Andy Jones

So, March Madness is now in full swing. Sister Jean is carrying a team on her back, Nova looks like a lock for the Natty, and UVA has made history by blowing it. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Hey, this is a college sports website, we don’t care about how you spend your money and all of that.” Well, it involves college sports and some personally embarrassing stories about sports betting. As a website, we all love to dip out feet into the world of sports betting, and some have more success than other. *Cough* Listen to our Campus Cover Podcast or our Lock Of the Week’s in the WalkOn’s Podcast. *Cough* So, because of all the first-half unders and teams covering the spread last-minute, I decided to give three quick stories about my high and lows of sports betting, how I almost got stuck in the middle of a desert, and how I accidentally bet on the wrong team and won. (Note: I am 18 and while it is not the legal age for sports gambling, me and my friends will just do internal bets with spreads or straight up, so don’t call the FBI on me.)

Story 1: CFB National Championship

Just like a large portion of the nation, I put some money down on the Bulldog’s with them at +3 and heading into this game, I was very skeptical about it. The Georgia team was hot after a OT win against Baker Mayfield and Co. in the Rose Bowl, and I figured that I would lay so money down on them because what was the worst that could happen? (Famous Last Words). Well, my roommate and I went to our student union to go watch the game because there was a watch party and free food. When I showed up, I thought I walked through a portal and stepped into Tuscaloosa, because every person in there was wearing Crimson or some type of Bama gear. I was thinking to myself “What the hell? We all live in the desert and are MILES away from Bama, why is everyone here rooting for them?” But I didn’t let that discourage me, I was ride or die with my Bulldogs.

So, after watching the first half of the game, it was safe to say I was very happy. I won’t say how much I bet, but I will say it was looking very good at half time. So, like the trash talker I am, I took a little victory lap around to the Bama Non-Student Section at GCU and let them know how I was feeling.  “Cold Tide Cold, UCF would 21-Skunk y’all, Forest Gump was your Best RB…”. Typical trash talk. So, the 2nd half started andddddd then that’s when shit went down hill. Fast. Lo and behold, Bama tied it and up we were going into overtime. Boy oh boy, the Bama fans let me have it. I was one of the few people rooting for Georgia, so I was singled out over the others and it wasn’t pretty.

So, we hit OT. Georgia got the ball first and was held to a FG. I stand up and do a petty clap towards the Bama fans, and they all just look away. Then, Tua took over and all know what happened in OT with him and the results did not favor me. I lost my bet, lost my pride, and the Bama fans all swarmed on me to let me know how they felt. I deserved all of the shit talked to me, but the thing that hurt most was the bet. They were looking so good at half and I was in the MONEY. But, Bama is gonna Bama, and this photo was the result of the pure shock and disappointment of that game:

Story 2: Super Bowl

Now, this one will be brief because it is not college sports. Basically, I was going to watch the game with some friends, and everyone was confident with the Pats winning. The spread was -5.5 for the Pats, and I was all in on the Pats to win it. HOWEVER, when we were all placing bets before the game with each other, I wasn’t paying attention and my buddy knowing this asked if I wanted the Eagles at +5.5 and my idiotic self said “yeah sure”. Then, when I finally started paying attention, I noticed that I was the only person who had the Eagles and was very, very pissed off.

Well, Brady blows and Big Dick Nick took over and I won myself a very nice amount of money and moral of the story is you win some and you lose most.

Story 3: Marshall vs WSU

And we are at the whole reason why I’m writing this article in the first place. So some back story. On Friday the 16th, I was going to drive back home from Phoenix to Southern California to go back home for Spring Break. But I was stuck on my campus for most of the day because the world’s worse professor decided to give a test on the day before Spring Break and it was my latest class of the day at 4. So, to kill most of the day, I was studying and watching some March Madness. My suite-mate and I decided to make a friendly wager and we both put $15 down on the Marshall vs WSU game. He had Marshall and I Had WSU.

Marshall had been whispered as an upset alert, but I believed that the legend of Ron Baker still was gonna carry WSU at least to the Second Round. Well, WSU shit the bed and Marshall won. Me being an idiot,  I didn’t check my bank account to see I didn’t have enough money to make it home (I drive an ’04 Ford F-150 and it’s a Gas Guzzler, and I usually have to fill up two times on my 375-400 mile drive back home). I was panicking because I barely had enough money to fill my tank up just once, let alone top it off so I could make it back with no worries. So I took to Twitter to ask for help…

Nobody helped me which was expected (But the Venmo is still open if you’re feeling generous). So, I let the slack know about my dilemma and like always they were very supportive:

I made it home just as my low fuel light turned on, and I think it is the slowest I’ve ever driven. It helped me find a new-found respect for downward hills for letting me use less gas and a new-found respect for sports gambling. I will probably not learn from my mistakes and will continue to bet, but no longer will bet my gas money. So Happy March Madness, and go Loyola Chicago.