Opinions against gambling remain unchanged despite external influences

Phil Mashnick

sports

equal time

by Phil Mashnick

Dee~fence! Dee~fence!

Allow yourself to be complacent. But let's answer some FAQs, or frequently asked questions, that are worth answering here. I, who was on defense, will answer.

The most common question/accusation I've been asked is, given the content of the Post's sports section, how many people have had such a negative stance on sports betting, both before and after sports betting was legalized. Am I a hypocrite for taking it?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: My readers would respect me more if I allowed the content of the post, especially sports betting advertisers and other non-advertisers, to dictate or somehow shape my opinions. Will you? I believe not.

Thus, through ownership of multiple posts, I have written about sports gambling, including the devastation it often inflicts on its primary targets: the young, the vulnerable, and the self-centered as seen on television. I've been given the freedom to write about sports gambling as I want and feel. convinced the men.

I value the ability to write what I believe is a columnist's duty. my version of the truth. In constitutional terms, “everyone has the right to” my opinion. “

Readers will probably find that the weekly results of the Post staff's “touting” assignments to “play the board” at NFL games, as if picking two out of three winners wasn't difficult enough I'm sure you're paying attention to the fact that you're being forced to do so. This section is for your approval, disapproval, perusal, and ridicule. The results speak as an anti-gambling reminder.

My background in sports gambling related posts is extensive. Each week, he selected his USFL games from the mid-1980s, with minimal information and silly gags.

It ended when I received a postcard from a student at Syracuse University claiming that he had made a big score on one of the players I bet on the most. He apparently took my choice seriously. He didn't want someone's destruction to be in my hands.

I started researching, researching, and writing about touts who were buying ads in the Post with the promise of guaranteed riches while making highly dubious and ridiculous claims about their weekly success rates as game handicappers. It was around that time. The Post allowed me to expose their fraud because they knew they were in the business of killing suckers.

I made up a word to describe such scammers that is still in use today. That's a “swindler”.

And with the Post's tacit permission, I drove hundreds of thousands of dollars in scammer advertising out of the Post and into the eager hands of my rival, the Daily News.

The only sports gambling I've ever gotten into is horse racing. This industry has been premised and valued for his 150 years of betting.

Hypocrite? no. I've been working on this issue consistently since his 1985, but it's still a very good question.

Another issue that Post readers rarely understand is that reporters and columnists typically don't write headlines, select photos, or write captions to accompany the photos. Editors do that.

A journalism professor at Pace University had his class write me a mean letter objecting to the suicidal and insensitive use of “bridge jumper” in the headline above a column about a horse race gambler who bet a lot of money. I'm still angry about that. The odds indicated that the favorite would finish in third place or lower, and he was hoping that for every $2 he bet he could win 10 cents.

When that favorite ran out of money, the editors who wrote the headlines reasonably applied the truck slang term “bridge jumper” (that's what they call such stakes) above the column .

I quickly learned that this journalism professor didn't know that daily newspaper reporters don't write headlines. I was politely appalled. However, he kindly invited me to speak to the class about this issue and we all had a great time.

These are my stories and I'm sticking to them. Check out our FAQs next week.

Saquon offers classes wherever you go

No matter what happens to Saquan Barkley, and no matter where he ends up, Barkley was forced to leave Odell Beckham Jr. in the end zone after going for a touchdown against the Texans in his third pro game in 2018. Some people will remain grateful.

After entering the end zone with a determined run, Beckham, eager to steal the scene, ran up to Barkley and swatted the ball out of his hands, inviting Barkley to join him. It looked like he was trying to hand it over. whirling dance.

Barkley shook his head no, retrieved the ball and threw it to the referee, and Beckham danced by himself.

The game was broadcast on Fox, and Barkley's memorable acts of humility and civility during the game were ignored. His selfless celebration did not, and still does not, fit the requirements of special, even slow-motion, attention-grabbing television, so it was never rebroadcast.

Thank you, Saquon, some of us needed it.

Another great opportunity was lost.

As reader Vin McArdle wisely argues, in a playoff game between Manasquan, N.J., and Camden High School, the winning shot was canceled out by a referee error — with time clearly running out. , would have been a lasting and noble life lesson for everyone involved, but especially the kids on both teams, and the kids from both schools.

All that was required was for the “winning team” to declare that they would refuse the W, allowing them to award the W to the team that actually won.

Imagine the much-needed national contentment that would bring. Both teams would have been on a network TV tour. ESPN may also have awakened to such virtues.

But doing the honorable thing of creating something conspicuously good out of conspicuously bad is no longer an ideal.

Fox won't stop Big Papi

One of the most interesting elements of television is its inability to make NFL and MLB pregame and postgame shows worth your time. Even after all these decades, nothing stands out as being moderately interesting, funny, or insightful.

It looks like Fox's MLB Studio show will once again feature more than just big names. So we have the lying, cheating, disrespect-inducing, time-killing Alex Rodriguez, the cautious and predictably insensitive Derek Jeter, and the return of David “Big Papi” Ortiz.

If we're still fascinated by Ortiz (who is in his seventh year (!) as a PED suspect, shady character, and unfunny comedy star of the show), FOX executives They will have to retreat and perhaps stay. Out, more. Despite the forced belly laughs of the panelists, Ortiz is not amused. He can hardly be understood, and even when he is understood, he does not say anything essential.

At least 25 Yankees games will continue to be broadcast exclusively on paid streaming this season, with a focus on Friday night games. Another bottomless chopped salad from Rob Manfred and his team owners who have corrupted baseball.

What was the best game on TV last week? Johns Hopkins La Crosse defeated Virginia 16-14, aired on the ACC Network. Close battles, sustained action, and minimal fanfare.

On Thursday during the Blues vs. Devils game, ESPN again flashed player IDs during the power play to distract and irritate. This thoughtless addition deserves little more than ESPN's usual “Look what we can do!”

'Explosive debate' between Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee? Leave it to ESPN to create games without support rights.