Apologies for the late notice, but it’s difficult these days in Chicago to muster up the required level of outrage needed to become a full-time sports pundit.
There certainly are many topics to vent about in the sports world, but not enough real anger to provide a proper harrumphing after watching what’s going on in our own neighborhoods.
I’m not sure how sports-talk radio personalities, podcasters, sports-debate-show panelists, YouTubers, bloggers and assorted bloviators on social media do it and still maintain enough outrage for news that truly deserves it, like Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, the designated jabroni in charge of “Operation Midway Blitz,” appearing to toss a tear gas canister at protestors in Little Village.
But outrage is all the rage, narratives must be written and attention must be paid.
So let the harrumphing begin.
The Los Angeles Dodgers bought their way into the World Series and are “ruining” baseball with their overspending ways?
This is the narrative manager Dave Roberts helped fuel after the Dodgers won the National League Championship Series against … let me check my notes … oh, yes, the Milwaukee Brewers.
“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” Roberts said after the NLCS sweep. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”
This quote was bound to backfire on Roberts, much like the Brewers flying an “L” flag after beating the Chicago Cubs in the NL Division Series. Sometimes it’s better to just leave things be, and after an 11-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday in Game 1 of the World Series, the Dodgers’ awful bullpen was exposed, along with Roberts’ deployment of it.
Still, there was plenty of time for the Dodgers to “ruin” baseball by winning a World Series with their gargantuan payroll of around $400 million, depending on your definition of “ruin.”
This narrative is not exactly new. The Yankees liked to go out and try to buy championships when many of us were younger and loved hating New York teams. We all blamed owner George Steinbrenner’s ego instead of payroll disparities, making it easier to villainize the Yankees.
Steinbrenner, a convicted felon who later was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan and became a role model for President Trump, also created an unlevel playing field. But it didn’t ruin baseball. Why would the Dodgers be any different?
Baseball, and its megarich owners, will be fine whether the Dodgers win or lose to the Blue Jays. Maybe we need to look at the teams that hoard their share of the national TV money and foist yearslong rebuilds onto their fan bases under the pretense of going through a “process.”
Even the players know it’s not the way to treat loyal fans.
“When you have a great sports town and you come out and say ‘We’re rebuilding,’ it crushes that town,” Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal told me last summer. “Now we’ve finally got the (Tigers) fans to buy back into us, and it took too long — eight years or whatever. It’s tough for fans. When you’re a die-hard fan and your team is kind of openly saying we don’t want to win, that’s not what you want to hear.”
You want to hear teams saying “We’ll do whatever it takes to win,” which is what the Dodgers are doing. Spending money obviously makes it easier to win, but it guarantees nothing, as the New York Mets proved by missing the playoffs despite a $340 million payroll.
And if the Dodgers lose to the Blue Jays because of relievers who can’t get outs, all they money they spent elsewhere won’t really matter.
It’s the bullpen, stupid.
The NBA is scarred by a betting scandal involving a head coach who acted in concert with mobsters who “arranged for unwitting victims to play in underground illegal poker games that were secretly rigged”?
If you’re rich enough and dumb enough to get into a high-stakes poker game with guys nicknamed “Lou Ap,” “Spook” and ”Albanian Bruce,” maybe you deserve to lose your shirt. Anyone who watched “The Sopranos” knows the perils. Former New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor guest-starred in one episode, playing himself as a celebrity player in the mobster Feech’s executive card game. It didn’t end well for the poor sap who got into “the game.”
So there’s no crying here for high rollers who believe playing poker with Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is a big deal and then get scammed. Billups allegedly served as a “face card” celebrity used to draw suckers to the mob-run game, and his decision-making last year during the Blazers’ tanking season deserves further scrutiny after this episode.
Certainly Billups, who was among 31 indicted Thursday for wire fraud and money laundering in the federal investigation into illegal gambling, should never coach again if found guilty of participating in the scam. Miami Heat player Terry Rozier, who allegedly faked an injury in 2023 to cash in on prop bets involving his stats, and former NBA assistant coach Damon Jones, who allegedly leaked insider information on a player injury for betting purposes, also should be banned for life if found guilty.
As Charles Barkley opined on the betting scandal: “These dudes are stupid.”
But the NBA, NFL and MLB are all in bed with sports-betting businesses, so it’s hard to sympathize with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver when he said Friday that he was “deeply disturbed” by the betting scandal.
“There’s nothing more important for the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition,” he said.
Of course. Then why not just disassociate the NBA from all gambling-related partnerships, such as the ones with FanDuel and DraftKings? Oh, too much revenue for the billionaire owners to stop stuffing into their pockets? Never mind then.
At least our government is watching out for us, even the millions who don’t attend high-stakes poker games with the Mafia and the millions who don’t even bet on sports and the millions who don’t follow the NBA.
“This FBI will never stop following the money to pursue and find those who break our laws,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in another attention-grabbing performance at a news conference.
Patel reminds me of Capt. Louis Renault in “Casablanca,” who was “shocked!” to learn that illegal gambling was taking place in Humphrey Bogart’s nightclub before being handed his winnings. Patel doesn’t need to look far to find some lawbreaking going on in Washington. Follow the money.
The NBA will survive this episode and the next betting scandal as well.
As long as humans play and coach sports, there always will be some who don’t play by the rules, and others who will try to exploit that person’s lack of ethics by making money off it.
If you don’t believe me, go ask “Albanian Bruce.”
