The owners and administrators in charge of the NFL are monsters, obsessed with keeping their coffers full with an annual multi-billion dollar revenue stream while implementing Orwellian rules to maintain a tight grip on their largely minority filled workforce.
The most recent example being that of two members of the Detroit Lions, who were suspended on Friday for gambling from inside the team facility in Allen Park, Michigan. Former 1st round pick Jameson Williams and fellow wideout Stanley Berryhill were both handed down six-game suspensions from the league office; not for gambling directly on NFL games, as was notably the case with Falcons WR Calvin Ridley, but for simply using a betting app while inside the confines of their team facility.
It is worth noting that two other members of the Detroit Lions (Quintez Cephus, C.J. Moore), as well as one member of the Washington Commanders (Shaka Toney) now face the same one-year ban handed down to Ridley for betting directly on NFL games. There is no plausible defense for the conduct of these three players. Gambling directly on the sport and league in which you participate has been a universally known no-no since Pete Rose was famously thrown out of baseball for life and then subsequently denied entry in the Hall of Fame after wagering on his own Reds games while managing in the 1980’s.
These three players are idiots and deserve to be suspended by the NFL for an entire season. There is no plausible explanation or excuse for wagering on NFL games while you are an active employee of said league.
But for Jameson Williams and Berryhill, the Players Association should have their lawyers gearing up for a fight to restore the rights and reputation of two members who just lost millions of dollars and will be smeared for using the same gambling service that ultimately helps pay their salary through millions of dollars of advertising.
I don’t know the exact details regarding what kind of wagering Williams and Berryhill were involved in. But theoretically based on the league rules Williams could have been suspended for placing a $10 wager on his alma mater Alabama to win the recent NCAA basketball tournament while months away from actually playing in a football game.
With zero impact on the integrity of actual NFL games stemming from betting on Wimbledon, NASCAR, or the Masters, the league and its owners have one again proven themselves to be the slime balls everyone already understands they are. Willing to jeopardize the careers and reputation of their young, predominately minority based workforce to prove a point that their product is pure and untouched by the dark tentacles of gambling money.
I can already hear the chorus of readers mumbling to themselves ‘rules are rules’ and don’t break the rules if you want to keep your multi-million dollar paycheck. Yes, rules are rules, although I am sure we could compile a list of rules from the past that were once seen as righteous and now can be looked back upon as needless infringements on the freedom and rights of players.
The rules of today, including a ban on gambling from a team facility where you’re plausibly expected to be for the majority of your day if you are serious about an NFL career will be seen in a few short years as unjust and implemented for no plausible reason other than the NFL attempting to clean up a stained reputation marred by the recent garbage behavior of owners such as billionaire Commanders owner Dan Synder.
The message is clear. An NFL owner can openly profit to the tune of a $6 billion payday despite a multitude of infractions including sexual misconduct, racism, and potentially law breaking finance violations. But when it comes to a 22-year-old player or food service worker at the team facility betting on Tiger Woods to win the Masters in the offseason…thats a bridge too far.
Im not going to cease consuming NFL games because of these recent developments and you shouldn’t either. Although it’s worth keeping this recent dishonest, unethical behavior from the league and its owners in the back of your mind while you’re watching the 50th Fanduel, BetMGM or DraftKings commercial on a Sunday afternoon.
Or when you’re clicking the awesome link below to begin betting on the Philies to win tonight against the lowly Rockies….
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