Water Cooler Talk: Gambling over Youth Football

Betting on Youth Football- have people no shame? (Photo credit: jvh33)

Sometimes the stupidity and greed of grownups really muck up sports. A great example is the escapade in Texas for Southern Methodist University in the 1980s that was featured in the very well done 30 for 30 ESPN film The Pony Excess. That is one of the more glaring examples of amateur athletes being used and exploited. But even that doesn’t compare to this because at least the athletes involved were older. Now the stupidity has spread to youth football.

This week the Sheriff’s Office in Broward County, Fl arrested nine men and charged them with felony bookmaking for betting on games within one youth league. The bets got as high as $100,000 on a single game.

Thankfully it appears that the players were unaware- but kids are smart and perceptive and some knew- they had to know. This league has 22 teams with over 6,000 players and according to CBS News many of the players come from “impoverished neighborhoods.” The age range for these players is 5-15 years old.

The Sheriff’s Office found out about the ring through ESPN- after producers sent them footage in 2011 showing money being exchanged between spectators at youth games during critical plays. ESPN was doing some reporting about the growing trend of gambling in youth sports.

The ringleader for this group, Brandon Bivins is known as Coach B and was the president of the Ft Lauderdale Hurricanes team while also running the two local business fronts for the gambling ring.

According to investigators, coaches- yes I said coaches- met before games and set point spreads. At this time it is not known if players were asked to throw games or underperform- but in my opinion when bets run $20,000 for an average game, you can’t tell me that a coach didn’t set things in favor for a certain better.

Things get even more interesting when it was discovered that six of the nine men arrested have previous records of being convicts- yep role models indeed. Now, I will say that I know there are men and women who have done time and turn their lives around- these cowards making money off the backs of children are not such men.

This entire story is disgusting and one of the reasons sports in America has serious problems. As a mom I believe it is important for my children to participate in organized sports. Their involvement with youth baseball and soccer will help teach team work, good sportsmanship, and develop hand/eye coordination. Learning about how to bet on the point spread is not one of those things. And had one of my babies been involved boy would these cowards have an angry mama bear on their hands.

I am curious how the Gal Pal nation feels about this story? Are you as disgusted as I am about it- or do you just shrug your head?

Related articles

• Youth football coaches charged (espn.go.com)
• Nine Men Arrested for Gambling on Pee Wee Football Games (blogs.browardpalmbeach.com)
• Nine men charged in Florida youth football gambling ring (foxnews.com)

Eagles Nest Review

What a great day of football we had yesterday. I watched the first half of NFL Sunday at the Eagles Nest– really because my favorite local sports radio talk show host Nick Cattles was there and the Eagles at Steelers game wasn’t on local television. I’m happy I went because Big Papi (the husband) and I had a great time. They put all the tables close to each other which make for some interesting conversations. One observation about men in sports bars– they remind me of my tiny humans on a playground, no matter if they don’t know anyone they will find someone to play with. You give a bunch of dudes who don’t know each other beer, wings, and sports on the tube and they are going to talk about it. Then they are going to crack jokes.

The only down side was I was the ONLY Eagles fan in a den full of Steelers- lucky for me Steelers fans are typically really nice- and they were. Especially since the Eagles played SO BADLY! I’m going to break down my favorite games in separate posts- and I want to say sorry about taking so long but its Monday and I unfortunately have a real job.

One reason we decided to go to the Eagles Nest is because they are connected to Cugini’s Pizza which is my husband’s favorite. And they do a great special- a large two topping pizza for $9 bucks. That is a great deal. They also had drink specials and the wings were good too. The servers were good- we never had an empty glass.

Nick Cattles was great. I have to be honest I had to work up the nerve to go to him because he was surrounded by a bunch of guys. But if you get a chance to meet him he is very personable and he actually recognized me once I introduced myself as the @SportsGalPal- he actually knew my first name! I realize how much of a nerd I sound like but the guy could have been a complete tool- especially because I am a girl. Instead he was awesome had some great observations about Wahoo football and tried to convince me that I should enter to win ODU football tickets. I turned him down because I already knew Big Papi and I were going to tailgate at Camp Wahoo and I wanted someone who loves ODU to get the tickets.

If you want to listen to the Nick Cattles Show it is on ESPN 94.1 from 4:00-7:00pm. What is great about the show is that he gives the listener a chance to get her perspective and opinion out. Even when he doesn’t agree with a listener he doesn’t make her feel silly.

Plus he has the best waterbug stories- apparently they don’t exist up north. He is from Rhode Island so he says a full you all instead of y’all but give him another six months and he’ll change that.

I would love to know do you like to go to a local waterhole to check out your favorite games? I know I do because it makes the community spirit come alive and sports are a community event. Plus I love chicken wings.

If you know of great places for the Gal Pal to go to catch the game send me a message- even if it is not in the 757 because I’m willing to travel for a great game.