(Creative Commons/Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar | Openverse)
And unless you are of a certain age, you are not doubt wondering who Clair Bee is. Even if you are of a certain age, you might wonder. No. it’s not Aunt Bee’s sister. Actually, Clair Bee was an author who wrote kids sports books back in the 50s and 60s. He wrote a series of books abound the hero, Chip Hilton.
Hilton played baseball, basketball and football. Additionally, Chip was a star pitcher in baseball, scorer in basketball, and quarterback in football. The books followed Chip’s career from a freshman in high school through college.
They instilled sportsmanship, high principles, and things that are generally yada yadaed today. Also, the books put a negative slant on pro sports, and the idea of turning pro playing for money was viewed as almost sacrilegious. There was one thing that was eviler than anything else. Gamblers.
Clair Bee, coach
Clair Bee was a remarkably successful collegiate basketball coach, being the only coach in history to win the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year. He won two national championships, and his team was destroyed by a point shaving scandal. The scandal involved numerous players from several teams. Check out this link for a quick overview: CCNY point-shaving scandal – Wikipedia
It was ugly. Really ugly.
But since then, sports has developed a cozy relationship with gambling.
Amazingly, no game has been impacted by gambling
I see claims of games being fixed all the time on social media. I don’t buy it. But the one time I did think there was a fix was in the 2002 Lakers-Kings series. Game six didn’t pass the smell test. Disgraced referee Tim Donaghy, said the game was fixed, for what that’s worth.
Recently, MLB has disciplined umpire, Pat Hoberg for a gambling issue. Once again, everyone says the integrity of contests hasn’t been compromised.
I wonder if a sports league would admit it if games were affected.
The repercussions would be catastrophic If the public loses confidence in the integrity of the product.
While pro sports has to see some evil to make fans feel good about the legitimacy of the games being played, seeing too much evil could be dangerous. Fortunately, all the bad actors thus far have been lone wolves. Hopefully.
