Gambling hasn’t ruined just college sports, it has filtered down into high school. Greed. Simple greed. It destroys everything it touches.
It has destroyed our social fabric. Everyone wants more more MORE!! No one seems to be satisfied with a simple life anymore, except old farts like me. I just want to wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, read my “Surber” and get on with my day working for the company who has been part of my family for 30 years.
I just want to keep my family fed and healthy.
May GOD Almighty continue to bless and protect President Donald J. Trump and these United States of America.
It is worse than I thought. Visiting KY I asked cuz why a particular high school was still so good at football despite declining enrollment.
He said they recruit. I said oh you mean from, naming adjacent counties. No, he said from Chattanooga, Chicago, St. Louis. They get two or three each year and it changes the team. Said they are still looking for a QB for the fall.
I asked so why do they come? Money you dummy, parents are promised jobs and that their child will be a standout. Which increases the nil money in college. I asked, the kids that good. Yes, they are. two years ago they had a kid played safety and he was the best high school defensive back I ever saw. ( which kind of hurt my feelings given my stardom over 50 years ago🤣🤣.)
He is so athletic and talented he started every game last year at an SEC school ans. Freshman and they will play him both ways this season.
i am 78. mgoblue. i live 40 miles north of ann arbor. i have tried to hate u of m for a number of reasons but i'm always happy when they win. i also like osu, flordia state, oklahoma and georgia.
I married a Michigan gal and that's when I learned that it is required to hate Ohio State and love U of M (a dispensation is given if you love Notre. Dame). I hated Ohio State all on my own because my Big Ten school played them during Woody Hayes tenure and they walked all over us year after year.
We used to visit my wife’s late Aunt who lived in Livonia. I asked if she was happy when UofM won. She stated she only rooted for Michigan State as it was the working class school. Michigan was the school of the white shoe, country club “elite” like Mittens Romney who looked down on blue collar America.
06/11/26: Yes, Michigan State. the “working class” university:
“Over the past decade (2016–2026) [sic], Michigan State University's head football coaches have been paid a combined total exceeding $100 million in compensation, driven by massive contract extensions and subsequent buyouts for fired coaches” (Google AI 06/11/26).
Don, this was decades ago. 99% of universities are corrupt, placing sports above academics. A scholarship to handle a ball. I’m so over sports. They’ve been ruined by greed of money. My daughter went to UIUC & they have the nerve to call & ask for donations.
I am married to a gal from Michigan state. They hate U of Michigan too! I used to listen to east coast folks talk about how real football is played there and west coast football couldn’t compete. Then Bear Bryant arranged with USC to play a game in Alabama, and that dispelled the east coast myth from then on. College football has come a long way, and is now in a bad place. The feds could have intervened but didn’t.
I was a huge USC fan and we would travel to all or most of the games back in early 80s when my wife’s brother played for them. When SC beat Michigan we would party hardy. If they played Alabama same thing. It was far better football than anything the NFL produced. But that is gone today. The absurd desire to be fair to players ruined it. I stopped watching the NFL when thugs took over the game and made it all about them rather than the team. The NFL changed when we lost Landry, Shula, Knox, Madden, et al. They were the discipline. Now we have lost college football. Relatively few players make it to the NFL. But they get free rides and a college degree if they study by playing college football. Why we need to pay them is beyond me. Look up the current cost of four or five years at USC. That is serious money. So, Say goodbye to college football and eventually all college sports. Gambling destroyed them all and our government did nothing to prevent it. We have learned nothing.
"APS" stands for "Appreciate Simplicity." Good show, sir.
My wife and I did an 800-mile round trip by car about seven years ago. Broke it up by staying, on the way down, for one night at a University town where a very nice lady ran a spotless BNB.
At breakfast on the morning we left, she proudly told us how her son had been “prepping” the university athletes for their “studies.”
“You know… exams.”
Please fill in the blanks yourself.
And I must add, she wasn’t unpleasantly boasting.
My point is that this practice was so widespread, nationwide --- and the idea was so preposterous that these athletes could even possibly pass the exams taken by non-athletic students --- that she considered it absolutely normal, as did everyone else, for her son to be doing what he did.
The rules were stupid. Break the rules. Survive.
Much now has changed, so quickly. Her son’s job? Gone.
Jocks taking exams? HA! Classes are for tuition-paying peasants.
Be careful, Sorsby. Lose that $90,000 and you’re back at Square One.
Oh. By the way… how much of that $90K did he get back?
I’m blowing the whistle on the poll. I don’t hate Texas Tech or any other school. This is what’s call a first world problem, and a minor one at that. I only have so much disgust to spread around and this ain’t on my radar. I woke up feeling like the aching jointed old man that I am. My 1st concern is coffee.
I dumped the NFL in 2016 when they began their BS of kneeling during the National Anthem. Not long after, there were riots at Mizu as the athletes revolted about something. At that moment, I realized that the BS was learned in college and dumped that from my list of hobbies. Somewhere around 2020 I cancelled my satellite completely. Welcome to the family.
The outrage over Sorsby is mostly theater. Yes, he broke the rules. Yes, Texas Tech should not pretend this is normal. But spare us the morality lectures from the same college-football-industrial complex that sold the sport to television, stretched conferences across the continent, multiplied bowl games, cashed gambling ads, and treated unpaid players like replaceable inventory for decades. The permanent political class legalized vice, taxed it, called it revenue, and then wondered why young men followed the incentives. ESPN helped build the casino, the states took their cut, and now everyone wants to blame the kid at the table.
My issue with the whole set up is the schools live on taxpayer funds and enforces the notion one should get paid before producing . The KC Chiefs just gave Patrick Mahomes a contract they will choke on ; he's two steps slower and will never be able to depend on his athletic prowess to get him out of tight spots . The human race repeats its mistakes continually .
I stopped watching ESPN when one of their talking heads started preaching to me about gun control. The highlight format had already degraded watching sports to a 15 minute highlight reel. More money than they need, but they bleed alumni for more. Pete Rose's story was just ahead of its time. More jackassery to come. Colleges are shaping themselves into pro team owners which is not IMHO a good example to follow. I used to live for sports. I gave up on it. Too crooked for me, but gambling is the absolute end-of-the-line for me. I also will not donate to a school involved with these money grubbing tactics. It breaks my heart to see the supposed adults leading the kids to perdition. Please forgive me for my unhinged rant.
Interest column Don. I learned about college sportsball, antitrust history, and stupid judge tricks. I can safely say that having never intentionally watched a down of college football and having cut cable long ago because of carriage fees for channels you couldn’t pay me to watch - like ESPN - I am not financially contributing to this tangled and sordid mess.
Not a football fan, but I can follow the game because my dad was a high school and college football fan (go, Fighting Irish!). But being in Ohio, that map cracked me up. It's so true!
"The government would let you pimp your mother as long as you kick back 20% in a tax to raise money for schools."
Since I have been a lifetime govt employee(soldier and firefighter(vol))... When I say govt, I don't mean folks at the ground level(clerks, cops, teachers, etc.), but this is the racket of our entire country right now. I mean, Trump is privately funding a ballroom(which will actually not be an algae filled pool) and he is being attacked for it. Could it be because of the 20% or lack thereof?
As I understand some dem donor went to a robed asshat in D C and said there were no plans or permits run through congress just as they did when he started to clean the Eisenhower building.
Boy, was Baseball in it's best years during that dead ball era?
The men respected the sport - had a ton of fun - and played hard as gentlemen, traveling to games by train.
Honus Wagner never negotiated his salary with the Pirates. When he got a contract to sign, he signed it and sent it back with the salary request blank with a note that said "pay me what you think I'm worth". He accepted whatever they paid him without argument.
OK, I may have paraphrased that story just a little but I used to hear it first-hand from Honus' wife and his two daughters, and then his granddaughter, so I think my sourcing is pretty good on that.
06/11/26: I went bonkers when the Mets' first free agent, Mike Cubbage, was awarded $330,000. "That's it. Someday, minimum wage for the .220 hitters will be $2 mil." And that is where we are today.
06/11/26: Convicted for the same reason that Trump had been, having committed the crime of paying back a loan on time with the correct amount of interest.
I find it pathetic and disgusting that millions of people in this country can name all the players on a roster for some useless sports team yet have no clue who their own congresspeople are, what those congress people are doing and stealing, or how corrupt our government and elections have become. Trump must be a genius to be actually getting a handle on some of this in spite of the mass of ignorant idiots who live among us who only focus on useless sports and other equally useless crap.
On the other hand, some of us ARE aware and use our favorite team to self-medicate, since despite our best efforts, nothing changes. The corruption is pervasive, and thank God Trump is in office and making a difference.
The real problem with gambling in college or any sport for that matter is when someone gets to a player or two and a fumble, a dropped pass, a missed field goal,or extra point try or missed block turns the game around from the betting standpoint and some team that should have covered the spread or gone over the total points scored doesn’t.
Lots of ways to influence a game. We are going to now question many outcomes and scoring totals when one of the above mentioned things happens for no conceivable reason.
And Texas Tech has screwed up royally over this sick kid.
You just reminded me of a scene in a famous children's book called "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeleine L'Engle.
The plot involves children who get stuck in a fantasy dictatorship for a while. (It's actually a good story for adults too.)
They see a boy throwing a ball against a wall. He yelps occasionally, because something invisible gives him an electric shock every time he doesn't throw the ball exactly, according to some unknowable rule that he is required to learn.
Football, gambling? I'm just here today trying to figure out how to work my White Sox into the conversation as we sit in 1st place for the first time in forever, not quite two years since we finished up last in the history of baseball with that record. Oh yeah, gambling. I think I'll go bet on the them to sweep the Braves later today.
I resent the fact that I can’t watch the Phillies on any broadcast station. In fact most professional and college sports require a paid subscription to watch.
This is how your hometown team spirit is rewarded.
Gambling hasn’t ruined just college sports, it has filtered down into high school. Greed. Simple greed. It destroys everything it touches.
It has destroyed our social fabric. Everyone wants more more MORE!! No one seems to be satisfied with a simple life anymore, except old farts like me. I just want to wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, read my “Surber” and get on with my day working for the company who has been part of my family for 30 years.
I just want to keep my family fed and healthy.
May GOD Almighty continue to bless and protect President Donald J. Trump and these United States of America.
APS
It is worse than I thought. Visiting KY I asked cuz why a particular high school was still so good at football despite declining enrollment.
He said they recruit. I said oh you mean from, naming adjacent counties. No, he said from Chattanooga, Chicago, St. Louis. They get two or three each year and it changes the team. Said they are still looking for a QB for the fall.
I asked so why do they come? Money you dummy, parents are promised jobs and that their child will be a standout. Which increases the nil money in college. I asked, the kids that good. Yes, they are. two years ago they had a kid played safety and he was the best high school defensive back I ever saw. ( which kind of hurt my feelings given my stardom over 50 years ago🤣🤣.)
He is so athletic and talented he started every game last year at an SEC school ans. Freshman and they will play him both ways this season.
It is all ruined.
And God bless you!!
i am 78. mgoblue. i live 40 miles north of ann arbor. i have tried to hate u of m for a number of reasons but i'm always happy when they win. i also like osu, flordia state, oklahoma and georgia.
I married a Michigan gal and that's when I learned that it is required to hate Ohio State and love U of M (a dispensation is given if you love Notre. Dame). I hated Ohio State all on my own because my Big Ten school played them during Woody Hayes tenure and they walked all over us year after year.
We used to visit my wife’s late Aunt who lived in Livonia. I asked if she was happy when UofM won. She stated she only rooted for Michigan State as it was the working class school. Michigan was the school of the white shoe, country club “elite” like Mittens Romney who looked down on blue collar America.
06/11/26: Yes, Michigan State. the “working class” university:
“Over the past decade (2016–2026) [sic], Michigan State University's head football coaches have been paid a combined total exceeding $100 million in compensation, driven by massive contract extensions and subsequent buyouts for fired coaches” (Google AI 06/11/26).
Don, this was decades ago. 99% of universities are corrupt, placing sports above academics. A scholarship to handle a ball. I’m so over sports. They’ve been ruined by greed of money. My daughter went to UIUC & they have the nerve to call & ask for donations.
I am married to a gal from Michigan state. They hate U of Michigan too! I used to listen to east coast folks talk about how real football is played there and west coast football couldn’t compete. Then Bear Bryant arranged with USC to play a game in Alabama, and that dispelled the east coast myth from then on. College football has come a long way, and is now in a bad place. The feds could have intervened but didn’t.
We now love Michigan State. I have two sons who went there. ☺️
I was a huge USC fan and we would travel to all or most of the games back in early 80s when my wife’s brother played for them. When SC beat Michigan we would party hardy. If they played Alabama same thing. It was far better football than anything the NFL produced. But that is gone today. The absurd desire to be fair to players ruined it. I stopped watching the NFL when thugs took over the game and made it all about them rather than the team. The NFL changed when we lost Landry, Shula, Knox, Madden, et al. They were the discipline. Now we have lost college football. Relatively few players make it to the NFL. But they get free rides and a college degree if they study by playing college football. Why we need to pay them is beyond me. Look up the current cost of four or five years at USC. That is serious money. So, Say goodbye to college football and eventually all college sports. Gambling destroyed them all and our government did nothing to prevent it. We have learned nothing.
You need to see a shrink
Why because you don’t agree with me. Thats your problem, not mine. Have a great day.
Betchdouble or nothin' you're wrong...
06/11/26: “You gotta know the territory!”
"APS" stands for "Appreciate Simplicity." Good show, sir.
My wife and I did an 800-mile round trip by car about seven years ago. Broke it up by staying, on the way down, for one night at a University town where a very nice lady ran a spotless BNB.
At breakfast on the morning we left, she proudly told us how her son had been “prepping” the university athletes for their “studies.”
“You know… exams.”
Please fill in the blanks yourself.
And I must add, she wasn’t unpleasantly boasting.
My point is that this practice was so widespread, nationwide --- and the idea was so preposterous that these athletes could even possibly pass the exams taken by non-athletic students --- that she considered it absolutely normal, as did everyone else, for her son to be doing what he did.
The rules were stupid. Break the rules. Survive.
Much now has changed, so quickly. Her son’s job? Gone.
Jocks taking exams? HA! Classes are for tuition-paying peasants.
Be careful, Sorsby. Lose that $90,000 and you’re back at Square One.
Oh. By the way… how much of that $90K did he get back?
I’m blowing the whistle on the poll. I don’t hate Texas Tech or any other school. This is what’s call a first world problem, and a minor one at that. I only have so much disgust to spread around and this ain’t on my radar. I woke up feeling like the aching jointed old man that I am. My 1st concern is coffee.
You woke up.
Praise the Lord
(Can you tell I've had MY coffee?)
GMTA Gary.
Coffee: God's gift to mankind. (also bacon)
Hear here!
I live in a rural setting. There is no over the air stations close.
That leaves streaming or satellite.
About the only time the tv was on in the living room was when college football was on.
I stopped watching the NFL in 2020. And I let my satellite script expire (2025) as I will no longer watch college football.
This recent ruling only reaffirms my decision was correct.
I dumped the NFL in 2016 when they began their BS of kneeling during the National Anthem. Not long after, there were riots at Mizu as the athletes revolted about something. At that moment, I realized that the BS was learned in college and dumped that from my list of hobbies. Somewhere around 2020 I cancelled my satellite completely. Welcome to the family.
I'm totally a fan of trade schools now and getting a job. Rah !
06/10/26: I stumbled into a newspaper story about what prime-time shows NBC had cancelled.
Haven't watched TV (other than sports with the sound off) since about 2000.
Not a single person's name and only one show, a pre-Lewinsky Clinton-era antique, was familiar to me.
What a marvelous feeling. Free. Free at last.
I spend my evenings reading if I'm not out fishing or painting.
The outrage over Sorsby is mostly theater. Yes, he broke the rules. Yes, Texas Tech should not pretend this is normal. But spare us the morality lectures from the same college-football-industrial complex that sold the sport to television, stretched conferences across the continent, multiplied bowl games, cashed gambling ads, and treated unpaid players like replaceable inventory for decades. The permanent political class legalized vice, taxed it, called it revenue, and then wondered why young men followed the incentives. ESPN helped build the casino, the states took their cut, and now everyone wants to blame the kid at the table.
My issue with the whole set up is the schools live on taxpayer funds and enforces the notion one should get paid before producing . The KC Chiefs just gave Patrick Mahomes a contract they will choke on ; he's two steps slower and will never be able to depend on his athletic prowess to get him out of tight spots . The human race repeats its mistakes continually .
I like the Army-Navy game. Nothing else.
Hey, there ain't a lot of boys named Gary these days
Born with a cigarette glued to their face
Fix about anything a hammer can handle
Saving all their money 'cause a Gary don't gamble
I stopped watching ESPN when one of their talking heads started preaching to me about gun control. The highlight format had already degraded watching sports to a 15 minute highlight reel. More money than they need, but they bleed alumni for more. Pete Rose's story was just ahead of its time. More jackassery to come. Colleges are shaping themselves into pro team owners which is not IMHO a good example to follow. I used to live for sports. I gave up on it. Too crooked for me, but gambling is the absolute end-of-the-line for me. I also will not donate to a school involved with these money grubbing tactics. It breaks my heart to see the supposed adults leading the kids to perdition. Please forgive me for my unhinged rant.
DDB
Bring back America's Cup yachting
Now that's worth watching!
Interest column Don. I learned about college sportsball, antitrust history, and stupid judge tricks. I can safely say that having never intentionally watched a down of college football and having cut cable long ago because of carriage fees for channels you couldn’t pay me to watch - like ESPN - I am not financially contributing to this tangled and sordid mess.
Not a football fan, but I can follow the game because my dad was a high school and college football fan (go, Fighting Irish!). But being in Ohio, that map cracked me up. It's so true!
"The government would let you pimp your mother as long as you kick back 20% in a tax to raise money for schools."
Since I have been a lifetime govt employee(soldier and firefighter(vol))... When I say govt, I don't mean folks at the ground level(clerks, cops, teachers, etc.), but this is the racket of our entire country right now. I mean, Trump is privately funding a ballroom(which will actually not be an algae filled pool) and he is being attacked for it. Could it be because of the 20% or lack thereof?
Yes.
What is it that the Mafia calls it? The "vig"?
06/11/27: Yes, but remember, the Mafia is just like the government, only without the hypocrisy.
And with better cuisine.
As I understand some dem donor went to a robed asshat in D C and said there were no plans or permits run through congress just as they did when he started to clean the Eisenhower building.
Where were these people when Pedo Joe was a figurehead? What did they do to clean it up?
06/11/26: Mess with the rake-off and your days are numbered.
The preening and righteous sanctimony is a bit much when the "gaming" industry accounts for probably 20-30% of ad revenues.
06/11/26: True. They're probably annoyed that Sorsby couldn't wager $900,000.
Off-topic of college football but not sports gambling:
I still feel bad for Charlie Hustle regarding Cooperstown.
He paid the price with many years of public shame and rejection. His career deserved some respect.
I should have mentioned that
Shoelless Joe was banned for fixing a World Seriess. He didn't. He set a record by batting .375 in that series.
Boy, was Baseball in it's best years during that dead ball era?
The men respected the sport - had a ton of fun - and played hard as gentlemen, traveling to games by train.
Honus Wagner never negotiated his salary with the Pirates. When he got a contract to sign, he signed it and sent it back with the salary request blank with a note that said "pay me what you think I'm worth". He accepted whatever they paid him without argument.
OK, I may have paraphrased that story just a little but I used to hear it first-hand from Honus' wife and his two daughters, and then his granddaughter, so I think my sourcing is pretty good on that.
My grandfather was apoplectic when Mickey Mantle was paid $100,000 a year.
06/11/26: I went bonkers when the Mets' first free agent, Mike Cubbage, was awarded $330,000. "That's it. Someday, minimum wage for the .220 hitters will be $2 mil." And that is where we are today.
If only he had his rookie year card he would have considered $100,000 a steal.
06/11/26: Convicted for the same reason that Trump had been, having committed the crime of paying back a loan on time with the correct amount of interest.
I thought about naming these victims of smugness but decided there was a reason you did not and I try not to rock the boat.
Agree Don ; the only way I would go along with putting Pete in the HOF is if they put Shoeless Joe in first .
They were both banned. Don't see a pecking order except ignoring productive careers in Baseball with less 'horsing around' than today.
Sorry about that Don, but the cat’s out of the bag, the horses are out of the barn, and anything ethical is off the table.
06/11/26: The rackets are so entrenched, anything now ":under the table" is considered to be NORMAL (non-corrupt).
I find it pathetic and disgusting that millions of people in this country can name all the players on a roster for some useless sports team yet have no clue who their own congresspeople are, what those congress people are doing and stealing, or how corrupt our government and elections have become. Trump must be a genius to be actually getting a handle on some of this in spite of the mass of ignorant idiots who live among us who only focus on useless sports and other equally useless crap.
On the other hand, some of us ARE aware and use our favorite team to self-medicate, since despite our best efforts, nothing changes. The corruption is pervasive, and thank God Trump is in office and making a difference.
My self-medication starts about 5 pm. It doesn’t include college football!
LOL!
Right.o. they are both the same and deserve equal respect, working for bribes as they do...
The real problem with gambling in college or any sport for that matter is when someone gets to a player or two and a fumble, a dropped pass, a missed field goal,or extra point try or missed block turns the game around from the betting standpoint and some team that should have covered the spread or gone over the total points scored doesn’t.
Lots of ways to influence a game. We are going to now question many outcomes and scoring totals when one of the above mentioned things happens for no conceivable reason.
And Texas Tech has screwed up royally over this sick kid.
Don't worry. Soon it will all be controlled by AI and robots. No human "mistakes" will be allowed. We have SOOOO much to look forward to . . . ./s/
Pass a law. Robots can only play soccer
What’a soccer?
A game where actors give Emmy worthy performances of sustaining life threatening injuries when they were barely touched.
Sounds like basketball.
Yup, worse than soccer.
And Messi
Preach it !!
You just reminded me of a scene in a famous children's book called "A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeleine L'Engle.
The plot involves children who get stuck in a fantasy dictatorship for a while. (It's actually a good story for adults too.)
They see a boy throwing a ball against a wall. He yelps occasionally, because something invisible gives him an electric shock every time he doesn't throw the ball exactly, according to some unknowable rule that he is required to learn.
Ever watch a game and been greatly annoyed by the officiating?
Quite a lot lately. The "league" must have put money on the spurs...
Or a wrong or “missed” call…
Whenyou have egregiuos missed calls and lots of gambling... it raises questions. Isvthat what the NBA wants?
Football, gambling? I'm just here today trying to figure out how to work my White Sox into the conversation as we sit in 1st place for the first time in forever, not quite two years since we finished up last in the history of baseball with that record. Oh yeah, gambling. I think I'll go bet on the them to sweep the Braves later today.
Great turnaround
Congrats
Cleveland's run last year from fourth, 15 1/2 GB to win the division compensated for having a closer throw games
Lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, here. That collapse at the end of the season last year, was something to behold. I kind of expected it though.
And to think that just three months ago they were in a tie for last place yet again.
They had 18 players on injured reserve..mwhat didvyou expect to happen?
It was a 30 way tie, season hadn't started. Old joke, sorry.
Widespread legalized gambling is a plague on our society. It ruins all kinds of people and places and most of all it has ruined Las Vegas.
I'm cool with paying the players, but I'm not cool with letting them transfer willy nilly between schools chasing the highest dollar every season.
I resent the fact that I can’t watch the Phillies on any broadcast station. In fact most professional and college sports require a paid subscription to watch.
This is how your hometown team spirit is rewarded.
And...did you help pay for their staduim too with tax dollars???