Gambling’s Tentacles Reach High and Low

SAN ANTONIO —  If you want people to notice crime, dress it like a preppy.

A federal grand jury did just that Thursday, handing down point-shaving indictments to two former college basketball players from--gasp--Northwestern.

Well, well. We’re all paying attention now, aren’t we?

Those who barely blinked when two basketball players from Arizona State recently admitted to point-shaving . . . those who hardly noticed when the intelligent kid from Cal State Fullerton recently turned down a bribe . . . this morning we are outraged.

We think, public schools with some hard-luck kids are one thing.

But rich, smart Northwestern?

These aren’t the kind of students who cheat, they are the kind who are cheated from.

Why shave points when your daddy can buy the entire gym?

To have such a reputable college athletic program tromping muddy shoes through the epitome of all college athletic events--the Final Four--is more incomprehensible than Rick Majerus in a suit.

Next, they’re going to be telling us that Duke was trying to blow that 17-point lead to Kentucky.

And that the Rhode Island kid intentionally missed all three free throws.

And, hey, has anybody seen who Roy Williams has been hanging around with lately?

The sports world is confused how something so slimy could happen in a place of such apparent privilege.

Which is why the timing and setting of the indictments are so fortunate, creating a message that is quite clear.

When it comes to gambling among college athletes, and with it the potential for destruction of lives, there are no places of privilege.

There is no hiding.

There is no escape.

Your campus bookie is no farther than the next desk.

After spending most of your college career making money for other people, suddenly a payday is no further away than the next game. At the campus gym. Big money for missing a few shots.

And nobody gets hurt.

“This is probably one of the biggest dangers on our own campuses,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said of gambling. “The monster is still outside the barn door. If you go out and get involved, he’s going to get you.”

But at Northwestern?

It turns out, especially at Northwestern.

Bookies looking to make a buck prey on those who may never make a living at this game, those who might be tempted by the money.

This country’s colleges are full of athletes who will never make a living at their games.

Northwestern, because of its focus on academics over athletics, has more than most.

And forget this stuff about everyone being privileged. Unlike Ivy League schools, Northwestern offers athletic scholarships, so there are students there who could not otherwise afford the tuition.

“Unlike the general student body, our athletes are a more true cross-section of America,” said Grady Hall, a former first-round baseball draft pick who starred at Northwestern in the mid-1980s. “And a lot of those guys who will never go pro, they are looking for a way to leverage their ability into dollars.”

Hall, who runs an Internet strategy consulting firm in the Bay Area, said he is surprised there are not more college fixing scandals.

“The pressure on the athletes is so dollar focused . . . they are told how many dollars are being made off them, and they want to know, ‘How much can I make?’ ” he said.

Everywhere today’s college athletes look, there are contradictions.

Take the beloved NCAA basketball tournament.

It is scheduled over three weeks in March, often weeks that involve final exams, yet the NCAA thinks nothing of pulling the kids out of school for Thursday and Friday afternoon tournament games.

Of course, when the players sit at the podium during tournament news conferences, officials make a big deal of calling them “student athletes.”

Maybe during the rest of the year, but not during March.

Then there is the money aspect of the tournament. The NCAA makes millions off the excitement, but the kids who provide the excitement have to settle for postgame box lunches.

Of course, while they are eating those locker-room meals, they are looking up at NCAA posters that explain the evils of gambling under the heading, “Don’t Bet On It.”

The NCAA is great at ordering kids to resist the big-bucks lure of gamblers. But the NCAA is not very good at resisting big bucks itself.

“Unfortunately, student-athletes are vulnerable to the temptations and pressures associated with gambling and greed,” U.S. Atty. Scott Lassar said. “That, however, does not condone unlawful conduct.”

Of course not. Wrong is wrong. If the allegations are true, there is no excuse for the conduct of the Northwestern athletes.

Just as there was no excuse for what happened at Arizona State, and what probably happened at a dozen more places just this season.

But are there any answers?

Would it help to pay the players? Maybe for other reasons, but not for this one.

No matter what you give a kid, a gambler looking to make a big score can give him more.

Would it help to crack down on amateur sports betting? Yeah, and let’s also reenact Prohibition.

There is one thing you could try. It would be a bold move, but these are bold times, so what the heck.

The next time you are tempted to place a bet on a college athletic team, remember you are betting on kids, some fragile, some immature, kids suspect to all sort of pressures.

And don’t bet.