The NFL can’t escape its own gambling messes

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Lets see now, where did I leave that $22 million?

I know its here, somewhere. My sock drawer? Night table? Nope.

Did I give it to Jon Rahm? Nah, hes not in it for the money.

Oh, thats right! Now I remember. I blew it all gambling on sports!

It was a huge story that made just a brief, small splash as per the NFLs stats, standings and draft picks-obsessed, no-hard-questions-asked league-compliant media, but last week 31-year-old Amit Patel, an employee in the Jacksonville Jaguars finance department, was charged with stealing $22 million from the team over four years to fuel what his attorney characterized as a serious gambling addiction.

Yes, $22 million is just a few dollars beyond a mild addiction.

So how could the Jags, over four years, been so negligent as to miss millions of missing millions while Patel lavished purloined gifts on himself a condo, a new cars and jewelry amidst his hours spent accruing unfathomable gambling losses?

Did he plan to pay it back, 20 bucks a week? Or win back $22 million to break even?

How do you operate an accounting department that cant even account for itself?

The_NFL_can_t_escape_its_own_gambling_messes 4Roger Goodell’s betting money grab has come back to bite one of his NFL bosses. APThe good news for the NFL, Jags and Roger Goodell is that Patel reportedly blew most of it betting with FanDuel and DraftKings, both NFL-licensed bookmakers, thus the NFL can profit from some of Patels losses the next time their licensing agreements are up for renewal.

Not that Goodells watch is known for vigilance, but Patel was not the Jags CFO. He was what has been described as a midlevel management employee who stumbled upon the teams new credit card system that allowed him the keys to the kingdom.

This is in line with Goodells management style as no one at or near the top of the NFL seems to know what the hell is going on starting with opening kickoffs and games adjudicated by a rules book that has the sustaining clarity and rigidity of an Etch A Sketch.

The_NFL_can_t_escape_its_own_gambling_messes 4Even on the field, players use gambling as celebration. TNSAnd the only NFL betting lock is that there will be a drunken brawl among customers Eagles misanthropes vs. Cowboys senior juvenile delinquents was this weeks main event allowing Goodells good investment, double-billed patrons options: Step around the blood, buy a luxury suite, throw a few fists of their own or stay home as long as they make a lot of bets.

It was perhaps a tribute to Goodells leadership that, after the Giants intercepted a Packers pass on Monday, the defense gathered in the end zone, where the classless gather for TV closeups, to perform another spontaneous (rehearsed) group skit, this one of them shooting craps.

Karma rears its ugly head after all-about-me showboating

Saturday on ESPN, Missouri at Kansas. KUs K.J. Adams ends a Missouri breakaway with a block from behind. It was somewhat easy as the Mizzou man slowed, never saw him coming.

That KJ Adams stare down after the block pic.twitter.com/in4mesPnmz

— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) December 10, 2023Still, Adams quit playing to thump his chest in self-approval then gave a sustained all-about-me mean mug to the adoring crowd. Meanwhile, Kansas played four on five on the offensive end.

But the ESPN duo, Tom Hart and Fran Fraschilla, the latter we know to be a straighter shooter, were too busy gushing their approval of Adams to note the flip-side. Again, its that kind of hollow, dont-believe-what-you-see pandering thats making sports insufferable among the right-minded.

Showboaters lost at sea: Sunday, Chiefss WR Rashee Rice caught a short pass then rose and did one of those tired all-about-me first-down gestures. Soon, Rice would fumble the ball to the Bills in Buffalos 20-17 win.

The_NFL_can_t_escape_its_own_gambling_messes 4Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) loses the ball as Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) makes the tackle. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConSame game, final play. Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney, a self-absorbed pain in the arse as a quickly expendable first-round Giants pick, caught a downfield lateral then did a Deion Sanders strut into the end zone. Hed won the game!

But the TD and the game were lost to Toney lining up beyond the line of scrimmage, an easy call to make and tough one to ignore despite Patrick Mahomes postgame tantrum.

Mothers, dont let your babies grow up to be court-stormers: Despite the clear, present and proven danger of court-storming it continues to be practiced then approved by college basketball TV yahoos who dont want to risk the ridicule of young, foolish e-mailers, bloggers and wise guy-packed websites.

Last week at the close of Northwesterns four-point home win over No. 3 Purdue, students rushed the court, an act less spontaneous than obligatory as the game clock was stopped, the outcome no longer in doubt, well before the storming.

The_NFL_can_t_escape_its_own_gambling_messes 4Northwestern Wildcats student rush the court after beating the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConBut they stormed anyway. Two sprinting males, presumably students, tripped and fell to the court, but quickly rose to avoid being trampled.

Soon, too, will come the day when an agitated visiting player coldcocks a court-stormer into the intensive care unit.

A fond memory of Erskine

A recent item here about the passing of Carl Erskines son Jimmy, who, with the Erskines love and conviction, lived a proudly productive and unusually long life with Down syndrome until passing last week at 63, stoked the embers among many old-timers who fondly recall Carl, now 96, as the most neighborly and pleasant of Brooklyn Dodgers pitchers.

Longtime Daily News sportswriter Bill Farrell, now retired, recalls covering a Brooklyn College seminar featuring MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti, a physicist and Erskine. The topic: Do fastballs rise?

After Giamatti and the physicist played pepper with the question, Erskine: I can definitely confirm that a fastball rises especially when struck by a Louisville Slugger.

Not that we were surprised, but every play call in Sunday Texans-Jets was shouted by Kevin Harlan like it was the stretch run in the Kentucky Derby. Annoying and insulting.

Saturdays Army-Navy was not carried by a single local radio station, AM or FM. Sad.

College Athletics Builds/Reveals Character Game of the Week: North Dakota St. 108, Oak Hills Christian College (Minn.) 14.

On a diet? Wanna pass on the Tommy Cutlets? Reader Ken Ferber, inspired by Iron Butterfly, suggests the In A Garden DeVito salad.

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