A Simple Conversation Changed My Life Forever! One of the worst things of my last job is the office hours. You have to sit there while students come in and ask you boring questions about a class that you are bored teaching. Even worse, you know the students are just as bored by your answers as you are by their questions. It's truly mind numbing. But, it was during one of these office hours that a student changed my life. He came in and asked me about how statistics could be used to make bets on sports. At first I dismissed him. After all, gambling was illegal where we were, and there were no casinos anywhere near our college. Then, he pointed out to me that you no longer need to be in a casino or deal with illegal bookies to bet on sports. With the advent of the Internet anyone, anywhere can bet on major league sports from home, legally. That got me thinking. Could statistical analysis really work with sports gambling? I told the student that I'd have to think about it. ...