It’s the most wonderful time of the year. I’m not talking about the Andy Williams Christmas song that gets stuck in all of our heads so easily, I am talking about March Madness. As a full-time sports fan and a part-time gambler, watching March Madness in Las Vegas is the best of both worlds. I get to place bets on teams I don’t really care about and watch the games unfold with the biggest degenerates this world has to offer.

For the past three years, my best friends and I have made the trip out to Las Vegas, aka Treat City, to watch the first round of tournament games. For anyone, that hasn’t done this I highly recommend it. Watching the games at a sports book with people who have bet more money than they have is always a sight to see. The late Vince Lombardi had a very famous quote, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Well, Vince, I want you to know that you were partially correct, but the one thing that is more important than winning is covering the spread. Here is a basic rundown of how the spread works. Say a team is listed at +5 ½, this means that they are the underdogs by 5 ½ points which is Vegas’ way of saying that they think the team will lose by more than 5 ½. So if you bet on the +5 ½ it means that before the game has even started, in a betting sense, your team is winning by 5 ½ points. Now that you hopefully understand the spread, here are some games that caught my eye in the opening weekend and had me make a friendly wager.

Baylor vs. Yale

Entering the game, Yale was a 5½-point underdog. To the average person, this was an easy bet. Baylor entered as the No. 5 seed and Yale as the No. 12 and most people thought that the Baylor Bears would do anything in order for them not to have to go back to Waco, Texas. I decided to take Yale, though. Along with Yale players knowing that you need a 48-degree arc to score, Ivy League teams tend to put up a fight in first round matchups and Baylor loves to underachieve making Yale an easy pick for me.

For the majority, watching Yale defeat Baylor 79-75 wasn’t a good time, but for me, it was terrific. Ever since I saw Average Joe’s defeat Globo Gym in the movie, "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," I have been fascinated by upsets, so seeing Yale win brought a grin to my face, but seeing them cover the spread, gave me a huge smile. Sure I was chanting, “Let’s go, Yale,” but that wasn’t because I wanted them to win, it was only because it was easier than chanting, “Don’t lose by more than 5 ½.” Like I said before, covering the spread is more important than winning.

University of Southern California vs. Providence

This game was a doozy. The spread was Providence – ½ so basically it was a pick the winner type of game. It’s common for people to say, bet with your mind, not your heart, but for me, I just couldn’t do it. Yes, my mind told me that USC was the better team, but one of my friends with me in Vegas is a huge USC fan, so naturally I bet on the Providence Friars to win. Throughout the game, there were several lead changes and everyone got the sense that it was going to come down to the wire. USC was winning by one with three seconds left to play and I truly thought the game was over. But then USC’s refusal to make free throws and Rodney Bullock happened.

Rodney Bullock if you are reading this I want you to know that if you are ever in the greater Los Angeles area I would like to take you out to dinner, it’s on me. What made this game so exciting was to see the emotion in everyone who bet on this game. You either had USC winning or Providence winning, no spread involved. To see those who bet on USC go from happy to sad in a matter of seconds was quite the visual. Saying that, thank you Providence, for not only helping me win my bet but for also helping me make fun of my friend, who thought USC had a chance to make a run, for the rest of the weekend. Go Kyle. Go Rodney Bullock.

Texas vs. Northern Iowa

This clip was the only thing I had on Northern Iowa, yet was the only thing I needed. The play happened six years ago in a second round matchup against Kansas. Though none of the players from then were on the team this year, the clip showed how Northern Iowa plays under head coach Ben Jacobson. I mean really look at the video and the situation that Northern Iowa was in. They were winning by one with 40 seconds to play. Ninety-nine out of one hundred coaches would tell their team to wait for the opposing team to foul them because a missed shot could result in a loss, no statistical evidence behind that stat. But Ben Jacobson is different. He teaches his players to run and gun, and that is exactly what Ali Farokhmanesh, whose last name in Hebrew means “goat," did. The shot made no sense but he did it anyways and it eventually propelled Northern Iowa over top-seeded Kansas. I mean Farokhmanesh was three of nine from three-point land before that shot, why on earth did he shoot? I’ll never know, but I love that he did it.

Back to this year's game. Northern Iowa was a four-point underdog entering the matchup against the Texas Longhorns. Even though I had very minimal knowledge on both teams I went with my gut and took Northern Iowa to cover the spread. Like many games that weekend, this one came down to the wire. I was feeling great about my bet; Northern Iowa was up two with 10 seconds left, until Isaiah Taylor knocked down a two-pointer to tie the game. If the game ended in a tie it meant that there would be five more minutes to play in overtime, which would mean that Texas could have a chance to win by five. Then with 1.4 seconds remaining on the clock, Paul Jesperson (say that name five times fast) chucked one up from half court to give Northern Iowa the win and the cover more importantly.

Same goes for you as Rodney, Paul; dinner is on me if our paths ever cross.

March Madness brings us excitement every single year. Put betting aside and it is still so entertaining to watch “nerds” from Yale take down Baylor, or kids from a small town in Iowa beat the big and mighty team from Texas. Upsets are exciting no matter what sport, betting on the upset makes it a little more fun, though.