Greed, Indeed

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Can we trust sports anymore?

That has to be the big question after an FBI gambling scandal revealed some disheartening truths about sports betting. We have seen scandals before in sports throughout history. We have always regarded them as the rare exception to the non-negotiable honesty and integrity that must be sacred to the believability that competition on all levels in all leagues, college and pro, is all about individuals and teams trying to do their very best to win.

Now we are rocked by the latest, frightening scandal involving top and legendary names in the NBA who have allegedly done dishonest things.

Terry Rozier, a current star is accused of illegally manipulating what is known as prop bets, where bettors can put money down on individual statistics, and situations that come up in games. Chauncey Billups, an NBA Hall of Famer, and currently head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, is charged with his involvement in rigged poker games where he was the “face card” to lure players into games that were supposedly rigged by the most prominent Cosa Nostra families.

Then, another NBA figure, former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones accused of selling inside information on the injury status of their star and one of the league’s all-time greats, LeBron James. Both Rozier and Billups were placed on “immediate leave” after the news broke, but the all the arrests in the world won’t help solve the issue of dishonesty by those involved in the game, which leaves all sports with loads of questions and no real foundation for the business as usual method of operation we’ve known forever.

Sports scandals up until now have always been about the throwing of games, and the shaving of points, so a team doesn’t cover the betting point-spread.

That, obviously is bad enough, but now there are the prop bets in which players don’t achieve a certain number of points or rebounds or turn the ball over to the opposition or anything that involves a bet of any kind, including the smallest of situations that could affect a game. Rozier actually feigned injury to take himself out of a game assuring he wouldn’t reach certain totals. We’re talking about a player earning over $20 million a season and sporting a contract over $160 million. But if he wants to help his friends win $200 thousand, he can make that happen. That’s what Terry Rozier allegedly did.

Once upon a time, the Commissioners of the top sports leagues testified that allowing gambling of any sort would ruin sports. The NBA’s Adam Silver and the Roger Goodell of the NFL were vehement about that issue. Then, seeing how many billions betting entities such as FanDuel and DraftKings could mean for their leagues, and for their network partners, they changed their tune thinking betting could be controlled and thus manageable. In truth the leagues became greedy. They wanted even more money in their coffers. Greed, indeed.

But it was folly to think that the practice of betting wouldn’t get out of hand.

The underworld saw an opening, and now players got into the act, knowing they could wager on events in the game they were playing, and we’re witnessing the worst in real time. Two major league pitchers were suspended this past summer as a result of investigations on wagering activity based on individual pitches they threw.

There’s no sense in running down a laundry list of betting scenarios that are out there.

When the news broke about the scandals, the common question was, is this the tip of the iceberg?

Can anyone really have a belief that this one is it. That everything else is clean?

I have my doubts. Why would it be? There is too much out there for anyone connected with the games we watch, not to get involved.

I am not, and cannot accuse anyone of illegal actions, but more and more there is a question mark hovering over everything we see.

The real question shouldn’t be, “is this the tip of the iceberg?”, but “how do we put the genie back in the bottle?”

Looking ahead, I wonder how we would handle a world of sports that no longer could be trusted. That integrity wasn’t a given.
I have a feeling that no matter what comes down the pike, there is no way people would abandon watching their alma mater, their favorite teams, their favorite players. I can’t imagine fans turning their backs on the great panorama of sports entertainment.

It’s magic and it’s so much a part of our lives.

There is a reason why it has become a billion dollar business.

I can only bring myself to a time, decades ago, that I worshipped my teams, watched or listened to virtually every game, was enthralled when we won, crushed when we lost.

If you told me then, that not everything was legitimate, that there might have been fixing of some kind in the game, I believe I would have had to make the best of it.

I would have hoped that wasn’t the case, but that I had to live with what happened and move on. Think positive. What choice did I have? It wouldn’t be the same, but there’s no way I would have dumped sports to find something else.  It meant too much.

Not ideal. But I would have adjusted.

We may be entering that time before long. I hope not.

Like so many things in our lives, it won’t be the same.