Kelly S. Croslis is a Freelance Writer and stay-at-home mom to 3 active teenage girls. She uses much of what she learned and experienced in her 20 years of military life and raising her girls. Kelly is a columnist for several Online magazines and Freelances for her local newspaper. She lives with her husband and 3 girls in Pennsylvania.

Are March Madness and Baseball Overshadowed by Gambling?
by Kelly S. Croslis

March - the time when winter and spring meet, basketball begins to wind down, baseball heats up and gambling once again comes to the forefront.

It's a hot topic in the news lately, as March madness heats up the office pools and other opportunities to place bets on who will win takes on a life of its own, as the final 16 teams battle for the title and the right to be called #1 in college basketball.

On the heels of reports of basketball betting is the yearly recurrence of what will happen this year with Pete Rose? What happened in the past? What will happen in the future? It is almost a requirement for the beginning of the baseball season, but as much as people complain bets are made everyday. Weekends are spent simulating drafts and forming teams that will take their 'coach' all the way this year and bring him/her a nice sum of money in the end. While it is common knowledge that gambling is illegal, there seems to be some leniency when it comes to this type of wager. It happens with almost every sport, the office gets together to place wagers on who may win the super bowl, world series, or a Nextel race - but March madness seem to be in a league all it's own. It's been on the news and in the papers. They've interviewed people on the streets and lawmakers, everyone knows its "illegal," but they do it, it's just the office and its fun.

With the coverage of these events it seems the sports themselves are left to play catch up, trying to get the same coverage. Don't worry we'll see if all again next year and next year the teams will return, the forms will be filled out, fields will be filled with fans and the controversy will return. In the end we can only do what we feel is right for us. The stories will always be there.

Comments

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.