this is why I don’t gamble…

About three weeks ago, my friend Brandon and I decided to put together an NCAA Tournament bracket for a handful of our friends. We decided everyone could buy in for $20, winner take all. As usual, I put off filling my bracket in until 4am the night before the tournament. It wasn’t till I had already finished it, that I realized Brandon and I were the only ones to fill out brackets.

The morning of the tournament Brandon texted me and asked if the bet was still on, even though no one bothered to participate. I told him I’d let him know in three weeks when the tournament ended and I’d know whether I’d won or lost.

The first day of the tournament treated me alright, but it really screwed Brandon. He picked UConn to go the Final Four, and they lost in the first round to San Diego. The next 3 rounds treated me just as well, and I picked 3 of the Final Four teams to Brandon’s one.

So all’s well, right? There’s no way I could lose.

I picked UCLA to beat Kansas.

Brandon picked Kansas to beat someone, UConn, maybe.

There were 32 points left on the table going into the championship game and I had a 20 point lead on Brandon.

The catch is this.

Here: I go to Brandon and his fiancee Emily’s place a couple of times a month to watch big boxing matches and basketball games (they have a badass flat screen HDTV). And they are always more than generous with their booze and pizza and what not, so I had no intention of collecting on my winnings.

And then Mario Chalmers hit that goddamned three-pointer.

So I’m out 20 bucks.

Maybe I’ll just buy the pizza next time I go over there…