I'm not a big sports fan. Back when I worked, I filled out a March Madness "bracket" when people in the office passed it around in mid-March. I didn't care who won. I did it to be sociable and part of the enthusiasm I saw around me. Because I am indifferent about sports, I can see the effect of putting a wager on a game. There is finally a reason to watch the whole game.
Jack Mullen, however, follows sports with genuine interest. He is the designated hitter for this blog when it comes to matters of sports. He was a star athlete at Medford High School almost 60 years ago. We had summer jobs thinning and picking pears together in local orchards. We worked together for U.S. Representative Jim Weaver. Jack Mullen loves sports. He married a woman who loves sports. They lived in Oakland A's territory in the Bay Area. Now they live in Washington, D.C.
Guest Post by Jack Mullen
Local Politics. Local Sports.
I find living in Washington,D.C., no different than living in Medford, Oregon, or any other part of the country. Local politics raises citizen ire as much as the upcoming national election.
Washington is a provincial town. There may be well-heeled lobbyists who live here, or politicos, or ex-politicos, but most people lead normal lives centered around family, schools, going to the grocery store, and taking part in the myriad of options in entertainment and sports. It is the last that has burrowed itself under the skin of Washingtonians.
Despite a century-long history of mediocre teams, a bond over local teams still unites the Washington community. It's probably the only thing that does so. Yes, twice, Washington baseball teams have moved away to the far regions of Minnesota and Texas. The football team once referred to as the Redskins -- now the Commanders (no one likes that name either) -- has forsaken the city for a far-flung Maryland suburb. Presently, the Commanders are in search of a new venue and are playing the three local entities in the DMV (the District, Maryland and Virginia) against each other while searching for the best deal.
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| Jack wears "A's" logo-wear when he travels. |
Still, the City of Washington fights back. Major League Baseball owners gifted Washington a third chance by awarding the city a team, the old Montreal Expos, which became the Washington Nationals in 2005. When they won the World Series in 2019, the entire Washington area celebrated together. The Nationals play in a scenic, new ballpark near the U.S. Capitol.
Washington nailed it, when, in 1997, the new Capital Center opened in downtown D.C. Planners worked out a perfect location where the Metro subway line connects all parts of the region. Fans seeking entertainment need not pay exorbitant parking fees to see the Wizards or Capitals play opponents in the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League. The area adjacent to the Capital Center is dotted with free museums, restaurants, theaters, and after-hours clubs. Only Madison Square Garden’s setting in New York offers such a comparable multitude of entertainment options.
Last month, the D.C. area received a major jolt when, out of the blue, the two teams’ owner Ted Leonsis, along with Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin, called a news conference to announce Leonsis’ NBA and NHL teams would abandon D.C. and build a new hockey-basketball arena, not in Washington, but across the river in an abandoned Virginia railroad yard, “Potomac Yards.” The cost? Two billion dollars -- a sum to be appropriated by the Virginia state legislature. Governor Youngkin assured Leonsis that he would work with his legislature to carry their plan through. After all, look at all the new jobs that would be created for Virginians. What politician doesn’t like to crow about new jobs they have created?
Governor Youngkin’s strong interest in jobs contrasts with his previous job as head of the private equity company, the Carlyle Group. Youngkin became rich from buying companies, slashing jobs in them, and then bringing them public, reaping huge profits.
Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas, chairwoman of the Virginia House Finance and Appropriations Committee, raised concerns over Leonsis and Youngkin’s pet project, and her committee effectively killed the arena plan, at least for the present.
Inspired by Major League Baseball and Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s “Nevada Plan.” Youngkin and Leonsis will badger the Virginia Legislature until they cave. Oakland A’s owner John Fisher hired lobbyists and made large campaign contributions to reluctant legislators until the Nevada state legislature unanimously decided to help Fisher by committing $380 million of taxpayer money to build a new $1.5 billion air-conditioned baseball stadium in Las Vegas. Why Las Vegas? Maybe because California is one of 18 states that outlaw sports gambling; Nevada does not. Who cares if a baseball game is played in an indoor stadium on Astro-Turf when a compliant state legislature gives you $380 million and fans can gamble from their seats while watching a game in air-conditioned comfort?
The current relocation frenzy in sports began in 2018 when the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law that banned commercial sports betting in most states. As much as the repeal of Prohibition became a new source of fortune in the 1930s, gaming, especially sports gaming, is creating opportunities for investors, especially for professional sports owners.
Leonsis admits his Washington arena is too small for modern gaming. He publicly stated that he believes sportsbooks are “what sports’ future should look and feel like: lots of data, lots of comfortable settings, lots of televisions, lots of ways to learn about gaming.”
In an effort to entice Leonsis to stay in Washington, a new bill was introduced by a D.C. lawmaker Kenyan McDuffie to boost the city’s lackluster sports gambling operation to allow local sports teams and venues to offer citywide mobile sports betting. Judges, politicians, owners, gamblers, the media, all try to create new avenues to gamble. Money seems to be growing on trees. Struggling newspapers, like the Portland Oregonian, are given a life-line of new advertisers who are flooding us with ads on gambling. Same goes for television networks, especially ESPN.
And now, the latest bombshell!
Baseball’s superstar, the L.A. Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, widely considered the game’s best player since Babe Ruth, admitted assisting his Japanese interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, cover a $4.5 million gambling debt.
The media is indignant. Billionaire team owners from coast-to-coast seem perplexed and confused. Didn’t the 1919 Black Sox scandal teach Americans something about the gambling world? After all, the national pastime’s biggest star, Shoeless Joe Jackson, along with seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates, were all fingered for throwing the World Series.
Will hucksters like Governor Youngkin and team owner Ted Leonsis ease off their efforts to garner two billion dollars from Virginia taxpayers for a new sports and gaming arena in an abandoned Virginia rail yard?
How about the Major League Baseball commissioner's frantic push to beat the NBA and pro basketball’s efforts to land a team in Las Vegas?
Will Commissioner Rob Manfred and A’s Owner John Fisher ease up slandering new Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s efforts to keep the Oakland A’s in the state of California, a state which, after all, outlaws sports gambling?
America, take note! 2024 is proving to be a year of reckoning.
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4 comments:
First time betting can give you a “free” $200, just to get you started. I even saw a $1,000 enticement a couple of years ago. Those guys know if they can get you started, they will get their money back with 10% of those gamblers having an addiction that will result in profits. I worry about some young people who have been enticed into the gambling world as a certain percentage, maybe not 10%, but some percent will suffer real losses.
Google says 2-7% of adolescents and 1 % of adults have a gambling addiction.
Money and gambling have ruined pro sports, where games are now fixed. Money has also ruined college sports, and turned student-athletes into professionals who bounce from college team to college team. There's no loyalty to teams in sports any longer. Amateurism is dead.
A more refreshing story is about the Yale University basketball team and the University of Idaho marching band. Yale won a spot in the NCAA basketball tournament in Spokane, WA. Yale's band couldn't make it to Spokane for the tournament, so Yale contacted the University of Idaho band which is 100 miles from Spokane, and the Idaho band wore Yale clothing and performed Yale's fight songs as Yale's band for the tournament. Yale won their first game against Auburn, and they play again today, with the University of Idaho band serving as Yale's band. That is so cool, and it gave me chills.
Gambling is a tax on people too stupid to do math.
Between the exploitation of humans/injuries, the showboating and gambling, I no longer watch or attend sport events, which means none of my money contributes.
I also have plenty of leisure time!
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