This is my favorite time of year to make sports wagers. March Madness, the NBA playoffs (so everyone is playing hard, which is why I NEVER bet NBA regular season), and MLB props are all in full swing. Naturally, I see a million guys on a million message boards, all posting their action and their predicted "locks". You'll never see me among them.

In 1992, I was fairly well established amongst a group of guys at Speeds' pool hall in northeast Dallas. I've written about a bunch of these guys in previous blog entries. In the first round of the NBA playoffs that year, my beloved Chicago Bulls were playing a sorely overmatched Miami Heat team which had limped into the playoffs. I cleaned up taking the Bulls, and giving about 16-18 points each game, for the first two games at home. During the off day, I bumped into Big J, who was taking my action...and rather than fully settle with him, I rolled most of what I had won onto Game 3, where the Bulls were giving 10 or 11 (somewhere in there) down in Miami.

Tom the Bartender saw me talking to Big J, and asked what I was doing. I had no problem telling him...I didn't know Tom liked or cared at all about basketball. But being the action junkie he was, he followed up with "Really? Is that a good bet?" I told him I wouldn't have made it if I didn't think so. Tom crawled under the service bar and hustled his way over to Big J.

"What'd you bet?" I asked when Tom came back.

"$200," he said.

I groaned a little. It wasn't what I had bet...but I knew it was more than what Tom had in his pocket, or could probably hope to have.

Of course, the Bulls fell behind by 15 in the first quarter of Game 3, and had to work like hell to eke out a 5-point win. They didn't cover, and Tom was out a lot more than he could afford.

15 years later, I still feel kinda bad that I wasn't smart enough to keep my mouth shut. So I've kept it shut ever since.

Yes, I do have a couple of picks for the March Madness games this weekend. And no, I won't tell you what they are.