My best friend is a Duke fan. He worships a blue devil and I still love him like a brother. It’s not always easy but he’s married to an N.C. State fan so I know his suffering is greater than mine.
He texts me while watching the Duke versus UConn women’s basketball game and expresses his disappointment that the announcer, not someone in studio providing analysis from another state, but the person actually calling the game, expressed her desire to see a UConn and Southern Cal Elite Eight game.
I come from a time when people who were announcing a game wouldn’t even predict the winner. Publicly suggesting that you want one team to win over another was not acceptable.
There were times when former players of teams would become announcers and call games, and even when you knew they wanted their former team to win, they would never actually say so.
It seems to me that during a time when the integrity of sports appears to be at an all time low, the networks and their personnel would be more careful about what was said during a broadcast.
Fans already think the leagues and broadcast partners want certain teams playing for championships to increase viewership, grow the game and get more money. Listen to press conferences and you will quickly realize that players and coaches seem concerned about similar things.
If you live where I do, in North Carolina, you have surely seen a few dozen advertisements for legalized gambling in the state. The ads for the gambling companies spend half their time talking about how excited they are to come to North Carolina and spend the other half informing you of the resources available if/when you become addicted to gambling and have a problem.
The investment of more and more Saudi money in U.S. sports has made it all seem very much for sale. The gambling companies also saw this and seized on the opportunities greed provided. Now the professional leagues have become partners with the gambling companies.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani has made more news after millions of his dollars wound up in the account of an illegal bookie in California than he has being called the greatest baseball player to ever live. I don’t know what really happened, but I know what they have said happened sounds very suspicious and unlikely.
At the same time, NBA basketball player Jontay Porter is being investigated after he suspiciously left some games on evenings when people placed large amounts of money on the bet that he would under-perform. Not playing ensures that you don’t exceed the expected points, rebounds or assist totals.
Questions involving sports, gambling and integrity are not new, but as gambling becomes a bigger and bigger part of the business, there will need to be more counter measures put into place to help fans, and ultimately gamblers, feel better about what they are betting on.
It would also help if the leagues, broadcasters and announcers would do a better job of concealing their vested interest in who wins and loses. Nobody but my best friend wants to see Duke advance in the NCCAA tournament, but the broadcast partner shouldn’t say that quiet part out loud.
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