Greg Hardy got to play football again. Antonio Brown keeps hanging around. Donald Sterling and Robert Sarver made millions after selling their teams. The NCAA keeps making billions off the backs of unpaid teenage Black basketball players in March. Pete Rose still can’t get into the Hall of Fame — make it make sense.
When Tennessee Titans running back Hassan Haskins was arrested and charged with aggravated assault for strangling his girlfriend in the alleged June 22 incident, most people didn’t blink. Sadly, society has become numb to violence against women — and sports have shown us that sins will always be forgiven if you can help a team win…unless you gamble.
In sports, all is forgiven — except gambling
“The gambling policy, which is annually reviewed with all NFL personnel, including players, prohibits anyone in the NFL from engaging in any form of gambling in any club or league facility or venue, including the practice facility,” read the NFL’s statement after the most recent group of players were suspended for sports betting. Isaiah Rodgers, Rashod Berry, and Demetrius Taylor are all suspended indefinitely through at least the conclusion of this upcoming season, while Nicholas Petit-Frere is out for the first six regular season games of the year. Back in April, the league announced the suspension of five players for the same thing. Quintez Cephus, C.J. Moore, Stanley Berryhill, Jameson Williams, and Shaka Toney all ignored how Calvin Ridley missed all of the 2022 season due to gambling on football. Cephus, Moore, and Toney are out for the year, while Berryhill and Williams got six games.
Last week, the NCAA amended its penalties for student-athletes who violate the association’s gambling policy, according to a report from ESPN. Check out these key parts:
- Student-athletes found to have engaged in activities to influence the outcome of games they’re involved with or provided information to individuals involved in betting will face a potential permanent loss of collegiate eligibility. The guideline applies to student-athletes who bet on their own games or on other sports at their own school.
- Student-athletes who bet on their own sport but not involving their school are subject to a potential loss of 50 percent of one season.
- For all other wagering-related violations, the cumulative dollar value of the wagers will be taken into consideration when determining the punishment. Bets totaling $201-$500, for example, could result in a loss of 10% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education. Bets totaling more than $800 could result in a loss of 30% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
“These new guidelines modernize penalties for college athletes at a time when sports wagering has been legalized in dozens of states and is easily accessible nationwide with online betting platforms,” Alex Ricker-Gilbert, athletic director at Jacksonville and chair of the Division I Legislative Committee, said in a release announcing the changes. “While sports wagering by college athletes is still a concern — particularly as we remain committed to preserving the integrity of competition in college sports — consideration of mitigating factors is appropriate as staff prescribe penalties for young people who have made mistakes in this space.”
Wouldn’t it be great if sports took racism and violence against women this seriously from the jump? Imagine where we would be if that happened.
But, for something like that to occur it would mean that society, let alone sports, would have to take a stand against both transgressions — and we know that’s a pipedream. However, things do happen that make you think change will eventually come. On Wednesday, the New York Yankees suspended relief pitcher Jimmy Cordero for the rest of the season for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
Back in 2017, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell once told Peter King of MMQB, “We are not changing our position as it relates to legalized sports gambling. We still don’t think it is a positive thing.”
Now, it seems like the rest of the sports world is following the NFL’s lead — as it often does. And once you realize that the NFL is usually a mirror of society, it becomes quite clear why racism and violence against women are easily forgiven while “gambling” is a blasphemous offense. They don’t like it when you mess with the money.