Sports betting is a time-honored tradition. Ever since high school, when I saw my first blank NCAA basketball tournament bracket with its first-round games filled in, the seeds planted on each team and the endless possibility for domination or upset, shame or glory, I thought there was no more exciting way to spend ten dollars.
This tradition, however, is far from pure. Just ask Rick Neuheisel. The former Washington Huskies head football coach and Madison native was canned in 2003 for betting on March Madness.
Betting scandals have rocked the sports world since 1919, when the White Sox wagered against themselves in the World Series. Pete Rose, one of the best hitters who ever played, now has to live his life after baseball expelled from the organization.
This pretty much brings us up to date on the latest betting scandal. Rick Tocchet, an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes, has been implicated in an illegal gambling ring and given an indefinite leave of absence from the NHL.
My issue with this? As far as any reports have said, Tocchet did not gamble on any NHL games; the vast majority of money was placed on the Super Bowl and games in other sports.
Why is it, then, that we feel the need to punish athletes for doing something everyone else is entitled to do? I do not see the need to have pro athletes be separate from the rest of society. We do that enough already by placing them on the pedestal they now occupy.
However, this case needs a side note. Tocchet was implicated in creating or participating in a gambling ring in New Jersey. Gambling is illegal in New Jersey, just like it's illegal at Bushwood Country Club and everywhere else'except Las Vegas.
This brings up another point. While I defend the right of an athlete to gamble on a sport they have no part in, I deplore the idea of athletes engaging in illegal activity.
What was Tocchet thinking?
According to espn.com, 'The NHL prohibits its players from making wagers, legal or otherwise, on NHL games. League rules do not forbid players from betting legally on other sports (for instance, with an established Las Vegas book). But the charges against Tocchet are for illegal gambling per New Jersey law.'
If Tocchet is allowed to bet on sports as long as he does so in a sanctioned manner, why is he going out of his way to do something illegal? Even if his bookie was giving him better odds than Caeser's Palace, the best bet was that he was going to be caught!
Another gambling case is not what the NHL or the rest of organized sports needs right now. Just today, Wayne Gretzky, the game's greatest player, has been reported as having known about the gambling ring. Oh, and by the way, his wife has been implicated in the ring as well.
Sports fans do not need to see another hero fall to the wayside and become a faded memory. The more audiences get acquainted with scandal, the more they accept it as everyday life'or worse, a part of the game.
