By Bruce Tran
Daily Bruin Contributor
Even if you have no idea what the difference between Murray
State and McNeese State is, even if you had no idea that a Central
Connecticut State University even existed, and even if you thought
Miami was just a football school, you still have a chance at
winning the jackpot. All you need is a pen, a bracket, some cash
and a little bit of luck, and you could easily find yourself
gloating to that guy sitting next to you who always wears
basketball gear and talks about Duke’s Jason Williams as if
they grew up together.
This is the beauty of the NCAA Tournament office pools.
From the loud parties of the fraternity houses to the serene
privacy of the dorm room, the same questions are crossing the minds
of UCLA students throughout campus. With the NCAA Tournament
looming, office pools are starting up again and students are
pulling out their pens and wallets and making their predictions
““ despite its illegal nature.
“It’s not just about the money,” said
second-year physiological science student Alan Evelyn, who is
involved with an office pool at the UCLA Medical Center.
“It’s about bragging rights. It’s about being
able to say you know something about something that can be so
unpredictable. And it’s about the money.”
Nevertheless, office pools are illegal outside Nevada. The
NCAA’s stance is clear on this ““ gambling has no place
in college sports. Yet some estimates have placed NCAA Tournament
office pools at a total of one billion dollars, according to the
National Gambling Impact Study Commission for the NCAA.
“In a perfect world, we wish there were no pools,”
NCAA gambling activities director Bill Saum told CNN Money.
“We realize that putting a dollar in for fun is not going to
make someone a compulsive gambler or impact the outcome of a game.
But some of those pools on Wall Street for tens of thousands have
that potential.”
At the same time, it’s a law (penal code section 3.30)
that is rarely enforced. Congress has debated legislation, but
nothing has passed. For all of its hype and blatant presence on
campus, UCPD cannot recall even citing one single office pool.
“We’re just here to support the law, so we would
definitely have to follow up and cite people if there are
complaints,” said Nancy Greenstein, UCPD director of
community service. “But that’s never happened.
We’re a little busy to be looking for people running office
pools. We’d much rather get the burglar.”
Thus, groups across campus believe it is safe to hold an office
pool, especially with potential benefits such as camaraderie,
unity, pride and of course, the money. First-year psychology
student Gepetto Esperanza was involved with NCAA Tournament pools
even before college, hitting a jackpot of $500 when he was only 16
years old. Now at UCLA, Esperanza is investing in an office pool
with Theta Chi, a fraternity house.
“One of the guys in our house loves college basketball and
set up a pool through Yahoo! Sports,” Esperanza said.
“It’s much more fun when money is on the line. It
brings unity to our house. We hang out with each other to watch the
games, and it gives us something else to talk about.”
Adds administrative assistant Debbie Barnes, “It’s
the reason why I watch the games ““ I wouldn’t watch
them otherwise. If my teams win, I’m excited and I move on.
If I lose, I’m kind of bummed, but I really don’t take
it that seriously because I’m not into basketball that
much.”
For those who don’t want to invest money (i.e. gamble),
sports Web sites such as ESPN.com and Sportsline.com offer prizes
for those who make the best selections. The ESPN Men’s
Tournament Challenge proclaims itself “America’s
favorite office pool,” while Sportsline.com’s
competition, sponsored by Kinko’s, offers up to $10 million
to anyone who picks the winners of all 63 games correctly.
“I don’t know enough about college basketball to
feel comfortable gambling money,” said second-year student
Kimi Maibaum, who registered with ESPN.com. “There’s no
money loss involved with these Web sites, but at the same time, I
can still be in touch with the NCAA Tournament action.”
Many of the sports Web sites also offer computer programs to run
independent office pools. The programs automatically compute the
score of each contestant on a game-by-game basis, and contestants
can fill out their brackets online at their own convenience. Some
computer programs can even write up a report for each
contestant.
Those who are seriously involved in their pools often take into
consideration strength of schedule, RPI, win-loss record and the
talent on their teams. According to Evelyn, it often takes him
close to five hours to complete the research to fill out his
bracket.
Others will simply get it straight from the gut.