2025 Futures wagers, best bets by Chris 'The Bear' Fallica

"Bear Bets" are real wagers that Chris "The Bear" Fallica is actually making.

People who have been following me know that, during football season, I have weekly picks on NFL and college football. But with both of those seasons behind us — or ahead of us, depending on how you look at it — I'm giving you some non-football futures wagers that I like.

Nothing makes sports better than having a few bucks on some futures tickets that you can watch throughout the year.

From March Madness to MLB, I got you covered on a variety of sports.

So let's dive into it.

VCU to make Final Four 

The Rams might not have a ton of Quad 1 and 2 wins, but this is not a team you’re going to want to see pop up as a 10 or 11 seed in your region. The Rams play elite defense. They're ranked 19th in KenPom and are deep. Max Shulga and Joe Bamisile are two of the better players in the A-10 and have multiple scoring threats. VCU has made the Final Four as a low seed, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see another run this year from Ryan Odom’s bunch.

PICK: VCU (+5000) to make Final Four

Cornucopian to win Kentucky Derby 

You’ll have to do some searching to find fixed-odds Derby futures. Caesars Las Vegas is one spot I know that has them. But this is worth the search. Bob Baffert’s exciting three-year-old just broke his maiden in impressive fashion. The figures suggest he ran four lengths faster than the colt that won the Rebel Stakes later in the day. There’s no margin for error; Cornucopian will have to run first or second in the Arkansas Derby to make the Derby starting gate and stay healthy. But Bob Baffert has won a Triple Crown with a latecomer on the trail before (Justify) and if Cornucopian makes the Derby field, he’s going