The NBA’s big gamble
No one in the betting community seems to know what exactly to make of David Stern’s comments that seemed to welcome, or at least not oppose, the possibility that wagering on sports should someday become a reality in the United States.
It was generally assumed that all pro sports leagues, plus the NCAA, were at least on record as opposing sports wagering, even if they were winking with one eye and had their fingers crossed behind their backs. And the Tim Donaghy scandal seemed to put a lid on any chance the NBA had of breaking away and supporting wagering.
But Stern’s comments are an out-of-the-blue 180-degree turn from the rigid on-the-record opposition to gambling platforms that the colleges, NFL and Major League baseball regularly tout. Former MLB Commissioner Bart Giammati, who banned Pete Rose when the gambling feces hit the fan in 1989, must be spinning in his grave.
One possible explanation for Stern’s remarks is that he is obsessed with making the NBA a global venture and won’t call it quits until there is a franchise outside of North America – perhaps in London, where the government has a more enlightened attitude toward wagering.
But if Stern is expecting outside-the-U.S. wagering to help the NBA through troubled economic times, Europe may not be the answer. “[Betting on the NBA] is not big in the European Union,” says Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association in Europe. “Maybe some in the ex-patriot community. It wouldn't be as big as NFL and one of the reasons for that is that it has less TV coverage. For pretty much all sports live TV coverage is the main driver of betting turnover.”
Stern is the one major sports boss not afraid of the big bad gambling industry. The commish OK’d staging the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas in 2007, and just because some of the players’ entourages scared a few blackjack dealers half to death hasn’t been enough for Stern to take his hand off the stove.
It’s hard to tell where Stern is going with this, but at least he has the kahones to address the issue.
The Moss Way
Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and everyone in the Patriots organization down to the ticket takers will tell you otherwise, but anyone with half a brain knows that Randy Moss dogged it big-time a few weeks ago against the Panthers. And Moss’s inability or unwillingness to fight through double-teams has been sugar in the gas tank for an offense that figured to score more than four touchdowns a game this season but has instead struggled to break 20 in post-Thanksgiving games.
Moss did pick up his game against Buffalo last Sunday and had a touchdown among his five catches before blasting the media for reporting that something might be wrong when someone of his ability catches more than 6 balls in a 3-game stretch (New Orleans, Miami, Carolina).
Problems in the Patriots passing game run deeper than Moss’s inconsistency. Brady has finger and rib injury issues, the offensive line can’t hold long enough for Moss and whatever fraud wideout is opposite him, and the result is a steady diet of 10- to 15-yard underneath passes to Wes Welker. NE has also found batteries for running back Laurence Maroney, who was a non-factor for most of the season, but that should only open things up more downfield for Moss.
Moss, meanwhile, alternates between sulking and pointing fingers, and that’s OK with the Patriots, who know that without Moss firing on all cylinders it will be a short playoff run.
Bad drafts left the Patriots ancient on defense, so Belichick revamped things on that side of the ball, going with other team’s castoffs (Leigh Bodden, Shawn Springs, Derrick Burgess) and unproven youngsters (Brandon McGowan). Belichick figured that the offense could outscore most other teams anyway, giving the defense time to mature. But that business model was blown up early, and now New England is left with no other alternative than Brady to Moss. And to make it work they have to keep Moss happy and productive.
Pacquiao-Mayweather belongs in Vegas
It’s the fight that has to happen, and it will. With Saturday, March 13 as the target date, the only questions now appear to be how the pot will be split and where Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will gut it out.
Reports out of Dallas indicate that Jerry Jones offered the Cowboys’ new stadium for the fight, and was willing to throw in $25 million to make it happen. The Staples Center in Los Angeles was reportedly also interested. Fine, but this is a fight that belongs in Las Vegas, and one web site says that the MGM Grand has locked it in.
Championship fights in Vegas change the entire complexion of the city, and this fight would have every bit the cache of a heavyweight championship. One Vegas observer put it this way recently: “When a big fight is in town, watch the blackjack tables. The minimum bet always goes up. Five-dollar tables become 10, $10 tables go to $25. There’s just that kind of money in town.”
Mayweather would come in at 40-0 with 25 knockouts; Pacquiao is 50-3-2 with 38 Kos. It’s clearly the fight of the decade, perhaps bigger than anything since Mike Tyson still had legs. It will happen, and it will happen in Vegas.
Paul House is senior writer for cappersmall.com. Comments can be sent to thebettingfanatic@gmail.com
