Once upon a time, long ago, when newspapers set agendas for the public and even served as a moral compass, I was known as the anti-gambling guy.
I was sports editor of a big paper, this one, and was out there without much company, other than the New York Times, as an advocate for keeping betting lines and gambling information out of the section.
I was invited to speak on lots of panels on the subject and was almost always the lone wolf. I did it so often they started inviting me for comic relief.
The arguments of the majority were always the same:
* We are in a day and age of declining readership, and readers want this, so we have to give it to them.
* Everybody gambles anyway, so why put our heads in the sand?
* It is useful information that gives readers a quick numerical gauge on opposing teams.
And so, in response, I would tell my hypothetical story. I told it so many times that I got to know at what stage those in the audience would roll their eyes.
This is how it went:
It is February. Two big sports fans, Moe and Curly, are reading the Morning Fish Wrapper and they see that the Pacers are favored by 11 that night to beat the Cavaliers. Big Cleveland fans, they think their team is healthy and playing well and they like that number.
They go to the corner bar, where Larry the Bookie does business, and they toss down $500 to get the Cavaliers and 11 points.
Unbeknown to them, the local police have been watching Larry and pick that night to raid the bar. In their sweep, they also get Moe and Curly, who are carted off to jail because, as we all know, gambling on sports is illegal in all states except Nevada.
Coincidentally, the night cop reporter for the Fish Wrapper is in the police station when Moe, Curly and Larry are brought in. Veteran reporter that he is, he recognizes them as accused law-breakers by the handcuffs. He asks a few questions and files a story. The editor of the Fish Wrapper sees this as a significant story in his community and puts it on the front page of the paper.
A few days later, Moe and Curly, out on bail, ask each other how the same newspaper that printed the line that facilitated their bet could turn around and name them as criminals because they had.
It was always at this point that I used the word "hypocritical" and got the roll of eyes.
This is germane now because of Tim Donaghy, the NBA referee who allegedly bet on games he worked.
