If You Ask Me... NCAA Betting

My pick (OK, I am adopting Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel's top pick) is UCLA. The team, the players, the tradition, the coach and the comfortable California-based schedule makes it a favorite to win it all

But wait a minute, nobody asked me.

I could have sworn that someone said something about March Madness, the annual American festival, in which 64 college basketball teams meet in one of the world's most exciting tournaments.

They did say something. But it wasn't about the sport. It wasn't even about the betting that surrounds it.

Rather it was about the investigation carried out by the FBI into innocent (or not so innocent) Facebook applications that provide platforms for such betting pools so familiar from practically anyone's office days.

How Did This Happen?

Betting pools have been as seasonable in March as St. Patrick's Day. They have been as widely accepted as coming into the office late the morning after St. Paddy's.

So what is it that made the FBI all of a sudden notice these bets, which an estimated 48% of office workers participate in (only a few percentage points short of Super Bowl betting participation rates)?

It's that US ban on online gambling is what it is. UIGEA. What a mess, to suddenly turn this American pastime into a crime, no less.

The Feds are not to blame. They are following the letter of the law.

UCLA

But I stop short of criticizing the law. I stick to my humble guesstimate: UCLA will win the title.