior members of the Las Vegas sports book fraternity.

In the background, the Steelers fan inside him paced impatiently.

"I normally do tell people I'm only a fan of who we need at the end of the day," he says. "That's true 99.9 percent of the time. But there's still an element of fan in me from time to time. I can't get rid of it."

The Steelers were favorites from a professional standpoint with the point spread moving between 6.5 and 7 points. The money line was a short $2.20. The large wagers placed late by sharp professional bettors came on the Cardinals with the points and the Steelers' money line.

As the game commenced and began its incredible seesaw, Manteris was a man conflicted. You see, it's unwise for a sports book operator to admit he roots for one side or the other. Imagine Steve Wynn dropping by the blackjack pit to root for the house or even a favorite player. As they used to say, it just ain't according to Hoyle.

In the end, it was Pittsburgh.

Then, suddenly, Arizona.

Then, with 35 seconds remaining, Pittsburgh.

The wiseguy bettors made a score with the Cardinals with points and the Steelers with the money line, but Manteris says the house did all right, too. Now all he has to do is wait for his stomach to return to normal.

"You'd think it would get easier," he says. "But it doesn't get easier. I thought that it would, but it doesn't. It's a very intense profession."

Not that he's allowed to admit that on the record, you understand.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.