NFL's gambling policy needs a shot of common sense
The NFL wants you to know it takes the dangers of gambling very seriously. That’s why it didn’t just suspend five players last week, it fired a janitor for wearing a Pete Rose jersey.
Well, that last part is unconfirmed. But it could almost be true, based on the league’s gambling policy.
What is known is three Detroit Lions were suspended for betting on NFL games last season – an obvious no-no. Then things got silly.
Two more players were suspended for betting on college games. And it wasn’t because they bet on college games per se. Their crime was doing it at the Lions facility. If they’d have stepped into the parking lot and clicked their DraftKings apps, it would’ve been all right.
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All but lost in the NFL’s announcement was the news that “several” Lions employees in various departments were fired for violating the league’s gambling policy. That policy applies to all full- and part-time club and league personnel, from owners to consultants to security guards and “other staff.”
Players can bet on other sports, but everybody else remotely associated with the NFL pretty much can’t bet on anything anytime anywhere. Not on NBA, MLB, PGA, LPGA, NCAA, MLS, Premier League, American Cornhole League or Russian Women’s Handball Superleague.
You’d almost think this is 2012, when Roger Goodell wrote in a court document, “The N.F.L. cannot be compensated in damages for the harm that sports gambling poses to the goodwill, character and integrity of N.F.L. football.”
Then the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports wagering in 2018. Now the NFL is compensated to the tune of $2 billion a year in gambling revenue. Hence the need for a gambling policy, which also states there must be a sportsbook in every stadium and 138 gambling ads during every game.
But the league wants everyone to know it still places nothing ahead of the goodwill, character and integrity of the game. That’s why it wants all fans to bet their paychecks on the Packers vs. Cowboys. But if a parking attendant at Lambeau Field has $5 on a WNBA game, he is out of here. …
Stud of the Week: Florida’s men’s golf team, for beating No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt to win its first SEC championship since 2011.
Sweet, sour 16 for Aggies' Sam Bennett
Side note – Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, who’d tied for 16th place at the Masters two weeks earlier, tied for 16th at the SEC championship. Tough crowd.
Dud of the Week: The Cincinnati Reds, for drawing a record-low 7,375 fans for a game against Tampa Bay. Of course, that looked like a big crowd to the Rays, who promptly lost 8-1.
Dud II: Whoever made the state’s emergency-alert system go off at 4:45 a.m. last Thursday. The problem was traced to an FSU fan at Florida’s Division of Emergency Management who thought Jordan Travis had entered the transfer portal.
Dud III: Oakland, for becoming a total handmaiden to Las Vegas. First the Raiders move there, then the A’s announced last week they’re building a stadium in Vegas. Next, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will announce it is starting a residency at Caesars Palace. …
FSU previewed its new football uniforms last week. They featured a pattern on the shoulders that pays tribute to the Seminole Tribe. In unrelated news, the New York Board of Regents passed the Dignity For All Students Act, which bans Native American mascots, team names and logos in public schools.
That pretty much assures Chief Osceola will not be Grand Marshal of this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. …
Don't ever send this guy into outer space
Grammarian of the Week: The SpaceX employee who tweeted the Starship rocket “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly” after it blew up during a test flight. I think that’s what happened to TCU in the College Football Playoff title game.
In a blow to “load management,” the NBA will require players to appear in at least 65 games in order to qualify for postseason awards next season. Bookmakers have set the odds of Antonio Davis winning MVP at 5 trillion to 1. …
Bud Light is the official beer of the NFL. I can’t wait to see the reaction when Dylan Mulvaney tosses the ceremonial coin at the season opener. …
I don’t want to say today’s NBA players are pampered, but Wilt Chamberlain missed eight minutes of the entire 1961-1962 season (he was ejected for technical fouls in one game). He also averaged 50.5 points and 25.7 rebounds and an undisclosed number of romantic interludes per night. …
This Just In: Roger Goodell’s gardener has been fired after investigators discovered he bet on the dachshund to win the Westminster Dog Show. …
If FSU’s new uniforms featured a pattern of Burt Reynolds in a cowboy hat driving a 1977 Trans-Am, the Seminoles should be granted immediate entry into the College Football Playoff. …
That’s about all the space we have for this week’s Whitley’s Believe It or Not. Till next time, if you plan to drive to New York, please don’t take a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: After Lions' suspensions, NFL's gambling policy needs dose of common sense
