Recent Comments

This is good news. But it is the Big 12 that really needs to say we won't play them in any sport. Hopefully it spreads to them.

Also had a Third Team with Nicholas Garcia

Sorsby absolutely knowingly broke rules. But the institutions that made those rules have failed to make those rules enforceable because for decades now, they have prioritized making money over staying true to their alleged values. Now they are paying price for it. This entire fiasco could've been dealt with outside of courts if the ncaa member schools weren't so stubborn for so long.

Btw - there's zero chance ttu was ignorant about Sorsbys addiction. They knew what they were getting into before taking him out of the portal. Thy didn't care then, they just care now bc they're getting fucked. And I fully support the other schools for refusing to play ttu.

Look, I'm not going to spend a ton of time debating the novella you posted, but when literally 99.7% of college football fans, opposing ADs, and even the Conference Commissioner are not supportive of the decision, you know you are on the wrong side.

You can't possibly believe that because TV Networks freely advertise Gambling Apps during CFB broadcasts that individual players are not at any fault for knowingly, repeatedly breaking Gambling Rules that have existed for decades.

It's not a hot take, its just an extremely illogical one. I feel like Skip Bayless is on the other end here.

So a smattering of thoughts that sort of address most of your points:

• You bring up personal responsibility... Sorsby has been held response to the letter of the law. He has paid his literal debts (likely before he placed a bet, but I digress). That's the punishment for losing bets. Not like he's dodging the law, or robbing from a family member to bet, or putting someone else's wellbeing at risk
• To be clear, I believe any individual, employer, endorsor, teammate, family member, etc is more than willing to cut ties with him if they are offended or feel at-risk by Sorsby's behavior... but no one has (publicly at least). Apparently his "employer" (for lack of a better term) isn't that upset with him if they're actively trying to bring him back to the team. So if you're upset with this result, it seems like the legal system and Texas Tech have both failed you far worse than Sorsby. (ninja edit: saw below that B10 and UGA are potentially refusing to play TTU in sports over their defense of Sorsby - IMO they are well in their rights to do that, and I encourage it)
• What about corporate responsibility? I mentioned above that any online online betting company could have easily identified that he was an athlete betting on his team by anonymized location data. Why aren't the gambling companies being held responsible? Why aren't NCAA institutions distancing themselves after this? Because they don't care.
• It's tough for me to talk about 'personal responsibility' when these companies literally (a) employ some of the smartest people in the world and (b) have enormous information asymmetry. When Nick Saban's Alabama plays Savanah State no one looks at the game and goes 'Savanah state should have played harder and the coaches should have made better decisions' - Bama has better players, better coaches, more staffers to watch film, etc. That analogy is similar - If you are genetically predisposed to a gambling addiction, you are given a smart phone with notifications, and you ignorantly put a gambling app on your phone, you are basically set up to fail. If you're good enough to repeatedly beat the system, you'll get kicked off the apps immediately. If you suck bad enough, you'll be rewarded with box seats to concerns, special parlays, and a personal betting concierge. It's wild.
• Finally, you make an alcohol analogy. Most states do have Dram Shop laws that hold alcohol sellers responsible if they serve someone irresponsibly. That does not exist for gambling apps. Even if you see a beer ad in the stadium, and you are inspired to get a drink, there is sooo much friction between seeing that ad, walking through the concourse, waiting in line, and actually getting a beer. There is soooo much less friction to placing a bet (unless of course you're in Lane Stadium where there's no wifi or service)

And if anyone cares to be worried about the effects of gambling app availability to young men, then not punishing this guy only subverts any effort to show young men the gambling can completely wreck your life.

But if someone has a gambling addiction, they're not going to say 'oh look that slightly above average QB who played on 3 different teams got kicked out of school for gambling. Maybe I shouldn't gamble' - the individuals being targeted here aren't thinking logically.

I used to be a very pro-legalize gambling apps, but I've really changed my stance recently. After learning more about how they operate (both technically and organizationally) it just really makes me uncomfortable. Which kinda sucks because I've always liked gambling but now I feel very conflicted about giving these businesses my money.

If you find this topic interesting, two things I really enjoyed:

• Interception: The Secrets Of Modern Sports Betting by Ed Miller and Matthew Davidow - It's a book about how to beat the house in the online sportsbook era. As a product manager, I think about this book a lot. It's basically about online sports books ship MVPs (just like every tech company), but betters could expose it. It's intended audience is gamblers, but I just founded it really interesting from a tech perspective.
• Michael Lewis (moneyball, the big short, etc) did a great podcast series on online gambling (link to season 4 trailer here). Really takes on all angles - what it's like to be a traditional sportsbook/bookmaker in the new era, what it's like to work at an online sportsbook, what it's like to be successful better, what it's like to be a gambling addict, etc

Does Russia have a football league?

That should be OL

I am a stringent pro-player advocate, and I agree this is ridiculous.

The judge that was initially assigned to this case recused himself due to being a TTU grad. Ken Curry was designated as the "emergency judge", who have less qualifications than typical district court judges. Curry retired in 2012, and most of his work was in property and tax disputes. From what people smarter than me have said, you must prove two things for an injunction: 1) irreparable harm and 2) likelihood of success should the case go to trial. The judge never commented on the second aspect, that the NCAA committed a breach of contract, so we have no way of understanding his reasoning.

All that to say, this case may well have been improperly decided by a less-than-qualified judge (again, going based on people that know law). This is an indictment of Texas Tech, who is going to bat for a player that bet on his own team, but it may equally be an indictment of our legal system.

I am open to hearing opposing viewpoints since this is completely above my head. Unfortunately, even if the NCAA's appeal is successful, it won't be decided until after the season is over.

And Texas Tech. He doesn't get to suit up if they don't give him the opportunity

that and two of the matchups are $ec vs. $ec...

25th should be the lowest under Franklin, small class,etc

I thought 15th was the upper limits for VT, But NIL really leveled things. The blue bloods can horde recruits.m and can't price out other teams.

Top 10 is unimaginable to me but Clemson did it and we are seeing money injected like Clemson had. They won a title first though