Every March, millions of college hoops fans throw countless amounts of dollars into NCAA Tournament pools.

While it may seem to be harmless, friendly gambling has changed the perception and viewership of the tournament.

This was the first time since I was in seventh grade that I abstained from entering one of my buddy’s pools, hoping to grab a pocket full of cash and bragging rights. And amazingly, the tournament has been more fun to watch because of it.

Granted I did enter two pools, one with my family and one with friends, but I don’t have any money riding on either. All it took was about two minutes to fill out both brackets.

Normally, if I was filling out a bracket, I would spend at least an hour picking “winners” only to scratch them out seconds later and start over – the whole time pretending like I actually know what I’m doing.

It’s funny how every March, everyone is a master of “bracketology”.

And there’s always the guy at the bar watching an unheard of 13 seed pull off an upset and yelling, “I picked that! I knew they were gonna win!”

Yeah, Ok buddy.

You could fill out a bracket based on which team’s colors you like better or which team has the best foreign name and you’re bound to pick some upsets right. So, don’t act like you’re a genius when it happens.

When I’m not living and dying by every game and I can just watch games, it makes it a lot more fun.

I can openly hate Kentucky, and I don’t have to pretend I like them because they’re in my Final Four. I can root for the upsets I really want to see, or when they happen, I won’t hate whoever screwed up my bracket and ruined my shot at winning some cash.

While betting on the tournament makes the games more interesting, it does have it’s downsides – namely the $20 I save by not wasting it on a busted bracket.

Dan Renick is a junior journalism major. If you agree with Needles and think he’s too chicken to bet on games or drag race in his new truck after coming back from the future (again), then tell him at [email protected].