The bet, basketball edition

"Irish Bruin" Mike Tran -- he of the stylish car with the gorgeous flag -- is eager to redeem himself after going 0-3 against me in football this past fall (ND 20, UCLA 6; USC 38, ND 0; USC 24, UCLA 7). Luckily for Mike, basketball season has arrived. With his Bruins ranked #4 and my Trojans unranked, Mike sees an opportunity to win his first bet against me since The Game Which Must Not Be Named led to this fashion atrocity and this pack of lies. So he's been harassing me to come up with a basketball bet before USC visits UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

Because individual regular-season basketball games aren't nearly as important as individual regular-season football games, and because the teams will play each other at least twice and possibly three times (maybe even four, in the unlikely event they meet in the NCAA Tournament), I wanted to bet on the season series, not the individual games. But Mike said he's not patient enough to wait all those weeks for what he seems to view as an inevitable victory. So we compromised and made a pair of small, relatively low-stakes bets on the individual games, plus a much higher-stakes bet on the season series.

Full details are published after the jump, but the basic gist is this: each individual regular-season game will cause either Mike or I to profess our man-crushes on O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love, respectively, for the following 24 hours. Also, if I lose, my blog's subtitle will change to "Mike Tran owns me," and if he loses, his Facebook profile will change similarly. As for the season series: if USC wins it, either 2-0 or 2-1 counting the Pac-10 tournament (any potential NCAA Tournament matchup doesn't count), you'll be seeing -- repeatedly, throughout March and early April -- a lovely photo of Mike wearing a USC shirt and doing the victory sign in front of Tommy Trojan. On the other hand, if UCLA wins the season series, the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool will be renamed "the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool, presented by the UCLA Bruins," and I'll have to say that in every pool update on the blog, and in the official logo to boot.

Full bet terms after the jump.

These are the terms, verbatim, as I e-mailed them to Mike; he replied simply, "Deal."

Individual game bets

- If UCLA wins, I have to post a photo of Kevin Love, with the caption, "I have a man-crush on Kevin Love," on the blog.  I also have to put a smaller version of the same thing at the top of the right sidebar, where it will stay for 24 hours.  And the subtitle of my blog, where it says "Blogging hyperactively since 2002," will change to "Mike Tran owns me" for the same 24 hours.

- If USC wins, you have to change your Facebook status to "Brendan Loy owns me, and I have a man-crush on O.J. Mayo" for 24 hours.  And I get to post a screenshot of that Facebook status, along with the picture of you looking sad with your car and the Trojan flag that you wouldn't let me post before.  [Mike sent four several alternative versions of the photos seen in this post, but would only let me post two of them on the blog. -ed.]  Not in the sidebar, just on the blog, so it'll scroll off the page like normal.  However, to make up for the lack of a guaranteed 24-hour sidebar appearance, if USC wins the first game (at Pauley), I reserve the right to re-post the above-described stuff on the blog prior to the second game (but then it will again scroll off the page like normal).

- Except for that last little bit about if USC wins at Pauley, the bet is the same for each game.  So, potentially, we could each end up doing the above stuff twice.  Or, if they split the series, we'll each have to fulfill our end of the bargain once.  This bet does NOT apply to any postseason games, only the two regular-season games.  If necessary, we can come up with new individual-game bets for any postseason games.

Season series bet

- If UCLA wins the season series 2-0, or 2-1 including the Pac-10 tournament, I have to change the name of my men's basketball pool to "The 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool, presented by the UCLA Bruins."  (I have to keep "Living Room Times" in the name for tradition's sake.  But it's sort of like the "Rose Bowl presented by Citi.")  I have to include the "presented by the UCLA Bruins" in every single full-fledged pool update that I post on the blog... so that'll be about fifty times or something obscene like that.  UCLA also has to appear somewhere in the official logo.

- If USC wins the season series 2-0, or 2-1 including the Pac-10 tournament, you have to go to Tommy Trojan and get your picture taken in front of Tommy, doing the victory sign and wearing a USC shirt of some kind (with "USC" in big letters, clearly visible).  I will send you a sweatshirt if necessary.  You have to get me this picture before March 1 if it's a 2-0 regular-season series sweep, or by the Wednesday before the NCAA Tournament starts (March 19) if it's 2-1 with the rubber match being in the Pac-10 tournament.  I get to post this picture on my blog as often as I want during March (and early April, i.e. Final Four weekend).  This is only fair because of how often the "presented by UCLA Bruins" would appear if you win.  Besides, UCLA will be favored in both games...

- If the season series is tied 1-1, and the teams don't play in the Pac-10 tournament, nobody wins anything on this bet.

- If by chance the teams play in the NCAA Tournament, that does NOT count toward this bet, no matter what the score of the season series is.  We can make a separate bet on the NCAA Tournament if that happens.

So there you go. Fight on, Trojans!! Beat the Bruins!! Kill 'em, O.J.!! Er, I mean...

Comments

[David K.]

Those are lame terms, Mike has an immense advantage, and you shouldn't have to do something so long lasting (the tournament thing) if you lose. You need a better negotiating team. I mean he had to only endure one day with the Trojan flag on his car, and most people probably didn't even know it was him as he was driving around.

"The 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool, presented by the UCLA Bruins."

It's official: Nothing is safe from sponsorship.

[David K.]

In fact, there should be a boycott of your pool should you decide to go down this dark and dangerous path. You are making very powerful enemies Mr. Loy :P

[lex icon]

Brendan, you are a brilliant gambler.