Don't bet on it

Sporting News, The, Oct 13, 1997 by Dave Kindred

A TV producer, thinking of Pete Rose, wanted to do a show about sports gambling. The producer had a guest lined up to say sports gambling should be legalized. He said, "So we need you to say that sports gambling, besides being immoral, will lead to game-fixing and other security problems."

Rose won't go away, and good for him, because he has a right to appeal for reinstatement to baseball. The sad thing is, he won't do what's necessary to get back in. He must prove baseball's investigation was flawed (it reported his fingerprints on betting slips). Or he must admit he bet on baseball games. Until he does one or the other, he has no chance. As long as he denies any need to be forgiven, he certainly will not be forgiven. He will forever be on the outside looking in--because of gambling.

Curious, isn't it? Americans embrace gambling with greater fervor every year. We create lotteries. We launch casino ships. Yet Major League Baseball casts out Rose for doing what millions of people do. He called a bookie to bet on ballgames.

I admire Rose the player. I like nothing about Rose the gambler. Baseball did the right thing in banishing him because gambling, in any form, is an invitation to disgrace.

As to the producer's TV show. I took a pass. I couldn't say sports gambling is morally wrong. I'm opposed simply because 1) it's illegal, even if condoned, and 2) I like the games for what athletes do, not for whether they cover the point spread.

Further, I don't believe legalizing sports gambling will lead to dishonest games. It would be no surprise to learn dozens of games already have been manipulated, if not by players then by referees and coaches.

The only surprise would be to learn that every game has been honestly played. Yet we rarely hear about dirty games. That may be because the leagues' security forces have no investigatory power of law. Or it may be a darker thing. Only a cynic would think this darkly. but here's a question: Has the NFL covered up gambling incidents to preserve its image of integrity?

It has been almost 30 years since Pete Rozelle suspended Packers halfback Paul Hornung and Lions lineman Alex Karras for betting a couple hundred dollars on their own teams. Are we to believe that in today's sports world with its cocaine-and-millionaires lifestyle that not one player, not one coach, not one referee has made a bet on a game in which he took part?

When I collaborated with Joe Theismann on his autobiography, the former Redskins quarterback told me one of his teammates bet $10,000 on the Redskins to win a Super Bowl. That player was never suspended, never investigated, never suspected as far as Theismann knew.

What about the NBA? Is Charles Barkley, who admitted betting on free throws during games, the only NBA player who gambles? Thousands of baseball games, some played by Albert Belle, who admits, as Pete Rose does, to gambling big bucks on college football--and Rose is the only player ever to bet on a baseball game?

Get real. Gambling is everywhere.

On a recent Monday, USA Today printed gambling advertisements in its sports section on pages 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15. A half-page ad touted the gambling wisdom of former quarterback Craig Morton. Another old quarterback, John Brodie, made his pitch along with a couple dozen sleazebags who, if you saw 'em coming up the sidewalk, you'd open the door and let the Rottweiler graze.

Newspaper editorial people have nothing to do with advertising department decisions. But walls separating editorial and advertising are increasingly weak. A corporate decision to print gambling ads may be prelude to suggestions that gambling ought to be covered as news. Today, a fantasy football section, tomorrow, a sports gambling section?

Newspapers I've worked for have been more guilty than USA Today They've hired gamblers to write advice columns. It's advice designed to encourage you to break the law. It's illegal in every state but Nevada to place a bet on any sports event other than those operating under parimutuel laws.

Bob Knight, the Indiana basketball coach, once scolded newspapers this way: "You don't publish the phone numbers of prostitutes. Why? Because prostitution is illegal. You don't publish the street-corner price of cocaine. Why? Because cocaine is illegal. Gambling on sports is illegal, too. But you print the point spreads and you advise which way to bet. Why? You're just promoting the illegal activity you happen to like."

Some people would have you believe it's all innocent. A reader of my online column for The Sporting News sent an e-mail saying he enjoys the excitement of having a financial interest in the outcome of a game. Michael Jordan makes $70,000 a game; why can't I make $20?" (Not to quibble, but Jordan's $33 million contract equals about $402,439 a game.)

It's the culture of gambling that's so bothersome. It introduces illicit money into otherwise honest dealings. Inevitably, it's a temptation that will find takers among athletes taught by society's blind-eye attitude toward gambling that it must be OK, everybody's doing it. That's what happened with maybe 200 college basketball players arrested in the last half century for taking gamblers' money in exchange for manipulating point spreads.