So.. THIS Crumb is the Reason I Haven't Won a Bet in the Last 3 Months??

All those hours of watching games. All the time spent on the Internet checking out stats and the latest trends. All those years gaining the common sense needed to make good decisions. Down the shitter.

The average sports better has always been disadvantaged. Its the nature of the beast. That's why the sports books stay open. With the "juice" that comes along with every bet or the fact that people much smarter than you and I set the lines with the help of more information than any of us with ever care to look at. Most people are sheep when it comes to betting, choosing to pick YOUR team, when they clearly have no chance of staying in the game. Or picking the Yankees or Cowboys because that's only teams you ever hear about on Sportscenter. But the few of us who actually pay attention to going on of things outside 100 miles of our homes are still behind the eight ball. The only reason we might have a better time of wagering is that we can use the information collected to make informed decisions.

Now, saying all that, it means nothing if you have some slappy on the inside working against you. You are pretty much giving your money away to anyone or anything that will take it. The thing is that through out the years, there has been an understanding that sports were sacred. That no one would dare ruin sports. Over the years though, certain people have tested that notion in order to make a quick buck. The Chicago Black Sox, the kid from the Arizona State Basketball team that shaved points, the recent gambling ring run by ex-professional hockey player Rick Tocchet, and of course Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose. The NBA and NFL have never experienced anything like this this related to gambling though.

Until now.

As everyone has heard by now, Tim Donaghy, a long time NBA official has been accused of betting on games in which he was officiating and giving information about the outcome of games that would possibly benefit potential betters. Basically, the douschbag was fixing games. David Stern confirmed yesterday in a press conference that the news story was indeed true and that there was an investigation ongoing.

Probably the thing that stuck out the most from the news conference, and probably one of the funnier things I've seen in a while, was the look on David Stern's face throughout the entire hour. He honestly looked like someone just ran over his golden retriever. I know that's not the funniest thing to think about, but when you think David Stern, you think stoic and firm. You think hard case. Running his league more like a dictatorship than anything else. But to see him stand there limply, looking like a strong breeze would blow him over, it seemed like his baby was being taken away from him. He looked the warden in Shaw shank Redemption, when he realized that Andy Dufrain had single handily just ruined him.



Stern better hope that this was, as he put it, one rouge criminal and nothing more. If this guy squeals and starts naming names, the NBA is ruined. And yes, I mean ruined. For years, people have been wondering out loud if the NBA was rigged, fixed, plotted out like the WWE. And David Stern acted like it was preposterous to think about such things. The league he helped build to prominence could never be taken down like that. Or could it??

Such things make you wonder about happenings in the past and say hmmmmm... Now, as you may or may not know, I am the biggest Michael Jordan fan I know. But even I could see that while he was playing, he got, should I say, the benefit of, oh, a thousand or so calls. Was it that he was just that great of a player? Maybe. Hopefully. But you have to wonder if the most popular player to ever step foot on a basketball court was given the red carpet treatment once or twice. No one will really ever know for sure I guess.

All I know, is that, right now, in the Land of the Major Sports Commissioners, Gary Bettman is king.

I had been wondering for months now how those games that were locks in every way could go so wrong. How with 22 seconds left and the Spurs up 9 in a meaningless game against the Hawks, Jacque Vaughan can proceed to turn the ball over instead of running out the clock as he should. And how the Hawks can then come down and score a meaningless basket, thus making the deficit 7 and ruining my beautiful $30 dollar Parlay. Now, I know the answer. If you need me, I'll be hunting down Tim Donaghy. My new 9 Iron needs to be broken in. I just hope someone else doesn't get to him first.