Once upon a time in sports handicapping, the phrase, “You can’t handicap turnovers” was a maxim.
Variations included: “Turnovers are random,” “Nothing you can do about turnovers,” and, “How was I supposed to know so-and-so was going to turn the ball over five times?”
It was the go-to excuse for people who just lost a bet or TV pundits who made a bad pregame pick.