Happy birthday to us. Happy birthday to us. Happy birthday dear 5-at-10. Happy birthday to us.
Fifteen years. Where does time go?
Let’s handle some business:
› Ryan Reynolds’ Rushmore — “Deadpool” (all of them honestly — great series), “Free Guy,” “Spirited,” “Just Friends.”
› Rushmore of post-2000 TV spinoffs — “Better Call Saul,” “Frasier,” “NCIS” (which was a spinoff of “JAG”), and which “Law&Order” you want to slide up there.
› Rushmore of movie musicals, and this one was wicked tough (Spy?) — “Wicked,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Greatest Showman” and “Grease.”
› Rushmore of teenage villains in 1980s movies — Johnny Lawrence from “Karate Kid,” Biff Tanner from “Back to the Future,” Rip (James Spader) from “Less Than Zero” and Ace from “Stand By Me.” And that’s with all apologies to Mick from the criminally underrated “Teen Wolf,” for which Coach Bobby Finstock deserved an Oscar nomination. “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than !2 hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never go near a lady who’s got a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick with that, everything else is cream cheese.”
Rules, people. Here’s Hargis on prep football.
Here’s Paschall on college football.
To the bag.
From a slew of you
Jay, what do you make of the NBA gambling scandal?
Gang,
It’s huge. And scary. And so big I needed some context, so my buddy Josh got me in contact with Dave Mason, the brand manager for BetOnline.ag, for some keen perspective.
“I’ve been doing this for two decades, and I don’t get surprised by the level of greed out there anymore,” Mason said. “The (Chauncey) Billups thing is totally surprising. The (Terry) Rozier thing doesn’t surprise me at all.”
To review, Portland Trailblazers head coach and basketball Hall of Famer Billups was indicted for an illegal and rigged poker ring that involved four of the notorious five famed NYC mafia families.
He is also linked as co-conspirator 8 in the FBI findings of NBA in-game sports betting that included Rozier, a Miami Heat guard.
Rozier’s being accused of telling gamblers to bet his player prop under in a 2023 game in which he only played nine minutes and allegedly pocketed $200K. It’s a similar scenario as the one that has former NBA player Jontay Porter facing multiple felony charges and prison time.
Mason’s take on greed is magnified by Rozier, who under his current contract makes more than $26 million this season, which is more than $300K per regular-season game.
But Mason also rightly questions the holes in the expanding legalized sports betting system.
“The (player prop) limits are simply too high,” Mason said about safeguards. “It’s mind-boggling, and the temptation for corruption is too great for some.
“And who knows (Rozier’s) situation, you know? Maybe he was gambling and owed the wrong people a lot of money.”
Speculation is everywhere.
In the macro, there was another person indicted by name — former NBA assistant coach Damon Jones — who allegedly shared injury information with bettors before it became public knowledge.
This is a common problem for guys like Mason and operations like BetOnline.ag.
“The sharps can frequently beat you to information, and the more they know, the better their bets will be,” he said. “All you can do is adjust and try your best.”
Mason said sharps — professional sports bettors who wager extreme sums — deal in that information and then make huge bets and “not even watch the game.”
“We take their action and a lot of times use their info as we adjust our numbers,” Mason said. “It’s a Whack-A-Mole game in a lot of ways.
“But what those guys allegedly did is not only cheating. It’s fraud.”
It also begs for better management by the NBA, which reportedly was informed by the online betting sites about the large and unusual wagers on Rozier two-plus years ago. Rozier sat the rest of that season under claims of injury as the NBA investigated the situation.
The league clearly found nothing of account on Rozier and allowed the Hornets to deal him to Miami.
The surreal aspect of Billups roping in rubes for crooked card games with Tony Soprano and Luca Brasi and Tommy D is undeniably a Billups issue.
But when the integrity of the action and outcomes can be questioned, this is a huge deal for every sport.
And every sports book.
“You have to wonder if we’re to the place of this being too damn much, you know,” Mason said Thursday over the phone. “I was watching the ESPN coverage of this NBA scandal and then across the scroll there’s the ESPN betting app with athletes promoting it. Not retired athletes, current athletes.
“We really need some serious conversations about our industry moving forward, and there really has to be some common sense involved.”
From Patrick
I’m starting to think UT fans may be a touch delusional. The Vols have won exactly how many national titles in their lifetimes? One? And they’re not happy with Josh Heupel?
Oh, he only has a) the nation’s No. 1 recruit and 2) five of the top 48 recruits nationally, according to 247sports.com, coming in, so give the fella a break.
Patrick,
I think Heupel is right there in the conversation as the second-best coach in the SEC behind Kirby.
He may look like a full-grown version of Bobby Hill from “King of the Hill,” but his offensive acumen has been hard to deny.
And want to know something that has been talked about way less than I expected?
Nico-gate.
The expectations of competing for championships are what the baseline should be for programs that invest as much as UT does. I get that.
But the level of money being tossed around by a majority of the SEC makes it more competitive than ever.
Wanna know a sneaky factor that turns the heat up on every SEC coach?
Vandy is in the top 10, and rightly so, DoubleDore. They are playing their chinstraps off.
But the reality is that most SEC fans — especially of long-time power programs — see Vandy at 5-1 and No. 10 in the country and think, “If Vandy’s in the playoff chase, WTH are we doing?”
From Mark
Instead of trying to match the upward mobility of Kennesaw St., should mid-major and smaller SoCon schools consider eliminating football and throwing all NIL resources toward basketball or even baseball, where they could potentially win NCAA championships against the big schools? As a fan base, is an FCS football championship better than repeat or routine visits to the Sweet 16 (and beyond) or the College World Series?
Mark
Great question, and big picture, doing away with football is not a good idea.
The loss of enrollment — and if ETSU’s example from the 2000s is to be studied — the loss of federal funding with that loss of enrollment, especially minority enrollment, hits hard.
I don’t think UTC will do any moving. They have had chances before and have stayed put.
And those questions about NIL allocation are being asked in every athletic department from Alabama to Wyoming, regardless of size.
It’s happening in the SEC, where UK is dropping huge money — with huge expectations — on Mark Pope’s crew.
The number I’ve heard is that roster is costing Big Blue $22 million.
Mississippi State is breaking the bank on baseball. USC give Dawn Staley whatever she wants.
I think the conversations are magnified for the SoCon schools, because the bankroll is not as fat.
It begs the question of would you rather your school be pretty good to good at almost every sport, or dominant in your favorite sport?
From Spy
So if I dress up as Bad Bunny, does that I mean I have a shot at Kendall Jenner?
Haven’t had an ace. Hit the stick once though and had a tap-in birdie. Didn’t see the ball hit the stick, but heard it — elevated green.
Spy,
With charm like yours, I’m surprised you have already told Ms. Jenner, “Thanks but no thanks, ma’am.”
Have a great weekend, friends.