They wanted to sow the wind. Now, they can reap the whirlwind. Few, at this point, need reminding what sports’ escalating reliance on gambling has done and continues to do. And if those who chose to be blinded by greed didn’t want to see it coming, those who could maintain their grasp on the human condition knew it would be sooner, not later. So this unraveling of the Shohei Ohtani story , even if MLB would like it to just go away — like the Steroid Era that Bud Selig, his able assistant Rob Manfred and the MLBPA were the very last to notice had arrived. Money breeds ignorance, blindness and con artistry. And so these basic questions vis-à-vis Ohtani and since-jettisoned buddy/confidant, driver and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and the latter’s acknowledged $4.5 million gambling debt are left for MLB to answer, clearly, firmly and, of utmost importance, honestly: Were Mizuhara’s bookies the only bookies of any kind to extend hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit? And if so, why to him? So who, or what, was Mizuhara’s collateral if not $700 million Dodgers’ superstar Ohtani? And what was the rate of exchange — how much of whatever from Ohtani to keep Mizuhara whole, literally and figuratively? Or did they have a shared bank account? There almost had to be some kind of squeeze play at work to allow Mizuhara to maintain credit as a huge loser. Nothing else comes close to making sense. After all, Ohtani, who insists he’s a victim here, joined MLB in 2018. But already there’s a well-founded cynicism to MLB’s stated plan to investigate then get back to us . As if MLB’s give-us-our-cut avarice and neglect doesn’t beg for external and internal scandal. So, now a self-investigation, like Chris Cuomo landing that exclusive Q&A with Andrew Cuomo. Hmmm. If MLB even recognized real-deal gambling investigators, it would have put them on the scent before it hopped into bed to establish Official, MLB-logo and licensed sucker-bet FansFools sites. And given the hit MLB would take to its integrity and dignity as per the suspicions and dark realties gambling inevitably spawns, MLB, and the rest of our sports now in the business of profiting from their fans’ financial peril, would have refused to entertain even a distant partnership with any gambling operation. Instead: “Look! Why, it’s a stack of money! We want some! In exchange for what? Our souls, our credibility, our honor, the good and welfare of our fans, The Game, the public’s trust. Hey, money for nothing! We’re in!” As I write this, the NBA, already looking into curious and easily corrupted “prop bets” attached to the Raptors’ Jontay Porter, is adding new technology to make it easier to bet on games and players during NBA telecasts. Temple University has yet to report its findings into an examination of four of the school’s
basketball games that inspired legitimate suspicions of illegitimate gambling. And the NHL’s Capitals now wear a sportsbook’s logo on their uniforms. Forgive them, Father, for they know exactly what they’ve done. The Yanks’ second game of the season, tonight in Houston, will be seen exclusively on pay-even-more
Apple TV+ streaming, as many Friday night Yankee games again have been sold at auction to paywalled networks. Quite a dilemma. How do Rob Manfred and team owners expect fans to bet on games they can’t watch or won’t pay even more to watch? Given the Yanks’ 21st century predilection for signing sensationally overpriced players who exhibit minimal desire to win games, let alone run to first base, this week’s acquisition of multiple-bases infielder Jon Berti from the Marlins is a radical departure. As an Old School advocate, I’ve long enjoyed watching Berti as a maximalist. At 34, he remains fast and eager to do whatever it takes, in the field, at bat and running the bases, to win. Imagine that? Does he make mistakes? Sure. But they’re the kind made trying to do too much rather than too little. If Berti stays healthy — another Yanks’ seasonal “if” — Yankee fans are going to love him. UConn’s Geno Auriemma, a.k.a. Coach Cruel, Saturday led Jackson St. by 28 with 4:30 left in a homecourt NCAA Tournament game. Yet, four of his starters played at least 33 minutes and one played 39. He allowed one, a recruit from Portugal, two whole minutes in a long-over tournament game. Naturally, the Geno-gushing ABC/ESPN commentators, Pam Ward and Chrisite Winter-Scott, missed that. Reader Joe McGrath, lifelong Rangers fan and father of an NYPD officer, was distressed Tuesday, as the Garden, before the game vs. the Flyers, didn’t call for a moment of silence in salute to Officer Jonathan Diller, shot dead in the line of duty the day before. The Garden generally responds to NYPD and NYFD sacrifices. Whew, we needed that: Heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson, captain of the Air Force Academy’s wrestling team, finished third in the NCAA wrestling championships, Saturday on
ESPN. But to listen to his interview afterwards, you’d have thought that we all finished first. He was gracious and grateful, stating, “It’s an honor to represent the sport and the Academy,” and that he holds his opponents in great regard. No Nike deal for him! Caitlin Clark, no longer to be confused with an amateur college student-athlete , last weekend appeared in as many TV commercials as the Manning Family. College women’s basketball teams and coaches seem too eager to go the Megan Rapinoe route. That classless display of Middle Tennessee St. players mocking their losing Louisville opponents with an all-in hand gesture likely inspired some to regard the winners as the losers. Reader Vinny Mooney, noting that the Yanks played Robinson Cano’s Mexican team, Diablos Rojos , acknowledged that his high Spanish needs work but that Diablos Rojos “Either means Red Devils or Lazy Drug-Using Malingerer.” In any language, still can’t figure local media’s rationalization of Cano as “good in the clubhouse.” Read any good games lately? Reader David Bremer sent a screenshot from Sunday’s
Texas A&M-Houston. With play on, 10 graphics, upper and lower screen, appeared for simultaneous reading. The Brazil-England “friendly” on Fox, Saturday, was another blow to the good senses.
Brazil, known the world over — and for decades — for its canary yellow and green uniforms, wore its new blue jerseys with just a slight trim of yellow and white trunks. Nike involved? Completely. Jim Spanarkel remains understated, underrated, underutilized. Sunday, after a sweet, right-handed scoop basket in Clemson-Baylor on TNT, Spanarkel was quick to tell us that the play was even better than it looked as the scorer is left-handed. With P. Diddy, or whatever his name, this week, now in a heap of lowlife trouble, Roger Goodell doesn’t yet know if it has elevated Diddy’s status or disqualifies him from the list of
Super Bowl halftime performers.