The NCAA News - Comment
October 14, 1996
Guest editorial -- Next gambling scandal to come as no surprise
BY LARRY ATKINS
Ahhh, fall is here. The leaves are turning, kids are back in school, and another college football season has kicked off.
But, for every conference rivalry, cheerleader, marching band and fuzzy mascot doing pushups after a touchdown, there is the ugly side of college sports: illegal gambling. Indeed, the climate is right for a major college gambling scandal.
Illegal sports gambling has become socially acceptable throughout the country. Everyone from high-school and college kids to workers in factories, corporations and law firms gets weekly football pools and NCAA basketball tournament brackets in dorms, at school, at the office or at the local bar.
Bushels of money are wagered illegally during the NCAA basketball tournament and each week during football season. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that $2.5 billion is bet illegally on the NCAA basketball tournament. A 1995 Sports Illustrated series on gambling on college campuses quotes a source who estimates that more than five percent of college students are compulsive gamblers.
Turn on your radio or television this fall. You'll see and hear gambling gurus analyzing college games, dissecting point spreads and giving their "guaranteed lock of the week." They'll list every meaningless statistic in the world, such as that Penn State is 14-2 at home after losing a road game at night against Big Ten teams whose colors are red and white. See them smirk as they mockingly state the disclaimer that their picks are "for amusement only."
Walk into a bookstore. Go to the magazine section. You'll see at least three publications that go into incredible detail, breaking down college games and telling you who will beat the spread. Read the local or national newspapers. You'll see the point spreads listed prominently, as well as weekly predictions from staff writers as to who will beat the spreads. All of this makes you forget that sports gambling is illegal in 49 states.
Many of today's college athletes are from poor urban and rural areas. Although they receive scholarships and room and board, they're not allowed to hold jobs, and they don't get to see any of the revenue generated by money from television or ticket sales.
They wouldn't remember the devastating effects of the most famous scandal of college sports, the City College of New York point-shaving incident of 1951. In fact, many of today's college athletes' parents were not even born then. These kids are highly susceptible to those involved in gambling activities who could attempt to bribe them in order to influence the outcome of a game.
Recognizing that sports gambling carries the potential to undermine the integrity of its games, the NCAA has adopted legislation prohibiting institutional staff members and athletes from engaging in gambling as it relates to intercollegiate athletics events.
NCAA bylaws prevent athletics department staff members and athletes from providing information to individuals involved in organized gambling activities concerning college games; soliciting or accepting bets on college teams; participating in gambling activities involving college sports through a bookmaker; and agreeing to throw, fix or illegally influence a game's outcome.
In 1994, the NCAA tried to deny NCAA basketball tournament passes to newspapers that continued to publish betting lines. It backed off when faced with First Amendment challenges.
Obviously, the NCAA can't do this alone.
It's time for the media and media outlets to step forward and take some responsibility. Bookstores should voluntarily stop carrying gambling magazines that focus on college sports. Radio and television stations should stop carrying those gambling shows that dissect college football games solely in terms of point spreads. Newspapers should stop listing point spreads in college games and stop their reporters from picking games.
Sure, it's true that most people would bet on college games anyway. We simply shouldn't encourage it.
Most of all, the burden falls on us as individuals. It seems innocent and fun to play an office football pool or to pick your alma mater to march through the NCAA tournament brackets and earn a few dollars while doing it. But when a major point-shaving scandal occurs in college athletics -- and it will -- don't be shocked. We have only ourselves to blame.
Larry Atkins is a lawyer and writer who lives in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
Comment -- The weighty matter of media guides
BY PAT QUINN
Stillwater (Oklahoma) News Press
A couple of years ago, the NCAA Presidents Commission, in a well-meaning but ill-advised gesture to save cost, voted to eliminate recruiting brochures.
These were well-designed, color-laden brochures made to convince a prospective student-athlete that this was to be his or her school of choice.
Did it save money? I don't think so because the exorbitant cost was passed on to the football, basketball, baseball, etc., etc., media guides. Some of those publications have swollen to as many as 392 pages.
When you examine the cost, once again it supports the theory that the presidents should let decisions like this rest with the athletics director, who deals with this sort of thing on a daily basis.
Without doubt, these new press guides are marvelously edited, lavishly designed, and not just any print shop could handle a job of this magnitude. I would hate to be charged with matching these press guides, even if I had the budget to handle it.
On sheer weight alone, Texas put out the heftiest book (2 pounds, 141/2 ounces) this year, while Florida and Tennessee (2 pounds, 5 ounces), always among the best-presented press guides in college football, must have made a prepublication agreement to restrict their products to the same size.
Georgia Tech (2 pounds, 3 ounces) and Texas A&M (2 pounds, 2 ounces) were among the leaders, too.
The premier expensive production of them all was Oklahoma's 1995 book, which weighed a whopping 3 pounds, 8 ounces, and was just crammed into 392 pages!
I recall when the late and venerable Otis Wile started publishing Oklahoma State's thin (4 x 9, No. 10 envelope) Cowboy Football Almanac. They were journalistic masterpieces, complete with salient information about the team and its history and terrific humor.
One year, Otis was so given with the spirit of the season he expanded the book to 36 pages with a two-color cover! He was also graced in guilt as he wondered how he was going to present to athletics director Henry Iba Frontier Printers' bill for $648.
My, how times change, especially when in that year the Oklahoma State brochure turned out to be the slimmest in the Big Eight Conference. This prompted the erudite Wile to sigh and say, "Oh, well, the bigger the brochure, the smaller the school."
Pat Quinn is a sportswriter for the Stillwater News Press, where this article first appeared.
Opinions -- Top athletes feel squeeze of tough, real-world issues
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, former basketball player
University of California, Berkeley
USA Today
"A lot of people don't understand the difficulties of being a college athlete. I don't mean to complain, but I used to tell my athletics director and student advisor that I often felt more like an athlete-student than a student-athlete. Everything was geared toward basketball, not class.
"My schedule was wake up at 5:30 every morning, then practice from 6 to 8. But I had a class at 8, so I was going to be late all the time.
"Now I'm in class all the way until 2 o'clock. I'd usually try to take a nap, because I've been up since 5:30, and I still have a long day ahead of me. But before taking that nap, I have to lift weights. That's mandatory. I have to do that every day. Then it's back to class, training table at 6, then practice, study from 7 to 9 or 10. That means I am not anywhere near my bed until 11. On game night, we won't be back in the room until 11 at the earliest. No matter what, I'm stuck.
"And then it's up at 5:30 the next morning, and I'm doing it all over again.
"I don't think there's too much the NCAA can do to change things.
"The reality is, you're going to miss classes, you're going to be behind in your school work. You get caught up in taking finals on the road, taking them late, getting to class late.
"California giving me that scholarship was such an opportunity that I don't ever want to say they short-changed me. It wasn't exploitation.
"But let's be honest. All those little kids didn't go out and buy the Nikes that Georgetown wears because of coach (John) Thompson. It was because Allen Iverson wore them, because Jerome Williams wore them. Every time I see a kid wearing a Cal jersey with my name on it, I know I'm not getting anything from that.
"But I'm sitting at home thinking that I'd want to take someone to the movies or just hang out, but I can't because I'm strapped (for money). Is that fair?"
Charles Harris, commissioner
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
USA Today
"A few years ago, while I was the athletics director at Arizona State, we had a young man who was deciding whether to come out after his junior year and go into the NBA. In the final analysis, we talked about whether this kid, who just came off two knee surgeries, was ready to go into the pros. I didn't believe he was ready. I tried to explain that to his family. But what it came down to with the family was, 'It doesn't make any difference if he's ready because he needs to do some things for us....We need a new house.'
"Now that's not a condemnation of that young man's particular family. It's simply economics. It's Economics 101. The unfortunate thing is no one (in the athlete's family) is ready to recognize that the long-term gain is what you're really after.
"I believe the rules ought to change. Kids ought to have the opportunity to borrow money toward future earnings....to work at a legitimate job. They ought to be able to get good professional advice about what their chances are in the professional ranks.
"I think one of the things we have to do is get some people out of the food chain. Too many people are looking to get a piece of 'Bubba' if he makes it into the pros."
SPORTSMANSHIP
Douglas Neverr, professor
Michigan State University
Chicago Tribune
"Our current definition of sportsmanship really comes from the 1880s and '90s, when it became synonymous with the British concept of playing with control and dignity, with respect for the rules and for opponents.
"Everyone has preached it, and a few have practiced it. I think our level of tolerance has actually grown....Most people see it as something you do when you can afford to, but otherwise it's win at all costs."
Marvin Berkowitz, Center for Ethical Studies
Marquette University
Chicago Tribune
"I don't know if Robbie Alomar is a good person who just slipped. But there are an awful lot of kids out there who don't value human beings."
ATHLETE VIOLENCE
Jim O'Brien, men's basketball coach
Boston College
The Boston Globe
"I don't really know what's going on. There seems to be a lack of respect in society today. A lack of respect for people and for property. I know here there's a great concern about that trend. People here are scared to death about the image of the school if an incident occurs....
"I told (my players that) if they get in trouble, I will do everything I can to help them out. But if it involves the abuse of women, that's an entirely different matter."
HOT-DOGGING PENALTIES
Jim Wacker, football coach
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Chicago Tribune
"I wish the professional sports would come along and establish similar types of standards and penalties. Eliminate the self-glorification and the hot-dogging and the trash-talking. What the young guys see, they're going to want to emulate in the pros."
PURPOSE OF COACHING
Tom Osborne, football coach
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Winning's been important, but I guess I'd say how we play has been more important to me than the final score. In that sense, I've tried to focus on the process of football more than the final outcome.
"Hopefully, that's the way I've approached it.
"I really feel like we fail if a kid leaves here without a degree....I don't feel good about that, and I don't feel good about a win where you back into it, maybe just kind of slop into some fumbles. I'd like to see people do the whole thing and do it right, and that's what we try to emphasize.
"Really, I think they're nice, but I don't coach football to win national championships."
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