In 1998, i was a staffer on the Senate side of Capitol Hill in DC. Each staffer could pay $20 to enter the pool and I did. Being a diehard BYU fan, I hadn't told anyone I chose Utah to win it all. I couldn't reconcile it with my conscience of committing the thought crime of choosing Utah be the champions. I was leading the pool going into the championship game and would have won 20k had Utah prevailed.

Utah played Kentucky in the championship game. When, during the game, Utah got up by eight points, I started to worry what I would tell the Capitol Hill newspaper when they interviewed me about why I choose Utah to win. Word would get out. I could just see the headline in the Salt Lake Tribune: "Blueblood BYU basketball fan betrayed his school and picked the U of U. to win it all." Of course, the Trib article would have probably noted that I had ignored the Church's admonition against gambling and received $20,000 in ill-gotten gains--and they would have asked if I planned to pay tithing on it.

Kentucky came back and beat Utah. I could have used the 20k, but I didn't have to worry about being in the glaring media spotlight. I was disappointed that Utah lost. However, it shows the degree of my indoctrination and fear of being outed that I got over the loss of 20k quickly. So, 27 years later, I can now confess my sin.