By Brittany Burke
I admit it, I am on no level an educated basketball fan. I make the attempt to watch my adopted team, which happens to be the Celtics, and watch ESPN, but other than that I can’t get into it. Or so I thought.
The more the month of March dragged on the more I found myself getting sucked in to the insanity that is March Madness. I even found myself a bit bummed that I had to work during the latest UConn game. Not completely upset, since I work for a hockey organization, but more upset than I had ever been in the past.
What really fascinates me about the entire idea of March Madness is not necessarily the game itself, but the betting. Every time there is a major sporting event, whether it be the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Series and so on, there will be gambling. It’s inevitable. However, I have never heard so much talk about gambling as I have surrounding the March Madness brackets.
Whether I’m at work or in class someone is always talking about how their respective brackets are doing. Whether they’ve been shot to shit or whether they still actually have a chance. The majority of the time the people talking don’t just have one bracket going, they have at least two, and chances are there was a buy in, which means if you still have a chance, you can still win money.
At my job there was a $5 buy in that while is on a very small level is gambling nonetheless. All the talk made me wonder that while sports betting is generally looked down upon, do major games, such as March Madness, warrant betting?
Is it okay for a kid in high school to take the $5 buy in or a college student to place bets online? Also, why is this type of gambling pretty much accepted? Can’t we make an argument that it’s gateway gambling?
I don’t want people to assume that I have anything against the brackets, because I don’t, it’s a part of the game. In fact if I had one, I would be that girl who randomly just filled in the blank spaces and hoped for the best. Given this method, chances are I would win, and I’m probably missing out on money since I couldn’t be bothered. In the end I chose to keep my parking money and not take the risk.
But that’s just it. Gambling of all sorts, especially sports betting, is a huge risk. So why take it? What thrill comes from it? Because I know as a broke college student I can’t afford to lose my money and sports are way too unpredictable to bet on.
I know enough about March Madness to know that there is at least one major upset in the tournament and depending how invested you are, that one upset could cost you.
Is all the stress worth it? All I think about is that commercial with the guy in the dark, dingy basement, taking a bat to his TV because he just lost money in a baseball game.
Getting a perfect bracket is practically impossible, yet people all around the world will continue to log on and place bets. It’s an inevitable part of the sports industry, but is it one that should be accepted?