I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. For the first time this football season, the only money I lost this week was to my favorite sports bar downtown. You see, like many other fans of the NFL, I have a tendency to bet – and lose – money just about every week. But now I’m doing what Brett Favre could never do — throwing in the towel when my time is up. No more betting on football. Period. I just can’t win.

It all started in August when I received an e-mail from a good friend trying to reunite our old group, which is dispersed across the country. The plan was to organize a suicide football pool. The rules were simple — send in your money before week one and you’re in. Every week you select one team to win its game. If your team wins, you move on to the next week. If they lose, you’re done for the season. You can only pick a team once, and the person who makes it the furthest takes all the winnings.

In week one, I took the Cardinals to beat the 49ers. My logic was not to pick a guaranteed blowout because I wanted to save the better teams for later in the season. However, I wanted to feel confident, and the reigning NFC champions beating a rebuilding San Francisco team seemed like a good bet. Wrong. The 49ers pulled the upset, and my season was done, and my money was down the drain.

Feeling a little depressed about my week-one loss, I tried to rebound in week two. I put some money down on my hometown New England Patriots to beat the Jets at the Meadowlands. Wrong again. The Patriots were embarrassed at the hands of their archrivals, and my wallet took another beating. Adding insult to injury, my bet was against a Jets fan, and my ego took a bit of a beating as well.

“Enough is enough,” I thought. “No more betting.” I had started to wean myself off earlier this season when I resisted the temptation to enter a fantasy league. It was time to come full circle because clearly the odds are against me.

Allen Moody, author of the “Sports Gambling Guide” on About.com, reports that 90 percent of sports bettors will lose money over the course of the year; and I need to resolve myself to the fact that I’m not going to be in that elite 10 percent.

So, after my first week without betting, I’m feeling pretty good. I was able to enjoy watching some football without sweating through any games. My thoughts were on having fun rather than losing money. With fourteen weeks left in the regular season, I’m excited to strictly be a fan. It’s going to be all fun with no wagers from here on out. That’s it. No more. I’m done. Well, at least until March Madness.

Cory Francer is a senior sport studies major. Contact him at cfrance1@ithaca.edu.